08/31/2026
You can have plenty of billable hours and still have a profitability problem.
That's why I don't want CPA firms looking at billable hours by themselves.
In this week's Financially Fit Business Podcast, I look at two numbers that work together:
Your billable-hour percentage tells you how much of the time you're paying for is actually generating revenue.
Your productivity ratio tells you how much of that revenue is being consumed by payroll and payroll taxes.
When either number starts moving in the wrong direction, the reason might be staffing, raises, pricing, workload, or something else entirely.
And AI is about to make this conversation even more important.
If work that once took 40 hours can now be completed in 30 minutes, what exactly should a CPA firm be charging for?
That's where this week's conversation leads.
Track CPA billable hours and productivity ratios to see whether payroll, pricing, and revenue are staying in balance