Join a Right-Fit Call to discover if our mentorship program is right for you

2024 Advisory Trends Report

In November 2024, we asked over 480 of our members a few questions to get insight into CFO Advisory trends. Here's what we found...

What this means...

The average The CFO Project member is charging approximately $2,000 per month per client for their CFO Advisory services.

So...

If they had 5 clients, they'd be earning $9,890 per month.
If they had 10 clients, they'd be earning $19,780 per month.
If they had 15 clients, they'd be earning $29,670 per month.

As you can see, it does not take that many clients to make real money in this profession. With just 5 clients, you'll be earning more than the average accountant's salary (according to Robert Half's 2025 Salary Guide).

Divider Text

What this means...

For every 10 leads that a member of The CFO Project receives, they're converting around 6 of them to paying CFO Advisory clients.

This is a big deal for a couple of reasons:

First, you don't need a ton of leads to get clients. In fact, if you got just two leads a month, you could get around 14 clients in the span of a year.

This is enough clients to make around $332k a year (based on charging your client the average that our members charge of $1,978 per month).

Divider Text

What this means...

This chart lists what services the members of The CFO Project offer.

32% offer CFO Advisory + Bookkeeping
29% offer CFO Advisory + Bookkeeping + Tax
21% offer CFO Advisory only
7% offer CFO Advisory + Tax

The vast majority of members are adding CFO Advisory services to their existing list service offerings of bookkeeping or tax services.

Several members are upselling some of their existing bookkeeping and/or tax clients to CFO Advisory clients. Because they've already earned their trust, they've been successful at upselling.

At the same time, several members are getting CFO Advisory clients and then cross-selling them bookkeeping and/or tax services. The member, themselves, is either performing the work or they delegate the bookkeeping/tax to someone on their team.

Divider Text

What this means...

In a 90-day time period, each member, on average got approximately 2 new CFO Advisory clients.

This means, that each member is getting around 7 new CFO Advisory clients annually. This would equate to $173,000 in annual revenue from just these 7 new clients (based on charging your client the average that our members charge of $1,978 per month).

Divider Text

What this means...

It takes around 8 hours a month, on average, to provide CFO Advisory services to one client.

Some clients you'll be able to spend less time on and, of course, some clients you'll be able to charge more on.

And, since the average member is earning $1,978 per client, their effective hourly rate is $260.

Compare that with the average tax accountant's effective hourly rate of $42. Assuming a 40-hour work week. (According to Robert Half's 2025 Salary Guide)

The bottom line is that with CFO Advisory services, you're working less but making more.

Divider Text

What this means...

It's not enough just to get new CFO Advisory clients, to make real money in this profession you've got to keep your clients for a while.

The CFO Project members, on average, are retaining 83% of their clients each year. So, if a member had 10 CFO Advisory clients this year, around 8 will stay next year.

You'll be able to finally get off the marketing roller-coaster. You'll be able to spend less time marketing, less time selling and more time providing a CFO Advisory service to your clients.

Divider Text

What this means...

We asked our members what industries their CFO Advisory clients belonged to. The top 5 were:

Business Services (e.g., marketing agencies, law firms, IT services)
Construction & Real Estate (e.g., real estate investors, architecture firms)
Trades (e.g., Plumbing, Roofing, HVAC businesses)
Health, Beauty & Fitness (e.g., gyms, hair salons)
Manufacturing/Distribution (e.g., Food distributors, small parts manufacturer)

The overwhelming majority of businesses that a hire a CFO Advisor are service-based business. Why? Because of all businesses, service-based business owners are owned by people who are experts at their craft (e.g., a plumber owns a plumbing business). They're not necessarily an expert at financials, numbers nor knowing how to improve their business using data.

So, they need someone in their lives that is. When they understand what a CFO Advisor can do for them (help them have a growing and successful business), they will pay attention because they are dead-serious about making their business work.

Divider Text

What this means...

The CFO Project is a done-with-you mentorship program to learn how to offer CFO Advisory services. We're like a gym in that we have multiple features. We have self-paced training, step-by-step guides, masterclasses, mastermind groups (called CFO Roundtables), a forum, and more.

We asked our members what their top five most valuable features were of The CFO Project. Here's a brief explanation of each of the top 5 features.

The Client Workbook Template - this is an Excel-based spreadsheet that you would download for each CFO Advisory client. This spreadsheet will helps you and your client set targets, forecast, build a scoreboard, set an Action Plan and more.

Live Monthly Masterclasses - each month we offer live trainings where we do a deep-dive into a particular topic to help our members get better at being a CFO Advisor and growing their CFO Advisory practice. Topics range from CFO tactics, Advisory tactics, sales and marketing tactics, scaling tactics and more.

Self-Paced Trainings - these are self-paced trainings that show you, exactly, how to (a) get leads from business owners who are interested in CFO Advisory services, (b) how to convert those leads to paying clients who are paying around $2,000 a month, on average and (c) how to provide a CFO Advisory service that gets results for your clients (and keeps them for a long time).

CFO Roundtables - These are mastermind-style weekly meetings where members meet with a handful of other members for an hour via Zoom. Each CFO Roundtable is led by a Lead CFO Mentor and Assistant CFO Mentor. This is where each member can get their challenges solved, discuss important topics, celebrate wins, and hold each other accountable.

Knowledge Base - Inside the 'CFO Hub' (an exclusive and private website for members) we have an extensive knowledge base that includes templates, step-by-step guides, articles and other resources related to getting clients and providing a CFO Advisory service.

Divider Text

What this means...

We asked our members why they ultimately decided to join The CFO Project's done-with-you mentorship program. The top 3 reasons are:

Reason #1: They wanted a system.
We've spent the last decade perfecting a CFO Advisory system that just works. It's scalable (meaning it doesn't take up too much of your time but you'll be able to charge a lot for it) and it gets results (meaning your clients will see progress).

Reason #2: They wanted to increase their earnings.
As mentioned above, you can earn a lot more from CFO Advisory services that you can for bookkeeping, tax or other accounting services. Why? Because this is a service that business owners desire (not just need like accounting services). Therefore, business owners will pay top dollar for something that will help their business become successful.

Reason #3: They wanted a greater impact on their clients' success.
Instead of just recording the past (which is, literally, the job of a bookkeeper and tax preparer), many financial professionals want to have a way to help their clients have a better future. Therefore, they want to offer CFO Advisory services so that they can have a greater impact on their clients' success.

Divider Text

What this means...

We asked our members what was the main reason their clients ended up hiring them as their CFO Advisor. Here are the top reasons:

Reason #1: My client wanted help improving the profitability of their business.

Reason #2: My client wanted guidance on understanding their financials & wanted help improving them.

Reason #3: My client wanted someone to guide them towards having a growing and successful business.

Notice that all three of these reasons revolve around the future. We've discovered that business owners would rather the financial professional in their life help them have a better future more than ensure that the past is recorded correctly.

Here are some additional reasons why clients hired a CFO Advisor.

Reason #4: My client wanted help with the short-and long-term strategy and operations for the business.

Reason #5: My client wanted support with cash flow. They wanted to understand it better and ensure they never run out of it.

Reason #6: My client wanted clarity on the direction of their business and advise on what to do to be able to sell in 3-5 years.

Reason #7: My client wanted someone to guide them. They wanted someone that understood them, their business, and their goals and simply be a guide/confidant/advisor to them.

Here are some direct quotes from some of our members as to why their clients ended up hiring them...

"Because no one has ever shown them their numbers and connected it to what is happening operationally in their business."

"I offer the type of in-depth analysis they have been looking for with their CPAs and weren't getting."

"They were plateaued and didn't know what to do differently to grow. Within a year, I helped them 8x their profit."

"Overworked, exhausted and their team not doing what they should. They felt completely overwhelmed with their finances, and like they were not important to their previous tax prep / bookkeepers."

Divider Text

The Bottom Line

The accounting and bookkeeping industry is in a state of flux. There's outside pressures coming from tech start-ups and AI as well as pressures from within the industry by automated accounting/tax/bookkeeping software.

Accountants, bookkeepers, and tax preparers are more than ever stuck in the Accountant's Trap. They are working too hard, for too little pay, dealing with high-demanding clients and working on ever-increasing commoditized and transactional work (thus, not being able to increase your fees).

The way to escape the trap is to offer something that your clients do want. That way, you can raise your fees while providing such a valuable service to your clients.

And, what do your clients want? They want someone they can trust (you) to guide them towards having a growing and successful business.

Business owners would rather the financial professional help them have a better future more than they would simply helping them record the past.

Because of this, we expect CFO Advisory services to continue to grow in 2025 and beyond, eventually becoming the primary revenue source for most firms in the near future. Bookkeeping and tax work will continue to be important for these firms, but with diminishing impact (and revenue).

If you’re interested in getting help starting or adding a CFO Advisory service to your practice, check out the resources below.

Adam Lean
Co-Founder, The CFO Project

For Accountants, CPAs, and Bookkeepers

The CFO Project Done-With-You Mentorship Program

Join our exclusive 'done-with-you mentorship' program just for CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers to learn how to provide a scalable CFO Advisory service that actually gets results for your clients.

As part of this program, we'll show you how to add a CFO Advisory service so you can command higher fees, have recurring revenue, and a bigger impact on your clients' lives. In addition, we'll teach you a system on how to get clients and upsell existing clients.

Learn More

Free Training

How to Start a CFO Advisory Service

Discover how to grow your practice this year through CFO Advisory services.

Finally escape the accountant's trap (of trading time for money) and join the hundreds of other financial professionals who have made the transition to offering high-ticket CFO Advisory services.

Get immediate access to a free training to discover the proven system for getting clients and providing an effective (and efficient!) CFO Advisory service.

This training is available for accountants, bookkeepers, CPAs and tax professionals.

Get Instant Access

Free Training

The $192,000 Training

Unlock the three essential skills you must master to earn $192k per year as a CFO Advisor - while working less than 20 hours per week!

Spend your time the way you want. More time for family, friends, sports, vacations, sleeping...

Join our free training to discover the proven formula for becoming a top advisor and increasing your income while working part-time.

This training is available for accountants, bookkeepers, CPAs and tax professionals.

Get Instant Access

CFO Advisor Earnings Calculator

See how much you could earn as a CFO Advisor.

Use this calculator to calculate the impact that adding (or starting) a CFO Advisory Service could have to your earnings and the number of hours you work.

Go to Calculator

"Using the systems that The CFO Project equipped me with, I reduced my workload by 75% (not even kidding) and I increased my income by 50%. This program has changed my life."

Becky L.
Dallas, TX

"I've been part of many groups, I've NEVER seen the success I've seen with The CFO Project. In less than 6 months I've added more than $100K in contracts. Hands down the best program I've joined this decade."

Jemel S.
Douglasville, GA

“The CFO Project is really extraordinary. There isn't anything I need that you haven't already thought of. Your training is comprehensive and straightforward. The templates, ranging from workshops to email scripts, are incredibly useful.”

Julie P.
Mt. Pleasant, SC

“This is the first program where I've enjoyed every minute of interaction. It gave me a huge boost in confidence.”

Jeffrey D.
Victoria, BC

"I've been apart of many group coaching/learning programs and this one has been the most comprehensive. You've finally cracked the code on how to actually sell and deliver CFO services."

Jasmine R.
Landover, MD

"Joining The CFO Project has worked better than I could have anticipated. I already have 3 CFO clients!"

Sophie P.
Nashville, TN

“Since joining The CFO Project, it took me only 8 months to leave my day job. And, in 2 and half months since leaving my day job I’ve already doubled what I was making”

Ryan K.
St. Louis, MO

"I would have joined The CFO Project years ago if I'd known about it."

Wendy M.
Rancho Cucamonga, CA

"The CFO Project trainings have been awesome! The community is extremely supportive, encouraging and helpful."

Angeleen H.
San Diego, CA

"I am greatly enjoying the Roundtables and Masterclasses - a wealth of information and support! I use the CFO Hub and the courses for inspiration and encouragement when fear/paralysis sets it. It helps me keep on keeping on!"

Connie B.
Missoula, MT

"I've recovered my investment many times over within the first six months."

Anthony V.
Newark, NJ

"There is more need than there are CFOs out there.

Fred P.
Surprise, AZ

Learn More About Our Membership Program

For Accountants, CPAs and Bookkeepers

Free Training

Discover how to grow your practice this year through CFO Advisory services.

Get Instant Access

Free Trainings
How to Start a CFO Service
The $192,000 Training
Make 2025 Your Last Tax Season
CPA to CFO
Bookkeeper to CFO
Side-Hustle CFO

Resources
Earnings Calculator
CFO Advisor Qualification Score
The Bookkeeper's Upsell Calculator
What is a CFO Advisor?
Why Choose The CFO Project
How to Double Your Firm's Revenue
The CFO Project Newsletter
The CFO Project Podcast
Advice Articles
Trends Report
About Us

Become a CFO Advisor
Done-With-You Mentorship Program
Success Stories
Join a Right-Fit Call

General Inquires
contact@thecfoproject.com

Interested in Partnerships?
annemarie@thecfoproject.com