Success depends on making deliberate choices.

It's Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

Client Advisory Services (CAS) remain the strongest revenue driver for accounting firms. Yet, building a thriving CAS practice goes far beyond adding bookkeeping or management reporting to your services. Success depends on how you select clients, manage teams, communicate value, and adapt to the realities of technology and outsourcing. 

In a recent episode of It’s Not Just the Numbers, co-hosts Damien Greathead and Penny Breslin unpack some of the most pressing challenges facing firm owners as they scale CAS. Their conversation highlights practical lessons on team transparency, client selection, vertical specialization, and even how to address the growing role of AI. 

One of the key questions from listeners was whether firms should share profitability data with their teams. The consensus is that full transparency isn’t always necessary, but clarity around scope and efficiency is critical. 

Instead of disclosing exact margins, Greathead and Breslin suggest teaching your team what makes a service profitable, and what erodes that profitability.