"Too often, we're stepping over dollars to pick up pennies."

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

By age 25, Debbie Kilsheimer was already disrupting the traditional accounting mindset. At her first job, she questioned why clients were billed by the hour when speed and efficiency weren’t rewarded.

“The smarter I get, the more efficient I become, the less you make,” she told her boss. “I don’t understand that. Plus, the clients don’t know what anything will cost—so they’re afraid to call.”

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Her suggestion to switch to flat-rate pricing was met with disbelief, but she knew she was onto something. Two decades later, Kilsheimer and her husband, Hal, run a million-dollar firm built on premium service, not time sheets.

“I’m going to be Starbucks. I’m going to be Louis Vuitton,” she says. “I’m going to be the most expensive accountant they talk to—and I’m going to deliver on that promise.”