Key Takeaways
- CAS is the fastest-growing service line in the accounting profession today, transforming compliance-focused revenue into predictable, year-round income streams
- Market forces accelerate CAS adoption, with the talent shortage and constant updates to regulations and technology creating urgent demand
- Successful CAS adoption requires investment, from drafting the vision and assembling dedicated staff to adopting pricing models that align your revenue with client outcomes
Client Accounting Services (CAS) or Client Accounting Advisory Services (CAAS), however you break out the acronym, has become a critical revenue driver for many accounting firms. In fact, 80% of Accounting Today’s Top 100 Firms for 2025 reported experiencing the most growth in their CAS offering.
This figure isn’t surprising when you consider that business leaders are grappling with the cumulative impact of new technologies, new laws, and new risks. As they turn to accounting professionals for strategic guidance, firms have the opportunity to influence business trajectories through client accounting services.
What is Client Accounting Services?
Client accounting services are, in simplest terms, outsourced accounting. When business owners engage CAS firms, they’re letting an external team of experienced professionals handle their accounting and financial tasks.
More recently, professional accounting bodies have advocated for the inclusion of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and business advisory services as part of a standardized CAS bundle. This evolution helps firms move beyond compliance-only work into year-round advisory that generates recurring revenue streams.
Why Do Accounting Firms Offer Client Accounting Services?
The most direct answer is demand. The same Accounting Today survey we cited earlier, in fact, continues the growth trend that firms experienced in 2024—that is, client accounting services being their fastest-growing niche, surpassing attest and state and local taxes (SALT).
Although CAS is relatively young, several market conditions have accelerated its adoption. The persistent talent shortage is an example. Businesses struggle to find or afford qualified accounting professionals, yet the demand for more timely and accurate reporting to support decision-making hasn’t slowed. Accounting still needs to be done well. And with constant changes to regulations and tech, it now needs to be done faster.
Partnering with firms that already have the talent and infrastructure in place is one way to meet such demands with fewer bottlenecks. With a credible partner for outsourced accounting services, you can offer real-time strategic insights alongside basic bookkeeping and accounting functions.
Other Advantages of Client Accounting Services
Recurring Revenue Model
In the traditional model, fluctuations in a firm’s financial health are tied to busy seasons. With client accounting services, however, you generate predictable revenue from recurring services that you can bundle and price to yield additional or higher income.
Consider the 2024 CAS Benchmark Survey by CPA.com and the AICPA Private Companies Practice Section. They found that CAS firms increased their revenue by 17% (median rate) in 2023, continuing the double-digit growth they’ve experienced since 2018. This optimistic trend gives experts reason to believe that incorporating client accounting services will serve firms well in the years to come.
Increased Client Lifetime Value
Moving from seasonal, compliance-only work to year-round accounting services creates more touchpoints to strengthen relationships with clients. In turn, you can enjoy more referrals and greater opportunities to expand service agreements.
Competitive Differentiation
As AI-powered accounting tech becomes more ubiquitous, firms need to offer greater value to justify their fees. Since client accounting services evolve firms into strategic partners instead of simply being providers of commoditized services, they’re well-positioned to stay profitable.
What are Examples of Client Accounting Services?
CAS bundles differ based on your clients’ needs, but below are six common offerings:
Bookkeeping
All businesses require good bookkeeping, so it makes sense for it to be a foundational client accounting service.
Bookkeeping entails the day-to-day management of finances, covering:
- Accounts Payable (AP): Managing invoice processing and payment scheduling so clients maintain positive relationships with vendors while preserving cash reserves
- Accounts Receivable (AR): Handling customer invoicing, collections, and tracking of due dates to ensure your client has a steady cash flow
By recording, categorizing, and reconciling all transactions, firms create an up-to-date ledger that serves as a single source of information for all subsequent financial reporting and analysis.
Financial Statement Preparation
Building on accurate bookkeeping, practices offering client accounting services produce monthly, quarterly, or annual reports that illustrate a company’s financial position, making it easier to plan for the future. The three core financial statements are balance sheets, profit and loss (income) statements, and cash flow statements
Audits and Tax Preparation
CAS providers can perform internal audits or prepare client businesses for external audits. Either way, they ensure that all financial records are accurate and compliant with accounting standards. They also help clients file tax returns in accordance with state and federal laws. This continuous involvement puts them in a better position to advise on tax-saving opportunities.
Payroll Processing
Variances in tax and compliance requirements can lead to payroll errors and consequent penalties. This is especially true for businesses with a larger workforce. Client accounting services providers help prevent such from ever happening by calculating employee wages, deducting necessary taxes, and managing benefits and bonuses.
Budgeting and Financial Forecasting
Using historical financial data, CAS practices create realistic budgets and projections for various scenarios. They also conduct variance analyses, adjusting forecasts as conditions change.
Virtual Controller Services
A virtual or outsourced controller generally oversees the day-to-day financial operations of businesses. This service involves:
- Providing financial guidance to leadership
- Helping with variance analyses
- Developing internal controls to ensure efficiency across all financial procedures
- Preparing board reports
- Coordinating with banks and lenders
Demand for Outsourced CFO Services
CAS firms may also provide CFO or business insights services, but the 2024 CAS Benchmark Survey reported that these are often not part of a standardized offering. The firms that generated revenue from either service earned more than 30% higher monthly recurring revenue and saw a 30% increase in typical monthly fees.
This data highlights the demand for a more regular offering of higher-level services as part of a CAS bundle to address niche, industry-specific challenges.
Strategies for Implementing CAS
Define Your Niche
Specializing in client niches or industries allows you to standardize processes and upskill staff to address targeted challenges. The latter is especially important in developing the expertise needed for your firm to provide business insights to clients, ultimately increasing profitability.
Leverage the Latest Technology
Fully commit to continuous investment in tech. A centralized tech stack for each defined client niche determines how efficiently your CAS practice can deliver services. Partnering with accounting practice management software vendors can help you standardize workflows and automate recurring processes, all while protecting sensitive financial data.
Hire a Dedicated CAS Team
CPA.com recommends having dedicated staff whose focus is to deliver consistent client accounting and advisory services without being pulled into busy-season work or other parts of your firm. This means cross-training team members so tasks can be shifted among them when needed.
With a focused CAS team, you’ll have more time and extensive knowledge to meet clients where they are.
Get Pricing Right
Traditionally, firms charge clients by the hour. But with more push for efficiency across the board, you’re inadvertently penalized for working faster. Hourly billing can be useful at the outset to gauge the true scope of work before transitioning to fixed-fee arrangements.
Fixed-fee billing charges a predictable monthly, quarterly, or annual fee. It’s good practice to monitor out-of-scope tasks and periodically reassess your fees based on changes in transaction volumes or added services. Otherwise, you may have to deal with scope creeps.
Another more flexible alternative is value-based pricing. As its name implies, you price a service based on its value to your client.
Finding the Right Staff for Your CAS Service Line
Client accounting services have shifted the relationship between accounting firms and clients into that of collaborators. Where accountants used to focus solely on periodic and traditional accounting work, they now have the opportunity and are even expected to offer advisory and financial management insights that create more value for clients. And being more valuable to clients is necessary to stay competitive.
Given the growing demand for these services, and perhaps because of it, you should consider taking initial steps toward building a CAS practice (if you haven’t already). If finding and retaining qualified talent to power your CAS vision is a challenge, TOA Global has spent over a decade connecting US accounting firms with highly qualified professionals from the Philippines who’ve been screened to be job-ready from day one.
Our vast pool of bookkeepers, auditors, junior CPAs, and US-trained offshore accountants allows you to tailor solutions based on your immediate CAS needs.
Schedule a call with our growth experts to discuss how we can support your accounting service lines.
