The Modern CPA Success Show: Episode 156

AI is changing more than the speed of accounting work. It is changing what firms can sell and how clients measure value.

Shawn Yeager, founder of Upshift, joins Tom Wadelton and Adam Hale to discuss how AI is reshaping pricing and service design across professional services. After three decades commercializing emerging technology, including work on Microsoft’s first browser team, Shawn now helps firms turn AI from an internal efficiency project into a commercial strategy.

Shawn explains why the billable hour as a unit of value is changing, how firms can separate routine work from judgment and trust, and why advisory should be packaged around specific outcomes rather than broad labels. He also shares a four-quadrant approach for reviewing service lines, a product-market fit process for testing new offers, and why firms should build their context and workflows instead of chasing every new AI tool.

Accounting firm owners concerned about margin compression, commoditization, or where to invest next will find practical direction in this episode. Tune in to How AI Is Forcing Accounting Firms to Rethink Pricing with Shawn Yeager.