ROI for finance and accounting firms
$653 a month for a full-time employee. unlimited human seats.*
a full-time hire costs $11,011 a month, all overhead in.
$124,297 saved a year on each one
* each, three on the annual plan, billed monthly.
Prest0n employees in a CPA, tax, bookkeeping or wealth firm, or an in-house finance team, modeled: value after fees, the full range and the limits.
in short
the smaller firm the report starts with, in its first year.
every firm
each firm the report models, side by side.
if things go better or worse
what each firm nets in year one if one assumption is off. each line changes one assumption, for the worse and for the better; the last changes two at once.
role by role
one full-time person in each role, every listed task given to Prest0n but the ones kept by hand.
what Prest0n does not do here
Prest0n prepares the work; your people review it and decide.
- Prest0n gives no tax or investment advice.
- Prest0n never moves client money.
- Prest0n files no returns.
- a licensed professional reviews and releases the work.
- returned hours are capacity your team can use; they become savings only when they replace a hire, overtime, temps or outside spend.
sources
the public data the report’s wages and task hours rest on.
the modeled return
| firm (modeled) | plan | hours of work a month, once up to speed (modeled) | first-year value (modeled) | first-year cost | first-year net (modeled) | the month the cost is covered (modeled) | first-year net if one assumption is off (modeled) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small CPA, tax and bookkeeping firm (about 10 people) | 4 Prest0ns, annual, billed monthly | 272 | $150,145 | $45,429 | $104,716 | month 3 | $8,137 to $171,888 |
| Mid-size CPA firm (about 40 people) | 20 Prest0ns, annual, billed monthly | 1,157 | $661,338 | $164,488 | $496,850 | month 2 | $72,470 to $804,094 |
| Small RIA / wealth management firm (about 8 people) | 3 Prest0ns, annual, billed monthly | 191 | $219,942 | $38,330 | $181,612 | month 1 | $38,981 to $474,085 |
| Mid-size RIA / wealth management firm (about 30 people) | 16 Prest0ns, annual, billed monthly | 713 | $814,912 | $120,283 | $694,629 | month 1 | $165,807 to $1,762,306 |
| Small in-house finance and accounting team (6.5 people, company revenue about $60 million) | 3 Prest0ns, annual, billed monthly | 169 | $148,814 | $33,336 | $115,478 | month 2 | $31,579 to $216,831 |
| Mid-size in-house finance and accounting team (24 people, company revenue about $400 million) | 10 Prest0ns, annual, billed monthly | 598 | $520,033 | $108,505 | $411,528 | month 1 | $120,141 to $857,933 |
modeled estimates from the open ROI report, version 2026-11, prices as of 1 November 2026. returned hours are capacity, not cash; these are modeled, not guaranteed, and not a promise of results.
by role (modeled, one full-time person)
| role | hours returned a month (modeled) | net value a month (modeled) | share of one Prest0n's month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accounts payable specialist | 39 | $3,040 | 172% |
| Staff accountant / bookkeeper | 38 | $3,183 | 129% |
| Senior accountant / CPA | 38 | $5,628 | 56% |
| Client service / office administrator | 38 | $3,329 | 87% |
| Accounts receivable and collections specialist | 37 | $3,374 | 92% |
| Financial analyst (incl. FP&A) | 36 | $7,826 | 39% |
| FP&A analyst (in-house) | 31 | $5,519 | 41% |
| Financial advisor / wealth manager | 29 | $5,786 | 96% |
| Tax preparer | 28 | $2,591 | 71% |
| Payroll specialist | 26 | $2,742 | 50% |
| Paraplanner / client service associate | 24 | $2,858 | 81% |
| Compliance officer | 24 | $4,238 | 48% |
| Corporate accountant (staff or senior) | 22 | $3,651 | 32% |
| Controller / finance manager | 21 | $6,086 | 29% |
| Partner / principal (CPA firm) | 18 | $4,296 | 53% |
evidence
117 tasks; 92 rest on grade-C (weakest) evidence, 86% of the lead firm's modeled value.
- Instructions for Form 1040 (2025): Estimates of Taxpayer Burden — Internal Revenue Service source
- What bank reconciliation cycle time really tells you: Metric of the Month — CFO.com (Perry D. Wiggins), APQC data; republished by Yahoo Finance source
- How to do a bank reconciliation (guide) — Xero source
- Metric of the Month: Cycle Time for Monthly Close — CFO.com (Perry D. Wiggins), APQC data source
- Accounts payable benchmarking: How to grow AP performance — Stampli (citing APQC benchmarking data) source
- How Do Financial Advisors Actually Spend Their Time And The Limitations Of Productivity? — Kitces.com (Michael Kitces), Kitces Research source
- AI Meeting Notes Tools For Financial Advisors: Solo Productivity Vs Associate Advisor Development? — Kitces.com (Michael Kitces) source
- Kitces Research on comprehensive financial plans: advisor time, income and outsourcing (2022 study) — Kitces.com (Adam Van Deusen, CFP) source
- Outsourcing Financial Plan Preparation When Hitting A Capacity Wall — Kitces.com (Adam Van Deusen, CFP) source
- Perception vs. reality: workflow gaps between marketing and compliance — Saifr (Vall Herard) source
- Calculating what your bank spends on marketing compliance reviews — Persado (Taylor Mahoney) source
- Proposed collection; comment request; extension: Rule 204A-1 (investment adviser codes of ethics) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Register 90 FR 8552 (FR Doc. 2025-01935) source
- Extension: Rule 206(4)-7 (compliance procedures and practices), information collection notice — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Register 87 FR 3135 (FR Doc. 2022-01061) source
- FINRA Rule 2210. Communications with the Public — FINRA source
- 17 CFR 275.204-2: Books and records to be maintained by investment advisers — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (CFR text) source
- SEC adopts amendments to Regulation S-P (press release 2024-58) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission source
- U.S. SEC Regulation S-P: Compliance Deadline Approaching for Smaller Entities — Sidley Austin, Data Matters (Esmaili, Wilan, Anglin) source
- SEC Adopts Significant Amendments to Regulation S-P Requiring Notification of Sensitive Customer Information Breaches, Service Provider Oversight — Simpson Thacher & Bartlett source
- IRS, Security Summit remind tax pros they need a written information security plan to protect client data (IR-2026-92) — Internal Revenue Service source
- 26 CFR 301.7216-3: Disclosure or use permitted only with the taxpayer's consent — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (CFR text) source
- 26 CFR 301.7216-2: Permissible disclosures or uses without consent of the taxpayer — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (CFR text) source
- Section 7216 information center — Internal Revenue Service source
- The 2025 National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) Survey: Executive Summary — AICPA Private Companies Practice Section and CPA.com (copy hosted by the Texas Society of CPAs) source
- 2025 Rosenberg Survey: What the Numbers Are Telling Us — Rosenberg Associates (Kristen Rampe, CPA) source
- FP&A Trends Survey 2025: From Ambition to Execution — FP&A Trends Group (sponsored by OneStream) source
- The Ever-Expanding 10-K: Why Are 10-Ks Getting So Much Longer (and Does It Matter)? — CLS Blue Sky Blog, Columbia Law School (research by Travis Dyer, Mark Lang and Lorien Stice-Lawrence) source
- Blogging Statistics 2026 — Orbit Media Studios source
- Bookkeeping Prices for Small Business: What to Expect in 2026 — NerdWallet (Hillary Crawford) source
- Tax season offshore accounting staffing — Connext Global (Monica Padillo) source
- The State of ePayables 2025: AP's Unfinished Journey — Ardent Partners (report sponsored by Bottomline) source
- The State of ePayables 2026 — Ardent Partners (Bottomline report page) source
- Accounts Payable Metrics that Matter in 2026 (Ardent Partners) — Tungsten Automation (report page) source
- Accounts Payable Metrics that Matter in 2026 (Ardent Partners) — Basware (report page) source
- How many finance employees should you have? — CFO.com (Perry D. Wiggins), APQC data source
- The Real Cost of Invoicing: Metric of the Month — CFO.com (Perry D. Wiggins), APQC data source
- Metric of the Month: Days Sales Outstanding Measures Efficiency — CFO.com (Perry D. Wiggins), APQC data source
- Metric of the Month: Annual Budget Cycle Times — CFO.com (Perry D. Wiggins), APQC data source
- Cycle Time to Complete the Annual Budget: Metric of the Month — CFO.com (Perry D. Wiggins), APQC data source
- 78% of finance teams have had to correct numbers (month-end close benchmarks survey) — Vena Solutions (survey fielded by Centiment) source
- Financial controls and audit preparation guide — CFO Particeps source
- Can your business spend less on sales tax compliance? — Avalara source
- Risks of manual sales tax compliance — TaxJar source
- State and Local Sales Tax Rates, 2026 — Tax Foundation source
- 13-week cash flow forecast — Centime source
- Board reporting best practices — Limelight source
- 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey Report: key highlights — Association for Financial Professionals (highlights published by Truist) source
- FBI notice: business email compromise targeting state, local, tribal and territorial governments — Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center source
- 2025 IC3 Internet Crime Report — Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center source
- Fraud Monitoring Phase 2 — Nacha source
- SEC Expands Smaller Reporting Company Relief — Orrick source
- 2nd Annual Vendor Onboarding Compliance Survey — Financial Operations Networks and VendorInfo (copy on a staging host) source
- Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Matching — Internal Revenue Service source
- General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (2025) — Internal Revenue Service source
- Proposed rule on the $2,000 information-reporting threshold for Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC (FR Doc. 2026-07519) — Internal Revenue Service, Federal Register source
- EY survey: payroll errors average $291 each, impacting the economy — Paycom (press release on an EY survey) source
- B2B payment practices trends in the US 2026 — Atradius source
- Poor invoice processing impact — Versapay source
- Invoice processing time: benchmarks, speed, and capacity — Invoice Data Extraction source
- Zero-touch cash application — Peakflo source
- Vendor statement reconciliation: duplicate payments, unapplied credits and fraud — Beancount.io source
- How Much Do Expense Reports Really Cost a Company? — GBTA Foundation (study with HRS) source
- How to write an SOP — ClickUp source
- HR cost optimization: save time on benefits questions — Jellyvision source
- Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, August 2026 — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics source
- The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies — McKinsey Global Institute source
- Accounts payable outsourcing: complete guide — SDO CPA source
- How much does a fractional controller cost in 2025? — Jumpstart Partners source
- Outsourced controller services cost — Etisson source
- The accounting graduate pipeline: where do things stand? — Journal of Accountancy source
- Rosenberg MAP Survey 2025 (CPA firm benchmarks) — The Rosenberg Associates / CPA Trendlines source
- Employer Costs for Employee Compensation - June 2026 (news release) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics source
- Occupational Outlook Handbook: Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (Pay) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics source
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