The Professional's Guide to Value Pricing 2000 (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Italian Fra Luca Pacioli published his Summa de Arithmetica Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita in 1494, representing the collected knowledge of mathematics at that time..." (more)
Key Phrases: Professional's Guide, United States, Time Accounting (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Baker's work is easy to read and his strategies are easy to implement. The bottom line... value pricing is easy money. -- Anjanette L. Thomas, Esq.

I have long been frustrated to watch CPAs leave so much on the table because of their timidity about obtaining the full value of their services. This is particularly true for practitioners who have worked hard to increase the value of their services, but who have no idea how to increase their prices. Ron Baker's Value Pricing provides the long-needed guidance for matching price to value. I highly recommend this book to every CPA. -- Jim Kurtz, CPA, CA Society of Certified Public Accountants

Ron Baker is a true visionary for the CPA profession. He understands both the economic side and the human side of our business. He has taught me how to determine the services our clients most value. When true value has been provided, our clients have compensated us accordingly. This compensation has far surpassed any measurement of hourly rate or time involved. I encourage my fellow professionals to put Ron Baker's concepts into practice and discover for yourselves how richly your efforts will be rewarded. -- Daryl B. Golemb, CPA

Ron Baker is arguably the profession's most original thinker. If you want to make money--and I mean significantly more money--from your practice, this book is a must-read. Ron understands this subject like the back of this hand and he's passionate about it. He could safely offer a hundred-fold money-back guarantee. -- Chris Frederiksen, CPA, Frederiksen & Co.

Ron Baker is one of the master thinkers in the accounting profession. Few people have thought as long and hard about Total Quality Service and Value Pricing as he has. Every serious CPA who wants to add value and be compensated accordingly should own, read, and re-read this extraordinary book. -- Troy Waugh, CPA, MBA, President, Waugh & Co.

Product Description

Chapters 1 through 5 of the book cover a history of the accounting profession and move into why people buy what they buy, and how much they will pay.

Chapters 6 and 7 challenge the 40-year-old practice of hourly billing.

Chapter 8 looks at price psychology and at why professionals suffer from write-downs.

In Chapters 9 through 13 you will find alternative to the hourly billing method that are superior in obtaining the value for the services provided.

Chapter 14 reinforces the importance of customer service and loyalty. Chapter 15 is about making the transition from a compliance CPA to a consultant.

Chapter 16 discusses the morality of hourly billing vs. Value Pricing, along with some of the ethical quandaries that attorneys are struggling with as they shift away from hourly billing.

In Chapter 17 the critical link between a professional's level of self-esteem and the ability to Value Price is explored.

Chapters 18 and 19 are for those who want to delve deeper into theory and law and cover anti-trust policy and price theory.

Chapter 20 concludes with some thoughts regarding the death of the Almighty Hour and whether or not Value Pricing is a fad that will disappear or a portentous "paradigm shift" that will permanently alter the way in which professionals price their services.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 460 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt; Bk&CD Rom edition (January 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156069938
• ISBN-13: 978-0156069939
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,597,028 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will change your life, January 25, 2000

By	Stuart Jones (Kendal, England) - See all my reviews

Having read the previous edition of this book for just 20 minutes I e-mailed the author to tell him that "I have seen this book described as the most important book in the profession. Without a shadow of a doubt, it will change my life."

The new chapters make this latest edition even better. Read the chapter on Total Quality Service to understand how to compete in the future. Ron Baker will completely change your views on pricing professional services. You will start to charge what you are worth with a consequent improvement in both income and self esteem.

Recently I was in a group of 70 accountants who listened to the author speak on Value Pricing for just ten minutes. At the end he received a standing ovation. In my 30 years in the profession I have never seen accountants show such enthusiasm for a speaker and his subject.

If you want to change your professional (and personal) life for the better buy this book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most important book to hit our profession in many years, September 23, 2001

By	Joel E. Jacobson, EA (Coral Springs, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 2001 Professional's Guide to Value Pricing (Paperback)

Run, don't walk, to order your copy of this book. Ron Baker does for pricing our services what Montgomery did for Auditing.
What a novel idea, to get paid for the value of the services that we provide to our clients.
Ron Baker's goal, as he so aptly describes it, is "to trash time sheets forever". Keeping track of time is the biggest waste of time ever perpetrated on professionals. Accountants have become slaves to the concept of "the almighty hour". We are not selling hours but intellectual capital.
Ron takes you through every step necessary to start your trip to successful value pricing. You will learn exactly how to present this to your existing clients. You will also learn how to use a change order when there turns out to be hidden surprises that no one anticipated. He will explain the concept of service guarantees as an excellent way of gaining new clients and show you in detail how to draft service agreements to use. The book comes with a CD-Rom that has many forms and agreements referred to in the book.
I don't know too many people who are thrilled about the idea of having any work done for them without knowing exactly what the cost will be. It's like boarding an airplane in Los Angeles, flying to New York, and being told your fare will depend on how many minutes you're in the air.
Ron Baker is truly one of the very few original thinkers in the accounting profession. Listen to him; learn from him, and I promise you that you will improve your professional life and most important, your bottom line as well.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wish I had read this book 20 years ago, August 31, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: 2001 Professional's Guide to Value Pricing (Paperback)

I bought this book on a trial basis, due to its cost. It came on a Friday, and I scanned it that night. I wrote the check next morning.
This book changed my attitude about my profession. I was ready to quit. Burned out, tired, frustrated, and angry.
Within one month, I had identified 5 major clients and had more than doubled the revenue from those clients. My staff is happier because they feel they are being treated as professionals and generating fees more in line with their abilities. We have "dismissed" several non-productive clients, and haven't missed the revenue. We work fewer hours at more enjoyable work and actually make more profits. It has positively affected my home life as well.