After the billable hour.

One piece a week on AI strategy for professional services firms. What’s working, what isn’t, where margin is moving.

Shawn Yeager

September 8, 2026

PE Closed 104 Accounting Deals in 2025. They’re Not Buying Cash Flow.

Cornerstone recorded 104 PE deals in accounting in 2025. What a buyer pays at exit depends on whether the new offerings already have clients.

September 1, 2026

The Big Four Spent $10 Billion on AI. There’s Ground They Still Can’t Occupy.

The Big Four invested more than $10 billion in AI and can now serve mid-market clients profitably. They still cannot send the partner who already knows the client.

August 25, 2026

‘AI Is Eating the Agency Business.’ Your Vertical Is 18 Months Behind.

Agencies are 18 months ahead of law and accounting. The ones that grew changed what they sell. That playbook applies to every professional services vertical.

August 18, 2026

Being Irreplaceable Protected the Work, Not the Price

Human Interest credits back the 401(k) audit fee for plans it administers. A CPA firm signs the opinion. Nothing replaced the work. You lost the fee anyway.

August 11, 2026

The Blockers Aren’t Budget, People, or Technology

Most mid-market firms that adopted AI say they were only somewhat prepared for it. The barriers they name have nothing to do with tools.

August 4, 2026

Which Legal Practices Your Clients Can Now Handle Without You

151 funded AI companies now sell into legal work. Of 21 practices, 13 are ones a client can finish without a firm. Four keep the lawyer and bill fewer hours.

Not sure where to start? See where your firm stands — 8 minutes, no account required.

July 28, 2026

From Episodic to Continuous: The Revenue Model That Doesn’t Reset to Zero

Every professional services engagement starts at zero. Firms selling always-on monitoring and subscription advisory stop re-selling the same client.

July 21, 2026

The Cut Your Clients Already Planned

Deloitte surveyed 121 corporate legal leaders, the clients who hire outside firms. They expect hourly billing to fall from 72 to 44 percent of work.

July 14, 2026

Tokens Are the New Billable Hour

A metered bill says the seller can’t price the result. Buyers are forcing AI vendors off theirs. Your firm can afford to quit the meter; your vendors can’t.

July 7, 2026

93% of Firms Say They Offer Advisory. Almost None Have Systematized It.

Advisory is supposed to replace the revenue AI is repricing. In most firms it lives in one partner’s head, and no firm can scale what nobody has scoped.

June 30, 2026

McKinsey Put Numbers on Your Repricing

Your clients decided AI should make your work cost less. McKinsey’s QuantumBlack puts 32 pages of evidence behind that, and prescribes a cure you don’t need.

June 23, 2026

The Most Valuable Input in AI Is the Thing You Sell by the Hour

AI companies spent a decade pricing human work: commodity rates for execution, billions for judgment. Your hourly invoice charges for both at the same rate.

June 16, 2026