Keep clients coming back · Every business
Referrals for Accountants, Bookkeepers and Tax Preparers
An accounting practice keeps most of its clients from one year to the next, so growth depends on the handful of new names that arrive each season, and most of those arrive through two doors (clients who mention the practice to a friend and professionals who send work across the desk), each of which has its own timing and its own rules.
At a glance
- A practice referral system has two halves: a client ask placed after the season, when the return is accepted and the client feels relief, and a small circle of attorneys, bankers, financial advisers and insurance agents who meet regularly and send work both ways.
- In the National Association of Tax Professionals' 2025 fee study, 87% of respondents' clients were returning and 13% were new, so a 300-client practice takes on about 39 new clients a year just to replace the ones it loses.
- In a randomized experiment with about 2,800 young firms, published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, owners assigned to small groups that met monthly for a year raised revenue by 8.1%.
- Referral fees and client information carry rules for accountants and tax preparers, including written-disclosure requirements in some states and IRS consent rules on sharing tax return information.
General information, not legal, tax or ethics advice; rules differ by state and license, so check with your board of accountancy or a licensed professional about your situation.
Part 1 | The practice refills the same 13% every year
An accounting or tax practice has an unusually steady book, which makes its growth problem easy to miss. In NATP's 2025 fee study, 87% of respondents' clients were returning, and the 13% that were new each year represent the clients a practice has to find just to stand still before it grows at all.
The owner's first instinct for finding those clients is often We should run ads in January. Yet in Nielsen's global survey of more than 30,000 online consumers, 83% said they trust recommendations from people they know, more than any form of advertising measured, and for a service as personal as someone's taxes or books, that trust is most of the sale.
Part 2 | Ask clients in May, not in April
Timing the client ask is easier in an accounting practice than in almost any other trade, because the high point arrives on a known date. Research on remembered experience in Psychological Science found that 22 of 32 people chose to repeat a longer, more uncomfortable trial when it ended more gently, and for a tax client the gentle ending is the accepted return or the refund deposit, while for a bookkeeping client it is the first clean month-end report or a year-end close with no surprises.
The reward, if any, works best when it goes to the friend. Field experiments reported in the Journal of Marketing Research found that rewarding the new customer brought in more referrals than rewarding only the referrer, so a practice might waive the new client's organizer fee or offer a free first-year review rather than pay the referring client.
The client ask, sent the week the return is accepted
"Your return was accepted today, and your refund should arrive in about [number] weeks. Thank you for trusting [business name] again this year. If a friend, family member or colleague has been putting off their taxes or their books, we'd be glad to help, and their first-year review is on us."
Part 3 | A professional circle, with the rules written in
The other door faces other professionals: the estate attorney whose clients need fiduciary returns, the banker whose small business borrowers need clean financial statements, the financial adviser whose clients are retiring and the insurance agent who hears about a new business first. The randomized experiment in the Quarterly Journal of Economics is the best evidence that this kind of circle pays, and it found that groups meeting regularly produced more partnerships than one-time meetings, which points to a standing monthly breakfast rather than an annual mixer.
Two sets of rules shape the circle for accountants and tax preparers. The first concerns money: the AICPA code requires members to disclose referral fees and commissions to clients and restricts commissions for clients receiving attest services, and some states go further, with Florida's accountancy statute, for example, requiring that disclosure to be in writing, according to the Florida Institute of CPAs. The second concerns information. The IRS states that tax return information covers "all the information tax return preparers obtain from taxpayers," that disclosures not specifically authorized require the taxpayer's advance signed consent and that a preparer may not ask for consent to use the information for solicitation after handing the completed return to the client for signature.
In practice that means the introduction to a financial adviser either comes with the client's written consent, collected at engagement rather than at signing, or comes the other way round, with the client given the adviser's name and left to make the call.
| Active clients (Assumption) | 300 |
|---|---|
| Clients who refer someone today (Assumption) | 6% |
| Clients who refer with a post-season ask (Assumption) | 10% |
| Referred people who become clients (Assumption) | 70% |
| New clients from client referrals, today (Calculated (300 × 6% × 70%)) | 12.6 |
| New clients with the ask (Calculated (300 × 10% × 70%)) | 21 |
| Average annual fee per client (Assumption) | $650 |
| Added fees from the client ask (Calculated ((21 − 12.6) × $650)) | $5,460 |
| Partners in the circle sending 4 clients a year each (Assumption) | 3 |
| Added fees from the circle (Calculated (3 × 4 × $650)) | $7,800 |
| Added first-year fees (Calculated ($5,460 + $7,800)) | $13,260 |
Illustrative example; replace every assumption with your own numbers. Most of these clients return in later years, so the lasting value is larger.
How you compare
- New-client share: NATP respondents reported 13% new clients; compare your own count of first-year clients with the total.
- Value of referred clients: in a study of about 10,000 bank customers in the Journal of Marketing, referred customers were worth at least 16% more and about 18% less likely to leave; check whether your referred clients stay longer.
- Your own baseline: add "Who told you about us?" to your intake form for one season and count the answers that name a person or a firm.
Questions to ask this week
When does our client ask go out? Move it to the week returns are accepted or the year-end closes.
Which three professionals serve our clients without competing with us? Invite them to a monthly breakfast.
Do we pay or receive anything for referrals? If so, write down how and when it is disclosed, and check your state board's rule.
Where is our section 7216 consent collected? Put it in the engagement packet, not in the signing envelope.
The next step is to list three partner professionals by name of firm and schedule the first monthly meeting before next season begins.
About this research: This article draws on the National Association of Tax Professionals' 2025 Fee Study media highlights, Nielsen's 2015 Global Trust in Advertising survey, a randomized experiment in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, research on remembered experience in Psychological Science, a study of referral rewards in the Journal of Marketing Research, a study of bank customers in the Journal of Marketing, the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, a Florida Institute of CPAs summary of referral-fee rules and IRS guidance on section 7216. Published data on referrals in accounting practices is thin, so the referral rates in the worked example are assumptions.
Sources
- National Association of Tax Professionals. 2025 Fee Study Media Highlights. November 2025.
- Nielsen. Global Trust in Advertising. 2015. More than 30,000 online consumers in 60 countries.
- Cai, J. and Szeidl, A. Interfirm Relationships and Business Performance. Quarterly Journal of Economics 133(3), 2018. About 2,800 firms.
- Kahneman, D., Fredrickson, B. L., Schreiber, C. A. and Redelmeier, D. A. When More Pain Is Preferred to Less: Adding a Better End. Psychological Science 4(6), 1993.
- Gershon, R., Cryder, C. and John, L. K. Why Prosocial Referral Incentives Work. Journal of Marketing Research 57(1), 2020.
- Schmitt, P., Skiera, B. and Van den Bulte, C. Referral Programs and Customer Value. Journal of Marketing 75(1), 2011. About 10,000 bank customers.
- American Institute of CPAs. AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, Commissions and Referral Fees Rule (1.520). Updated through July 2026.
- Florida Institute of CPAs. Commissions and referral fees under AICPA Rule 503 and Section 473.3205, Florida Statutes. Florida CPA Today, September/October 2013.
- Internal Revenue Service. Section 7216 Frequently Asked Questions.
Related reading: How to Build a Referral System That Doesn't Feel Like Begging · The Referral Ask to Use at the End of a Visit · What a Referred Customer Is Worth Compared With One From an Ad · How Law and Accounting Firms Can Ask for Reviews Within Professional Rules
Work with osNOVA on referrals for your practice
We help accounting, bookkeeping and tax practices time the client ask to the end of the season, build a small circle of partner professionals that meets every month and write the disclosure and consent steps into the engagement packet, starting from what you want more of, whether that is more new clients each season, better-fit clients or steadier year-round work.
Email hello@osnovaops.com about your business
Or leave your email and we will reach out
Tell us what kind of business you run and what you want more of.
Not ready to talk? osNOVA runs free live events for owners.