ISSUE №4 · TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2026
A firm owner sent me this last Thursday evening:
"This client is technically fine. They annoy the ever-loving you-know-what out of me, but they aren't rude. Not even very demanding. About 8 hours of work a month. They're asking to discuss fees. The thing is, between the bookkeeping and the tax return, they're $42k a year. I feel so petty for not wanting to compromise. If I liked them, I'd be more accommodating in a heartbeat."
Here’s what I told her:
$42k is what the client pays you. But what does the client cost you? Most of it never shows up on the invoice.
Let's start with the part she was embarrassed to admit out loud: she doesn't like how they run their business. She told me that they make terrible decisions with their money. They throw cash at things she'd never advise. None of that makes them bad people. It does make them clients she doesn't respect and you can't lowkey disrespect a client for years and not have it cost you something.
Most firm owners think they need a "real" reason to let a client go, like a nasty email or an unethical ask. Something that makes them feel justified… like they have permission.
"I don't agree with how they spend their money and I dread their name in my inbox" doesn't feel like a real reason. It feels petty.
And I’m here to tell you…it isn't.
You don't have to wait for a client to do something bad enough to justify firing them. Misalignment is a sufficient reason. You're not their friend, you're not their therapist, you're their accountant and being a good accountant requires you to actually believe in the work. When you don't, the cost shows up in places that the invoice doesn't track.
The energy that gets diverted to managing your feelings every time their name shows up in your inbox. Your team's morale, your employee who handles their bookkeeping is annoyed every week, and that bleeds into the work they do for everyone else. The bandwidth that could have gone to better-fit clients you don't have room for. Those “8 hours a month” carry a lot of extra weight.
Add it up honestly and you’ll see… that $42k isn't profit. It's a transaction where you're paying part of the cost in attention.
So here's the move when the fee discussion email arrives:
"I can't make that work for me, but I'm happy to help with a clean handoff to another firm."
One sentence. No apology. No long explanation. No counter-offer at a smaller discount you'll resent more than the original price.
"But what if I can't replace the income?"
You will. The clients who grit-your-teeth their way through your inbox aren't subsidizing the rest of your firm. They're funded by the rest of your firm… by the attention they pull from the work that actually grows. Cut them loose and the bandwidth comes back, and the bandwidth is what finds you the next $42k. Usually in less time, with less friction, from people whose decisions you can actually get behind.
Fifteen minutes into the conversation, she wrote:
"I would feel wildly free without them."
That's the part to pay attention to! Not the $42k math, not the script, not the strategy for replacing the income, though all of that matters. The part to pay attention to is what your own language sounds like the moment you stop trying to talk yourself into keeping a client you've already decided you don't want. The relief shows up before the email does. That's how you know it’s time to let them go.
Your firm should run the way you wish it could.
The boundary is the service.
— Rebecca
Got a boundary you’re struggling to hold?
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More from Rebecca: rdriscollcpa.com · AI Lab for Accountants · The Collaboration Room · Fix Your Firm