Packaging a Software Spend Review as billable advisory

Many bookkeeping and CAS firms want more advisory work that is easy to explain and easy to deliver. A Software Spend Review can be one piece of that. It has a clear input (the client's books), a clear output (a findings report under your firm name), and a natural follow-up (a short conversation about what the findings mean).

This piece covers how to package it as a billable service. It does not tell you what clients will pay or how many will say yes. That depends on your firm and your clients. How the review runs across a book is in How to run a Software Spend Review across a client book. How the report goes out under your brand is in White-labeled Software Spend Review.

What the client is buying

The client gets a findings report on the recurring software and tool payments in their books, under your firm brand, delivered as a PDF or a revocable share link, plus a short conversation about what to keep, question, or change. They do not get a ShadowLedger account and never log in. From their side, your firm did the work.

Keep the deliverable concrete. The client gets:

A findings report on the recurring software and tool payments in their books.
Each finding stating what was paid and why it was flagged: charges that repeat, possible duplicate vendors, amounts that changed, annual charges with the dates they landed, and unclear descriptors.
The report under your firm brand: your logo, prepared by your firm, prepared for them. Delivered as a PDF or a revocable share link.
A short conversation with you about what to keep, question, or change.

The findings come from payments in the ledger, so the report does not include seat counts, login data, or usage. Why that matters is in Software Spend Review reads what was paid, not who logged in.

Scope it so it is easy to agree to

A tight scope makes the engagement easy to price and easy to deliver.

One company file per engagement.
A defined date range, often a full year so annual charges show up.
A defined data source: a CSV from any source, or live QuickBooks Online or Xero.
One deliverable: the branded report.
One review conversation, in person or on a call.
Optional: a re-run for the next period, priced separately.

Setting your fee

Your firm sets the rate. Common shapes are a fixed fee per review, part of a monthly or quarterly advisory tier, or part of a year-end or planning package. Avoid pricing tied to savings. The report does not promise a savings number, so a contingency fee sets an expectation the review was never built to meet.

On the cost side, the Firm plan is $15 per client per month with a 4-client minimum, which is $60 per month. There is a 14-day trial, and it requires a card. Larger books can ask about volume at /contact?topic=volume. Those are ShadowLedger's prices to your firm. What you charge your client is up to you.

How to describe it in an engagement letter

Plain scope language keeps you and the client on the same page. For example:

We will review recurring software and tool payments recorded in your books for the agreed date range and provide a findings report. The report lists charges that repeat, possible duplicate vendors, amounts that changed, annual charges with the dates they posted, and descriptors that need clarification. The review is based on payments recorded in the ledger. It does not measure seats, logins, or usage, and it does not include a savings estimate.

Adjust the wording to your firm's style and your own engagement terms.

What to keep out of the pitch

Leave out savings figures, found money, seat reclaim, unused licenses, and claims about which tools a team relies on. Do not use named customers or testimonials you do not have, or /demo dollars as a forecast. Do not make security claims beyond /security and /dpa, and do not offer Google Workspace, which is not available.

Savings figures, found money, or anything framed as recoverable cash.
Seat reclaim, unused licenses, or claims about which tools a team relies on.
Named customers, logos, or testimonials you do not have.
Dollar figures from /demo used as a forecast. Those are sample figures on a made-up company, useful only to show the shape of the report.
Security claims beyond what is published. We do not have SOC 2. Point clients to /security and /dpa.
Google Workspace as a connection. It is not available.

Making it repeatable

The review is easy to run again. At the next planning cycle, run the same client for the next period and talk through what changed. That turns a one-time deliverable into a recurring line in your advisory work, without asking the client to adopt any new software.

What this is not

Not seat or login reclaim. A ledger records what was paid, not who logged in.
Not a savings guarantee or a contingency engagement.
Not an app the client has to use. The client never logs in.
Not a card-only spend review. ACH, checks, invoices, and direct debits recorded in the books are included.
Not a Google Workspace integration. Google Workspace is not available.
Not backed by invented metrics. No averages, no percentages, no named customers.

How to start

Run one review before you price anything. Pick a client, export a full year of transactions from any source, and run the free audit at /sign-up?intent=free: one company, no card. Read the report as your client would, and decide what you would charge for it.

When you are ready to offer it across your book, the Firm overview and 14-day trial are on /for-bookkeepers. The Firm trial requires a card.