Forecasting software for accountants and CPA firms
Forecasting software for accountants turns a client's closed books into a cash forecast and budget the firm can review and sell every month, without rebuilding a spreadsheet. Budgeter.ai connects read-only to each client's QuickBooks Online or Xero, drafts the 13-week and 12-month forecast from their actuals and refreshes it after every close.
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Fictional client names and example flags.
Forecasting tools for accounting firms compared
Each of these tools does part of the job. The question for a firm is which one lets a staff accountant run the monthly refresh for many clients.
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| Tool | Published price | Forecast type | Client setup | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet per client | Staff time | Whatever the template supports | Rebuilt or rolled forward by hand each month | One or two clients with simple books |
| Jirav firm plans | From $50 or $150 a month per client | Driver-based budgets and forecasts | The firm builds the model | Firms with a modeling specialist on staff |
| Float | From $105 a month billed yearly | Cash flow only | Pulls invoices and bills from the ledger | Clients whose main worry is the bank balance |
| Fathom Pro | $450 a month for 25 companies | Three-way forecasting, reporting | Forecast built by the advisor | Reporting-led firms that add some forecasting |
| Reach Reporting | $149, $290 or $550 a month | Three-way forecasts and multi-year plans | 1, 10 or 25 connections | Firms with custom report layouts |
| Budgeter.ai | $74 a month per client billed yearly, or $999 a month for 5 clients on Scale | Budget, 13-week and 12-month cash forecast, runway, scenarios | Drafted from the books, refreshed after each close | Firms selling a monthly forecast and budget review |
Competitor prices are the published list prices checked in October 2026 and can change.
Be honest with yourself about what the client will pay for. If the engagement is a tidy monthly report across thirty small clients, Fathom Portfolio at $67 a month covers far more companies for less, and Jirav's firm plans are cheap per client if someone at the firm enjoys building driver models.
The harder sale, and the better paid one, is forward-looking. The owner wants to know if payroll still clears in March, whether the slow season means drawing on the line of credit, and what a second truck or a new hire does to cash. That needs a forecast that is current the week after close, every month, not a model somebody updates when they have a spare afternoon.
That is the gap Budgeter fills for accounting firms. The client's ledger stays the single source of actuals. The budget is drafted from it, the cash flow forecast sits on top, and both refresh when the books are closed.
Your staff accountant reviews instead of rebuilds, and the partner spends the meeting on decisions. Firms that run monthly reporting through Fathom or Reach often keep that tool and add Budgeter only for the clients who buy forecasting. Our Fathom alternatives and Reach Reporting alternatives comparisons cover that split in more detail.
What the firm gets for each advisory client
Everything comes from the client's own ledger. There is no import template to maintain and no setup project per client.
A 13-week and 12-month cash forecast
Built from the budget, the bank balance and planned payroll, with the lowest cash week and the month the money runs out at the current burn.
A budget drafted from actuals
Next year is proposed by account and month from 12 to 24 months of history, seasonality included. Staff start from a draft, not an empty grid.
Variance notes after close
Each large difference between budget and actual comes with a short written explanation naming the accounts. The reviewer edits it instead of writing it.
Read-only access to the books
Budgeter never posts invoices, bills, bank transactions or journals. The client file you reconcile stays exactly as you left it.
Scenarios the owner can follow
Test a new hire, a price change or a slow-paying customer in plain English and show cash before and after, with the assumptions on the screen.
A meeting pack in one export
The monthly pack exports as PDF on Growth and up, and the model as XLSX or CSV. Owners can log in as read-only viewers at no extra cost.
How a firm runs a client forecast in four steps
A new advisory client is usually ready for the first forecast review the day the firm gets access to their books.
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01
Connect the client file
From the client's Budgeter workspace, sign in to their QuickBooks Online or Xero with read-only access. Add a bank CSV, Gusto or Stripe if the client uses them. Nothing is ever posted back to the books.
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02
Review the drafted forecast
Budgeter proposes next year by account and month from 12 to 24 months of actuals, then builds the 13-week and 12-month cash forecast on top. A staff accountant checks the lines the firm knows better and approves the version.
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03
Refresh after each close
When the month is closed, the sync updates actuals, budget vs actual, cash and runway. Large variances come with a short written note naming the accounts behind them, ready for the partner to edit.
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04
Hold the client meeting
Open the forecast with the owner, test a hire or a price change as a scenario, and export the pack as PDF or the model as XLSX. The owner can log in as a read-only viewer between meetings.
What Budgeter reads from each ledger is described on the QuickBooks forecasting software and Xero budgeting software pages. Clients with several legal entities can be consolidated on Scale.
Turning forecasting into a recurring advisory line
Most firms that try to sell client advisory services (CAS) stall in the same place. The first forecast is a great conversation, the second one is late because the senior who built the model is in tax season, and by month four the client has stopped asking. The service depends on one person's spreadsheet.
A forecasting tool fixes the part that does not scale. When the forecast is drafted from the books and refreshes after close, the monthly work becomes a review checklist a staff accountant can run: confirm the close, read the flagged variances, check the low cash week, adjust one or two assumptions the owner mentioned. The partner joins for the conversation.
It also standardizes the product. Every client gets the same forecast layout, the same variance notes and the same pack, which makes the service easy to describe on a proposal, easy to price per client and easy to hand over when someone leaves the firm.
For the pricing itself, most firms set a fixed monthly fee per client and either pass the software cost through or fold it into the fee. On Budgeter that cost is $74 a month per client billed yearly on Small Business, so the margin on each engagement is easy to see.
A worked example from a small CPA firm
Take a fictional eight-person CPA firm in Ohio that already does monthly bookkeeping for about forty small businesses. The partners pick four clients who keep asking cash questions: a bakery and a plumbing contractor on QuickBooks Online, a physical therapy practice and an interior design studio on Xero.
Each client moves to a monthly advisory tier that includes a cash forecast, a budget and a 30-minute call. Each client gets a Budgeter Small Business plan, billed to the client, and the firm joins as editor.
After the October close, the refresh flags two clients. The bakery's 13-week forecast shows a low point in week 47, when holiday flour and packaging orders are paid before the December sales come in, so the call becomes a conversation about timing the supplier payments and the line of credit. The physio practice shows payroll running 9 percent over budget after two new hires, and the scenario shows what happens to cash if a third hire waits until February.
The other two clients are on plan, so their calls are short. The staff accountant prepared all four, and the partner spent the time on the two that needed a decision. That is the pattern firms are buying when they look for forecasting software: the same quality of advice, without the partner rebuilding models at night.
Which firms use Budgeter for client forecasting
The common thread is a client base on QuickBooks Online or Xero and owners who ask what happens next, not only what happened last month.
If one finance lead runs several companies as an outsourced CFO, the fractional CFO software page is a closer match.
- CPA firms building a CAS practice Add a forecasting and budgeting tier to tax and compliance clients without hiring a modeling specialist.
- Bookkeeping firms moving up to advisory You already close the books every month, so the forecast refresh is one more step after the close you deliver.
- Outsourced accounting firms with controller services Give each client a current cash forecast and budget vs actual as part of the controller package.
- Firms serving lenders and SBA borrowers Show a budget, a 12-month cash forecast and scenarios a banker can follow when a client applies for credit.
- Industry-focused firms Contractors, dental and medical practices, agencies and law firms with seasonal cash and payroll-heavy cost bases.
Which plan fits an accounting firm
Prices are public. Start today without a sales call and cancel anytime.
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| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly, per month | Clients | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Business | $149 | $74 | 1 company per plan, often billed to the client | Budget, budget vs actual, cash forecast, 5 scenarios, 3 editors |
| Growth | $599 | $299 | 1 company | Spend limits, headcount and revenue planning, board pack, 25 scenarios |
| Scale | $1,999 | $999 | Client workspaces for up to 5 companies | Consolidation, multi-currency, department approvals, audit log, 30 editors |
| Enterprise | $4,999 | $2,499 | Up to 25 entities | SSO, SCIM, custom roles, uptime SLA, unlimited editors |
The full limits are on the pricing page. Most firms start with one or two advisory clients on Small Business and add clients as the service sells.
Questions accountants ask before they add forecasting
Connections are read-only and encrypted. Each client's numbers stay in their own workspace and are never used to train public models.
What is the best forecasting software for accountants?
The best forecasting software for accountants is the one that builds the forecast from the client's ledger and keeps it current after every close without staff rebuilding it. For firms with QuickBooks Online and Xero clients, Budgeter drafts the budget and cash forecast automatically. Fathom suits reporting-heavy firms, and Float suits cash-only forecasting.
How much does forecasting software for accountants cost?
Published prices range from about $50 to $450 a month. Jirav firm plans start at $50 and $150 a month per client, Float starts at $105 a month billed yearly, Fathom Pro is $450 a month for 25 companies, and Budgeter is $74 a month per client billed yearly or $999 a month for 5 clients on Scale.
Can accountants offer cash flow forecasting as a service?
Yes. Many CPA and bookkeeping firms sell a monthly cash flow forecast as part of a client advisory services (CAS) tier. The firm connects the client's books, reviews the forecast after each close and walks the owner through cash, runway and planned spending in a short monthly meeting.
Does it work with QuickBooks Online and Xero clients?
Yes, both. Budgeter connects read-only to QuickBooks Online and Xero and reads the chart of accounts and the monthly profit and loss. A firm with clients on both systems can run them side by side, each in its own workspace with its own forecast, budget and viewers.
How do accounting firms price forecasting and advisory work?
Most firms charge a fixed monthly fee per client for advisory, set by the number of entities, the complexity of the books and how often the owner wants to meet. Pass the software cost through or build it into the fee. A tool billed per client keeps the margin on each engagement easy to see.
Can my client see the forecast without editing it?
Yes. Every Budgeter plan includes unlimited read-only viewers, so the owner, a partner or a lender can open the cash forecast, the budget and the monthly pack whenever they want. Editing stays with your staff, which keeps the model consistent from month to month.
Is client data safe if I connect their books?
The connection is read-only, so Budgeter cannot create or change invoices, bills, bank transactions or journals in the client's ledger. Access tokens are encrypted, each client's numbers stay in their own workspace, and client data is never used to train public AI models.
Related planning modules
- Fractional CFO software Run budgets and cash forecasts for several companies as an outsourced CFO.
- QuickBooks forecasting software How the forecast is built from a QuickBooks Online client file.
- Xero budgeting software The same workflow for clients that keep their books in Xero.
- Cash flow forecasting The 13-week and 12-month cash view, low points and runway.
Check a client's runway before you connect their books
Enter a few numbers to see runway and the month cash runs out, then connect QuickBooks or Xero to get a drafted forecast and a monthly review.
Forecasts and scenarios are estimates based on your data and assumptions, not financial, investment, tax or accounting advice.