Necessity, it is said, is the mother of invention.rnSo it has been for many CPA firms penetrating new markets and offering new services to replace lost revenue for traditional client niches that have become casualties of the recession, or simply demanded steep discounts.rnThe prediction that reduced billing rates for standard services will not, inevitably, bounce back to pre-recession levels when the economy picks up adds urgency to the need for innovation. "I'm often hearing from my members that today's fees are the 'new normal,'" said Clarke Price, president and chief executive of the Ohio Society of CPAs.rnIn the not-too-distant past, Price would ask members how many were paying attention to new service offerings that the largest CPA firms have introduced. "I used to get blank stares. Not any more," he said.
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