Fueled by his own burnout and a family tragedy, Bret Pacheco’s fixed-fee practice prioritizes the human story behind the numbers.
ASHEVILLE, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In an era of widespread professional burnout, one CPA has tackled the issue for his clients by eliminating the one thing most accountants obsess over: the billable hour. 18 years ago, Bret Pacheco abandoned a partner track position to launch his own firm utilizing a fixed-fee model designed to foster the trust and vulnerability essential for truly holistic financial guidance.
From the beginning of his career, it was Pacheco’s efficiency that first revealed to him the flaws behind the billable hour model. The common practice of ‘writing up’ hours, where firms inflated the time billed to justify a standard fee for work he had completed ahead of schedule, felt inherently dishonest to him. But he soon realized the billable hours model had a deeper, more human cost: burnout. Not only was the relentless focus on time over value affecting him negatively; it was creating a culture of exhaustion and isolation for his clients as well. He began to erase from his billable hours the time he spent with clients just trying to gain a deeper understanding of their lives.
“I couldn’t ask a client how they were really doing,” Pacheco recalls. “They were paying by the hour, so the incentive for them is to rush through our interaction. But how can you give someone life-altering financial advice if you don’t know their life?”
But it was a sudden, profound loss that fundamentally redefined Pacheco’s measure of professional success. The suicide of his brother, Troy, reshaped his perspective and helped him realize that the most critical risks his clients faced weren’t always reflected on a spreadsheet. The tragedy became the blueprint for his new client-relationship model. “You can’t separate the numbers from the human being,” Pacheco explains. “My brother’s death taught me that my real job is to create a relationship where someone can talk about what’s really going on, because that’s where the true risks and opportunities are.”
Driven by this new purpose, Pacheco launched his own firm. By eliminating the ticking clock of hourly billing, his fixed-fee model encourages the deep, ongoing conversations necessary to understand the human story behind the numbers. He intentionally fosters an environment of psychological safety, giving business owners, who often lack a space to be vulnerable, a trusted advisor to confide in without judgment.
The result is a practice where balanced books are secondary to balanced lives. Pacheco’s approach has allowed him to guide clients through divorces, business disputes, and periods of intense personal struggle, all while managing their financial strategy.
“The numbers are often the easy part,” Pacheco says. “Understanding the human journey is where the real value is. My goal is to build a relationship where a client could tell me they’re at their breaking point, and we can address that before we even look at a tax return. That’s the work that truly matters.”
About Bret Pacheco CPA
Bret Pacheco CPA is a modern accounting and advisory firm that offers holistic financial services to business owners. Rejecting the traditional hourly billing model, the firm operates on a fixed-fee basis to foster deep, trust-based partnerships with clients. The practice focuses on integrating financial strategy with personal well-being to help entrepreneurs build both profitable businesses and fulfilling, balanced lives. For more information, visit www.bretpacheco.com.
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