A fee page should explain how the firm charges, what the fee covers, and what makes it change, using the firm's own approved facts. For a registered investment adviser, the website's description should match the fee section of the firm's Form ADV Part 2A brochure. No firm has to publish a number it cannot stand behind, and no writer should borrow a range from another firm's site.
Fees are a question prospective clients are encouraged to ask, and a vague website leaves it unanswered. "Fees vary based on your needs" is true for nearly every firm, which is why it tells the reader almost nothing.
The fix is not necessarily a price list. It is an explanation of the structure: the basis for the fee, what it includes, what costs extra, and when the client sees the actual terms.
This is about how a firm describes its own pricing in marketing content. It is not advice on how to price services, and it is not a view on which fee model suits any client.
Prospective clients ask about fees early
The SEC's investor education site encourages people to raise the subject directly. Investor.gov's page on working with investment advisers lists questions to ask, including "How are you paid for your services? What is your usual hourly rate, flat fee, or commission?" The same page says the fee for an adviser's advice "is typically based on the value of all of the assets held in your account with the adviser."
If the firm's site does not answer that question, the prospective client has two choices: call and ask, or move on to a firm whose site does. An assistant asked to compare firms also has less to say about one that never explains its fees.
Look at the firm's current fee language and read it the way a stranger would. Does it name the basis for the fee? Does it say what the fee covers? Does it say how the client learns the exact amount?
What does each fee model need to explain?
Different structures leave different questions open. The table below is a planning aid for the content brief, not a description of how any firm should charge.
| Fee basis | What the page should explain | What to confirm before publishing |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage of assets managed | Which assets the fee applies to, how often it is billed, and what services are included | The current schedule and any account minimum, matched to the brochure |
| Flat or fixed engagement fee | What the engagement delivers, over what period, and what falls outside it | The defined scope and when the client receives written terms |
| Hourly | Which work is billed hourly and how the client hears about expected time | Current rates and who approves additional time |
| Fixed monthly fee (bookkeeping, outsourced accounting) | What happens each month and which events change the fee | The volume or complexity limits behind each level |
| Fee labels such as "fee-only" | What the firm means by the label in plain words | That the reviewer confirms the label is used accurately for this firm |
Many firms combine these. A planning firm might charge a fixed fee for an initial plan and a percentage of assets for ongoing management. Explain each part and how they relate, rather than collapsing them into one sentence.
For advisers, the website and the brochure should say the same thing
Form ADV Part 2A is the adviser's brochure. Investor.gov's Form ADV glossary entry describes it as requiring "plain English disclosures of the adviser's business practices, fees, conflicts of interest, and disciplinary information," and notes that it is available to the public on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site.
The SEC's Form ADV Part 2 instructions tell advisers, in Item 5, to "Describe how you are compensated for your advisory services," to "Provide your fee schedule," and to "Disclose whether the fees are negotiable." Because the brochure is public, a website fee description that differs from it creates a mismatch anyone can find. A practical question for compliance before publishing is: "Does this paragraph say anything about our fees that the brochure does not?"
The SEC marketing rule adds its own conditions for advertisements by SEC-registered advisers, including a prohibition on any "material statement of fact that the adviser does not have a reasonable basis for believing it will be able to substantiate upon demand by the Commission." State-registered advisers follow their state's rules. The article on the SEC marketing rule covers what advisers bring to compliance.
Tax practitioners and CPA firms have their own rules
Circular 230 includes specific provisions on fee information for practitioners before the IRS. Under 31 CFR 10.30, "A practitioner may publish the availability of a written schedule of fees," including "Fixed fees for specific routine services," "Hourly rates," a "Range of fees for particular services," and the "Fee charged for an initial consultation." The same section says a practitioner may charge no more than the published rates "for at least 30 calendar days after the last date on which the schedule of fees was published."
That provision has a direct content consequence: a published fee is a commitment with a time attached, not a placeholder. Bring any fee language to the person responsible for the firm's Circular 230 compliance before it goes live.
CPA firms also answer to their state board of accountancy, and AICPA members to the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. The AICPA's guide to CPA licensure requirements by state notes that each state and territory has its own board of accountancy, so the reviewer should check the rules where the firm is licensed.
Do not invent a range
When a firm hesitates to publish pricing, a writer may be tempted to fill the gap with a typical range found on other websites. That range describes someone else's business. It may also put a number on the firm's site that the firm never approved and cannot honor.
Consider a fictional bookkeeping practice in Oregon that serves small professional offices. It charges a fixed monthly fee in three levels, set by the number of bank and card accounts and the monthly transaction count. The owner is willing to explain the structure but not to publish dollar amounts, because most clients land between levels and receive a custom quote.
A useful fee page for that practice can still do a lot. It names the basis (accounts and transaction volume), lists what every level includes, names the events that move a client to a different level, and explains that the quote follows a short review of recent statements. Every one of those statements comes from the owner. The writer should not have to estimate what the practice charges or why, because the owner already knows and only needs to approve the wording.
Explain what makes the fee change
A prospective client who understands what drives the fee can place themselves before calling. That makes the first conversation shorter and more useful for both sides.
Ask the people who quote engagements which facts move the number most. A price is not an explanation, and the drivers are what make a price make sense. For a tax practice it might be the number of entities, the states involved, or the condition of the records. For an advisory firm it might be the services added to the base engagement. Put those drivers on the page in the firm's words, with any limits the reviewer requires.
When the firm does publish amounts, attach the conditions and the date. A dated, approved figure with its scope is easier to maintain and harder to misread than an undated one.
Keep fee content current
Fee pages go stale quietly. A brochure gets amended, a monthly level gets repriced, or an initial consultation stops being free, and the website keeps saying the old thing. Give the fee page an owner who is notified whenever the underlying terms change.
In Hudson South's process, Authority Asset gathers the firm's approved business knowledge and evidence, including the fee schedule, the brochure, and engagement letter terms. AEO Creation turns those inputs into answer-first content.
Fees connect directly to scope, so pair this page with the one that explains your engagement process. Before writing a new page, check whether an existing services page could carry the fee explanation instead; our guide to updating pages or creating new content helps with that decision. This article is part of our series on how financial firms get named in AI answers.
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- Investment Advisers. Investor.gov, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Read 2026-10-15.
- Form ADV. Investor.gov, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Read 2026-10-15.
- Form ADV Part 2: Uniform Requirements for the Investment Adviser Brochure and Brochure Supplements. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Read 2026-10-15.
- 17 CFR 275.206(4)-1, Investment adviser marketing. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. Read 2026-10-15.
- 31 CFR 10.30, Solicitation. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. Read 2026-10-15.
- AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. AICPA. Read 2026-10-15.
- CPA Licensure Requirements by State and Territory. AICPA, This Way to CPA. Read 2026-10-15.