Michelle River

Michelle Golden, CPF, is a growth and profitability strategist with a passion for both pricing and positioning. She’s a seasoned facilitator, speaker, and author with an extensive background in CPA-firm marketing and operations. She ties all these pieces together as she helps firms implement new business and revenue models that are based upon outcomes they affect instead of charging based on time spent.

What she does best—differently from others—is energize people while she teaches them how to do hard stuff. She clarifies the complicated. She sheds new light, opens minds, and instills confidence. She sets firms up to make big progress possible.

And that’s exactly what she’s done as the creator of Advanced Pricing Methods® (APM), developed over a decade, and tested by thousands of CPAs and consultants to ensure APM makes day-to-day sense in real firms. While APM encompasses some core tenets of value-based pricing, it’s both more comprehensive and easier to apply than value-pricing theories you may have seen before. Michelle designed original processes and the educational workshops that teach them. In addition to pricing better while enriching customer relationships and increasing your team’s business-advisory skills, through APM, Michelle helps resolve numerous other challenges firms face.

Today, Advanced Pricing Methods® are formally instituted in firms of all sizes—including 7 of the US Top 100 CPA firms—who state that Michelle’s approach has laid out a solid path for them to systematically build more dynamic, client-centric, consultative practices. These firms find APM manageable, empowering, and inspiring.

Michelle is recognized industry-wide for her original ideas and success with practical implementation. Some honors:

Ten Most Powerful Women in Accounting by Accounting Today 25 Most Powerful Women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting by Accounting Today Top 25 Thought Leaders in Public Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor Association for Accounting Marketing Hall of Fame Michelle holds the International Association of Facilitators’ Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) designation. Her deep knowledge of firm practice management, and sharp observation skills allow her to grasp a firm’s nuances quickly. She then guides firm owners and their teams toward increased business, improved customer interactions, smoother operations, and stronger cultures.

Since 1994, she’s helped more than 150 firms grow and become more profitable.