Why Financial Advisory Firms Must Adapt to an Advisor-Led Billing Model

Like other highly regulated industries, registered investment advisors (RIAs) are often hesitant to make major changes to their operations, fearful of running afoul of regulations or otherwise disrupting advisors or clients.

But market dynamics are shifting. The rise of fee-for-service financial planning, generational wealth transfer, and growing client demand for transparency are forcing advisory firms to rethink outdated processes, starting with billing.

According to Cerulli, 21% of advisors charge for financial planning, representing steady and consistent growth over the last several years. As firms embrace new planning models and diversify revenue streams, it’s becoming clear that legacy billing structures need to evolve alongside them. Yet, many continue to manage billing centrally, with limited advisor involvement.

Many firms are cautious about shifting to an advisor-led billing model for understandable reasons. They tend to worry about one of two things: control and value.

The top concern, rightly so, is oversight and compliance. The assumption is that empowering advisors to initiate invoices or monitor payments may lead to inconsistent processes. But in reality, advisor-led billing doesn’t mean removing the home office from the process. It means giving the home office greater oversight with smarter systems. With the right technology in place, firms can define rules, configure workflows, and insert approval layers to match their exact compliance requirements. Every invoice and every payment can be tracked, logged, and reviewed. This isn’t a loss of control. It’s control redesigned for scale.

Advisory firms typically route billing through their home office, which leaves the advisors out of the process altogether.  Without visibility into when clients make payments, advisors must often make repeated and unnecessary phone calls to check in on billing status. Friction that impacts both productivity and client satisfaction.

Giving advisors controlled visibility into their billing helps eliminate that friction. Advisors can better manage client expectations without compromising firm oversight. This isn’t about decentralization for its own sake, it’s about creating shared transparency and efficiency.

In smaller or boutique firms, billing is sometimes seen as a white-glove service that the home office handles for advisors. They worry that if they move billing out of the home office, advisors will view it as a loss.

But in practice, we’ve seen the opposite. Across hundreds of firms we’ve worked with, the results are clear: once advisors experience firsthand, support jumps to 100%. Within firm-defined boundaries, advisors become more proactive, more efficient, and more aligned.

Looking ahead, the urgency to modernize operations will only increase. McKinsey & Company estimates that by 2034, the U.S. wealth management industry will experience a shortage of roughly 100,000 advisors. Given the fierce competition for resources, RIAs must focus on attracting and retaining top talent. Firms that offer streamlined, advisor-friendly tools will have a clear edge in attracting and retaining the next generation of advisors.

Whether you’re a large firm or a boutique RIA, investing in advisor-led billing technology is a great way to maintain a competitive edge. In 2025, there is no reason why RIA home offices should still be managing billing through spreadsheets, emails chains, or manual processes that silo the advisor from the client experience. The technology exists. The guardrails are there. The advisor satisfaction is proven.

Change is hard, but it’s inevitable and not optional. Businesses that not only adapt to change—but anticipate it—are most likely to survive and thrive.