Harvest works for accounting firms in theory but misses two things accounting firms specifically care about: capacity planning for tax season (Harvest forces you to buy Harvest Forecast separately) and per-CPA utilization with annual targets.
Accounting firms have an unusually compressed seasonal capacity curve. January through April 15th is the busy season — individual returns, business returns, K-1 distribution, extension filings — and the practice question that drives planning isn't "what's our utilization this week" but "do we have enough CPA hours allocated against committed 1040 + 1120 + 1065 work between now and the deadline, or do we need to push extensions on twelve clients?" Harvest tracks hours after the fact but Harvest Forecast (the capacity planning piece, sold separately at $5/seat) doesn't model service-line splits like audit vs tax vs advisory cleanly. Tempough's Schedule treats capacity per-person and lets you tag assignments by service line, so the per-CPA "tax work scheduled vs available January through April" view is one filter away. Plus per-CPA utilization with annual targets (1,400-1,700 chargeable hours is the typical range for staff-level CPAs at small firms) compares actuals against the partnership-set goal, which is the basis for both bonus calculations and the annual headcount question.
Not a generic critique — the specific places accounting firms typically run into the wall.
Tax-season capacity planning is mission-critical for an accounting firm. Harvest splits forecasting into a separate product at $5/seat extra. Tempough's Schedule is built into Team at $11/seat with time-off integration and forecast-vs-actual variance.
CPAs typically have 1,400-1,800 billable hour targets per year. Harvest can show hours per person, but there's no concept of annual target + variance reporting. Tempough's Utilization report includes both.
A $5k tax prep engagement bills flat but you still track internal hours — was it actually profitable? Harvest can't answer this without cost rate data. Tempough's Margin report shows actual cost vs. fixed fee per engagement.
Accounting firms are detail-oriented about their own books. The new usage-based pricing layer on Harvest means SaaS spend is no longer a fixed line item. Tempough is flat per-seat, no usage surprises.
The same surface, audience-tailored to what accounting firms actually need.
No separate Forecast product to buy. Plan tax-season staffing, integrate time-off, get variance reports — all at $11/seat instead of $18.75 for Harvest + Harvest Forecast.
Set 1,600 billable hours target for managers, 1,800 for senior, etc. Report shows actual vs. target with variance. Drives the partner draw conversation.
Fixed-fee tax prep, hourly audit, advisory mixed — all reported together with consistent cost-vs-revenue math. Reveals which engagement types are systematically underpriced.
Harvest Pro + Harvest Forecast = $18.75/seat/mo. Tempough Team = $11/seat. Team Pro = $13 with team groupings and branded invoices. A 10-CPA firm saves $930/year on Team, more on Team Pro.
Team covers cost rates, margin, approvals, forecasting, and team reports. Team Pro adds team groupings for practice-area splits (audit / tax / advisory) + branded invoices + document distribution. Accounting firms over 5 CPAs typically land on Team Pro.
Why teams leave Harvest, audience-agnostic.
Audience-specific tour of the feature surface.
Step-by-step walkthrough — most teams finish in under an hour.
Two-week trial. No credit card. Full feature set.