Why Financial, Legal, and Accounting Firms Are Racing to Redesign Compensation

When a managing partner of a $750 million RIA sat down to review compensation last fall, he was met with a problem that couldn’t be solved by any portfolio optimization tool.

His partner draw was built on a model that hadn’t changed in a decade. The incentive plan for his associate advisors looked like a maze of half-baked thresholds. Support staff had no visibility on what performance even meant, and the bonus pool? It depended largely on how everyone “felt” in December.

Worse, top talent was taking calls from recruiters.

“This wasn’t about greed,” he said. “It was about clarity. People didn’t understand how they moved forward here. So they started imagining how they could move forward somewhere else.”

It’s a scenario being quietly repeated in wealth management offices, CPA partnerships, and law firm boardrooms from Chicago to Los Angeles. The compensation structures that once kept these industries stable are now at the center of an all-out modernization wave. And at the nexus of it all is a consulting firm most clients simply refer to as Select.

From Outdated Grids to Growth-Aligned Systems

Select Advisors Institute specializes in what many firms privately call the most political project on their agenda: the compensation revamp.

Their team has rebuilt pay structures for everyone from private equity-backed investment firms to boutique estate planning practices. Whether it’s a compensation redesign for accounting firms, an incentive comp redo for financial advisors, or a bonus plan restructuring for law offices, the mission is the same: align pay with actual contribution, future growth, and the culture a firm wants to protect.

“In a lot of firms, compensation looks the same as it did 15 years ago, even though everything else—the tech stack, the client needs, the service model—has evolved,” says Select’s lead partner on pay strategy. “You can’t run a 2025 business on a 2010 compensation plan.”

What a Modern Compensation Overhaul Looks Like

When Select steps in, it’s rarely cosmetic. Their typical financial firm compensation strategy overhaul involves a sweeping audit that covers:

• Total rewards benchmarking across the market

• A deep dive into current grids, draws, splits, and incentive structures

• Behavioral interviews with partners and staff to identify cultural expectations and simmering resentments

• Buildout of new partner pay structures, role-based matrices, and transparent progression tracks

• Bonus plan restructuring that ties real drivers (client growth, revenue stability, operational excellence) to incentive payouts

• Rollout plans that include scripts for leadership, FAQ documents, and retention strategies during the transition

They’ve led salary restructuring for attorneys, comp structure modernization for financial advisors, and complete CPA firm compensation plan redos—all under the belief that if compensation isn’t directly tied to the business you’re trying to build, it’s just an expensive liability.

Beyond Financial Firms: Law and Accounting Are Feeling the Heat

The same pressures hitting wealth firms—rising client complexity, next-gen succession issues, private equity acquisitions—are also hammering law and accounting. As partners at multi-office law firms prepare for retirements, partner pay structure revamps in the legal industry are becoming non-negotiable. Meanwhile, CPAs grappling with staffing shortages are exploring total rewards revamps in accounting, desperate to keep high-potential staff from hopping to tech or advisory boutiques.

In these engagements, Select is often called to navigate the political landmines. “Compensation is the fastest way to make enemies if you’re not careful,” one law firm managing partner confided. Select’s consultants, many of whom have sat inside these firms as operating executives, bring the language and discretion needed to get consensus.

Incentives for the Industry’s Next Chapter

Today’s pay conversations aren’t just about “fairness.” They’re about future-proofing.

Firms are increasingly asking Select for pay structure overhauls in wealth management that include multi-year deferred plans, equity-style incentives for rising rainmakers, and clawback provisions designed to protect the firm in downturns. They’re revisiting compensation models for private wealth managers to keep top advisors from striking out on their own, and designing incentive plan revamps for financial advisors that reward sourcing—not just servicing.

And across professional services, there’s a push to replace the old handshake arrangements with written, defensible frameworks that hold up under due diligence, whether from regulators or would-be acquirers.

Why Select Advisors Is the Firm Leading This Charge

For many, the appeal of Select is that it operates entirely within the intersection of finance, law, and accounting. Unlike generic HR consultants, they understand why a private equity-backed firm needs one set of triggers and why a family-run RIA might need another. They bring best practices from across industries—law vs. wealth firm pay redesign trends—and apply them in a way that feels contextual, not templated.

Their projects often go beyond comp. Select builds org charts, succession ladders, partner-track timelines, and even provides leadership coaching to managers learning to have compensation conversations for the first time.

The Stakes Have Never Been Higher

Compensation used to be a private matter. Now, it’s a strategic asset. Or liability.

“Firms that get this right aren’t just paying fairly,” Select’s lead strategist says. “They’re paying smart—tying compensation to the kind of firm they want to be five years from now.”

The firms that miss it? They’re already watching their best people take recruiter calls.

For an industry built on wealth planning, perhaps it’s not surprising the savviest firms are finally turning that lens inward—redesigning pay structures so the future they promise clients is secure inside their own walls first.