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Meghan Hickman has spent over three years as our EOS implementer at Poe Group Advisors, and this conversation is one we have been looking forward to sharing. Meghan works with entrepreneurial leadership teams to help them build structure, create accountability, and scale with intention. She has helped over 40 organizations do exactly that, including ours.
The conversation covers:
Timestamps:
00:36 - Meghan's background: from US Senate press secretary to entrepreneur 01:26 - How a copy of "Traction" in 2014 changed the direction of Meghan's career
01:52 - Growing an EOS company by 62% in five years and launching her own practice
03:12 - Starting in the least entrepreneurial environment possible: bureaucracy vs. the private sector
04:43 - The moment Meghan knew it was time to leave: the night Osama bin Laden was captured
06:09 - Sending out resumes at 1:00 in the morning and the one that changed everything
07:48 - Effective self vs. destructive self activity: the exercise that explained everything
09:28 - What working in the private sector revealed about her unique abilities
11:14 - Core value alignment: using values to attract the right people like a magnet
13:04 - Why the press secretary seat was the wrong one and what EOS language helped her understand
15:21 - Burnout vs. readiness to sell: how to tell the difference
17:04 - Head signals: the business is running you, things feel harder than they should
19:14 - The prescription for heart signals: a leap, whether that is a transition, a sale, or a new chapter
22:02 - Meghan's own red flags: road rage, everyone seems difficult, an unmade bed
25:37 - What the Accountability Chart actually does and why it matters past five or ten employees
28:08 - The value of an outside perspective: seeing the game when you cannot see it from the field
30:22 - The Vision Traction Organizer: a two-page strategic plan that actually gets used
33:17 - How your ideal clients evolve as your firm evolves, and why revisiting matters every 90 days
37:20 - Why firms that obsess over simplification and say no more than yes scale the fastest
40:05 - Meghan's memorable career story: getting her senator to the Today show in the nick of time
45:06 - There is no learning in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the learning zone
45:48 - Book recommendations: "Traction," The Five Minute Journal, and "The Gifts of Imperfection."
📚 Book Recommendations: 📚
Download Now: https://poegroupadvisors.com/accounting-practice-academy/increase-letter/
Price increases are nothing to fear. The real challenge is effectively informing clients of these changes. Our templates will help you demonstrate your value and help clients understand the increases necessary to keep your firm afloat.
*Download now and receive:*
- (1) Major Fee Increase Letter Template
- (1) 20% Fee Increase Letter Template
Joe Woodard has trained over 150,000 accounting professionals and spent his career studying what separates firms that grow from firms that stay stuck. His answer? It almost always starts with pricing.
In this conversation, Joe walks through the Woodard Ideal Practice Model, which focuses on seven key areas of operational excellence: brand, services, clients, technology, process, engagements, and team. But the most actionable insight he shares is simpler than a seven-part framework. He says the very first lever any firm should pull is pricing, and he lays out a specific strategy for doing it. Double the price on your bottom 20% of clients. If half of them stay, you have the same revenue. If all of them leave, you get the capacity back. Either way, you win.
Joe also shares a measured perspective on AI adoption, noting that mass adoption in accounting is still 12 to 18 months away and that the best thing practitioners can do right now is learn directly from the developers of the platforms they already use.
This episode is for firm owners curious about how to create capacity without hiring, practitioners ready to revisit their pricing strategy before the next busy season, leaders wondering where to start with advisory services, and anyone interested in a practical framework for building a more valuable practice.
Timestamps
00:14 - Introducing Joe Woodard: founder of Woodard, host of Scaling New Heights
02:03 - How Joe's practice led to Scaling New Heights and a coaching and consulting division
04:01 - The shift from compliance to advisory: what is holding CPA firms back
06:01 - Skill set and mindset working together: cash flow projections, dashboards, and KPIs
07:16 - The downward spiral: too busy to invest in new skills, team pressure, and turnover
09:18 - Applying the Pareto Principle to your CPA firm client base
10:42 - How to move methodically through the full client base after creating capacity
12:19 - How pricing improvements affect CPA firm valuation: revenue per FTE and clients per million
13:33 - Why the mindset block comes back around when targeting larger advisory clients
16:34 - How to reinvent your service structure instead of just improving the existing one
19:05 - Why most accounting firms are under-contracted and what to do about it
20:13 - AI adoption in accounting: where the profession is now and how fast it is moving
22:30 - Xero, QuickBooks, and Intuit: how AI integrations are already changing daily workflows
24:08 - Joe's story: his daughter, a butterfly named Alicia, and a mockingbird
27:01 - Book recommendation: "A World Without Work" by Daniel Susskind
29:03 - Where to find Joe Woodard online: woodard.com
Download Now: https://poegroupadvisors.com/accounting-practice-academy/increase-letter/
Price increases are nothing to fear. The real challenge is effectively informing clients of these changes. Our templates will help you demonstrate your value and help clients understand the increases necessary to keep your firm afloat.
*Download now and receive:*
- (1) Major Fee Increase Letter Template
- (1) 20% Fee Increase Letter Template
Seven episodes. Dozens of real-world examples. One recurring answer.
Brannon Poe and Ian Brennan sit down one more time to close out the Power of Focus series. Throughout this series, the pattern that emerges is hard to ignore: the firms that get results are the ones that get intentional about where they put their energy.
This episode is for accounting firm owners who have listened to the series and are ready to identify their first move, practitioners curious about how the 80/20 Principle applies to their client list and services, leaders wondering how to build a team culture that attracts and retains the right people, and CPA firm owners ready to shift from working in the firm to working on it.
Timestamps:
A niche accounting firm with 45% cash flow and 1,500 owner hours sold for 5.6 million dollars on 2.6 million in revenue. That is the kind of result possible when a CPA firm owner gets intentional about the factors buyers care about most. In this episode, Brannon Poe sits down with Laurens Ball, a highly accomplished intermediary at Poe Group Advisors, to break down what really drives practice valuations in today's market.
This is the latest episode in our Power of Focus series, where we explore how CPA firm owners use focus as a strategic advantage. Laurens brings real-world case studies from the M&A side, showing how niche firms consistently grow faster, charge 20 to 40% higher fees, and attract buyers willing to pay premium prices. From a dental-focused practice generating daily referrals to an agricultural firm that found its perfect buyer by leaning into its specialty, the evidence is clear: focus pays off at the point of sale.
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction to the Power of Focus series and Accounting Practice Academy
00:25 - Welcoming Laurens Ball, senior intermediary at Poe Group Advisors
01:32 - What is a focused CPA firm? Laurens' definition
02:13 - Why intentionality is the foundation of practice growth
02:37 - Why hesitant-to-niche firm owners are leaving value on the table
03:19 - How niche accounting practices grow faster and charge 20 to 40% higher fees
03:52 - Dental niche example: weekly referrals and consistent growth
04:08 - Professional poker player niche: a memorable and lower-owner-hour firm
05:00 - Why niche firm margins, growth, and owner hours make them desirable at market
05:27 - Cost segregation firm: multiple offers, all-cash close
06:16 - Agricultural firm example: tractor on the website and the right buyer match
07:46 - Current state of the CPA firm M&A market in spring 2026
08:09 - When strong firms can see 7X EBITDA and what it takes to get there
09:03 - Niche firm sold at 5.6X: what the numbers looked like
09:41 - What buyers are really evaluating: cash flow, team strength, growth prospects
10:43 - How de-risking your accounting firm opens up more buyers and better terms
11:48 - Why the team is becoming the most important factor for roll-up buyers
11:48 - The "90-day question": what falls apart first if the owner steps away
12:08 - How to analyze your CPA firm client list for quality, fit, and pricing
12:31 - Seller case study: raising fees from $360 toward $700, keeping 98% of clients
14:08 - Across-the-board 20% price increase: 2,000 returns, five clients left
14:49 - CPAs have more pricing power than ever, with some firms at $2,000 per 1040
16:32 - How owner dependence affects buyer interest and sale terms
18:35 - Success story: owner reduced hours by 500 while keeping EBITDA steady
19:26 - Top advice for accounting firm owners who are 3 to 5 years from a sale
20:31 - How six months to a year of changes can mean $1 million more in valuation
21:02 - Why team health is the longest-lead and highest-impact strategy before a sale
22:33 - Why owner-centric practitioners are hardest to get to stop and look at the firm
Download Now: https://poegroupadvisors.com/accounting-practice-academy/increase-letter/
Price increases are nothing to fear. The real challenge is effectively informing clients of these changes. Our templates will help you demonstrate your value and help clients understand the increases necessary to keep your firm afloat.
*Download now and receive:*
- (1) Major Fee Increase Letter Template
- (1) 20% Fee Increase Letter Template
Ric Payne has been thinking about how accountants build better practices for decades. If you have been in the industry for a while, you likely know about Ric Payne.
He co-founded Results Accounting Systems in 1992, ran the Accountants Boot Camp across multiple continents, and worked with thousands of firms around the world.
His conclusion? High-performing firms are selective about who they work with.
The conversation also features Ian Brennan, director of Accounting Practice Academy (APA), a PGA workshop. Ian and Ric discuss how intentional client selection is foundational to everything else a firm tries to do; from pricing and marketing to advisory services and succession planning.
This episode is for firm owners curious about how strategic client selection creates pricing power and referral momentum, practitioners ready to build a client base that supports an advisory practice, CPA firm leaders wondering how to increase net profit without simply chasing more revenue, and accountants who want to build a practice they are genuinely excited to show up for.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction to The Accountant's Flight Plan podcast and guests
3:11 - Overview of the episode: client selection and Ric's white paper
6:42 - Why having no client criteria means having no strategy
7:33 - Steve Jobs on what not to do: the decision framework that changed Ric's approach
9:01 - The four growth profiles: fast-start satisfier, opportunistic harvester, & the patient builder
15:15 - The founder's gap vs. the Midas gap: two very different CPA firm outcomes
19:07 - Baker's Law: bad clients drive out good clients
20:54 - Why partners with lower utilization often have the highest net profit per partner
23:18 - Systems theory: your CPA firm is perfectly designed for the results it gets
26:58 - John Wooden's definition of success and why it applies to accounting firm owners
32:53 - Case study: UK accounting firm replaces ten 1,000-pound clients with one 10,000-pound client
37:01 - Dealing with imposter syndrome when stepping into an advisory role
41:11 - The 11 client selection criteria: the full walkthrough begins
57:05 - Roger Martin's Playing to Win [https://www.amazon.com/dp/142218739X ]and how it applies to accounting practice management
1:00:44 - Brannon on how the criteria tie back to personality, results, and client experience
1:05:46 - APA lesson: You cannot market your accounting firm if you don't know who your clients are
1:08:13 - How to find Ric Payne and access the client selection white paper
Download Now: https://poegroupadvisors.com/accounting-practice-academy/increase-letter/
Price increases are nothing to fear. The real challenge is effectively informing clients of these changes. Our templates will help you demonstrate your value and help clients understand the increases necessary to keep your firm afloat.
*Download now and receive:*
- (1) Major Fee Increase Letter Template
- (1) 20% Fee Increase Letter Template
Jason Ackerman, Co-Managing Partner at BNA Advisors, helped grow the firm from a $1.5 million firm to over $7 million organically, without acquiring a single practice. He joined his father's firm in 2012, scaled the team from 14 to 35 people, and built systems that allow the firm to handle more than 2,000 individual tax returns per year. His approach combines practical technology adoption, intentional pricing strategy, and a long view on people and talent.
This is the fifth episode in our Power of Focus series and Jason's story is a strong example of what is possible when a firm stops trying to do everything and starts doing the right things well. This episode digs into the specific tools and tactics Jason's team is using right now, during tax season. His firm is rolling out 8821 authorizations for every client so they can pull IRS transcripts through Tax Now, catching payment discrepancies and missed filings before they become problems. They are also using a payment platform called Remission to schedule quarterly estimated payments for clients in one place. They’re reducing the back-and-forth and keeping the firm proactive rather than reactive. Both moves are part of a broader philosophy: reduce what the client has to do, increase what the firm can see.
The through line of this conversation is intentionality. Jason is not automating things for the sake of automation, he’s not chasing every new AI platform, and he’s not pricing low to win volume. Every decision connects back to a clear standard: does this make the practice better, or does it just add noise? That kind of focus, applied consistently over more than a decade, is how a $1.5 million firm becomes a $7 million firm without a single acquisition.
This episode is for CPA firm owners curious about building scalable systems without outside capital, practitioners ready to revisit their pricing strategy before the next season, firm managers wondering how to develop staff into more business-aware team members, and accounting practice owners thinking ahead about talent and technology in a changing industry.
Timestamps
Download Now: https://poegroupadvisors.com/accounting-practice-academy/increase-letter/
Price increases are nothing to fear. The real challenge is effectively informing clients of these changes. Our templates will help you demonstrate your value and help clients understand the increases necessary to keep your firm afloat.
*Download now and receive:*
- (1) Major Fee Increase Letter Template
- (1) 20% Fee Increase Letter Template
Chip Summers worked 2,900 hours a year for over 25 years. Every Saturday. Some Sundays. Always behind. Then he made a series of decisions that transformed his firm.
He raised prices across the board. He moved on from high-maintenance, low-return clients. He gave up control and let his staff handle work from start to finish. He invested in technology that made everyone more efficient. And in December 2025, for the first time in over 25 years, he was caught up. He had almost nothing to do. It felt weird, but wonderful.
Today, Chip's eight-person firm in Orangeburg, South Carolina doesn't work Saturdays anymore. They close every Friday after tax season. During tax season, they're only open half days on Fridays. His staff isn't burnt out. His clients bring organized documents instead of shoe boxes. And he's serving as Vice Chair of the South Carolina Board of Accountancy while running a healthier practice than he ever thought possible.
This is the fourth episode in our Power of Focus series, where we explore how CPA firm owners use focus as a strategic advantage. Chip's story shows that transformation doesn't happen overnight, but when you touch every aspect of your practice with intentional changes, the results compound.
The conversation covers:
Chip's biggest lesson? You can't do it all yourself. Most accountants want to touch everything from start to finish. But when you structure your staff to handle work properly, invest in the right technology, and price your services to match the value you deliver, you create capacity you didn't know was possible. And that capacity changes everything.
This episode is for firm owners working too many hours for the revenue they're generating, leaders curious about how to delegate without losing quality, practitioners wondering if it's possible to run a firm without weekend work, and anyone ready to transform multiple aspects of their practice at once.
Time Stamps:
00:14 - Introduction: Chip Summers, Orangeburg CPA since 1991
01:34 - Serving as Vice Chair of SC Board of Accountancy
02:36 - The CPA firm that said yes to everyone for 45 years
03:18 - Why being everything to everybody became impossible
04:01 - Working 2,900 hours a year with no end in sight
05:32 - Caught up for the first time in 25 years: how it felt
06:10 - You can't do it all yourself: restructuring Accounting staff workflows
07:17 - Technology investments that made everyone more efficient
07:29 - Discussing pricing upfront and what changed
08:39 - From shoe boxes to organized Tax clients
09:24 - A completely different CPA firm than four years ago
10:21 - No more Saturday work for staff
10:57 - Raising prices 5-10% every year and losing fewer than five clients
12:03 - The biggest change: giving up control
13:27 - When staff burn out, they leave, and someone else gets your investment
14:03 - The story of giving away a client file on his first month
15:21 - Book: The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
15:45 - "Nobody is ever going to die from an accounting emergency."
Download Now: https://poegroupadvisors.com/accounting-practice-academy/increase-letter/
Price increases are nothing to fear. The real challenge is effectively informing clients of these changes. Our templates will help you demonstrate your value and help clients understand the increases necessary to keep your firm afloat.
*Download now and receive:*
- (1) Major Fee Increase Letter Template
- (1) 20% Fee Increase Letter Template
Greg Toner kept only his best clients, raised prices, picked one niche, and grew his practice 15X.
While many CPAs accept any business that comes their way, Greg found success by being highly selective. He looked at his client list, identified the bottom 10% who weren't getting value from his work, and let them go. Then he raised fees on the clients who remained. His team didn't complain. His revenue didn't drop. And the capacity he created allowed him to focus exclusively on serving veterinarians across Canada.
Today, Greg works with 360 vet practices from coast to coast. He doesn't prepare tax returns anymore. He doesn't do bookkeeping. His role has evolved into technical sales and high-level tax planning because he built systems that allow his team to handle the rest. When you niche down and get really good at solving the same 15 problems over and over, referrals fly and close rates skyrocket.
This is the third episode in our Power of Focus series, where we explore how CPA firm owners use focus as a strategic advantage. Greg's story proves that the riches really are in the niches, but only if you're willing to make the hard decisions first.
Timestamps:
01:55 - How firing the wrong Accounting clients changed everything
03:18 - The APA spreadsheet that made the decision obvious
04:14 - Why his team was happy to see clients leave
04:57 - No revenue loss, not even in the short term
05:19 - The dam holding back good clients
06:17 - Why he joined APA (opportunistic, not desperate)
07:01 - From sole Accounting practitioner to 15X revenue
07:28 - Evolving from doer to technical sales role
09:11 - The mental leap of hiring high-salary staff for your CPA firm
11:07 - Solve the same problem 100 times, become a hero
12:23 - Why niching down made CPA Firm growth rapid
13:26 - 10 leads a week, high close rate
13:50 - How 15 vet clients became 360 across Canada
15:18 - The horror film basement full of paper files
16:56 - Book: 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan
Bill and Chris Murphy increased their firm's value by half a million dollars in six months. They weren't desperate to sell, just ready to work reasonable hours with clients they liked. So they did something about it. They fired almost all their individual tax clients and more than doubled their fees.
The result? They gained revenue and clients happily paid for the valuable work they provided. Their firm had the capacity to provide even better service to their remaining clients. . And when they sold their firm with us back in 2022, they closed for $500,000 more than their original listing price.
This is a husband-and-wife team who merged their separate practices, worked themselves into the ground, and then made the hard decisions that transformed everything. They cut unprofitable clients, raised prices dramatically, restructured staff workload through weekly meetings, and learned to trust the process even when it felt uncomfortable.
Bill and Chris didn't just sell their firm. They sold a better firm, a more profitable firm, a firm that didn't depend on them working unreasonable hours. And they did it by firing clients who don't fit, charging what they're worth, and trusting that the revenue will come back.
This episode is for firm owners who know there is a better way to build a balanced practice, but haven’t known how to get there. This is a success case study on the power focus!
Key Timestamps:
02:21 - Bill's biggest roadblock: staying in the weeds and not developing staff
04:18 - The mental, spiritual, and physical toll of holding onto all the work
07:12 - The big move: firing almost all individual tax clients
08:35 - How the first APA lesson paid for the entire workshop
09:57 - The biggest obstacle to letting clients go: themselves, not the clients
12:49 - How pruning clients created capacity for everything else
13:21 - Doubling fees and the apology that worked
14:37 - "I'm sorry for undercharging you before."
16:02 - You have to put the work in, APA isn't passive
17:14 - Monday morning meetings: agenda, time limit, workload reallocation
19:16 - Driving the bus vs. riding in the back seat
24:24 - Book recommendation: Walk Away Wealthy by Mark Tepper
Part of the Power of Focus Mini-Series
What really separates great accounting firms from the rest?
That question is what led Brannon Poe and Ian Brennan to put together this mini-series. And after years of working with firm owners across the country, lifting up the hood on hundreds of practices, the answer kept coming back to the same thing: focus.
Welcome to the Power of Focus, a mini-series produced in partnership with Accounting Practice Academy. Throughout the series, you'll hear from APA alumni, members of our Poe Group team, and other industry voices sharing real-world perspectives on what happens when firm owners get deliberate about where they put their energy. Whether that's focusing on the right clients, the right staff, the right type of work, or simply on where you as the owner add the most value, the firms that get this right see results that compound over time.
THE CONVERSATION COVERS:
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction and episode overview
01:49 Where Brannon's thinking on focus began: the 80/20 Principle
02:50 What the Pareto Principle is and why it shows up everywhere
04:43 How reviewing hundreds of CPA firm financials revealed the pattern
06:24 A real-world example: $2.3M revenue, $1M owner cash flow, 3 months off
08:06 Two models for a highly profitable CPA firm
10:40 Niching down as a focus strategy, and why it scales faster
12:01 Delivering value as the core of everything
13:04 The closet analogy: you can't add until you prune
16:19 APA alumni spotlight: Bill and Chris Murphy and the first domino
20:09 Why creating capacity through price increases often doesn't work the way you'd hope
21:52 The shortage of CPAs and what it means for your pricing power
23:45 How to identify your right clients (the answer is already in your practice)
25:24 Asking your staff who they love working with
27:40 The mindset obstacle: the belief that you already know it all
28:25 Why change usually waits for a crisis, and how to change before one arrives
29:26 Greg Toner: what happens when a younger owner grabs the vision and runs
Download Now: https://poegroupadvisors.com/accounting-practice-academy/increase-letter/
Price increases are nothing to fear. The real challenge is effectively informing clients of these changes. Our templates will help you demonstrate your value and help clients understand the increases necessary to keep your firm afloat.
*Download now and receive:*
- (1) Major Fee Increase Letter Template
- (1) 20% Fee Increase Letter Template
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