Accounting High

BONUS to Season 2 Episode 17 

Thanks to our sponsor, BooksTime! Visit bookstime.com/accountants

We’ve got a bonus ep today – Happy One-Year-iversary to Sons of CPAs! Today, we’re going to review our firms to see what went right, wrong, or other, and what we’re going to change.

this is the first solo "Scott + Ackerman" episode since Season 1 Episode 1 ... get ready for some time shits 

* Defining our firms’ successes

* Hard numbers for Scarano 

* Scott’s fear of decisions and making them

* Stepping away from the day-to-day

* Being an artist trapped in an accountant’s body

* When to prune the growth mindset

* Jason is hesitantly happy with where his firm is at

* The main focus is client service/satisfaction

* Factoring opportunity costs – mundane tasks v. upping services

* Hard numbers for Ackerman 

* The cadence of meetings

* The aftermath of COVID on firm culture

* How BNA is encouraging non-mandatory team building

* Jason’s personal goal is delegation

* Processes for consistency rather than efficiency

* Can people be managed?

* Scott’s goal – Let it go

Don’t forget to check out Earmark CPE (earmarkcpe.com) to get free CPE credit for listening to podcasts like this one!

Shout Outs: Chris Leon, Matthew Meyer, and the rest of Scott's Padgett team, Jason’s Dad, Lorin, and the rest of Ackerman's BNA team, Xero, Ron Baker, Timeshits, LivePlan and anyone else we mentioned but forgot to mention here!

Episode 50 | Recorded January 17, 2022

this episode is sponsored by Xero. beautiful business.

The Sons are honored and privileged to have THE Ron Baker on our podcast today. Scott can now drop his mic and slowly back away. Getting into the “spirit” of things, Ron talks about the real soul of enterprise, the spiritual v. physical, why timesheets are not useful, how Ron found his footing in the CPA world, and his grand unifying theory of everything.

* The four defenses of timesheets – except for “The Lord doesn’t want me to throw them out ...”

* CPAs are just historians with really shitty memories.

* Better measures – turnaround time, keeping promises, HSDs, the NPS and value gaps

* The three KPIs of every major airline in the world, except North Korea’s

* Why Ron thinks airlines have gone too far with their nickel-and-diming

* The awesomeness of being first in line

* How CPA firms can be better pricers

* How to replace timesheets

* Flipping the script – measure the customer

* Relationships aren’t efficient – they either grow or die

* To be innovative is the antithesis of efficiency

* The sin of running a firm at full capacity

* The birth of fixed pricing c. 1989

* Scientism (not related to Scientology ...)

* Why are futurists charlatans?

* Refining your client-selection criteria

* Riches are in the nitches, bitches!

* Satisficing – the art of doing “good enough”

* Next time – subscriptions!

Check out Ron’s latest tome: Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms https://amzn.to/39Pfe8y

Listen to The Soul of Enterprise - https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/

Shoutouts – Thomas Sowell, George Gilder, and “The Spirit of Enterprise,” Joshua Bell, Benjamin Franklin, Toyota, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Coincident indicators, FedEx, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Reginald Heber Smith, Google stuff, all of it, Kabuki, McDonald’s uniforms, Hydras, Socrates, Columbo, Paul Kennedy, and O'Byrne and Kennedy, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Pisenti & Brinker, Sparky, Ed Kless, Harvard Business Review, all the non-Zuckerberg, non-Bezos, and non-Branson types, Jody Padar, and everyone else we forgot to mention!

Time Shits - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8RSBwSGlp8

BONUS - Rebroadcast of Episode 65 of The Unique CPA ...and it is “pure vaporware”

Randy and Scott have a great time talking about everything under the sun, from beer and other methods of “relaxation,” to one of the key tenets of The Unique CPA: The changing face of public accounting, which also happens to be a heavy focus of this show.

Check out The Unique CPA Podcast at https://tri-merit.com/podcasts/

Scott Scarano is the Owner and President of Padgett Business Services of Raleigh-Durham. He founded the Sons of CPAs podcast in 2021.

Scott’s “Why” is empowering all growth-minded entrepreneurs in his reach to thrive and prosper by approaching problems from a different perspective and analyzing solutions.

Scott earned his B.B.A. in Accounting from Campbell University, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Upon graduation, he spent several years working as a staff accountant at local CPA firms in Durham, NC, when Scott discovered his passion for working with small businesses. He is a licensed Enrolled Agent and a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor.

all the shout outs

Randy Crabtree, Nikole Mackenzie, John Garrett, Josh Lance, Kristen Keats, Terrell Turner, Blake Oliver, Jason Ackerman, Xero, Liz Mason, High Rock, Lil Wayne, GKUA, Byron Patrick, Botkeeper, Padgett, Jeff Phillips, Amanda Aguillard, Ignition, GoProposal, James Ashford, Ron Baker, Mike Michalowicz, Jody Grunden, Acuity, Matthew May, Kenji Kuramoto, Scott Scharf, Patti Scharf

Sons of CPAs on Apple and Spotify

Scott Scarano on Twitter

Scott Scarano on LinkedIn

Episode 48

You bring the snacks; Jason’s got the Staats ... and the experience to talk about creativity, community, and life in the CPA world. Over the past some years, In addition to YouTube stardom, Jason has been a staff accountant, tax preparer, principal at Brenner & Company LLP, and is a member of the Gusto Partner Advisory Council.

... there's a post-easter egg at the 45min mark #CPAliens

In today’s ep, we’re talking:

*#TaxTwitter – what it is, and why it’s a hit (hint: community) – and Jason’s takeaway: you’ll always have more to gain by sharing your knowledge than by sitting on it.

*The History of Jason – from one-man garage accountant to finding his people and growing a community that blows the doors off the old ‘what’s mine is mine’ mindset.

*Jason’s creative process behind his Jason.CPA YouTube magic. Does he really want to move beyond his own little corner of the accounting world?

*On book writings – Jason’s focused on writing what he knows. Working title:

A Field Manual to Navigating Legacy Accountants.

*scott scarano, ea 🥶😈 search for the real meaning of “Why,” and his platform. Maybe it’s rap? He’s got the title – #CPAliens.

*Jason’s words of wisdom on the socials:

-      Define what you want to get out of it

-      Find your community by adding value to other peoples’ conversations

*Firm Goals

-      Reduce the number of clients

-      Maintain profitability with fewer clients by raising prices

-      Step away from the partner-led model

-      Team-first approach

*Building the Bench Accounting partnership. Why Bench over other options? Short answer: Long-haul reliability

*Jason throws tools – Scribe, Airtable v. Excel?

All the shout outs: Earmark, Blake Oliver, CPA #TaxTwitter, Intuit, Intuit Mailchimp, Drew Carrick FloQast Zapier, Sandwich, Adam Lisagor, ElectroNeek, Donna Bordeaux, Pilot.com, ❤️🖤💚Nayo Carter-Gray, EA MBA Sandy Johns #100DaysOfNoCode, Xero, Relay Financial, PandaDoc, Simon Sinek

Realize Accountant Community http://rlz.io

YouTube Channel https://go.rlz.io/yt

Episode 47 | Recorded January 10, 2022 

Today we’ll learn about Jody Grunden’s CPA journey and how his firm went from $0 in 2002 to $9 million plus in 2022. By taking the non-traditional route in accounting – combining vision and integration to form a biz model that really, really works - Summit CPA Group is a shining example what TO do! 

shout out to our sponsors this week; Xero and Gusto's People Advisory Accelerator, go to gusto.com/training and type in the code sons100 for $349 off

Meet Jody: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodygrunden/ 

Jody is not the son of a CPA, but he’s the first person in his family to go to college. 

Why Summit CPA Group is different: 

Figuring out what the clients want 

Why forecasting is key – go forward, not back 

Defining the why and when of meetings – forecasting, pipeline, rev-rec, and the floater 

How the fixed-fee model nearly tanked Summit 

Why Summit CPA Group has no accounts receivable 

Form and function – explaining the Summit “pods” and their processes 

The Wow factor – not charging more for unexpected issues, such as PPP 

Setting, managing, and exceeding expectations – just do it! 

The Summit CPA niche – creative agencies over $1m in revenue 

What’s the next step in the evolution? 

The 2FA (or 3) of scaling pricing – revenue, employee count, and industry 

Giving clients the Carvana experience 

Why soft skills matter at Summit 

Talking compensation 

What did Jody learn while he was growing the practice? 

Figuring out your pricing model is the #1 priority 

Making the Summit model the new normal 

Check out Summit’s free CPE webinars here: https://www.summitcpa.net/cpe-webinars or get the Virtual CFO Playbook here: https://www.summitcpa.net/vcfo-playbook 

Why Summit used cartoons to set themselves apart 

Shout-out to Indiana University, Darren Root, and Rootworks, Crowe, BKD, Summit CPA Group, Adam Hale, Netflix, The Summit City (Fort Wayne, IN), DCPA

shout out to EMINƎM https://youtu.be/_kQBVneC30o

One of Niks Core Values at Momentum is GSD, Get Shit Done.

Core Values defined, are a set of fundamental beliefs, ideals or practices that inform how you conduct your life, both personally and professionally. Businesses can also have and maintain core values. These can help an organization determine how to allocate resources, make important decisions and grow.

sometimes you're so involved in to what you do on a day-to-day basis that you don't realize that over the years you've actually created pretty good systems

we encourage you and your team to meet your clients once a month and you can reduce the amount of email clutter back and forth, force them to have meetings with you

“Forced to Face your Finances on Focus Fridays”

Productivity Tip, in client meetings always notes, and always have action items

shout out to Loom, get comfortable with video and asynchronously sending information via video vs sending emails… there is more context and it’s more efficient and effective form of communication … shout out to Earmark, Blake and Zach Frank

NiksTips #1 Asynchronous Communication Tools that we use; Google Calendar, Google Docs, Loom, HubSpot, Karbon, DialPad, Slack, 15five, TypeForm, Calendly, Notion

NiksTips #2 Manage External Communication and get your clients to meet you “where you’re at” and use the same tools that your firm is using and EVERYONE will be more productive

NiksTips #3 “Avoid learning while you’re working” have a core app stack so you don’t have to always learn something new with each client - find contractors or specialists for complex work

NiksTips #4 “Find Repeatable Shortcuts” such as making rules in Xero, email templates for common answers, and using folders in your google chrome browser

NiksTips #5 “leverage resources and push down work” like using VA and interns. Find an intern to pull your bank statements, if you could pay someone $15 an hour and it takes them 10 hours, like $150 a month… might be cheaper than that RPA you’re trying to build

NiksTips #6 “meeting and meeting cadence and agenda”

NiksTips #7 “manage your energy” niks is a really good napper, she can take great 12min naps…

and a great way to be productive is just don’t answer your phone, don’t even work with your phone in the same room

shout out to Zuni and Michael Ly

Episode 46 | Recorded January 3, 2022  

Dawn Brolin, a self-proclaimed number-splatter expert, has a heart of gold, but she’s also the hammer. She’s about providing the most effective service possible. If clients won’t hold up their end of the bargain, she’s not afraid to fire them. 

 • Dawn's penned two books, The Designated Motivator and The Designated Motivator for Accountants  

• What’s nice v. kind?  

• Shout out to all you New Englanders! We love you! We really do! We will not F*&% with you!  

• What’s the difference between an accountant and a sex worker on TikTok? Go ahead, guess ..!  

• Future goals – succession planning. Dawn’s planning on nine more years, and her tech stack is the key to her exit!  

• Why firms should definitely have a PIA fee  

• Competition v. Collaboration  What’s most important is the way clients treat her, and her staff.  

You can use your established processes to A) get the information you need, but also B) to figure out which clients have their shit together.  

Pricing – what works best for you and your firm? Dawn, Scott and Jason talk about the pain points, and best practices for pricing your services.  

Also, we’ll talk about how Dawn took some negative assessments of herself and used them to fuel her talent and even appearance. What do you do when someone tells you that you won’t ever be able to do something? You do it! What do you do when someone hands you personal “feedback”? First of all, be YOU. Then, take what’s useful from that feedback, and make it your own! The most amazing things happen when you take off the reins and run!  

Dawn also shares how babysitting staff annihilates her soul and who you need to find to make everything run smoothly. You need runners – the people who are going to keep up with you, the people who want to learn, and the people who aren’t afraid to help you!  

Measuring success, to Dawn, is about getting the work done. It means having the time to live a real-life, and not be tied to that to work 24/7. 

She follows a lot of the principles from Mike Michalowicz’s book, “Profit First” and shares a bit of useful information on your own money methodology.  

App and other special shout outs: Ignition, Ron Saharyan, Profit First Professionals- It's your business. Shouldn't your profit come first? Anderson Brolin & Coba CPAs, LLC Lacerte Software Corporation, 🚀  Liz Mason, Dawn’s website – dawnbrolin.com, Gaynor Hardy (Meilke), MS, CBC, CTC Charisma Ink, abuser-friendly Intuit QuickBooks, Ron Baker, Relay Financial, Joseph Scarano, FloQast Studios, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans CLO bullet-proof vests, Hazmat suits, body bags, Rick and Morty, Lil Wayne, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Katherine Heigl, Knocked Up, and Waze 

Productization definition from Investopedia: The process of developing or altering a process idea, skill or service to make it marketable for sale to the public. Productized services can also be packaged and offered as subscription-based services.

shout out to our sponsor this week, Gusto

to learn more about Productizing Advisory, check out Gusto’s people advisory training and get certified at gusto.com/training and type in the code SONS100 at checkout to receive $349 off your training!!

the Acronym we’re using to Productize Advisory today is CPA

C for Cadence

P for Process

A for Agenda

the steps to productize your services:

Step #1, find a recurring problem or need that you're constantly seeing from your customers.

Step #2 develop a solution to the problem

Step #3 create a system that is repeatable and can be taught to others

Step #4 train others on the system

Step #5 deliver the services, get feedback, and continue to improve.

Fixed fee pricing and how that's now becoming more normal for our industry has forced us to productize our services when someone's paying for something, you have to deliver a set of services each month.

Cadence is one of the most important parts of productization, and there's gotta be an agenda, and there has to be a system and an approval process that can be taught

shout out to GrowthLab, Dan Gertrudes, Steven Bylar, Heather Satterly, Korey

shout out to LivePlan for productizing the delivery of forecasting

shout out to all the Excel Jockey’s and Peter Wen and TallyFor

shout out to Niks, Kenji, Josh Lance, and Michael Ly, and of course your teacher Jacklyn Anku

shout out to EO and Scaling Up and Verne Harnish and EOS and Traction and Geno Wickman

Episode 45 | Recorded January 3, 2022

Shout out to our sponsors; Clockwork.ai and Botkeeper

Alright, alright, alright ... This week, we’re talking to the Matthew McConaughey of Accounting, it's Byron Patrick, CPA.