The Lifestyle Accountant Show

S3 Ep15 - Acquiring A Niche CPA Firm with Rachel Fisch

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This week’s episode features a fantastic acquisition story of a CPA firm in the Real Estate niche with guest, Rachel Fisch. Following the successful acquisition of RealtyTax, Rachel went on to scale her time down in the business to be able to take on a role as GM of Dext. 

Rachel has over 25 years of experience in bookkeeping and accounting. She previously served as National Bookkeeping Lead for Deloitte, was the Accountants Group Leader for Sage, and led growth at a US based firm including the acquisition of two accounting firms. Rachel is known as an accounting technology expert and advocate in North America; for predicting where the market is heading. She takes a strategic approach to accounting software and applications, and understands how to position their features for a global market.

In particular, this episode explores:

  • [11:40] Rachel’s background and overview
  • [12:40] How acquiring RealtyTax came about, decision making process
  • [18:01] What did the deal process look like, pricing & structure
  • [25:35] What did the firm look like in terms of team members at the time of acquisition, did team members and co-founders stay on afterwards
  • [28:50] What are the lessons learned from that deal process
  • [32:30] Once you were handed the keys to the business, what were some of the key things you did in the first 60 days 
  • [36:36] What is the core tech stack for the firm
  • [37:40] As owner of the firm, the challenge of being accountable to deliver what has been sold to the clients - do you try to add value or simplify
  • [46:00] Transitioning clients between tech platforms, their response
  • [47:50] The story of starting a new role at Dext while still running the firm, how that came about and how to get the firm ready for that to happen
  • [58:10] How to navigate removing yourself from client facing work and transitioning clients over to your team after they have already built a relationship with you
  • [1:04:00] Get in touch with Rachel

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    You can connect with Rachel on Linkedin, and get more information about her work via websites at RealtyTax and Amalgam8.

    This episode of the podcast is brought to you by sponsors:

    Teamup: Hire top Filipino accountants without ongoing BPO fees. 

     

    The Lifestyle Accountant Show is a podcast that helps today’s accounting firm leaders build successful businesses while living healthy, happy lives hosted by Meryl Johnston. 


    For more information or to get in touch with us, head over to our website lifestyleaccountant.co.

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