Randy Crabtree hosts Brian Floriani on a special Episode 195 of The Unique CPA. The founder of Bernie's Book Bank, Brian shares his moving story behind how he founded the organization in memory of his father, with the goal of addressing educational inequity through book ownership. Brian discusses the significant impact of providing books to under-resourced communities and reveals that a small increase in literacy could dramatically boost the economy. He highlights the organization’s achievements in Chicagoland, their expansion plans, and their commitment to efficient and sustainable operations.

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On Episode 194 of The Unique CPA, Randy Crabtree chats with Kelly Rohrs, founder of her own CPA firm and co-host of the podcast From Zero to Millions: Accounting Edition. Kelly shares her journey from working in a traditional CPA firm to establishing her own practice and the strategies she employed to make it a success, such as leveraging LinkedIn for exposure and building authentic relationships. Kelly has been recognized by CPA Practice Advisor, making their “Top 40 Under 40” list, and she shares her insights on boundary setting, discusses her efforts to help other professionals through her mastermind groups, known as Fiscal Minds, and her podcast, and she emphasizes the importance of openness to innovation, of community, and maintaining work-life balance, as keys to her continuing success.

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Happy new year to The Unique CPA community! David Hartley joins Randy on Episode 193 to kick off 2025 with a chat about a timely topic: The profession’s future and looking forward to the key things that will drive change within accounting. The Partner in Charge of Advisory at Anders CPAs and Advisors, David hits on the shift towards advisory services, emphasizing innovation and the future readiness of firms. Outlining Anders' proactive approach to strategic planning, compensation transparency, and technology integration, Dave also highlights the mental health and work-life balance initiatives at the firm while delving into the evolving importance of value over billable hours in the accounting industry.

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Randy Crabtree welcomes Megan Tarnow on Episode 192 of The Unique CPA to discuss Megan’s unique niche: the intersection of nonprofits and QuickBooks. A speaker, trainer, and Top 100 Pro Advisor, Megan has lent a hand to numerous nonprofits over the years and even developed a Facebook group for nonprofit finance that boasts over 11,000 members. She explains the concept of fiscal sponsorship and its benefits, discussing tools like Ribbon which help streamline nonprofit administration, and she and Randy go over hypothetical and real-life examples of nonprofit operations and sponsorship, showcasing the vital aspects and potential challenges in running a nonprofit. If nonprofits intersect your accounting world this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

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Loren Fogelman joins Randy Crabtree on Episode 191 of The Unique CPA to reveal her keys to enhance accounting firm owners’ earning potential while reducing their hours. Having transitioned from sports psychology to business coaching, Loren emphasizes the similarities between athletes and growth-minded firm owners, translating these similarities into concepts like value-based pricing and the importance of moving away from hourly billing to enhance earning potential without increasing hours worked. Loren shares actionable strategies including her Raise Your Rates formula and Good, Better, Best pricing model to help accountants price their services effectively. Underscoring the need for accountants to recognize their own value, Loren and Randy stress the need to adopt new pricing models to achieve a better work-life balance and financial success.

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Join Randy in his conversation with Josh Malancuk, a state property tax specialist, on Episode 190 of The Unique CPA. Josh discusses his role and the complexities of property tax reductions for businesses. He highlights how most businesses overpay on taxes due to a lack of expertise in reviewing tax assessments and compliance, especially in particular states where the rules differ significantly from most others. Josh explains the importance of bringing in specialists to find savings and ensure accurate assessments, with 20% savings across the board not an uncommon result when collaborating in this fashion.

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On episode 189 of The Unique CPA, Randy is joined by Anthony Venette of DeJoy to discuss the intricacies of succession, gift, and estate planning. Anthony shares insights from his career journey, emphasizing the importance of strategic planning for business continuity and ownership transfer, and he delves into succession planning's critical aspects, such as defining goals, internal vs. external transitions, and the impact of current legal landscape changes. Anthony outlines practical approaches for CPAs and offers examples of successful engagements, highlighting how important it is for just about any CPA to engage in early and ongoing planning to optimize outcomes for their clients.

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On Episode 188 of The Unique CPA, Randy Crabtree connects with Isaac Perdomo, co-founder of Opzer, with a focus on automation in the profession. Isaac explains how Opzer helps accounting firms streamline their operations through process mapping, optimization, and custom workflow automation. Randy points out that oftentimes, those who would benefit most from automation don’t understand just how much time it can save, so they are reluctant to “take the plunge.” But from improving efficiency, enhancing client and team experiences, and gaining better insights, Isaac offers examples of automation in practice that have been more than worth it to his clients. Tune in and hear these valuable insights into how accounting firms can buy back their time and improve their operations through automation.

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Randy welcomes Dan Berenholtz, co-founder and CEO of StanfordTax, to Episode 187 of The Unique CPA. Dan discusses how his company is revolutionizing the tax season process for accountants and clients alike. Detailing his passion for tech entrepreneurship, Dan explores StanfordTax's innovative approach to automating tax data collection, enhancing both client experience and accountant efficiency. He also highlights the integration of AI and future developments in tax technology that aim to make the profession more profitable and less time-consuming.

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Randy Crabtree talks to Lisa Simpson, Vice President of Firm Services at AICPA, on Episode 186 of The Unique CPA. Lisa stresses that essential transformations are needed to ensure a prosperous future for the profession. Fostering a healthy community of accounting professionals and critical shifts in the traditional business model are keys to staying relevant, as are leveraging technology and diversity to drive growth. As talent retention, compensation, and the importance of flexibility remain on the forefront of people’s minds, Lisa encourages firm leaders to engage with these topics because unlike the recent past, there won’t be another time when accounting students are “falling from the sky.” It will take major adaptations to keep your firm relevant in the coming age of change in the profession.

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