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Now, with smarter search, deeper analysis and more detailed responses (v.2.7).
Now, with smarter search, deeper analysis and more detailed responses (v.2.7).
Build the firm you want by hiring only the best.
The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
When David Cristello launched Jetpack Workflow in 2016, the market already had plenty of solutions. “Are we too late?” he wondered. But he launched anyway, “and the only reason we launched is because we interviewed so many firms.” These firms told him about the problems with other solutions, and with his founders’ group, he was able to co-create a product that worked.
MORE DISRUPTORS: Candy Bellau: The $350 Pricing Mistake that Nearly Broke this Boutique Firm | The Disruptors | Poe: What P.E. Really Wants from Firms | The Disruptors | Blake Oliver: Build a Biz that Runs Without You | Daiber: Use Succession as a Growth Strategy | Cannon: Busy Season is Self-Inflicted | Carroll: When One Person Can Break the Firm | Rampe: Build a Roadmap Even When the Road’s Not There | Chang: Killing SALY, One Agent at a Time |
Back then, firms were tracking work on spreadsheets, as many firms today still do, and things were falling through the cracks. However, today’s users have more sophisticated demands. “What used to be just checklists and task lists is now about, what’s the operating system for the firm?” says Cristello.

How are you assessing your team?
By Alan Anderson, CPA
Transforming Audit for the Future
I’m fortunate to have two great former auditors working with me in Accountability Plus – my son Tyler Anderson and Corey Schmidt, who met working together as auditors. But that firm – like most firms – was focused on total hours worked and realization rates, and had no tracks for auditors who didn’t fit in the normal staff to senior to supervisor to manager to partner progression.
As Corey told me, “Tyler and I were good with workflow management and managing processes, and that’s what our firm should have had us focus on.” Corey demonstrated that when he was assigned the employee benefit plan practice at that firm, and through his leadership, improved fee realization from 60 percent to 100 percent.
“No one wants to leave the IRS more than they have to.”
By Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™
For CPA Trendlines
An estimated 10 to 12 million Boomer-owned businesses are expected to transition over the next decade. That’s a massive wave of planning, liquidity events, and legacy questions. Yet experts say most owners don’t engage advisors until they’re well into the deal process.
“By the time they come to us, they’ve often already signed a letter of intent,” laments Randy A. Fox, CFP, AEP, founder of Two Hawks Family Office Services, on a recent panel discussion for contributors to my new book, Holistic Guide to Wealth Management. “That shuts the door on a lot of the strategies that could have helped them keep more of what they built,” Fox added.
Fellow contributor and panel discussion guest Christine Nicholson, author, business consultant, and exit planning specialist, has worked with hundreds of owners. She sees the same distorted view of reality cloud their thinking — owners mistakenly assume their kids will take over and believe their business is worth far more than it really is. READ MORE →
By CPA Trendlines Research
You don’t have to lose clients just because they’re retiring.
Retirement opens up new opportunities for new services. Here are 10.
READ MORE →

New platform helps firms counter AI-driven margin compression and client churn.
4impactdata, the decision intelligence platform that turns a firm’s entire client base into a source of revenue growth, iks rolling out 4ID Foresight, a strategic foresight layer that cuts through the noise in a firm’s book of business to identify the signals that matter up to 18-24 months before they surface, and the specific actions to take because of them.
MORE 4impactdata.com MORE Eric Eager
“Proactive guidance is the difference between losing a client and growing one. That’s what 4ID Foresight makes possible,” says Eric Eager, CEO of the Plano, Texas, startup. “Most firms are reacting to problems that were visible years ago, if you knew where to look. 4ID Foresight shows you where.” Eager is a CPA Trendlines contributing author.