Here’s what you’re looking for: Liz Farr

PODCAST

Disruptors: Nicole Davis & JW Davis Show How to Create Your Own Pipeline

Change your business model, change your life.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

What would an accounting firm look like if you had never worked in public accounting? Because Nicole Davis, CPA, and JW Davis, a registered investment advisor, didn’t follow the traditional path to firm ownership. They reimagined what a firm could look like, starting from a blank canvas instead of the regimented, structured, paint-by-numbers design of traditional accounting firms.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Dawn Brolin: Grow Your Firm By Shrinking It |Jason Blumer & Julie Shipp: Move Leaders Out of Client Service | James Graham: Drop the Billable Hour and You’ll Bill More | Karen Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business | Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow |

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Nicole is the founder and principal of Butler-Davis Tax & Accounting in the Atlanta area, while JW is the CEO.

Like many Disruptor-led firms, JW explains that ”one of the really big things we focus on was work-life balance.” Nicole adds, “If your culture is one of stress and long hours, then you really need to rethink your business model.”

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FEATURED

Disruptors: Chase Birky Builds the Anti-CPA Firm

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Join a better wheel. 

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Chase Birky wanted “a better way to CPA,” so he and co-founder Max Fritz created Dark Horse – the “anti-CPA firm,” which would be “the opposite of what a client would expect of a CPA firm, of what talent expects of a CPA firm.” Dark Horse democratizes access to the resources, tools, and technology available to larger firms so sole practitioners and small firms have an easier path to the modern CPA firm.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Jason Blumer & Julie Shipp: Move Leaders Out of Client Service | James Graham: Drop the Billable Hour and You’ll Bill More | Karen Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business | Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow |

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Dark Horse was born out of the realization that small businesses were underserved by their accountants. Many small business owners have “these horror stories about the large firm that deprioritizes them and charges them an arm and a leg, or the one-off practitioner or micro firm that wouldn’t return their emails or phone calls, and never provides advice, just tells them to sign on the dotted line,” Birky says.

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LEADERSHIP

What Kind of Leader Are You?

cartoon of good vs bad leader

Good vs. bad leadership.

By Liz Farr

I am fascinated by leadership. That’s likely because I’ve had way more experience with poor or mediocre leaders than with great leaders. Let me tell you about examples at the extremes.

MORE from LIZ FARR: Jason Blumer & Julie Shipp: Move Leaders Out of Client Service | Brandon Hall: Firms Try to Make Too Much on Tax Prep | Amber Setter: Coaching Helps Resolve the Tension Between Safety and Purpose | James Graham: Drop the Billable Hour and You’ll Bill More | Karen Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business | Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Chris Vanover: Question the Why or Stay with the Status Quo | Jason Deshayes: What We’re Doing Isn’t Working
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In 2002, my accounting career began with a job at H&R Block in rural New Mexico. It was my first job where it was important to be at work on time. All my previous jobs had been as research assistants in biochemistry. My schedule was flexible, and as long as I kept up with the necessary work to move the project forward, my supervisors generally didn’t care when I did the work.

What kind of leader do you want to be?

Do you want to be the kind of leader people want to follow? Who is honored, as Julie Shipp is, “to go shoulder to shoulder with you”? Or the leader who relies on constant and pointless check-ins?

If you’ve never spent time at a retail tax prep office, you may not be familiar with the stampede of people who show up as soon as they get their W2s so they can get their EITC refunds as soon as possible. This office was in a low-income area, so for a few weeks in February, when the doors opened at 9 a.m., we had enough people lined up outside the door to keep us busy until noon or beyond.

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FEATURED

Jason Blumer & Julie Shipp: Move Leaders Out of Client Service

Intentionality can bring freedom and joy.

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, Gaana (India), and Boomplay (Africa).

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

When Jason Blumer and Julie Shipp joined forces to build Blumer CPAs more than a decade ago, they eschewed the traditional partnership structure, where decision-making power depends on ownership percentage. Instead, Blumer says, “We figured out the ownership is a legal reflection of the companies, but they do not reflect anything we do together in our roles.”

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: James Graham: Drop the Billable Hour and You’ll Bill More | Karen Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business | Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow |

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Together, they also formed Thriveal, a support community for accounting firm owners. Blumer is the CEO and visionary for the firm and Shipp is the COO and integrator. This separation of ownership from roles allows them both to be, as Shipp says, “100% in my role and have 100% the authority of my role.”

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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Brandon Hall: Firms Try to Make Too Much on Tax Prep

Try for a 10-15% margin.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Brandon Hall says that the reason accountants have such long and grueling busy seasons is that “firms try to make way too much money at tax prep.” Firms don’t have enough capacity to deliver on services, so everyone – including the partners – ends up working a ton of hours.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: James Graham: Drop the Billable Hour and You’ll Bill More | Karen Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business | Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa |

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Because partner pay isn’t included in payroll, the margin on tax prep is likely much worse than the 30-35% that shows up on the income statement. Hall’s target for the 2024 filing season is just 10-15% margin on tax prep.

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FEATURED VIDEO

Amber Setter: Coaching Helps Resolve the Tension Between Safety and Purpose

Safety’s knowing you can pay the bills. Purpose is knowing there’s something more.

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, Gaana (India), and Boomplay (Africa).

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Amber Setter, the chief enlightenment officer for Conscious Public Accountants, started out as a Type A overachiever CPA, but after a few busy seasons, she realized that she “didn’t want to be an accountant anymore.”

 

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Blumer CPAs: Move Leaders Out of Client Service | James Graham: Drop the Billable Hour and You’ll Bill More | Karen Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business | Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa | Ira Rosenbloom: With M&A, Nobody Wants a Fixer-Upper | Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right Prices | Marie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining You | Megan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance |

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Today she’s an executive leadership coach for accountants, helping them transform their lives and careers.

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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

James Graham: Drop the Billable Hour and You’ll Bill More

Firm poised to double in size with CFO services.

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, Gaana (India), and Boomplay (Africa).

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

James Graham’s firm, Richtr Financial Studio, gave up the billable hour 10 or 15 years ago, and Graham points to that choice as making the biggest difference in his firm.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Karen Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business | Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa | Ira Rosenbloom: With M&A, Nobody Wants a Fixer-Upper | Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right Prices | Marie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining You | Megan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance | Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for Life |

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He said it’s because “it really changes the nature of your relationship with the client” when the client is no longer looking at the clock with “that dollar per hour in the moment, always hanging over any interaction.” By removing the focus on time, “it allows everyone to move forward better because the focus is on running the business.”

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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Karen Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business

Not MORE Clients, BETTER Clients.

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, Gaana (India), and Boomplay (Africa).

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Karen Reyburn wants accountants to stop thinking “about marketing as this one-off thing where you tick little boxes,” but instead about the ways you can use your marketing to connect to the human experience. Her company, The Profitable Firm, or PF for short, has been helping accountants with their marketing since 2012.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa | Ira Rosenbloom: With M&A, Nobody Wants a Fixer-Upper | Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right Prices | Marie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining You | Megan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance | Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for Life |

Learn More

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Her new book, The Accountant Marketer: The Structured Approach Any Accountant Can Follow to Attract Clients They Love, provides a step-by-step process for understanding the unique characteristics of their firm and how to connect that uniqueness with their best clients.

In Reyburn’s view, marketing is closely connected to the business. “If you have a marketing problem, you have a business problem. If you have a business problem, there’s often a marketing solution that can help with it.”

This book springs out of a PF coaching group called The Accelerator, where participants were guided through a process of creating a structured approach to content marketing that made their marketing better. Reyburn and PF take a collaborative approach to marketing. “We don’t do marketing for people,” she explained. “We do marketing with them.”

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