Twyla Verhelst: How Firms Get Creative to Compete

That includes hiring non-accountants.
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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
for CPA Trendlines

You have to be intentional about creating the firm you want, said Twyla Verhelst, CPA. The head of Accountant Channel at FreshBooks and creator of Women in Accounting Mentorship said the first step is getting clear on your why, your firm’s why and your team’s why so you can approach growth more intentionally.

MORE: Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for LifeRandy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees HappyErik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a MindshiftJennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone LovesMike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training PracticesHector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be FreePrivate Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt WilkinsonWhen Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey SchmidtCan Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves?Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson

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She said CPAs should be asking, “Why is it that a particular goal appeals to you?” “Is that the right thing to be working toward now?” “What will you do to get there?”

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Pros Filing 54% of Individual Tax Returns

data tableTotal refunds down 10 percent.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

With 11 days to go in the tax season, the Internal Revenue Service was seeing red. Only two of its weekly data points were on the plus side, and those at less than 1 percent.

MORE: Average Tax Refunds Down 10% | Tax Pro E-filings Up 3% | Pros Handle 45% of Income Tax Returns | IRS Processing Returns as Fast as It Gets Them | Only 39% of Tax Returns Filed by Pros | Tax Season Opens with Refunds Up 85%
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The IRS received 101.3 million individual income tax returns as of April 7, the latest data available. That’s down 1.9 percent from the same period in 2022.
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Chase Birky: Overcoming Paralysis by Analysis

Be the author of your own story and chart a path not subject to the control and opinions of others.

^ Click to play video | > Play the podcast and follow CPA Trendlines Podcasts on Apple Podcasts here or grab the RSS feed here.

Transformation Talks
With Bill Penczak
Center for Accounting Transformation

Center for Accounting Transformation
Center for Accounting Transformation

Entrepreneurs in the accounting profession are rare, according to Chase Birky, president and CEO of Dark Horse CPAs. And he should know.

He had to take an uncomfortable step outside of his own comfort zone to become one.

MORE: Secret to Success? A Growth and Abundance Mindset | O.D. Lanier: Stepping Into Advisory | From Tax to Transformation | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in Audit | Why the Future is in Risk Advisory | Four Strategies for a Future Ready Firm
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After starting out in audit at a Big 4 right out of college, he decided it was no longer what he wanted to do.

“I started an audit specifically, you know, not really having a great idea of what audit truly was, you know, because you take the courses in your undergrad, and you know, you have a section of it on the CPA exam,” Birky explained. “But what that material is versus what the job is, you know, are two very different things.”

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Heather Smith: Try Not Growing Your Business

Heather Smith: We are the oxygen for the businesses around us.

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 for CPA Trendlines

Heather Smith has loved accounting since she was 14 and loves the flexibility the profession offers. Since the mid-2000s she has been one of the original cloud accounting nomads, with an accounting business that she says fits in a lovely Italian handbag.

MORE: Randy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees HappyErik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a MindshiftJennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone LovesMike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training PracticesHector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be FreePrivate Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt WilkinsonWhen Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey SchmidtCan Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves?Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson

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In 2022, the ANISE Consulting founder based in Brisbane, Australia, demonstrated that nomadic lifestyle by attending all three live Xerocon events: London, New Orleans and Sydney. Heather is a tireless advocate for her small business clients and a fan of technology to improve our lives, including staffing. READ MORE →

Jackie Meyer: Be a Problem Solver, Not a Number Cruncher

Jackie Meyer: Redefine your boundaries and stop conforming to inappropriate behaviors.

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 for CPA Trendlines

Jackie Meyer is a fan of value pricing and niching your practice. Her favorite area is tax planning, which doesn’t require a huge investment of time to provide huge financial benefits for clients.

Her own firm tripled revenues by focusing on tax planning.

MORE: Randy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees HappyErik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a MindshiftJennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone LovesMike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training PracticesHector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be FreePrivate Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt WilkinsonWhen Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey SchmidtCan Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves?Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson

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Firms that focus on low-volume, highly-niched areas solve several problems at once.

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Dustin Verity: Keep an Open Mind and Constantly Learn

Tech allows small to mid-size firms to provide better CAS.

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Transformation Talks
With Bill Penczak
Center for Accounting Transformation

Center for Accounting Transformation
Center for Accounting Transformation

Dustin Verity admits to being cautious. He also admits to being a technophile.

In the latest episode of Transformation Talks, the CPA explained being conflicted between his obsession with playing with the latest technology and finding the right fit for his firm.

MORE: Secret to Success? A Growth and Abundance Mindset | O.D. Lanier: Stepping Into Advisory | From Tax to Transformation | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in Audit | Why the Future is in Risk Advisory | Four Strategies for a Future Ready Firm
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I’ve always been interested in technology and, and you know, efficiencies,” Verity said, always wanting to know how his firm could produce more and work more efficiently. “That means less hours that we have to spend in the office ourselves.”  READ MORE →

Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for Life

Play the infinite game and 11 more takaways

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr for CPA Trendlines

“We’re ultimately in the people business. We’re in the relationship-building business. We just happen to do accounting.”

That’s how Clayton Oates, the founder of QA Business, views the accounting profession.

MORE: Randy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees HappyErik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a MindshiftJennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone LovesMike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training PracticesHector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be FreePrivate Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt WilkinsonWhen Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey SchmidtCan Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves?Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson

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Oates also believes accountants can choose whether they are playing a finite, zero-sum game with clients or the infinite game, which continues forever and results in an abundance forever mindset with clients, who will then be your clients for life. 

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Ron Baker: Monetize the Relationship, Not the Transaction

Ron Baker: The subscription model optimizes lifetime customer value.

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 for CPA Trendlines

Ron Baker has been on a crusade to transform accounting firms for decades, first by pushing us to kill the billable hour and to implement value pricing. Today, he’s advising accountants to switch to a radically different business model. His new book, co-authored with Paul Dunn, “Time’s Up! The Subscription Business Model for Professional Firms,” explains the subscription model and why moving to this model aligns the values of firm owners with those of their customers.

MORE: Erik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a MindshiftJennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone LovesMike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training PracticesHector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be FreePrivate Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt WilkinsonWhen Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey SchmidtCan Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves?Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson

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This book began from Ron’s obsession with the question “What would happen if Disney started CPA firms?” Accounting wouldn’t be a grudge purchase with low prices, but Disney “would enhance the experience and you would pay a fortune and you would be delighted to do so.” In today’s world, your customers are no longer comparing your firm to the other CPA firms, but to “any organization that has the capacity of raising our customer’s expectations,” such as Nordstrom or Amazon. Baker said, “We need to up our game as a profession.”

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