Rampe: Make Strategy Stick | Gear Up For Growth

Five steps turn vision into execution.

This is a preview. The complete episode is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by Poe Group Advisors: Helping accountants buy, build, and sell exceptional firms. See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: AppleGoogle/YouTubeSpotifyiHeartDeezer, Amazon Music, AudiblePlayer FMAudacy, RSS
Poe Group Advisors consistently excels in helping our clients find the right accounting practice sales opportunity.
.

Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

On the latest episode of “Gear Up for Growth,” host Jean Caragher interviews Matt Rampe, partner at Rosenberg Associates and author of the forthcoming book, “CPA Firm Strategic Planning: Your Roadmap for Long-Term Success,” about how accounting firms can move beyond ad-hoc retreats to a disciplined, accountable planning process that sticks.

Rampe, who advises firms on strategy, succession, partner development, and profitability, said the book grew out of years of facilitation and coaching with firms of all sizes. “The book was in my brain for a long time before it got put on paper,” he says. “When I started writing, it actually came pretty quickly—but I learned there’s a lot more to making a book than a Word document.”

More Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | More Gear Up for Growth

More CPA Trendlines videos and podcasts here

Rampe argues that the profession has reached a disruption point, citing converging pressures including private equity, technology, staffing shortages, succession for retiring Baby Boomers, and a shift toward advisory services. “What worked for us 10 years ago isn’t going to work for us 10 years in the future,” he says. “The old model, where a few partners disappear into a room and come out with a plan, doesn’t work in this age. We need to be nimble.”

READ MORE →

Jason Blumer & Ian Vacin: How Any Firm Can Scale | Gear Up for Growth

Why chasing clients isn’t always the right answer.

 Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: AppleGoogle/YouTubeSpotifyiHeartDeezer, Amazon Music, AudiblePlayer FMAudacy, RSS.

Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher

“Success doesn’t have to look like going up and to the right,” says Ian Vacin, co-founder and director of partnership relationships at Karbon, in this episode of Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing. “You have to understand what you want as a firm owner, align your revenue with your resources, and build the scaffolding to support that complexity. Otherwise, profitability falls, and you may not recover.”

MORE Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | MORE Gear Up for Growth here

Gear Up for Growth is tailored specifically for public accounting firms with up to 100 team members looking to expand their practices intelligently and efficiently.

MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network here

Vacin, along with Jason Blumer, founder and CEO of Thriveal and Blumer & Associates CPAs, wrote the new book, Scale with Purpose: The Service Entrepreneur’s Guide to Intentional Growth. Drawing from research involving hundreds of firms worldwide, Blumer and Vacin reveal that only about 5% of firms successfully navigate their first major growth phase without setbacks. The authors emphasize that organizational design must precede capacity planning. Without thoughtful structure, firms hit predictable scaling plateaus, particularly between 8 and 20 employees.

READ MORE →

Create ‘Family Trees’ of Referrals

Have you taken the time to trace who sends you business?

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

For those of us in public accounting, there is a continual need to get new clients. Many times we look beyond what we have for the “new” when the growth is there for the taking.

MORE by Ed Mendlowitz
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

 

One of the most important ways a practice can grow is for existing clients to recommend new clients. I have always valued such referral sources, and this value surpasses the fees they pay us. They look out for us and help us grow – I owe them!
READ MORE →

Trisha Daho: What Firms Are Missing on Talent | MOVE Like This

“They are requiring us to be the leaders that we deserved and didn’t get.”

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by The True Adviser: Buy now | Learn more 

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines Research podcasts anywhere: AppleGoogle/YouTubeSpotifyiHeartDeezer, Amazon Music, AudiblePlayer FMAudacy, RSS.
 
The True Adviser: Buy now | Learn more

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Trisha Daho joins Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk to talk about what’s really happening inside accounting firms when it comes to talent, leadership, and growth. Drawing on her experience as a former Big Four partner turned fractional chief people officer, Daho offers a clear-eyed view of where firms are getting it right, and where they’re falling short.

MORE MOVE Like ThisMORE Benchmarks: Register for MOVE 2026 | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

At the core of the conversation is a simple but often overlooked point: the firms that are succeeding aren’t just focused on growth, they’re intentional about how they grow. That starts with having a defined talent strategy. Firms that prioritize development, align values with their people, and create consistent leadership experiences tend to see stronger retention, better performance, and more engaged teams. In contrast, firms that treat talent as secondary or assume people will simply “figure it out” often struggle to keep their best performers.  READ MORE →

Sarah Petrone: Responsible Growth Starts with People | MOVE Like This

“We’re growing in a way that is strategic, and that we’re preparing our people to meet the demands of that growth.”

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by The Balanced Millionaire: The Advisor Edition by Dr. Jackie Meyer | See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines Research podcasts anywhere: AppleGoogle/YouTubeSpotifyiHeartDeezer, Amazon Music, AudiblePlayer FMAudacy, RSS.
 Build a 7-figure firm in just 4 hours a week!

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Bonnie Ruszczyk sits down with Sarah Petrone, chief human resources officer at Clark Nuber, for a conversation about responsible growth, leadership pipelines, belonging, and what it truly means to build a firm where people want to stay for the long haul.

MORE MOVE Like ThisMORE Benchmarks: Register for MOVE 2026 | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

With more than 20 years in human resources across eight industries, Petrone joined Clark Nuber after leading HR in a startup environment, intentionally seeking a stable yet innovative professional services firm. What she found was an organization that understands a fundamental truth of accounting: in professional services, people are the product. That reality shapes everything from growth strategy to succession planning. READ MORE →