Standardized Practices Empower Your Firm

Six steps to take.

By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA

The accounting profession will never resemble an automotive production line, perhaps for no other reason than we don’t look good in steel-toed boots. We’ll never be widget producers and, from my viewpoint, that’s a good thing. However, our position among the professional class shouldn’t blind us to the benefits of standardizing many of our services.

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Anyone who has been an accountant for any length of time has certainly seen enough to eliminate the need to reinvent the wheel every time they start a new engagement. An entire firm has even more institutional knowledge to draw from. You can develop reliable and repeatable recipes for different services and deliverables by capturing this institutional knowledge. This is standardization, and it makes your service offerings more efficient, cheaper, consistent and predictable – all good business practices. You’ll be able to predict with better accuracy the time frames required for new projects, and you’ll be able to scope out exactly what will be required to bring the project to a successful conclusion. READ MORE →

How Automation Boosts Staffing

And four ways it pushes the paradigm shift.

By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA

When you have three people in your firm, each doing things their own way, you won’t be able to standardize until you get them all on the same page. Technology makes it easy to do that.

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Technology is spurring innovation and driving automation – and that’s reshaping the future of accounting. Automation is simply using technology to complete tasks that are typically done by humans, and it will help you standardize by providing:
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The Feedback Mistake That Costs You Your Best People | ARC

Intent, tone and delivery matter just as much as the message itself. 

Sponsored by The Balanced Millionaire: The Advisor Edition by Dr. Jackie Meyer | See Today’s Special Offer
Originally published Feb. 5, 2026
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Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto

Center for Accounting Transformation

Build a 7-figure firm in just 4 hours a week!

One poorly handled conversation can undo months—or years—of trust. In this episode of Accounting ARC, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, and Liz Mason, CPA, unpack why difficult feedback often fails, how leaders can communicate with greater intention, and what separates constructive coaching from conversations that send employees looking for another job.

The conversation starts with a story familiar to anyone who has ever hovered over the “Send” button on a difficult message.

MORE Accounting ARC: Is Your Boss Really the Problem? | Most Accountants Are Missing This AI ShiftAI Can Fix Your Workflow—or Break It in Seconds | Efficiency Is the Wrong Goal for AI | Accounting’s Hidden Talent Risk: The Sandwich GenerationBuilt Fast. Sold Faster. Broken Later? The Truth About Accounting Tech | Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn OutValuing More Than the Balance Sheet | Accounting’s “Untalked-About” FrontierWhy Happiness is Hard-Fought for High Achievers | The Fastest Way to Lose Talent Is “Dick Leadership” | Post-Holiday Fatigue Isn’t a Failure; It’s a Signal | OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps NowReturn Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting |

Mason, founder and CEO of High Rock Accounting, recalls proposing a conference talk with a deliberately provocative title — a reminder that most professionals feel the tension between holding the line and keeping the peace. The point, she says, is not to sanitize reality. It is to learn how to hold people accountable without turning it into a personal attack.

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Hooda: Model a 7-Figure Firm in 10 Hrs/Week | The Concierge CPA

Build a business that runs itself.

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The Concierge CPA
With Jackie Meyer
For CPA Trendlines

When Concierge CPA host Jackie Meyer met UK-based accountant Reza Hooda at GrowCon, they quickly realized they were professional doppelgängers.

Both transitioned from traditional tax firms to leading-edge advisory businesses. Both created proprietary pricing models. Both teach accountants how to reclaim their time, value, and purpose.

More Jackie Meyer

But Hooda’s journey is one every accountant needs to hear: the story of how he walked away from PwC, bought a traditional firm from his father-in-law at the worst possible economic moment (2008’s global financial crisis), and slowly rebuilt it—from paper files and printed emails to seven-figure advisory success, working less than 10 hours a week.

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Michelle River: The Hidden Data Behind CPA Firm Burnout and Profit Pressure | Gear Up for Growth

How savvy CPAs are unlocking powerful insights buried in their practice management systems. Plus: Download the slide deck.

Sponsored by True Advisor: Buy now | Learn more

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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher

For CPA Trendlines

“What surprised me most isn’t what the data says,” says Michelle Golden River, CEO of Fore LLC, in a new episode of Gear Up for Growth, powered by CPA Trendlines. “It’s that almost every CPA already has it, and it rarely makes it into leadership conversations.” 

Download Michelle River’s slide deck here

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 Streaming Network here

River tells host Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing, that firms are overlooking powerful insights buried in their own practice management data. 

River challenges CPA firm leaders to rethink long-held assumptions about growth and sustainability. “There is no reason we should be taking a high volume of low spenders when it’s killing us. It’s ruining our sustainability chances,” she says

River leaves three top takeaways for CPA firms:

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