VIRTUAL CFO

Create an Accountability Chart for Your Firm

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It beats an org chart and here’s why.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

“Getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats – these are all crucial steps in the early stages of buildup…” – Jim Collins, “Good to Great”

When Adam and I first started the company, we didn’t have much organizational structure. We didn’t need it. But as the company grew, it became necessary to develop an organizational structure. There’s a great quote by Michael E. Gerber in his book “The E-Myth Revisited” that says, “Without the Organization Chart, confusion, discord and conflict become the order of the day.”

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We got to a point where we realized that Adam and I didn’t have clarity around our individual roles, and we were overlapping one another. We needed to have clearly defined roles for one another as well as the people who were working for us. Lack of clarity can cause a loss in production.
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Gocke: Operations Overhaul Doubles Firm Rev | It’s Not Just the Numbers

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Structured operations freed partners to focus on clients and doubled revenue in six years.

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 “It’s Not Just the Numbers: How to Move Beyond the Numbers and Deliver Real Value for Your Clients”
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It’s Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

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Running a modern accounting firm requires more than technical expertise. Partners must balance client relationships, business development, and administrative responsibilities, often leaving firms stretched thin.

In a recent episode of It’s Not Just the Numbers, Doug Gocke, chief operations officer at a mid-sized California firm, describes how restructuring responsibilities and focusing on operations helped his firm double revenue in six years without significantly increasing staff or client count.

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Gocke, who refers to his role as “chief of all trades,” said growth came from building teams before taking on new clients, creating clear accountability, and relentlessly reviewing procedures.

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Get the Right People on the Bus

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people gathering in the shape of an arrowShift from serving clients to serving and developing leaders.

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

“Once you recognize that the purpose of your life is not to serve your business, but that the primary purpose of your business is to serve your life, you can then go to work on your business, rather than in it, with a full understanding of why it is absolutely necessary for you to do so.” – Michael E. Gerber, “The E-Myth Revisited”

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As our team was growing and we reached over 30 team members, we recognized the need to establish a formal leadership team. When we were smaller, it worked fine for Adam and me to be the primary decision makers, but as our client base and workload grew, we realized we would become a bottleneck and slow things down. At that point, we made a conscious effort to transition our daily tasks and client responsibilities to other team members so we could remove ourselves from the weeds and focus on the higher-level view of the company.
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Ladd: Start Advisory with Empathy | It’s Not Just the Numbers

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By starting with conversations and clean books, accountants can deliver clarity, confidence, and real results.

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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It’s Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

4ImpactData: 10X Your Advisory.
Not Your Headcount

When accountants and advisors talk about “advisory services,” the conversation often drifts toward models, frameworks, and numbers. Advisory is explained through dashboards, KPIs, forecasts, and ratios. However, sometimes in our focus on data, we forget the human side —the fact that behind every balance sheet is a business owner who is stressed, overwhelmed, and often lonely. 

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That’s where voices like Steven Ladd’s come in. In a recent It’s Not Just the Numbers podcast “After Hours” session, Ladd shares his journey from engineer to entrepreneur to trusted advisor for small business owners. His insights reveal why advisory services are more than just financial analysis. They’re about empathy, connection, and equipping business owners with clarity. 

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How DiSC Profiles Help Remote Teams

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Overhead view of five people in a meeting

Work together effectively with better understanding. 

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

Working in a remote environment can be great, and it can also have its challenges. Communication is one of the biggest hurdles distributed companies have to overcome. To tackle this issue head on, Summit CPA has implemented many initiatives.

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One of our favorites is the DiSC profiles. Let me start off by telling you a little bit of the background on the DiSC profiles.
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Lang: The Right Clients > Revenue | It’s Not Just the Numbers

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Tough client calls, tax planning, and better leadership turned hard knocks into 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 “It’s Not Just the Numbers: How to Move Beyond the Numbers and Deliver Real Value for Your Clients”
by Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead – See Today’s Special Offer

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

It’s Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

When Lang launched Upside CFO, he didn’t set out with a grand blueprint. “If we’re being honest, we started off with simple bookkeeping,” he says. Over time, his firm evolved into a multi-faceted practice offering fractional CFO services, tax planning, and even financial planning partnerships. Along the way, he admits to trial and error. “Sometimes I do smart stuff. Sometimes I don’t,” Lang laughs.

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Yet from that messy middle came clarity: the future of advisory services lies in translating numbers into strategy, choosing the right clients, and building processes that can scale without sacrificing value.

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Four Approaches to Billing

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two women shaking hands across desk

Do you know your break-even point?

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

When I attend CPA conferences across the United States, I often hear from CPAs: “I don’t want to bill for my time.”

So, how do you bill your clients?

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Client billing can include hourly billing, but it can also include flat-fee, retainer-based and/or value-based billing. Most people use one of these four methods. Some use all of them or even a hybrid.
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Build a CAS Practice that Works | It’s Not Just the Numbers

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The debut episode reveals why half-built CAS divisions fail and what to do instead – Plus 12 key takeaways! 

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 “It’s Not Just the Numbers: How to Move Beyond the Numbers and Deliver Real Value for Your Clients”
by Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead – See Today’s Special Offer

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

It’s Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

In the inaugural episode of It’s Not Just the Numbers, hosts Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead deliver a candid, experience-driven conversation aimed at accounting and bookkeeping firm owners seeking to move beyond compliance work and grow successful Client Accounting and Advisory Services (CAS) practices.

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The duo, who have worked together for over two decades, including hosting one of the first CAS workshops in 2013, are well-known voices in the evolution of cloud-based accounting and outsourced advisory services. Their show—named after their 2019 book—digs into the practical, strategic, and often messy realities of transitioning to advisory work. And for Breslin and Greathead, the key message is clear: building a sustainable CAS practice starts with intentionality.

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AI Is Not Your Enemy; Here’s Why

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Clients will always need context.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

In 1994, in a small hotel meeting room in Colorado Springs, 50 accounting firms were up in arms when the presenter mentioned QuickBooks. They shouted angry comments: “QuickBooks is destroying my business.” “They want to take my clients.” “They are giving people a false sense of security with their commercials that say, ‘If you can write a check, you can do QuickBooks.’”

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The presenter was nervous and asked me what he was to do. I said I use QuickBooks for your company, and I have no idea what I am doing, and I could use an accountant to teach me.

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