How long a transition time? What happens to WIP and A/R?
By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Mergers: Your Complete Guide
Think your firm is ready to merge? Not so fast.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.All of the following are common terms that must be agreed upon by both merger partners.
Reconsider your prices. Here are 10 questions to help.
By Martin Bissett
Business Development On a Budget
Undercharging – or lowballing as it’s also called – is the scourge of the profession. It has always been present, and unfortunately, it will probably be with us for the foreseeable future.
Undercharging is directly related to fear – fear of rejection.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.
When you are building your pipeline according to the process, you have assigned fees you think might be in the ballpark of what you believe you could get from a new piece of work or a new client. You may tend to estimate on the low side, which is not a bad idea in theory, because it lets you be pleasantly surprised when it’s anything beyond that.
Celerity’s founder turned a side-hustle into a fast-growing success.
The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
Tailor Hartman didn’t start Celerity Accounting with a grand plan. The initial goal was to make enough from an accounting side gig to pay down his student loans while he worked full-time as an assistant controller. He found his first clients in an unorthodox place – Upwork.
“I started going on [Upwork] to find cleanup gigs, you know, quick cleanup gigs for like 30, 40 bucks an hour in QuickBooks or maybe even NetSuite,” he shares.
CPA TRENDLINES CELEBRATES:The 100th Episode of The Disruptors
MORE STREAMING: Telka: Transform Fear into Fuel | Woodard: Move Past Reports; Deliver Results | Baker: Find True Purpose to End Burnout | Brolin: The W.I.N. Leadership Formula | Gertrudes: How EOS & “Unreasonable Hospitality” Reshaped GrowthLab | Vilms: The Power of People in a Tech-Driven World | Dickerson: From Diagnosis to Disruption | Kapilovich: Treat People Like People | Martha Yasso: From Wall Street to Main Street | Jackie Meyer: Tax Plans in 90 Seconds? Believe It | Erica Goode: Build a $200K Firm in 15hrs/Week | Randy Crabtree: Live at the Intersection of Passion & Skill |McClelland and Telka: Women Ready to Rewrite the Rules of Accounting | Jacob Schroeder: AI Won’t Replace Accountants—But It Will Reveal Who’s Replaceable | Ditching Corporate America: The Bold Story Behind PBS Accounting’s Rapid Rise | Jean Zick: Happy Team = Happy Clients | Breslin & Greathead: Be a Client Advocate |
Those cleanup gigs turned into monthly accounting. “I ended up getting enough clients where I could quit my job within three months… which is pretty crazy.” As a testament to Celerity’s excellent service, those early clients remain loyal today.
“We still have all of my existing Upwork clients, which is crazy.”
Ruthless efficiency, process-first thinking, and a bold rejection of traditional models help build her “life-first” firm.
Big 4 Transparency
By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
For CPA Trendlines
On The Big 4 Transparency Podcast, host Dominic Piscopo sat down with Erica Goode, founder of a solo accounting practice that generated over $180,000 in profit in 2024, all while working just 15 hours a week. Her secret? Ruthless efficiency, process-first thinking, and a bold rejection of traditional scaling models.
Goode’s path wasn’t planned. After leaving a corporate finance role to care for her two young kids, she took on one client with just two hours a week to spare.
MORE Dominic Piscopo | MORE Private Equity | MORE Pay & Compensation
As her children’s school hours expanded, so did her firm – but never beyond her self-imposed 15-hour weekly cap. “My business grew as fast as my kids did,” she quipped. Every new client required a new process improvement, creating a flywheel of efficiency and discipline.
Accountability is key.
By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great
In my experience, making sure that your economic model becomes reality only happens with persistent and consistent accountability.
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.To achieve accountability, I recommend three management tools that will help you create focus and improve performance: