Gear Up for Growth With Jean Caragher For CPA Trendlines
In the latest episode of Gear Up for Growth, host Jean Caragher sits down with industry powerhouse Phil Whitman—CEO of Whitman Transition Advisors and founder of C-Suite Impact—to tackle one of the accounting profession’s biggest questions: Can CPA firms still thrive independently in the age of private equity and nonstop M&A?
Whitman’s answer? A firm “yes”—but only if leaders are willing to take bold, intentional action.
Gear Up for Growth spotlights the best strategies for smart and effficient growth in today’s competitive landscape. Gear Up for Growth every Friday here.
With more than 25 years of experience in firm leadership, Whitman offers two strategies and at least five more imperatives for firms to stay independent.
Accountants are often seen as the gatekeepers of financial integrity, but what happens when the client operates a strip club, sells cannabis, or works in legal sex work?
In the latest episode of Accounting ARC, Liz Mason, CPA, and Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, CGMA, challenge the idea that “sin” industries are off-limits for ethical professionals. Their message: legality, transparency, and harm reduction matter more than personal judgment.
Mason, founder and CEO of High Rock Accounting, has worked with legal sex workers and cannabis companies. She says she doesn’t shy away from these clients. “All companies have a right to good advice,” she says, stressing that ethical boundaries depend more on legality and transparency than personal judgment.
Patrick, CEO of VERIFYiQ and educator and co-founder of TB Academy, echoes the sentiment. “Is it legal, or is it not?” he asks. “That’s a pretty clear ethical line.”
But not all ethical questions are so simple. Mason shares a cautionary tale about walking away from a FinTech client offering predatory lease agreements. “It was all legal,” she says. “But it was abusive. And that crossed a line for me.”
We discussed that you need to explain the why of your client accounting services pricing. A price is a measurable number. The “Value” of each of your CAS components must also be reasonably measurable so that your clients and prospects understand the why. This is easier said than done, and you need to keep rewriting the value statements, testing them and revising them.
The best way to define the measurable value of each of your CAS components is to state it from the client’s perspective, i.e., which business decisions the client can make based on the information/insight/intelligence you provide in a given CAS component, and under which circumstances. Then state the measurable impact of such business decisions. E.g., “On average, we help our clients reduce money stuck in inventory by 11 percent, which in many cases results in lower overdraft interest costs by about 1.3 percent annually.” Without the numbers in your value statements, clients can feel you are pitching marketing fluff. READ MORE →
Sure, you’ve been to plenty—shook hands, sat through sessions, grabbed some swag. But in an era when time, travel, and training budgets are tight, attending a conference without a strategy can cost you more than just money. It can cost you momentum.
In the latest episode of the Accounting Influencers Podcast, host Rob Brown issues a wake-up call for accounting professionals: Conferences are back, and they’re your best opportunity this year to build real influence—if you know how to do it right.
“Are you prepared to waste time, money, and opportunities? Or are you ready to maximize every ounce of value?” he challenges listeners.
