Father, Son Team Up to Capitalize on Capacity

Portrait of Bernie Ackerman
Bernie Ackerman

It’s about spreading change.

By Kayleigh Padar
From Success to Significance: The Radical CPA Guide

Jason Ackerman and Bernard Ackerman run the firm BNA CPA together as a dynamic family duo. Based in Rock Hill, SC, the firm consists of 20 employees and is modernized, offering flexible schedules to its employees and choosing value pricing over timesheets.

MORE ON RADICALISM: Tips from a Veteran Product Manager | Transitioning to Radical: How Carl Famiglietti Did It | How to Develop Productized Services | Firm Product Management Is the Way to the Future | 10 Steps to Start Innovating | The Value of New Ideas
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“My dad has always had a progressive mindset,” said Jason Ackerman. “He has always had the mindset that anybody can contribute to the team and he really focuses on the team culture.”
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Tips from a Veteran Product Manager

Man and woman looking at computer screenDon’t be afraid to listen to the market.

By Bill Whitson

In my 20-plus years in the tax, accounting and finance world, I’ve learned a few things along the way. I’ll share some from the product management lens.

MORE ON RADICALISM: Transitioning to Radical: How Carl Famiglietti Did It | Going Deeper into Product Management | Dean Quiambao: ‘If You’re Not Disrupting, You’re Not Doing It Right’ | Josh Zweig’s LiveCA Offers New Thinking from the Ground Up | How ‘Agile’ Applies to CPA Firms | Our Pain Points Are Opportunities
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Product managers can be, in many ways, like trusted advisors: They have a strong opinion and an extensive toolkit, and they serve nearly everyone around them.
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Transitioning to Radical: How Carl Famiglietti Did It

Portrait of Carl Famiglietti
Famiglietti

No timesheets. No titles.

By Kayleigh Padar
From Success to Significance: The Radical CPA Guide 

“The position makes the person,” said Carl Famiglietti, managing partner of Moody, Famiglietti & Andronico, a 160-person firm located in Tewksbury, MA. His firm has undergone Radical changes since he took the helm in 2004, a time that he calls “The Reset.”

MORE ON RADICALISM: Going Deeper into Product Management | Productized 1099s the New Vision Way | Karbon Builds a Practice Management Platform on Steroids | Why Our Clients Need Us to Be Radical | Introducing the Fifth Radical Tenet: The Business Model
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Famiglietti has learned a lot as he has focused on building an organization for perpetuity.
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Going Deeper into Product Management

Four businesswoman having a meeting around a tablePart of it is bringing people together.

By Jody Padar
From Success to Significance: The Radical CPA Guide

If we are going to be acting like product managers, we really need to know what they do. The best place to start is defining product management.

MORE ON RADICALISM: Productized 1099s the New Vision Way | How to Develop Productized Services | Firm Product Management Is the Way to the Future | 10 Steps to Start Innovating | The Value of New Ideas
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According to Steven Haines’ book “The Product Manager’s Survival Guide,” product management refers to the holistic management of products and portfolios – from the time they are conceived to the time they are discontinued and withdrawn from the market. In essence, it’s the business management of products. Product management can also refer to the organization that serves to lead and integrate the work of people from other functions.
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Productized 1099s the New Vision Way

Two women talkingThis is the ONLY way they’re handled.

By Jody Padar
From Success to Significance: The Radical CPA Guide

Here’s the old-school way of completing 1099s:

CPA calls customer before year-end reminding them 1099s need to be completed for January. CPA reminds customer to send in names, addresses and amounts for 1099s to be issued. CPA waits for complete data, usually missing at least one address. CPA rushes at last minute to enter data in 1099 system and issue 1099s. CPAs have multiple customers who act like this, creating havoc and late nights in January.

MORE ON RADICALISM: How to Develop Productized Services | Dean Quiambao: ‘If You’re Not Disrupting, You’re Not Doing It Right’ | Josh Zweig’s LiveCA Offers New Thinking from the Ground Up | How ‘Agile’ Applies to CPA Firms | Our Pain Points Are Opportunities | Transitioning to a Radical Firm: Bringing a Legacy Customer Along
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It doesn’t have to be this way!
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How to Develop Productized Services

Smiling businesswoman working at deskAn example using 1099s.

By Jody Padar
From Success to Significance: The Radical CPA Guide

When you can clearly define a product line and its offering, it just becomes easier for all involved. Everyone knows their roles, their objectives and the to-dos to get there.

MORE ON RADICALISM: Dean Quiambao: ‘If You’re Not Disrupting, You’re Not Doing It Right’ | Firm Product Management Is the Way to the Future | Josh Zweig’s LiveCA Offers New Thinking from the Ground Up | Why Our Clients Need Us to Be Radical | 10 Steps to Start Innovating | How ‘Agile’ Applies to CPA Firms
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I am not naive enough to think we won’t have different iterations as we launch and learn from our customers and ourselves. However, when the whole team has a complete understanding of what is happening and the steps to get there, and an understanding that we will iterate all the way, it makes for a happier team.
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Dean Quiambao: ‘If You’re Not Disrupting, You’re Not Doing It Right’

Portrait of Dean Quiambao
Quiambao

Tip you can use: an integration team for mergers.

By Kayleigh Padar
The Radical CPA Guide

Dean Quiambao, a CPA and business development partner at Armanino LLP, a Top 25 firm, works hard to incubate revolutionary ideas within his firm to help it grow and modernize as the world around him changes.

MORE ON RADICALISM: Karbon Builds a Practice Management Platform on Steroids | Firm Product Management Is the Way to the Future | 10 Steps to Start Innovating | The Value of New Ideas | The Radical Road to (Business) Transformation | The Radical CPA: Always Changing
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“Do your activity, because activity breeds activity,” said Quiambao. “And I say this all the time, you keep hitting singles and the next thing you know you’re going to pop a triple out of nowhere. You’re going to make your own luck, you’re going to make something happen because you’re constantly doing something.”
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Firm Product Management Is the Way to the Future

Provider and customer have to be aligned.

By Jody Padar
The Radical CPA Guide

What is your firm’s purpose?

Let’s go back to the idea of innovation, or what I like to describe as the application of innovation and business model transformation.

MORE ON RADICALISM: Josh Zweig’s LiveCA Offers New Thinking from the Ground Up | Why Our Clients Need Us to Be Radical | Introducing the Fifth Radical Tenet: The Business Model | Dear Midsized Firms: Yes, You Can Change | The Four Tenets of Radical Firms: A Brief Review | The Radical CPA: Always Changing
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We’re not just managing change anymore. Change management is becoming obsolete – New Firms know they must be nimbler than just strategizing around any sort of targeted change. Managing change was fine five years ago, but trust me when I say we are beyond that.
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