Carl Richards: The Lie of “Enough” | Holistic Guide
Why chasing a number won’t solve clients’ financial anxiety—and what advisors should focus on instead.
With Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™
For CPA Trendlines
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management
Rory Henry
Nick Pasquarosa: Advisory at Scale Requires Systems, Not Heroics | Holistic Guide
Bookkeeper360’s rise to 1,000 clients shows how workflow, AI, and remote talent—not individual effort—power modern CPA firm growth.
Sponsored by The Balanced Millionaire: The Advisor Edition by Dr. Jackie Meyer | See Today’s Special Offer
Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS
With Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™
For CPA Trendlines
When firms talk about innovation in accounting, they often start with technology. But in my conversation with Nick Pasquarosa, founder and CEO of Bookkeeper360, it became clear that technology was never the starting point for his firm. It was the result of listening closely to small business owners and building systems to solve their most persistent problems.
MORE Rory Henry and The Holistic Guide | BOLT: Bookkeeper360 Launches Mobile and Web App Featuring AI-Powered Virtual CFO
Pasquarosa founded Bookkeeper360 in 2012, long before cloud accounting was the norm. What began as a door-to-door side hustle helping local businesses reconcile their checking accounts evolved into a nationwide cloud accounting firm serving nearly 1,000 small business clients with a team of more than 75 professionals across 26 states.
“I started this in high school,” Pasquarosa tells me. “It really started with an interest in helping small businesses stop running their business off their bank account balance and [instead] giving them timely, accurate books so they could make real-time decisions.”
Alan Whitman: Breaking the Mold with PE Backing | Holistic Guide
Ex-Baker Tilly CEO takes helm at a new “category” of CPA firm.
Sponsored by The Balanced Millionaire: The Advisor Edition by Dr. Jackie Meyer | See Today’s Special Offer
Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS
By Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™
For CPA Trendlines
When CPA firms talk about growth, the conversation often centers on acquisitions, headcount, or revenue targets.
But Alan Whitman, the ex-Baker Tilly CEO and newly named CEO of a private-equity-backed hybrid, says sustainable growth requires something deeper: clarity of strategy, shared language, and systems that enable people to perform at scale.
MORE Alan Whitman Plants a Flag in the Private Equity Landscape | Whitman: Build Culture on ‘Progress,’ Not Change | Moss Adams-Baker Tilly Merger: Bigger Isn’t Better. Better Is Better. | Rory Henry and The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management | The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management |
5 Advis-ROR® Takeaways
- Growth requires a mindset before metrics. Sustainable scale comes from changing how a firm thinks and operates, not just from chasing revenue, headcount, or deal volume.
- Strategy is about direction, not activity. Conferences, outreach, and initiatives only matter when they clearly support how the firm wants to be seen and who it is built to serve.
- Systems enable people to scale. Communication, sales, and talent engines allow firms to grow without relying on individual effort or burnout.
- Language creates alignment. Clarity about who the firm is and what it does helps teams make consistent decisions and reduces confusion as the organization expands.
- Leadership demands clarity over hope. Early success may come from hustle and hope, but long-term growth requires intentional structure, accountability, and shared understanding.
This episode of AFO Wealth Management Forward was recorded shortly before the public announcement of a new professional services platform that combines accounting and advisory firm Nichols Cauley with insurance brokerage Partners Risk Services and transaction advisory firm JGH Consulting. The new platform is supported by a strategic investment from private equity investment firm Madison Dearborn Partners. Whitman was named CEO of the combined platform. Widely known for his role in helping scale Baker Tilly into a national firm, Whitman says his leadership mindset is focused less on outcomes and more on the conditions that enabled growth.
Nick Pasquarosa: From Door-to-Door Bookkeeping to a 1,000-Client Cloud Firm | Holistic Guide
Advisory at Scale Requires Systems, Not Heroics. Plus 5 More Takeaways.
Sponsored by The Balanced Millionaire: The Advisor Edition by Dr. Jackie Meyer | See Today’s Special Offer
Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS
With Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™
For CPA Trendlines
When firms talk about innovation in accounting, they often start with technology. But in my conversation with Nick Pasquarosa, founder and CEO of Bookkeeper360, it became clear that technology was never the starting point for his firm. It was the result of listening closely to small business owners and building systems to solve their most persistent problems.
MORE Rory Henry and The Holistic Guide | BOLT: Bookkeeper360 Launches Mobile and Web App Featuring AI-Powered Virtual CFO
Pasquarosa founded Bookkeeper360 in 2012, long before cloud accounting was the norm. What began as a door-to-door side hustle helping local businesses reconcile their checking accounts evolved into a nationwide cloud accounting firm serving nearly 1,000 small business clients with a team of more than 75 professionals across 26 states.
“I started this in high school,” Pasquarosa tells me. “It really started with an interest in helping small businesses stop running their business off their bank account balance and [instead] giving them timely, accurate books so they could make real-time decisions.”
OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps Now | ARC
Firms use AI, planning, and “hope” to make tax season more manageable.
Sponsored by The Balanced Millionaire: The Advisor Edition by Dr. Jackie Meyer | See Today’s Special Offer
Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.
Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation
As firms head into tax season, the hosts of Accounting ARC make a case for lowering the temperature — and the workload — with practical tech choices, proactive planning and a stronger focus on people.
MORE Accounting ARC: Return Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting | Savage: Using Your License as a Megaphone | Baker: Interpreting Pricing Psychology | Don’t Get Fired by Your Own Automation | What Amazon Doesn’t Tell You | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC | Free Speech Is a Right; Respect Is a Responsibility | Cash Bags, Casinos & Audits: How First Jobs Shape Us | Gen Z Redefines Careers | Bootleggers, Baptitsts & CPAs: Rethinking Licensure
In a special Tax Season Readiness episode, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; joins co-hosts Liz Mason, CPA; and Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, CGMA; to preview new tax platform research, spotlight emerging AI tools and talk candidly about what helps teams sustain momentum from January through April.
Shimamoto, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, sets the tone early. He says he intentionally avoids calling it “busy season,” noting that practitioners tell him the upcoming cycle may feel lighter than the past few years. The conversation that follows keeps returning to the same core question: What, specifically, helps firms reduce friction before deadlines hit?