Small Change, Big Results

If tax season already feels like a distant memory, congrats: you’ve officially made it to systems-building season. This is the stretch where firm owners either create the infrastructure that will carry them through the next crunch, or don’t (and suffer the consequences come April).

Case in point: Alisa McCabe, CEO of First Steps Financial, recently went two weeks without reading a single email. Not “checked her inbox twice a day just in case,” but a real-deal, honest-to-goodness break from the daily grind of reading and responding to messages. She forced herself to remain present during her time off, stayed blissfully unaware of the “urgent” fires that would’ve bubbled up to her in the past, and came home to find that her firm hadn’t just survived—it had actually gotten better.

That was the premise behind “Buddy System: Out of Office Ready,” the third session in our Summer Workflow Camp series, where Alisa walked campers through exactly how she built her airtight out-of-office system. TBH, it has nothing to do with setting the right vacation-mode Slack status, distributing a detailed pre-vacation memo, or drafting the perfect email autoresponder. Instead, it hinges on:

• Choosing the right second-in-command using the GWC test.

• Building a decision matrix so your team can make calls the way you would, without needing to ask you.

• Sorting decisions into three tiers, so everyone knows what to step in and handle immediately, what to loop you in on, and what to treat as a true emergency.

• Following Alisa’s three non-negotiable OOO rules: don’t read email, don’t call to check in, and have faith in your team.

Camp wrapped last week, but the resources from Alisa’s session are still up for grabs. Check out the session recap below, and be sure to download all the free templates and handouts (including Alisa’s full Out-of-Office Checklist, Decision Matrix, client notification templates, and a “fire drill” plan for testing the whole system).

👉 Read the full “Buddy System” recap →

👉 Download the Out-of-Office resources →

Community 🫶

Gain career confidence in the Black Female Accountants Network

BFAN exists to help its members share knowledge and experience, celebrate professional wins, and use real tools and resources to keep growing their careers. Follow along on Instagram for the day-to-day, and if you’re looking for a reason to get out from behind the screen, mark your calendar for their Women in Leadership Summit (WILS) on October 24, 2026: a day built around leading with more confidence in your career, business, and community. Registration is open now.

Follow BFAN on Instagram →

Register for WILS 2026 →

Go beyond the typical water cooler group with Realize

Jason Staats built Realize as the alternative to yet another free “water cooler” community underwritten by a software vendor with an agenda. It’s a paid, high-effort space instead: real mastermind groups, actual paid community managers, advisors in residence, and a running calendar of live events featuring AMAs, book clubs, monthly workshops, and quarterly meetups for tools like Karbon, Keeper, Canopy, TaxDome, and yes, Financial Cents. Realize has already helped 500+ accounting leaders build more confident, sustainable firms, and it might be worth a look if you’ve outgrown Facebook-group energy.

Check out Realize →

H🔥t Today

Last chance to take the AI survey and score $500 (we really mean it this time)

We’re extending our AI-in-accounting survey through the end of this week (August 7) to give all those last-minute stragglers one last chance to share their unfiltered thoughts. Where’s AI actually saving you time? Where’s it falling flat? Where do you think this is all headed? Your answers will be distilled into a public data report that’ll inform the next issue of Two Cents Magazine, and if you complete it before the extended deadline, you’ll be entered to win a $500 gift card.

Take the AI Survey →

The Fed held rates steady (again), but this time the decision wasn’t unanimous

On July 29, the Federal Reserve voted 9–3 to keep its benchmark rate at 3.5%–3.75%, marking the fifth straight meeting without a change. What’s new this time: three regional presidents dissented, pushing for a hike instead, and mortgage rates have already crept toward a one-year high amid geopolitical tension in the Middle East. The “so what” for your clients: borrowing costs aren’t moving anytime soon, and the dissent signals real disagreement inside the Fed about where things should go next. If you haven’t talked cash flow and financing plans with clients recently, this is a good nudge to bring it up.

Read the full story →

The IRS just made penalty relief a lot less painful

Starting this summer, eligible taxpayers will get failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, and failure-to-deposit penalties abated automatically. That means no more manually requesting first-time abatement and hoping whoever picks up the phone knows the Internal Revenue Manual as well as you do. The new “Automatic Exemption from Penalty” program covers tax year 2025 and 2026 returns for taxpayers with a clean three-year compliance history. The Taxpayer Advocate estimates it’ll help roughly 1.5 million taxpayers a year, versus the 220,000ish who got relief under the old manual process. The good news for you? Fewer FTA calls to make on your clients’ behalf. Just know some clients may still get an errant penalty notice during the transition.

Read the full story →

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Swipe this Biweekly Payroll template from Priti Lad

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Firm Spotl💡ght

How Angela Jenkins turned her “chaos to calm” mantra into a successful bookkeeping practice

Angela Jenkins has been turning chaos into order since she was a little girl rolling her dad’s spare change into paper wrappers at her family’s kitchen table in Philadelphia. Nine years ago, she turned her penchant for financial organization into Mindfull Money Matters (yes, the two L’s are intentional), a boutique bookkeeping firm serving almost entirely women and entrepreneurs of color, communities she believes have been historically shut out of financial literacy.

Jenkins built her client list slowly and selectively, mostly through word of mouth, and she isn’t shy about turning away anyone who doesn’t feel like the right fit. The result: a roster of about 15 clients she reviews constantly, a team she trusts completely, and a distinct guiding philosophy: “I’m just telling you what the numbers say; there’s no judgment here.”

After a health scare last year forced her to slow down for a few months, Jenkins came out the other side more committed than ever to building the “audacious” version of her firm: one that layers cash flow projections, hiring timelines, and long-range planning on top of the books.

Check out Angela’s full story in Two Cents Magazine →

Events

📍 Firm Talent Summit — August 12 (Virtual)

Presented by Accounting Today, this half-day virtual summit tackles the workforce reckoning head-on: shrinking graduate pipelines, mid-career departures, and the scramble to find talent through non-traditional channels. Sessions cover expanding your hiring pool, building legitimate upskilling paths for your team, and using outsourcing strategically instead of as a last resort. It’s free, and several sessions are CPE-eligible.

👉 Register now →

📍 IRS Nationwide Tax Forum — September 1–3 (Orlando, FL)

Three days, 40+ seminars, and actual face time with IRS subject-matter experts through the Case Resolution Program (appointment required). Sessions cover the latest federal tax law updates and IRS procedures, and you can earn up to 18 CE credits along the way. Show up Monday for the pre-forum sessions on practice management and work-life balance, courtesy of NAEA, NATP, NSA, and other partner associations. Standard registration ($329) runs through August 18, after which it jumps to $409—so don’t sit on this one too long.

👉 Learn more →

Noteworthy

Your files can finally name themselves

Financial Cents is all about making AI easy and practical, which is why they just launched the new AI File Renaming feature. It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like: the moment a client uploads a document, the AI reads it, figures out what it is, and renames it according to your firm’s naming convention. You choose whether renaming happens automatically or needs your sign-off first, and any low-confidence rename gets flagged immediately so nothing weird slips through unnoticed. It’s a small thing that kills an outsized number of “wait, which file is this again?” moments, and that can add up to a whole lot of saved time (especially during a busy stretch). It’s included for all Financial Cents users, regardless of package. Peep the quick video walkthrough below if you want to see this feature in action before trying it out. 👀

Watch the walkthrough →

That’s all for now. See you in two weeks. 💚

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Small Change, Big Results

Workflows not, well, working? It’s more common than you think, even if you put a lot of time and thought into designing them the first time around.

The truth is, your firm’s workflows will always be a work in progress. And summer is the perfect season to focus on refreshing and improving them.

But for most of us, when we * finally * block off time to fix our processes, we beeline straight for the biggest, ugliest one in the pile—the “franken-flow” with dozens of steps and a whole roll of duct tape holding it all together. Kellie Parks, CPB, says that’s the wrong approach.

In the second session of our month-long Summer Workflow Camp, Kellie (owner of Calmwaters Cloud Accounting and a self-described “relentless organizer”) walked campers through her formula for an effective workflow reset. Rule numero uno? Start with the minnows, not the marlins.

“It’s nice to get into a cadence or a rhythm and see what works for you with some of the smaller ones before you really pick off some of those huge ones,” she said. Impact, not size, is what should drive your priority list. When deciding what to rebuild first, Kellie asks herself three questions:

• Does it give someone freedom? (That includes firm owners, by the way. If a workflow lets you and your team stop doing work you don’t want to be doing, it’s a great candidate.)

• Does it create a great client experience? (Kellie’s file-review workflow, for example, is often a new client’s first touchpoint with her firm—so it has to feel seamless.)

• Is it critical even if it’s simple? (Kellie illustrated this point with a non-accounting example: the one-page SOP she wrote for locking the front gate in her community. It’s not complicated, but it removed her as the bottleneck.)

The bigger lesson running underneath all of this is that a good workflow is never truly finished.

“I built this thing years ago, and I have been honing it ever since,” Kellie said of the onboarding workflow she walked through during the live session. “You will never be done honing.” So, don’t wait for perfect. Build for today, test it in the wild, plug the holes as real clients surface them, and run it back again.

👉 Read the full “Workflow Reset” recap →

And if this has you itching to dig into your own workflows, camp isn’t over yet. The finale, “The Send-Off,” is happening next Tuesday, July 28. It’s the last session of the series, it’s free, and we have some super-fun surprises in store for live attendees!

👉 Save your spot for the Summer Workflow Camp finale →

Community 🫶

Find your peeps in the Bookkeepers Helping Bookkeepers group

Running a firm can feel lonely, but it doesn’t have to. Bookkeepers Helping Bookkeepers (BHB) is exactly what it sounds like: a no-ego Facebook group where you can ask the “is this a dumb question?” questions and get real answers from people who’ve been there. It’s hosted by the team at Bookkeeper Testing, who are on a mission to raise the bar for the profession through education.

Join the group →

Stay on top of tax changes with NATP

If you do tax work, then the National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP) should definitely be on your radar. As the tax code keeps shifting under your feet, they’ve got your back with professional advocacy, expert guidance on applying the latest federal rules to your clients’ situations, and a community of tax pros to grow alongside. They just wrapped Taxposium, their flagship conference, and next year’s event is already on the calendar for June 21–23, 2027, at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston (registration opens this fall).

Learn more and join →

H🔥t Today

50,000 pennies for your thoughts? Take our quick AI survey to win $500

Everyone’s talking about AI in accounting, but we want to know how it’s actually showing up in your day-to-day: where it’s saving you time, where it’s falling flat, and where you think it’s all headed. Your answers get distilled into a public data report that will shape the next issue of Two Cents Magazine. It takes 10–15 minutes, and if you complete it by July 31, you can enter our drawing for a $500 gift card. 💸

Take the AI survey →

The IRS just put a target on your back (but they gave you a shield, too)

On July 7, the IRS and its Security Summit partners kicked off the 2026 “Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself” campaign, a five-week series aimed at tax pros. Why the urgency? Firms are prime targets right now, with malware-laden “new client” spear-phishing emails and scammers hunting for your EFIN, PTIN, and CAF numbers. The series walks through phishing defense, building a Written Information Security Plan (which you’re required to have), and vetted tools that can help.

Read the full story →

Why wait times for the IRS phone line feel so out of control

A June TIGTA report put hard numbers on something you’ve probably felt: IRS Taxpayer Services lost more than 11,300 employees, and the agency had to involuntarily reassign nearly 1,200 workers just to get through the 2026 filing season. Translation for your firm: when a client’s notice requires speaking to a human at the IRS, expect delays (and set expectations accordingly). Otherwise, you might be fielding a lot of “why is this taking so long?” emails.

Read the full story →

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Swipe this Revised Client Onboarding Template from Kellie Parks (the one she shared during last week’s Summer Workflow Camp session!)

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Firm Spotl💡ght

How Alisa McCabe grew First Steps Financial 20–40% a year by cutting her client list in half

A few years ago, Alisa McCabe started breaking up with clients, and her team thought she’d completely lost it. “We can’t get rid of clients,” they told her. But Alisa had a theory borrowed from Mike Michalowicz’s The Pumpkin Plan: prune the vine, and the core grows bigger.

So, she trimmed her roster from nearly 100 down to 41, all while growing the firm 20–40% year over year. Today, First Steps Financial is an 11-person, fully remote firm serving clients across the US, Canada, and the UK, built around three niches (including a unique focus on women in life sciences) and one non-negotiable bar: every client has to be growth-minded, collaborative, and treat the work as a partnership. Fewer clients and more annual revenue? It might sound paradoxical until you read the whole story, which you can do below! 👇

Check out Alisa’s full story in Two Cents Magazine →

Events

📍 Summer Workflow Camp: The Send-Off — Camp Talent Show + Stress Test Finals — July 28 (Virtual, 2:00–3:00 PM ET)

Summer Workflow Camp wraps this Tuesday with our most fun session yet: a talent show and a live stress test of the workflows campers have been building all month. It’s free, it’s the series finale, and it’s the perfect way to put everything you’ve learned this month into practice. Whether you show off your workflow or not, come cheer on your peers, get inspired, and help us close out camp with a bang.

👉 Register here →

📍 IRS Nationwide Tax Forum — August 4–6 (New Orleans, LA)

Three days, 40+ seminars, and the latest on federal tax law, IRS procedures, and emerging issues (plus, continuing education credits). If you’ll be in NOLA, come say hi to our crew: Financial Cents will be repping at booth 258. 👋 Stop by to see how firms are cutting the busywork out of their daily operations.

👉 Learn more →

Noteworthy

The month-end close problem every bookkeeping firm has (and how to solve it for good)

Picture this: It’s the fifth business day of the month, and you’re staring at a $4,200 charge to a vendor nobody recognizes. So you export the transactions, start another spreadsheet tab, fire off another email, and wait. It’s not really hard, but that’s why it’s dangerous.

Month-end close is death by a thousand small tasks, and without an automated system, firms burn roughly two hours per client, per month on it. For a 100-client firm at $70/hour, that’s six figures a year in billable capacity you’re giving away. This article lays out the five most common places the close actually breaks down: uncategorized transactions, missing details, the annual 1099 scramble, reconciliation with no audit trail, and questions buried in your inbox. Then, it shows you how Month-End Close in Financial Cents fixes every single one. (By the way, if you tried the Month-End Close feature early on and it didn’t cover your process yet, it’s definitely worth another look: 14 releases have shipped in seven months. 👀)

Read it now →

That’s all for now. See you in two weeks. 💚

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Small Change, Big Results

To be flexible, you’ve gotta have structure. It might sound like an oxymoron, but it’s actually a cardinal rule of firm leadership—one that we tackled in the final session of our Proudly Small webinar series:

Running Lean and Loving It: Operations, Tech, & the Art of Doing More with Less

Four successful firm owners who’ve made flexibility a reality for themselves and their teams sat down with Shahram Zarshenas, CEO of Financial Cents, to talk through how they did it. For them, “flexible” does not mean “loosey-goosey” (the exact opposite, actually).

None of these firm owners work less because they’re winging it. They work less (or work weird hours, or take random Tuesday afternoons off) because they’ve built a strong foundation of delegation, documentation, and automation that makes balance possible:

• Christine Salvatore of In Line Management logs in at 5 a.m. some days so she can be present for her kids in the afternoon, and her team handles 85% of client-facing work because she’s gotten ruthless about handing things off.

• Katie Helle of Scaled Accounting Solutions caps her own hours at 40 a week, even during tax season, because she built the necessary systems on day one instead of “eventually.”

• Angela Jenkins leverages AI thoughtfully to extract processes out of her own head and make them replicable for her team at Mindfull Money Matters.

• Dave Kersting of Capovario makes workflow documentation a team sport to ensure instructions are clear enough for anyone to follow, at any given time, with any client.

And those examples are just the tip of the iceberg. So, if summer is your systems-building season (and we’d argue that it should be), this session recap is basically free consulting. A few things you’ll walk away with:

• Why hiring before you can technically afford it is sometimes the smartest financial move you’ll make

• How to build a tiered delegation system based on client risk

• The one process almost every panelist wishes they’d automated from day one

• A blunt reminder that “protecting your time” is a viable business strategy, not a luxury

Ready to unleash your firm’s efficiency? Peep the panel recap (or watch the full recording) below!

👉 See the recap →

Community 🫶

Snag your copy of the Modern Firm Growth Guide

If your firm feels scattered, overwhelming, or just harder to run than it should be, this one’s for you. Justine Lackey built one of the first virtual bookkeeping firms in the U.S., grew it to 100+ premium clients, and sold it in 2023—and she’s packed 88 of her best tips into a free guide covering the four essentials of firm growth: Systems, Sales, Service, and Skills. It’s a solid roadmap if you’re trying to get organized, serve clients better, and start leading like a CEO instead of doing everything yourself.

Grab the free guide →

Join Roundtable Labs for a free monthly workflow discussion

Looking for people who actually get it? Roundtable Labs is a community where accountants, bookkeepers, CPAs, EAs, and firm owners all sit at the same virtual table—literally, in a round table format built for real conversation, not another webinar you half-watch. Find the round table that fits your firm and your stage of growth. While you’re there, check out the Next Level Firm Roundtable with Dave Kersting and Richard Roppa-Roberts, a free, lively monthly discussion on workflow, strategy, and best practices for running your firm with Financial Cents—held every third Wednesday, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM Pacific.

Explore Roundtable Labs →

H🔥t Today

Consolidation at the top keeps rolling, even while small firms lean into staying small

Top-15 firm EisnerAmper just announced its fourth combination of 2026, adding Silicon Valley restructuring firm Sherwood Partners to its roster. It’s the latest data point in a bigger trend: while giant firms keep rolling up specialty practices, plenty of owners are proving there’s real staying power—and real client loyalty—in remaining independent.

Read the full story →

The burnout epidemic in middle management

A new piece from Boomer Consulting’s Jacqueline Lombardo digs into why middle managers at accounting firms are burning out and walking away: leaders keep piling more clients and initiatives onto the people who handle it best, mistaking their silence for capacity. Sound familiar? For a small firm, “middle manager” might just be your most senior team member—the one you keep leaning on because they never say no. Worth a gut check before they throw in the towel with no warning.

Read the full story →

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Swipe this Extended Office Closure Template from Peter Piluk

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Firm Spotl💡ght

How Katie Helle built Scaled Accounting Solutions to run without her

Katie Helle spent 15 years in a traditional public accounting firm before realizing she’d had enough of measuring her life in billable increments. So in October 2024, she launched Scaled Accounting Solutions—and got hit almost immediately with a wave of referrals far bigger than the slow ramp-up she’d expected.

Rather than white-knuckle her way through it, she spent the next few months building her workflows from scratch inside Financial Cents and documenting every step so her small team—two contractors based in the Philippines and her niece, who handles admin locally in Arizona—could operate without waiting on her. These days, she hasn’t worked more than 40 hours in a single week, even during tax season, and you can regularly find her at a Pilates class in the middle of a random weekday afternoon.

Check out Katie’s full story in Two Cents Magazine →

Events

📍 NATP Taxposium — July 13–15 (Cleveland, OH)

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame city, meet tax nerds. NATP’s in-person conference brings tax pros together for sessions on AI workflows for small firms, multi-entity tax planning, and high-income client strategy (plus CPE credit and a full expo hall of tools built for tax practices).

👉 See the full agenda here →

📍 Summer Workflow Camp: The Workflow Reset — Tuesday, July 14 (Virtual, 2:00–3:00 PM ET)

Bookkeeper and cloud accounting leader Kellie Parks walks through a real before-and-after of how she personally rebuilt her own firm’s workflows; then, you’ll build or update one live workflow of your own during the session, mapped to real gaps in your firm. It’s part of Financial Cents’ free, four-week Summer Workflow Camp, and yes, there are prizes on the table (including a $2,500 team retreat fund for the winning cabin).

👉 Register here →

📍 Tech Stack Demo Day — Thursday, July 16 (Virtual, 11:00 AM–3:00 PM ET)

The only thing you should be tending on vacation is the campfire, not your firm. Tech Stack Demo Day rounds up five live software walkthroughs from tools built to keep your accounting firm productive and profitable while you’re OOO. Plus, real customers from each vendor will share how they assembled a tech stack that lets them truly unplug. Seats are capped at 500, and there are attendee-only savings and prize drawings worth over $5,000 up for grabs!

👉 Save your seat →

📍 Summer Workflow Camp: Out of Office Ready — Tuesday, July 21 (Virtual, 2:00–3:00 PM ET)

Alisa McCabe of First Steps Financial reveals the checklist you need before you can truly disconnect, running through the delegation structure, second-in-command setup, and client communication approach that will keep things humming along while you’re away. Complete the OOO checklist live and walk away with the full Out of Office template bundle.

👉 Register here →

Noteworthy

Get the no-hype scoop on AI in Accounting with our new video series

Our brand-new video series digs into real, practical ways accounting firm owners and staff are using AI right now—offering easy-to-digest overviews of agentic AI, email prompts that save real time, automatic transaction categorization, and where machine learning fits into your existing tech stack. If you’ve been AI-curious but are feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the noise, this is a good, low-commitment place to start.

Watch now →

That’s all for now. See you in two weeks. 💚

Share Get Work Done - a newsletter for accounting firm owners.

Small Change, Big Results

We hear it all the time from firm owners: I know I should be marketing, but I have no idea where to start. So I don’t.

If that’s you, welcome to the club. Now, promptly get out. (Kidding, kidding—but seriously.) To help you find your way to the door, we recently hosted a virtual panel with four small-firm owners who’d rather do almost anything than market themselves, and we asked them to share their best advice for getting over the hump.

The overarching consensus: marketing your firm is way less complicated than all the fancy marketing consultants would have you believe.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the biggest culprit holding firm owners back is—you guessed it—perfectionism. Accountants are wired for it: everything has to tie out to the penny. Panelist Angela Jenkins of Mindfull Money Matters confessed that she’s sitting on a mountain of unpublished social media posts simply because they aren’t 100% flawless.

But that’s about to change, because her new standard is built for shipping: “Is it good? It goes.”

It’s a mantra we can all live by this summer. Your firm doesn’t need a full rebrand or a complex marketing plan with content scheduled weeks in advance. Just do something. Pick the one platform where your clients actually hang out, and start showing up there authentically. As Christine Salvatore (more on her below) advised, volume and consistency are the real keys to success. Her words of wisdom: “Reps over research.”

Done truly beats perfect—and done is the only thing that gives you the data to learn what’s working and what’s not. So if you’ve been waiting until you feel ready, consider this your permission slip to skip that step.

Read the full session recap below and steal the panel’s hard-won, refreshingly un-fancy advice.

👉 See the recap →

Community 🫶

The National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA)

The National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA) is the nation’s leading community for tax practitioners, from aspiring enrolled agents to experts with decades of experience. NAEA meets you wherever you are on your career path, seeking to protect, promote, and provide for the EA profession throughout the halls of government and beyond—supporting an EA’s right to practice and the taxpayer’s right to representation.

Learn more and join →

Scaling to CEO: A Free NexPath Coaching Community

NexPath Coaching helps accountants, bookkeepers, and tax professionals turn overwhelm into opportunity by strengthening leadership, improving team alignment, and building systems that actually work. Most firm owners think they have a people problem, but what they really have is a leadership and structure problem. Without clear expectations, accountability, and communication, even the best teams struggle. NexPath Coaching’s free Scaling to CEO community offers members weekly trainings designed to help growth-minded bookkeepers and accountants get their businesses under control. Join now and start learning practical strategies you can implement right away to create more clarity, consistency, and trust in your business.

Join the community →

H🔥t Today

The IRS is reshuffling who watches the watchdogs

Starting June 28, the IRS is merging its Return Preparer Office and Office of Professional Responsibility into a single Tax Professional Management Office. The new TPMO will be led by Chris Pleffner, currently director of the Return Preparer Office. But the AICPA has strongly opposed combining the two, arguing it would inappropriately consolidate credentialed and uncredentialed preparers and create confusion among taxpayers. The IRS insists that despite the single entity, each side’s mission will remain separate and independent. It’s a story worth following if you care about how the profession’s guardrails get enforced.

Read the full story →

Summer is the advisory sweet spot; don’t sleep on it

With Q2 estimates behind you and extension season not yet roaring, your business clients are now sitting on roughly six months of real data. That makes mid-summer the perfect time to revisit year-end projections, stress-test estimated tax payments, and surface entity-structure opportunities—exactly the kind of proactive work that moves you from preparer to advisor. Clients are relaxed and reachable right now. Use that to your advantage!

Read the full story →

Economic optimism down since last quarter

Finance leaders are getting nervous about the broader economy: in the latest AICPA & CIMA Economic Outlook Survey, just under a third of the CEOs, CFOs, and controllers surveyed said they were optimistic about the U.S. economy over the next 12 months (down from 39% the prior quarter) and 81% flagged inflation as a concern over the next six months (a sizeable jump from 56% in the first quarter). Perhaps most interestingly, these leaders’ confidence in their own organizations actually ticked up. Translation for your firm: your business clients are uneasy about forces they can’t control, but they still believe in their own footing. That’s precisely when proactive cash-flow conversations and scenario planning land the hardest. Reach out before they come to you!

Read the full story →

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Swipe this Weekly Marketing Tasks Template from Denise Williams

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Firm Spotl💡ght

How Christine Salvatore built a thriving entertainment-niche firm from a hotel side table in Ohio

In the spring of 2021, Christine Salvatore was on a six-week, no-itinerary road trip across America when she opened her laptop in an Ohio hotel room, created an Upwork profile, and started replying to bookkeeping postings. Two clients said yes that same day. As a former production accountant who’d spent years on set, she realized she could speak the language of bookkeepers and film crews alike—a combination so rare almost no one else could do it.

Five years later, In Line Management serves around 25 clients across the entertainment industry (they even handled the production accounting for the new Rory McIlroy documentary) based almost entirely on word-of-mouth. Christine’s story is a candid and inspiring look at what can happen when you take the leap and bet on yourself.

Check out Christine’s full story in Two Cents Magazine →

Events

📍 Summer Workflow Camp — Tuesdays in July (Virtual, 2:00–3:00 PM ET)

Our free four-week live workshop series is built with one goal in mind: creating a firm that runs without you. Each Tuesday in July, firm owners and operators will walk you through real workflows, delegation frameworks, and client-communication systems that ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Plus, you’ll build something tangible and immediately usable in every session. Register your firm’s “cabin” (up to 10 people) or join as a solo camper, compete on a live leaderboard, and walk away with the complete Out of Office template bundle. Heads up: the first 25 cabins to register get a campfire mug with hot cocoa shipped to everyone on the team!

👉 Learn more and register →

📍 IRS Nationwide Tax Forum — Summer 2026 (Multiple Cities)

Registration is open for the IRS’s annual three-day forums built specifically for tax pros, featuring 40+ seminars on federal tax law updates, IRS procedures, and emerging issues, with up to 18 CE credits available.

👉 Register here →

Noteworthy

The hidden six-figure cost of a manual month-end close

One firm owner with 100 clients had never put a dollar figure on the time her team burned every month chasing uncategorized transactions, missing receipts, and stray W-9s. Then she finally sat down and did the math.

At roughly two hours saved per client per month and a $70/hour billing rate, she discovered about $168,000 a year in billable capacity that was silently leaking from her bottom line. This piece walks through where those hours disappear (the spreadsheet ping-pong will feel painfully familiar), why 1099 prep doesn’t have to be a January fire drill, and how automating the most tedious parts of your month-end close process can give you that capacity back—so you can take on more clients without adding more headcount (or just give your team a little more breathing room).

Curious what a smoother month-end close might be worth in your firm? Use the built-in calculator to run your numbers through our formula.

Crunch your numbers →

Happy Fourth of July to all who celebrate! 🎆 See you in two weeks. 💚

Share Get Work Done - a newsletter for accounting firm owners.

Small Change, Big Results

You made it. Tax season is finally fading from your memory, and you can hear yourself think for the first time in months. So here’s a question to ponder during these precious few months of calm: which of your clients would you not sign again if they walked in today?

We’re betting you already know the answer. It’s probably the one who haggled endlessly over pricing before they’d even seen your work. Or the one whose constant “quick questions” can eat up an entire day. Or maybe the one whose check always clears, but your team can’t stand.

Well, summer is the season when you finally have the time and energy to do something about it.

To get you pumped up, we put together a piece on this exact topic for the debut issue of Two Cents Magazine. (Oh, right, we also launched a magazine—more on that later! 🤓)

This article is bursting with firsthand wisdom from firm owners who’ve been there. A few examples of things they learned the hard way:

• Red flags never disappoint. If something feels off on the discovery call, you can pretty much bet it’ll still be there once the engagement letter is signed.

• The discovery call is a two-way interview. The best firm owners screen prospects as carefully as their prospects screen them—and position themselves as the one doing the choosing.

• Firing a bad client is a strategic decision, not a failure. One owner chose to walk away from $340K in potential revenue to protect his firm’s culture, and he called it one of the best moves he ever made.

• You don’t get better at saying no by avoiding it. You get better by doing it. As one owner put it, the first wrong client took him a year to let go. Eventually he got it down to two weeks.

The throughline? Firms with healthy businesses tend to be picky about who they work with. And the summer lull is the perfect time to run your own “yes, no, and maybe” exercise with your current client roster before the fall rush forces the decision for you.

👉 Read “The Art of Saying No” in Two Cents Magazine →

Community 🫶

Strategic Finance Summit: 2 Days of Training From 9 Top Finance Practitioners

Our friend Josh Aharonoff from Your CFO Guy has been working on this behind the scenes for months, and the details are finally set: on July 14 and 15, he is hosting the Strategic Finance Summit. Two days. Nine speakers. 100% virtual. Completely free. (The amount of value he’s giving away is pretty mindblowing!)

The lineup includes Nicolas Boucher, Paul Barnhurst, Chris Reilly, Christian Wattig, Carl Seidman, Michael King, Mark Proctor, Ben Murray, and Josh himself. Over 2 million combined LinkedIn followers on one stage. Seven disciplines, from financial modeling to board reporting. Every session comes with the actual models, templates, and frameworks you can put to work that same week. We hope to see you there!

Claim your free spot →

The CFO Project: Free CPE-Eligible Advisory Webinar

Your clients have clean books, timely reports, and taxes filed on time. So why are so many of them still stressed about cash flow? Next Thursday, June 18, our partners at The CFO Project are hosting a free 1-hour session: “Lead Your Clients to a Successful Business: Why Better Reports Won’t Get Them There,” hosted by their CEO, Dyanna Salcedo. It’s a practical look at the difference between reporting on cash flow and actively leading a client toward a healthier business—and where advisory work could add recurring revenue to your own practice. NASBA-approved CPE (1.0 hour), live Q&A, and a 48-hour replay if you can’t make it live.

Save your seat →

NSBCPA Annual Day of Giving

The National Society of Black CPAs is running its annual Day of Giving campaign through June 18, raising money for its Future CPA Accelerator Programs—which provide mentorship, accountability, and prep resources for aspiring CPAs working toward the credential, often as the first in their families to do so. With the profession staring down a serious pipeline shortage, the work of widening the door matters to all of us. If you’re able to give or share, it’s a great cause to get behind!

Learn more and donate →

H🔥t Today

New Report: The Future of Accounting is Human-centric

AICPA & CIMA dropped a big new report this week at ENGAGE 2026: Rise2040, built from input across more than 25 countries and 6,000 professionals. The headline takeaway is reassuring: as automation swallows routine compliance work, the human role won’t shrink. In fact, it becomes more important than ever as accounting professionals shift their focus to higher-value services like advisory and scenario planning. The report actually points to institutional inertia—not AI—as the bigger threat to the future of accounting. So, if you want to set your firm up for long-term success, now is the time to start shifting your focus and repositioning your value to clients.

Read the full story →

The Consolidation Wave isn’t Slowing Down

The first week of June alone brought a stack of deals: Ascend picked up Ohio’s William Vaughan Co., Aprio announced its second acquisition of the week with Waldron H. Rand in Massachusetts, and five New England state societies merged into a single regional body. Private-equity-backed roll-ups continue to reshape the mid-market. The “so what” for small firms: as the big players consolidate, your independence and personal client relationships become a key differentiator—provided you’re loud about it.

Read the full story →

AICPA Presses the IRS on a Million-dollar Question

The AICPA has asked the Treasury and the IRS to issue guidance on Section 4960—the provision (amended by the OBBBA) that imposes a 21% excise tax on tax-exempt organizations for compensation above $1 million to covered employees. Among its requests: transition relief for fiscal-year nonprofits. If you serve nonprofit clients, this is one to keep on your radar as guidance develops.

Read the full story →

Swipe this workflow template

Swipe this Client Disengagement Template from Lori Hawkins

Get more templates from firm owners like you in our community template library.

Meme

Relatable? 😆 (But seriously, if you missed last week’s pricing panel, peep the recap here.)

Firm Spotl💡ght

How Tied Out Books Turned Bookkeeping Into a Naval Expedition

Tamra Helton didn’t set out to gamify bookkeeping. But when she launched Tied Out Books in Atascadero, California, she decided that if she was going to build something from scratch, it wasn’t going to be boring. So she created an entire operating system around a nautical theme: her clients are captains, her team members are sailors, the functional areas of bookkeeping are islands, and every engagement is a voyage. Then, she gamified it: sailors earn diamonds (a.k.a. bonuses) for accurate, on-time work. Clients who respond to document requests within two to three business days earn a smooth sailing credit (delivered as a mailed paper check).

A big part of Tamra’s operational story is how she’s leveraged Financial Cents to get her firm’s workflows out of her head. Tired of being the bottleneck, she spent months documenting every workflow, SOP, and process inside Financial Cents—complete with video walkthroughs—so her team doesn’t have to loop her into every decision. “A bad workflow can ruin your business very quickly,” she says. “I wish I would have gotten my processes and workflows set up properly in the right system first.”

Check out Tamra’s full story in Two Cents Magazine →

Events

📍 How We Got Our Name Out There: Marketing for Firms that Hate Marketing — TODAY: Thursday, June 11 (Virtual Webinar, 2:00–3:00 PM ET)

If pricing is the conversation most firm owners avoid, marketing is a close second. Today’s Proudly Small webinar session brings together real firm owners to share how they built their reputation and filled their pipeline without a marketing team or a big budget. There’s still time to register (and even if you can’t make it live, register anyway to get the recording).

👉 Save your spot →

📍 Running Lean and Loving It: Operations, Tech, & the Art of Doing More with Less — Thursday, June 18 (Virtual Webinar, 2:00–3:00 PM ET)

The fourth and final session of our Proudly Small series is all about operating like a much bigger shop without the operations team or IT department to match. Five firm owners get real about what a typical week looks like, the one tool or process change that moved the needle most on their capacity, and what they’d automate first if they were starting over. Moderated by Financial Cents CEO Shahram Zarshenas. Free, recorded, and 60 minutes.

👉 Save your spot →

📍 Scaling New Heights 2026 — June 15–17 (Orlando)

Woodard’s flagship conference for accounting and bookkeeping professionals—heavy on practical workflow, technology, and firm-growth content. Especially good for owners building or scaling QuickBooks-centric firms, with deep tracks on advisory and team development.

👉 Learn more and register →

📍 IRS Nationwide Tax Forum — Summer 2026 (Multiple Cities)

Registration is open for the IRS’s annual three-day forums built specifically for tax pros, featuring 40+ seminars on federal tax law updates, IRS procedures, and emerging issues, with up to 18 CE credits available. The early-bird rate ($275) runs through June 15, so if it’s on your list, now’s the time to lock it in.

👉 Register here →

Noteworthy

Introducing Two Cents: The Only Magazine Made for Small Bookkeeping & Accounting Firms

ICYMI: There’s a new publication in the accounting world, and it was made specifically for firms like yours. Two Cents Magazine is Financial Cents’ new editorial venture dedicated to the stories, strategies, and realities of running a small and growing accounting or bookkeeping firm. The inaugural issue is the Proudly Small edition, featuring 13 in-depth profiles of 13 firm owners—real people, real challenges, real outcomes. This publication is rooted in original storytelling and unbiased reporting—no ads masquerading as news here. Check it out now (but fair warning, these stories might make you a bit misty-eyed 🥹).

Read the magazine →

Happy summer reading! 😎 See you in two weeks. 💚

Share Get Work Done - a newsletter for accounting firm owners.

Small Change, Big Results

Let’s talk about the can every firm owner has kicked down the road at one point or another: adjusting your prices.

Post-tax season is traditionally when firm owners come up for air—and when they start to have the mental space to contemplate hard questions they’ve been avoiding for months:

• Which clients are taking more than they’re giving?

• What services are you still pricing the same way you did two years ago?

• And when did you last look at your minimum and actually defend it?

Pricing is one of those quandaries that feels like a math problem. But under the surface, it’s often a confidence problem. Sound familiar?

We’re going deep into the pricing problem in our upcoming virtual event, “Charge What You’re Worth: Pricing, Positioning, & Onboarding,” happening next Thursday, June 4 at 2:00 PM Eastern.

Moderator Ron Baker, Co-founder of Threshold, will host three firm-owner panelists who have solved the pricing puzzle through hard-won experience. And now, they’re going to teach you how to do the same.

Join Angela Jenkins, owner of Mindfull Money Matters in Philadelphia; Christine Salvatore, owner of In Line Management in Los Angeles; and Dave Kersting, owner of Capovario in Denver, as they break down the logic, strategy, and psychology of pricing your firm’s bookkeeping, accounting, and consulting services.

Come with your awkward pricing questions. Leave with a floor you’ll actually hold.

👉 Register for the June 4 pricing webinar →

Community 🫶

Roundtable Labs: A Community Where Everyone Counts

Roundtable Labs is a community where everyone counts. Regardless of how long you’ve been in business. No matter how many clients you have. Whatever your revenue. You bring value to the table and the table brings value to you. Roundtable Labs is where accountants, bookkeepers, CPAs, EAs, firm owners, and humans can all find their people. Together, they give and receive support, provide accountability, nurture relationships, and solve real-world problems.

Learn more →

Join the Next Level Firm Roundtable

Hosted by Dave Kersting and Richard Roppa-Roberts, this Roundtable Labs session is a lively discussion on all things workflow. Join the next session on June 17 to gain valuable insights for optimizing your firm’s workflow in Financial Cents.

Register now →

H🔥t today

The Bench Founder Is Back, and He’s Betting on Autonomous AI Bookkeeping

Ian Crosby, whose last venture (Bench Accounting) famously collapsed in 2024, just raised $10 million from Khosla Ventures to try again—this time with zero human bookkeepers in the mix. His new startup, Synthetic, aims to produce accrual-basis financials entirely autonomously for AI and software startups, starting at $49/month.

The kicker? Crosby himself isn’t sure it’s technologically possible yet. “AI is notoriously unreliable,” he told TechCrunch, “And no one wants to entrust their accounting to a system which might get it wrong.” For small firm owners watching this space, it’s worth paying attention—not because Synthetic is coming for your clients tomorrow, but because the conversation about AI-driven bookkeeping is accelerating whether the technology is ready or not. Your value is human judgment, relationships, and accountability. That’s not something Synthetic is building.

Read the full story →

Tax Client Confusion Over CP53E Notices: What to Know

The IRS issued over a million CP53E notices this filing season as part of the federal government’s shift away from paper refund checks. The notice means the IRS approved a refund but can’t issue it electronically—and taxpayers have 30 days to log into their IRS Online Account and add banking information or wait up to six weeks for a paper check. The problem: some notices were issued in error, the QR codes on them are now being spoofed by scammers, and many clients have no idea what they’re looking at. This is a genuine client service opportunity: firms that proactively explain the CP53E situation to their clients right now are earning goodwill in real time. The guidance from the Journal of Accountancy: skip the QR code, go directly to IRS.gov, and update bank info manually.

Read the full story →

Swipe this workflow template

Swipe this Discovery Onboarding Template from Tonya Schulte

Get more templates from firm owners like you in our community template library.

Meme

Relatable? 😆 (It’s just adding and subtracting, right??)

Firm Spotl💡ght

How Capovario Ditched the Sticky Notes and Built a Firm That Supports Work-Life Balance

From the moment he launched Capovario, Dave Kersting knew he didn’t want to build a conventional accounting firm. The Denver-based firm—founded in 2020 and fully remote from day one—operates as both an accounting and bookkeeping practice and a concierge consulting firm, connecting business owner clients with whatever they need to solve a business problem, accounting-related or not.

“We want to be the first our clients call when they have even a non-accounting business challenge,” Kersting says. What he didn’t anticipate was how quickly the firm’s growth would expose the limits of the system running underneath it: a multi-level folder, a stack of sticky notes, and 90% of the workflow living in his own head.

The transition to Financial Cents wasn’t a top-down initiative. His team actually led the charge, having worked at other firms that used the software. It wasn’t long before Financial Cents became the operational hub of Capovario: projects generate automatically when a client signs a proposal, task assignments make accountability clear without constant check-ins from Dave, and the team starts and ends every day inside the platform. The payoff has been better client service, tighter deadline management, and a firm structure that truly supports the entire team’s work-life balance.

Continue reading →

Events

📍 Charge What You’re Worth and Keep Clients: Pricing, Positioning, & Onboarding — Thursday, June 4 (Virtual Webinar, 2:00–3:00 PM ET)

This is the next session in Financial Cents’ Proudly Small webinar series, and it’s focused entirely on pricing—the conversation most firm owners avoid until it becomes a crisis. Real firm owners will walk through how they set their rates, what it took to raise them, and how to hold the line when a prospect pushes back.

👉 Save your spot →

📍 From Burnout to Breakthrough: Rethinking Your Tax Workflow — Thursday, June 4 (Virtual Webinar, 3:30–4:30 PM ET)

Tax season may be over, but for many firms the pressure hasn’t let up. Hiring is harder than ever, teams are stretched thin, and inconsistent quality keeps work circling back to you, making it difficult to step away with confidence. In this session, you’ll see how firms are moving from burnout to real control by combining AI-powered document processing and human-reviewed OCR from GruntWorx with structured workflows and collaboration in Financial Cents. More importantly, you’ll see how to turn the time you save into higher-value work, shifting into advisory services, taking on better clients, and growing revenue without adding more hours or headcount.

👉 Save your spot →

📍 How We Got Our Name Out There: Marketing for Firms that Hate Marketing — Thursday, June 11 (Virtual Webinar, 2:00–3:00 PM ET)

If pricing is the conversation most firm owners avoid, marketing is a close second. This upcoming Proudly Small webinar session brings together real firm owners to share how they built their reputation and filled their pipeline without a marketing team or a big budget. It’s part of the same series as the June 4 pricing webinar, and it’s aimed squarely at the firm owners who cringe at the word “brand.”

👉 Save your spot →

📍 AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE — June 8–11 (Las Vegas)

The largest annual event for CPAs and finance pros, with sessions across tax, A&A, advisory, technology, and practice management. Strong CPE opportunity and one of the best networking weeks of the year for firm owners thinking about what’s next! (P.S. Stop by booth 323 to say hi to the Financial Cents crew and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea. ☕)

👉 Check the full schedule →

📍 Scaling New Heights 2026 — June 15–17 (Orlando)

Woodard’s flagship conference for accounting and bookkeeping professionals—heavy on practical workflow, technology, and firm-growth content. Especially good for owners building or scaling QuickBooks-centric firms, with deep tracks on advisory and team development.

👉 Learn more and register →

Noteworthy

Small Firms Deserve to Be Seen: Join the #ProudlySmall Movement

Financial Cents just launched something worth paying attention to: a dedicated campaign celebrating small accounting and bookkeeping firms—not as a stepping stone to something bigger, but as a legitimate and intentional way to build a business. The new Proudly Small hub is worth a read on its own, but the real draw is the Wall of Small Firms: a growing collection of firm owners who’ve made the deliberate choice to stay small, stay focused, and build something worthwhile. If that sounds like you, peep the hub below and add your firm to the wall!

See the Proudly Small hub →

Join 130+ firms on the Wall of Small Firms →

That’s it for now. See you in two weeks. 💚

Share Get Work Done - a newsletter for accounting firm owners.

Small Change, Big Results

You made it. April is officially in the rearview, you have a reasonable number of unread emails, and you’ve finally remembered what your family looks like in daylight.

But before you slide into full-on summer mode, ask yourself:

Will all those tax clients be back next season?

The easiest client you’ll ever get is the one you’ve already got, and the easiest way to keep them is to actually talk to them between filings.

Turns out, people really appreciate it when you acknowledge their, you know, existence (especially when that outreach happens consistently and isn’t always attached to some kind of sales pitch or action item).

CPA Michelle Arnason hears this feedback constantly from new clients walking in her door. When she asks why they decided to leave their previous accountant, a lot of them point to lack of communication—not price or work quality.

Curious what other “client tea” Michelle has picked up over the years? Well, you’re in luck, because we’re hosting her later today—Thursday, May 14, at 1:00pm ET—for a free 1-hour webinar:

5 Things New Clients Wish Their Accountant Did Differently

Here’s a sampling of what Michelle will dish on:

• What really matters to clients (beyond all the accounting stuff)

• Small touch points between filings that can turn a one-time engagement into a long-term one

• How to make your firm feel less transactional without adding hours to your week

• The trust-building moments most firms accidentally skip—and how to build them into your workflow

It’s free, it’s 100% virtual, and it’s happening in a few hours. If you’re reading this with your morning coffee, you’ve still got time to save your seat! (And even if you can’t make it, go ahead and sign up anyway to get the recording. 😉)

👉 Register for the webinar

Community 🫶

Evolve Boldly with Thriveal

Thriveal is a leadership-driven community for ambitious accounting firm owners committed to intentional growth, accountability, and redefining the future of the profession. Built around values like evolving boldly, leading with empathy, showing up transparently, and disrupting traditional best practices together, Thriveal helps firm owners scale through deep collaboration, mastermind programs, coaching, and entrepreneurial support rooted in confidence over competition.

Learn more →

Get Meaningful Peer Support with The Collaboration Room

The Collaboration Room is a collaborative community for accounting, bookkeeping, and tax professionals focused on practical growth, peer support, and real-world problem solving. Built around the needs of firm owners, the community offers hands-on coaching, live discussions, and actionable resources across topics like tax, bookkeeping, referrals, automation, AI, software, and client management—creating a space where members openly share expertise, tools, and support to help one another grow.

Learn more →

H🔥t today

The Big Four are Making a Fantastic Case for Why Not to Work for Them

KPMG just announced layoffs of 10% of its U.S. audit partners after voluntary retirements fell short. Pension freezes, halved family leave, and gutted family-planning benefits are showing up across the Big Four—all while those same firms have spent at least $9 billion on AI development.

New-grad accounting hiring is reportedly down as much as 29% in recent years. The opportunity here? Smaller firms can offer something the Big Four are shying away from: actual stability, real benefits, and a tech stack that respects your team. The next generation of accountants is paying attention.

Read the full story →

Small Business Owners are Confident, but They’re Not Spending Like It

The U.S. Chamber’s Q1 2026 Small Business Index slipped to 67.0, with only 28% of owners saying the national economy is in good health (down 10 points). 53% now name inflation as their top challenge—the 17th straight quarter it’s ranked #1. The split is fascinating: 69% rate their own business as healthy, but they’re hesitant to hire or invest.

For your clients, this means more questions about cash flow, tighter margins, and a real appetite for advisory conversations. If you’ve been thinking about expanding your consulting service line, now might be a good time to test the waters.

Read the full story →

Swipe this workflow template

Swipe this Bookkeeping Client Offboarding Template from Taylor Ammons

Get more templates from firm owners like you in our community template library.

Meme

Relatable? 😆 (Even after last week’s Tax Wrap Palooza, we are STILL celebrating, and we hope you are too! 🥂)

Firm Spotl💡ght

How Numbers Matter LLC Cut Month-End Close Time in Half with Financial Cents

Steve Libhart has spent his career at the intersection of accounting and the legal industry—running his own law-focused firm in Colorado, teaching law firm accounting for the state bar association, and co-hosting the Accountants Law Pod.

His clients are attorneys who bill in tenths of an hour and have absolutely no patience for administrative drag, which made his old patchwork of Word docs, spreadsheets, ClickUp, and Notion a real liability. Financial reports were going out in week three of every month when they could’ve gone out in week two.

After implementing Financial Cents—and especially after rolling out the new Month-End Close feature—Steve’s firm cut close time in half, compressed 1099 season from a month to a single week, and finally killed the email-chain chaos that was eating his team alive.

Continue reading →

Events

📍 5 Things New Clients Wish Their Accountant Did Differently — Thursday, May 14 (Virtual Webinar, 1:00–2:00 PM ET)

A free 1-hour webinar with CPA Michelle Arnason on the five things new clients say they wish their last accountant had done differently—and how to build those small moments into your firm without adding hours to your week. Happening today at 1pm ET!

👉 Save your spot →

📍 Operational Disorder Creates Security Risks — Thursday, May 21 (Virtual Webinar, 2:00–3:00 PM ET)

Join Jatin Narang, CEO of Verito, and firm owner Steven Moos for a practical conversation on how small accounting firms can turn organization, security, and workflow into a true competitive advantage. In this free virtual session, you’ll walk away with the EDGE Framework, a practical FTC-worthy WISP checklist, and real strategies firms are using to strengthen operations, improve security posture, and move into higher-value advisory work.

👉 Save your spot →

📍 AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE — June 8–11 (Las Vegas)

The largest annual event for CPAs and finance pros, with sessions across tax, A&A, advisory, technology, and practice management. Strong CPE opportunity and one of the best networking weeks of the year for firm owners thinking about what’s next!

👉 Check the full schedule →

📍 Scaling New Heights 2026 — June 15–17 (Orlando)

Woodard’s flagship conference for accounting and bookkeeping professionals—heavy on practical workflow, technology, and firm-growth content. Especially good for owners building or scaling QuickBooks-centric firms, with deep tracks on advisory and team development.

👉 Learn more and register →

Noteworthy

About That Client Disengagement You’ve Been Avoiding…

Every firm has that one client. The chronic late-payer. The scope-creeper. The one whose name in your inbox triggers a small dread response before you’ve even read the email. And every firm has, at some point, hesitated to send the disengagement letter—because what if they push back? What if you do it wrong? What if it all blows up in your face?

Our newest guide walks through the eight elements every accounting client termination letter needs, the four scenarios you’re most likely to face (non-payment, non-cooperation, restructuring, and ethical), and the legal traps that can turn clean breakups into liability problems. Free Word and Google Docs templates included! Save it now; thank yourself later.

Continue reading →

What’s New in Accounting? Episode 1: AI on Tax Returns, 40 Under 40, and What CFOs are Betting on for 2026

We launched a hot new video series, and the first episode is out! In it, our very own Matt Draper walks you through three timely stories:

• The Bipartisan Policy Center’s 2026 tax-filing poll (where 19% of taxpayers reported using AI to help prep their return, and another 34% said they’d consider it),

• CPA Practice Advisor’s just-released 40 Under 40 and 20 Under 40 awards, and

• A Deloitte/Journal of Accountancy survey of 200 CFOs that pegs AI, cash management, and M&A as the three biggest bets for the rest of 2026.

Plus: A fun fact about 7000 BC accounting that we promise you didn’t know!

Watch the episode →

Tired of Delivering Walls of Numbers that Clients Ignore?

What if every client report you sent looked like it came from a $500/hour advisory firm?

Model Wiz is an Excel plugin that connects to QBO and generates beautiful financial dashboards with one click. Cash flow. KPIs. Trend analysis. Comparisons. Anything you need.

The firms running this are delivering in 30 seconds what used to take a week. They’re offering advisory packages they couldn’t offer before. And they’re growing their revenue per client without growing their team.

No more spreadsheet errors, no more hours of formatting, no more clients who see you as a cost center.

You have the expertise. This gives you the presentation layer to match it.

Book a free breakthrough session (only if you use QBO) →

That’s it for now. See you in two weeks. 💚

Share Get Work Done - a newsletter for accounting firm owners.

Small Change, Big Results

We made it, y’all. Busy season is in the rearview mirror, spring is in the air, and we’re all feeling a little more happy-go-lucky than we were at the beginning of the month. (At least we hope that’s the case for you—if not, keep reading, because we’ve got something to turn that frown upside down 😁).

But before you flush every last shred of frustration out of your memory, ask yourself one post-mortem-style question while the pain is still fresh:

Where the heck did all the time go?

Not the billable hours—you can see those. We’re talking about the hours that sneaky-leaked out of your days like air from that one tire that probably has a nail in it.

A few minutes here—a half an hour there. Chasing a client for the bank statement they “definitely already sent.” Copy-pasting data between two tools that should talk to each other, but don’t. Drafting that long, detailed email listing every uncategorized transaction one by one.

None of it is hard, per se—but it does add up. And during busy times like tax season—when your team barely has a moment to eat lunch, let alone dig through email threads—it can seriously drag down morale.

On that note, we just published a piece we think you’ll get a lot out of:

Bookkeeping Automation Examples That Actually Save Time

It walks through 10 specific time-saving automations firms are using right now, including:

• Automated Transaction Categorization

• Automated Bank Reconciliation

• Automated Client Document Requests and Reminders

• Automated Client Communication and Email Reminders

• Time Tracking and Automated Billing

• And more!

If you’re not leveraging automation to the fullest in your firm, then you’re definitely not running as efficiently as you could be. And while that might be fine during your not-so-slammed months, it’s a much bigger deal during the Q1 rush.

Give the article a read for some great ideas on how to set your firm up for a much smoother tax season next year.

👉 Read the full breakdown

Community 🫶

The CFO Project’s Advisory Blueprint: A Free 3-Day Workshop

You’ve heard for years that the future of accounting is advisory. But what does an advisory practice actually look like? How does the work get delivered? And what does it take to build one?

On May 26, 27, and 28, The CFO Project is holding a free 3-session workshop that answers all three of those questions. You’ll walk through the exact systems used by the 1,000+ accounting professionals trained through The CFO Project to launch CFO advisory practices. One hour each day, starting at 12:00 PM ET. NASBA-approved CPE available. 48-hour replays after each session.

Save your seat →

H🔥t today

Kentucky Becomes the Latest State to Adopt a New Pathway to CPA Licensure

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear signed House Bill 45 into law on April 3, adding Kentucky to the fast-growing list of states offering an alternative route to CPA licensure:

bachelor’s degree (total 120 semester hours) + 2 years of professional experience + passing the exam

This option essentially swaps in a year of experience for the additional credit hours requirement that is part of the traditional pathway to becoming a CPA:

bachelor’s degree + 30 additional semester credits (total 150 semester hours) + 1 year of professional experience + passing the CPA Exam

The new pathway takes effect July 16. Roughly 39 states have now passed or adopted similar reforms in a little over a year, with most of the remaining states actively working on it. The decades-old 150-hour threshold is functionally on its way out, which could help get the hiring pipeline flowing again after years of shortages.

Read the full story →

Is AI Making “Purely Technical” Accountants Less Employable?

CFO Brew’s latest from Vincent Ryan makes a point worth sitting with: the skillsets finance leaders now rank as most important for the next generation of accounting pros aren’t technical. They’re strategic thinking, communication, data storytelling, and cross-functional collaboration.

Technical accounting expertise has slipped further down the list of the most sought-after strengths when evaluating new hires. One partner quoted in the piece puts it bluntly: the deeply technical tax and accounting folks are the ones most likely to become a commodity. The judgment-heavy, advisory-shaped work is where firms will defend their margins. It’s an interesting take on where the wind is blowing, with real numbers behind it (Morning Brew surveyed 352 finance leaders). Worth a read before you plan your next hire or service line!

Read the full story →

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Relatable? 😆 (We can all laugh about it now that it’s over, right?)

Firm Spotl💡ght

How Safe Harbor Bookkeeping Cut Invoicing from a Full Day to 90 Minutes — and Stopped Turning Away Clients

Terri Evans didn’t go to college for accounting—she got her education around the kitchen table, doing the books for her dad’s contracting business starting in high school. By 2023, she was ready to build something of her own, and launched Safe Harbor Bookkeeping with three clients.

Within a year, she had 60+ clients and a team of four part-time bookkeepers. But the operation was stitched together with spreadsheets, ClickUp, Monday.com, Harvest, QuickBooks, and email—none of which talked to each other. Invoicing alone could eat an entire day. After switching to Financial Cents, she’s cut her invoicing process down from 8 hours to 90 minutes, replaced at least five tools with one platform, and this tax season—for the first time—she didn’t have to turn clients away.

Continue reading →

Events

📍 BDO Alliance EVOLVE 2026 — May 3–6 (Fontainebleau Las Vegas)

BDO Alliance USA’s flagship annual conference offers three days of keynotes, 100+ breakout sessions, practice management masterclasses, and a tradeshow with over 100 exhibitors. This year’s keynotes feature Christopher Kauffman on The Last Busy Season? The AI Opportunity in Accounting and Erica Dhawan on The Power of Connectional Intelligence. Heads up: EVOLVE is sold out and open only to BDO Alliance members and invited guests—but if you’re an Alliance firm, check with your EVOLVE contact. For everyone else, keep an eye out for EVOLVE Encore, the virtual follow-up that replays the most popular sessions.

👉 See the full agenda →

📍 Tax Wrap Palooza 2026 — Tuesday, May 5 (Virtual, 2:00–4:00 PM ET)

You survived. Now let’s celebrate! Financial Cents is throwing a virtual post-tax-season party for every accountant, bookkeeper, CPA, and EA who just white-knuckled their way through April. Expect Tax Season Superlatives (Worst Client Email, Latest Night, Best Snack Stash), a mind-bending magic show, a Stump the Tax Expert live Q&A, a prize giveaway, and a DJ dance party to close it all out. Vacation-mode dress code strongly encouraged. First 50 to join get a free lunch on us!

👉 Save your seat →

Noteworthy

Accounting Professionals Just Wanna Have Fun

The week after April 15, our hilarious tax memes article saw a huge surge in traffic that told us exactly what we already suspected: after four months of grinding, the industry is in full “I just need to laugh” mode. The memes are free and the collective exhale is earned. Consider this your reminder that accountants absolutely have a sense of humor—it just tends to go dormant between January and mid-April.

Scroll the memes →

One Minute. One Assessment. One Clear Fix to Your Operational Woes.

If your firm’s tech tools and processes held up beautifully this season, ignore this. If they creaked, wobbled, or outright failed you, then listen up: The Patchwork Personas assessment is a 1-minute diagnostic built to help you see exactly how your operations are holding you back—and how to fix it. It’s free, it takes less time than waiting for Excel to un-freeze, and there are prizes in it for you. Post-tax-season is the perfect time to evaluate what’s holding you back—before you forget the pain.

Take the assessment →

Breathe deep and laugh big. See you in two weeks. 💚

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Small Change, Big Results

Get Work Done is back after a brief hiatus, and TBH, we kinda hope this send triggers a whole lotta out of office replies—not because we don’t want you to read all of the grade-A goodness we’ve packed into this issue, but because we fully recognize that tax season ended just 48 hours ago (in the U.S., anyway—hold strong, Canadian friends, the finish line is in sight 🤩).

So if you’re one of the many accounting professionals enjoying some well-deserved R&R, we hope you’ll take a moment to scroll through this issue once you’re back in action. Because honestly, the collective post-tax-season exhale is the perfect time to start thinking about how things can be better, smoother, and less “hair-on-fire” through the rest of this year and (especially) into the next tax season. (You know as well as we do that it’ll be here again before we know it!)

On that note, we invite you to check out all the recordings from last month’s Bookkeeping Workflow Summit, where we hosted four jam-packed sessions focused on helping bookkeeping and accounting firms move away from scattered systems and into a single, streamlined workflow.

You’ll learn top tips from pros like Roman Villard, Kellie Parks, and Ryan Lazanis, including:

• Why patchwork systems create invisible bottlenecks—and how to diagnose where your firm’s operational patterns are breaking down.

• The root causes of owner bottlenecks in small firms—and the first steps for moving knowledge out of your head and into a system your team can follow without constant check-ins.

• The “Core 5” workflows every small firm needs—and how to document and structure them so your team can execute without you.

• What a patchwork-free, system-led firm actually looks like in practice—from “Human Hub” to real-time visibility without manual status updates.

Throughout the event, our guest speakers dropped tons of “small change” nuggets that have the potential to snowball into big results, but we’ll leave you with one of the most memorable, courtesy of Roman Villard, CPA, Founder of Full Send Accounting:

Remove your phone number from your email signature: While taking calls and solving problems on the spot might feel good in the moment, the reality is that every call or text that bypasses a shared system is a visibility problem. It’s a decision made verbally and off the record—one that your team can’t act on and that you’ll probably forget to log.

🍿 Watch all of the summit session recordings here
🤓 Read the blog recap here

Community 🫶

Counter: The Community for Accounting Firm Revolutionaries

Counter is a community for accounting firm owners who want to build firms that defy traditional public accounting norms, offering relationships, support, and upskilling to help them change their own lives and transform the industry.

Founded by a CPA who needed a scalable way to help others run firms differently, Counter provides members with resources like virtual events, mastermind cohorts, software demos, and referral networks—connecting them with peers, veterans, and experts so small firms can thrive as part of an accounting industry revolution.

Join the community →

Advisory Accountants & Bookkeepers Network

If you’re ready to stop being the best-kept secret in your market and start attracting the premium clients your expertise deserves, this is your community. The Advisory Accountants & Bookkeepers Network is the go-to space for financial professionals who want to build high-value advisory practices—with the strategies, support, and peer relationships to make it real.

And if you want a taste of what group leader Alyssa Ciera brings to the table, she partnered with Financial Cents to create a free 5-day email course—Master the Client Lifecycle—that walks you through streamlining your firm’s entire client journey from onboarding to offboarding. Think: mapping your client journey, turning messy Zoom calls into clean workflows, building onboarding processes your team can actually follow, and creating SOPs from the systems you already have.

Join the community →

Sign up for the free email course →

H🔥t today

Vote for FC in the CPA Practice Advisor Readers’ Choice Awards!

We have a small(ish) favor to ask. Voting is now open for the CPA Practice Advisor Readers’ Choice Awards—and we’d suuuuuuper appreciate your vote for Financial Cents!

This is the annual awards program where readers get to shout out the tools they rely on most to run their firms, and it’s one of the few places where we can really go toe-to-toe with the biggest players in the industry.

We’ve nabbed runner-up honors in the Practice Management Systems and Comprehensive Firm Workflow Solutions categories for a few years running now, and 2026 feels like our year to steal the top spot. But we can’t do it without you!

If Financial Cents has saved you from a chaotic inbox, a missed deadline, or a very stressful tax season (or all of the above), this is your chance to pay it forward.

Voting closes April 20, so drop yours in now!

Cast your vote here →

Revving up Refunds: The Data is in on the 2026 Tax Filing Season

The Bipartisan Policy Center surveyed 1,200 Americans who filed their 2025 taxes, and the results are worth a scan before you close the books on this season.

More than half of respondents reported receiving a federal refund, and of those, 39% said it was larger than last year. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s new deductions—for tips, overtime, auto loan interest, and seniors—were broadly known but unevenly claimed. A majority of filers had at least some awareness of the 2025 law’s tax relief, though more respondents had no awareness at all than “a ton” of awareness.

Perhaps most interesting for your firm’s future: nearly one in five respondents reported using AI this year when preparing their return (11% for the first time), while another 34% said they hadn’t used it yet but would consider it in the future. That’s over half of taxpayers either already experimenting with AI on their taxes or open to it. Food for thought as you map out your advisory strategy for next year.

Read the full story on the BPC website →

Meet the Small Business Owner Using AI as His CFO (Don’t Worry, his CPA Still Gets the Last Word)

Kyle Ray can’t afford a full C-suite for his window cleaning company. So he built one with AI.

“Basically my entire leadership team is AI,” the Geek Window Cleaning founder told Business Insider. At $40/month for Claude and ChatGPT combined, it’s a pretty lean org chart. And this tax season, his “AI CFO” earned its keep.

Ray uses ChatGPT to surface tax strategies he might be missing—things like whether certain sales reps could qualify as 1099 contractors instead of W-2 employees, which can mean real payroll tax savings. He also uses it to prep for conversations with his CPA, asking questions like, “What am I not asking that I should be asking?” (Which is honestly a great question to ask any advisor, human or otherwise.)

He’ll even run his taxes themselves through AI first, then compare the results with his accountant’s work to catch anything that slipped through the cracks.

But he’s not handing over the keys entirely. His CPA still gets final say, and Ray is clear-eyed about AI’s limits: “I wouldn’t trust it 110%.” Because while AI is great for explaining concepts and organizing data, applying that knowledge to a nuanced and specific situation is still a human job.

Read the full story on Business Insider →

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Swipe this 1099 Preparation Template from Jami Doran

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Firm Spotl💡ght

How On Track Accounting Solutions Heads Off 1099 Headaches with Month-End Close in Financial Cents

Greg Scholten founded On Track Accounting Solutions in 2016 with a pretty specific mission: bringing specialized accounting, bookkeeping, and tax services to underserved niches, including adult foster care (AFC) homes and nonprofits.

Running a lean, fully remote team of three, Greg didn’t have room for chaos. But every January, it showed up anyway.

Figuring out which clients needed 1099s, which vendors had crossed the IRS reporting threshold, and whether the right W-9s were even on file—it was the same stressful scramble year after year. Greg knew a basic Excel checklist wasn’t going to cut it forever.

Enter Month-End Close in Financial Cents. By weaving 1099 tracking into his regular monthly workflow, Greg went from last-minute panic to January calm—with all the data already organized and ready to export by the time filing season rolled around. Oh, and he consolidated his tech stack in the process. One portal. No more scrambles.

Here’s how On Track keeps a three-person remote firm running smooth like butter ⬇️

Continue reading →

Events

📍 Jason On Firms LIVE National Tour — May 4–June 26, 2026 (20 Cities Across the U.S.)

If you’ve been waiting for a reason to get out of the office, this is it. Jason Staats is bringing his half-day, CPE-eligible workshop to 20 cities this spring:Columbus, Chicago, Minneapolis, Miami, Nashville, Austin, New York, San Francisco, and more. Expect real talk on firm operations, snacks, a bar, and an optional networking dinner to connect you with local firm owners who get it. With over 1,000 accountants joining the 2025 tour, spots go fast. Check to see if he’s coming to your city and grab your ticket.

👉 Check the full schedule here →

📍 GrowCon — May 4–6, 2026 (Salt Lake City, UT)

Hosted by Universal Accounting Center, GrowCon is built for owners of bookkeeping, accounting, and tax businesses who want to scale—not just survive. You’ll learn how to actually grow your firm, build systems that hold up, and stop being the bottleneck in your own business. Industry leaders and tech partners share the tools and strategies that are working right now. If you’re heading into summer wondering how to level up before Q4 hits, this one’s worth the trip.

👉 Register here →

📍 RightNOW 2026 — May 18–20, 2026 (San Antonio, TX)

Now in its third year, RightNOW has earned a reputation for honest, no-filter conversations about what’s working in modern firms. This mid-year conference is designed for the post-busy-season stretch—when you finally have space to think about automation, capacity, and what you want the next chapter of your firm to look like. Sessions are led by real firm owners, and you’ll walk away with frameworks and templates you can implement immediately. Plus, the Signia by Hilton La Cantera Resort isn’t exactly a bad backdrop for a few days of thinking big.

👉 Check out the agenda →

Noteworthy

We Asked 261 Bookkeeping Firms About Their Tech Stacks, and the Results Were...a Lot

Spoiler: Most firms are using way more tools than they want to—and it’s costing them more than just subscription fees.

We surveyed 261 bookkeeping and accounting professionals to get an honest look at how small firms are managing their software, where things break down, and what they actually wish they had. What we found was a pretty clear disconnect:

• 9 in 10 firms want to run on 4 tools or fewer, but less than half actually do.

• Nearly half aren’t confident that nothing is falling through the cracks.

• And 70% are manually re-entering data between tools multiple times a week.

The culprit? Tool sprawl. It starts innocently enough—one app for proposals, another for task management, another for client documents—and before long you’re spending more time managing your software than actually serving clients.

We broke it all down—the data, the real stories, the dropped balls, and the path forward—in our 2026 Bookkeeping Firm Tech Stack Report. It’s free, it’s packed with insights, and it might just make you feel a little less alone.

Read the full report →

Which Patchwork Persona Is Running Your Firm?

Be honest: Does your firm run on spreadsheets held together with hope? Do you have a tool for everything—and actually use none of them fully? Is there one person on your team whose entire job is basically just...knowing where everything is?

If any of that sounds familiar, your firm probably has a Patchwork Persona.

Born out of the data from our 2026 Bookkeeping Firm Tech Stack Report, the Patchwork Personas are seven distinct patterns that show up again and again in small accounting and bookkeeping firms when systems get fragmented.

There’s the Spreadsheet Stalwart, the Tool Toggler, the Human Router, the Constant Copy-Paster, the Month-End Magician, the Message Miner, and the Apology Artist. Most firms aren’t just one—but there’s usually a dominant pattern running (and occasionally wrecking) the show.

Of course, knowledge is power—because once you know which persona fits your firm, you can actually do something about it. Our free 1-minute assessment will quickly identify your dominant persona as well as personalized strategies for fixing it. Plus, for a limited time, sharing your result enters you to win $500—so there’s that.

Take the assessment →

That’s all for this issue. See ya next time! 👋

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Small Change, Big Results

Every new year has this strange quiet moment, right after the noise settles. You are back at your desk, the calendar is clean again, and there is a brief window where things feel possible.

At that moment, the future you is not asking for fewer loose ends and moments where you wonder if something slipped because it lived in the wrong place.

That is why the beginning of the year matters more than we admit.

It's one of the times when switching to a better mode of getting work done doesn’t feel reactive. You're changing workflow systems because you can see where your bookkeeping or accounting firm is headed, and you would rather get there with intention than urgency.

Financial Cents exists specifically for this. It’s not a generic project management tool that you have to bend into shape for accounting work. It’s built for how firms like yours actually operate: recurring deadlines, seasonal surges, client requests that need tracking, and teams that need visibility without constant check-ins.

Maybe your current setup is still semi-functional, but if you’re being honest with yourself, you probably know where the cracks are, and those cracks don’t shrink when you add more clients or hire more people.

The firms making the switch right now don’t want to carry last year’s frustrations into this year, and you shouldn't too.

Also, you won't have to do it alone.

Our consulting team—Ryan, Will, George, Kasey—they've helped hundreds of firms make this exact switch. They'll walk you through a demo tailored to how your firm actually works, help you get set up, and make sure you're not stuck watching tutorial videos at midnight trying to piece things together.

If you’ve been burned by software transitions before, this one’s different.

👉 Make the switch now

Community 🫶

The Bookkeepers’ Guide to Annual Reviews With Nancy McClelland, CPA

The Bookkeepers who run strong monthly closes don’t dread tax season, and they don’t have to rely on year-end heroics.

This one-page (FREE!) Bookkeepers’ Guide to Annual Reviews, created by Nancy McClelland, CPA, gives you a repeatable framework for reviewing client financials in a way that builds trust, surfaces issues early, and makes collaboration with tax professionals easier for everyone involved.

Inside the template, you’ll get a clear technical review structure that helps you catch issues (ideally before year-end), opportunities to turn clean books into confident client discussions, and so much more.

Get it here →

Accelerate 2 Advisor Community By Lisa Campbell

This is a breakthrough community for bookkeepers and accountants who are still deep in the day-to-day work, but ready to step out of the technician role and start building a business that runs like a system, not a scramble.

Inside, they focus on helping you clarify your true value, tap into where your real power comes from, and learn how to call in what you actually want: more time, money, and freedom. It’s about setting intentional goals, taking aligned action, and learning how to present your business in a way that feels right for you.

Join the community →

H🔥t today

IRS IT overhaul set to finish by 2028

After decades of attempts, the modernization of the IRS’s information technology systems will be completed by 2028, according to former Acting IRS Commissioner Michael Faulkender.

Faulkender, who served as deputy Treasury secretary and acting IRS commissioner for several months in 2025, said the modernization of the IRS's IT systems previously focused on translating millions of lines of computer code written in languages like Fortran developed in the 1950s into more modern languages.

In the past year, the focus of modernization shifted to getting systems to talk to each other and to have an overarching [application programming interface (API)] where all of the information was simultaneously available.

There was no mention of the IRS job cuts, which included 2,163 IT staffers, or 25% of that business unit, according to a May 2025 report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. In addition, 48 senior IT employees were placed on administrative leave in March 2025 due to reorganization plans.

Continue reading →

CFOs signal crucial role that technology will play in 2026

If you thought technology was already a big deal in finance, 2026 is about to dial things up.

A new report reveals a major shift that tech is no longer just a tool to speed up but a core to how finance leaders plan to compete. Think AI, intelligent automation, and smarter systems that do more than track work. We’re talking predictive tools, faster decisions, and CFOs taking a more strategic seat at the table.

What’s interesting is how many of them are now planning to invest in new tools and rethinking how finance should function entirely.

While the confidence is high, the pressure is real. Faster decisions, fewer errors, and better business alignment are now baseline expectations.

The question is: are you keeping pace with the finance function your peers are building?

Continue reading →

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Swipe this 1099 Preparation Workflow Template by Jami Dorman

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Firm Spotl💡ght

How L&L Bookkeeping Manages More Clients and Delivers Services That Drive Referrals

For Lori Hawkins, what began with helping her entrepreneur husband get cleaner books and clearer insights for smarter business decisions grew into L&L Bookkeeping, LLC in 2018.

Today, the L&L Bookkeeping team assists clients both inside and outside the U.S. with all accounting services except tax returns.

As an outsourced accounting department, they work within their clients’ teams to monitor finances and ensure compliant financial records and quality financial advice.

Managed in an all-in-one practice management tool, the firm has optimized its workflows to meet client deliverables and manage client relationships effectively. This has earned them enough referrals to keep a running list of businesses waiting to use their services.

Continue reading →

Events

📍Profit Machine Live - Free Virtual Summit (January 29, 2026)

Profit Machine Live is a free, one-day virtual summit helping accountants grow beyond tax season.

You'll learn how firms are successfully adding advisory services like Tax Advisory, CAS, IRS Representation, and high-ticket advisory from experts who’ve actually done it.
This is an opportunity to get impactful and actionable insights from thought leaders in the accounting industry, like Dawn Brolin, CPA, CFE, Michelle Weinstein, Eric Green, and more.

P.S.: You can get up to 6.0 CPE credits.

Sign up here

Noteworthy

How Mélyssa Brunet Built a Workflow System That Won Her a Title and a Free Trip to Mexico

When Melyssa Brunet was announced as the 2025 Workflow Champion at WorkflowCon, the applause was immediate.

Her winning workflow, a structured year-end review process, resonated with firm owners who recognized the quiet damage caused by missed deadlines, reactive planning, and processes that live only in people’s heads.

However, Mélyssa’s story is not about a single template.

It reflects how workflows evolve when they are built with intention, tested in real client work, and shaped by the people who use them every day.

In this chat, Mélyssa walks through what pushed her bookkeeping firm to formalize workflows, how she earned team buy-in, where workflows still fall short, and why structure has become one of her firm’s biggest growth levers.

Excerpts

Q: Many firms see workflows and SOPs as efficiency tools. From your experience, what else do they influence?

Mélyssa:
Growth, without question. When we hire someone new, they are assigned files immediately in Financial Cents. They can see exactly what tasks they own, what each task means, and what done looks like. That shortens the time it takes for new hires to feel confident.

Q: You mentioned you have many templates. Why was the year-end review workflow the one you chose to present?

Mélyssa:
We actually have a library of over 50 procedures. The year-end review stood out because….

Continue reading

How to inform your clients about a price increase (plus a free template)

Well, it's 2026, and yesterday's price isn't today's price.

You’re delivering more value than ever, your workload has increased, and it costs more to run your firm today than it did a year ago.

Maybe you’re still hesitating because you’re unsure how clients will react, but the truth is, your firm can’t remain sustainable or profitable if you never update your pricing. Contrary to your concern, most clients will accept the new rates as long as you communicate the change clearly and professionally.

Proper communication is what determines whether clients understand the increase and continue working with you, or whether they feel blindsided and start questioning the relationship.

Continue reading

Till next time,

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Small Change, Big Results

Dearest gentle reader,

Was it not just yesterday that we screamed “Happy New Year!” and promised ourselves this would be the year we got ahead of deadlines, nailed every client deliverable, and took that long-overdue vacation in Q3?

Yet here we are, another year in the books.

2025 asked a lot from you, and somehow, you showed up for your clients, team, and firm. You pulled long nights. You navigated messy handoffs. You reworked client expectations, built new systems (or at least tried to), and still found time to send a reminder email with grace.

But let us ask plainly:
Did you work on your workflow as much as you worked in it?

That’s the question we kept returning to during the EOY Workflow Reset sessions, and it’s the one we believe you must answer before tax season starts, writing the script for your year.

We brought together Justine Lackey, Kellie Parks, CPB, FCPB, and Nick Boscia, CPA, three firm owners who’ve stopped treating burnout as a rite of passage. They’ve each built systems that scale, protect team sanity, and help them lead with clarity.

What you’ll learn in the replays:

• Justine maps out your first 90 days of 2026 so you start strong (and stay that way).

• Kellie shows you how to create scalable systems your team will actually follow.

• Nick shows you how to fix recurring workflow and rebalance work so Q1 doesn’t immediately become a bottleneck.

This is the blueprint for building a firm that runs with intention.

Let 2026 be the year your workflow works harder than you do.

👉 Watch the EOY Reset Series Replay

Community 🫶

Build a Buyer-Ready Practice with Adam Shay, CPA, MBA

It’s time to build a firm so operationally strong that buyers line up. A sellable firm runs on clear workflow, strong processes, and predictable operations.

Most firms run on memory, heroics, and constant reaction. When Adam built his accounting firm, everything ran through him; burnout, bottlenecks, and a team that couldn’t move without him.

Today, he coaches firm owners 1:1 and through group cohorts, helping them build sellable firms with strong operational strategies that support growth.

In this 5-day email course, you’ll learn the core elements of a buyer-ready practice and how to build simple SOPs so work gets done consistently without you.

Sign up here →

Get the Free NSA’s 2024 Profit and Practice Report

The NSA’s 2024 Profit and Practice Report is packed with benchmarking data from accountants and tax preparers across the country. See how firms are pricing services, structuring fees, and building profitability.

With this report, you can compare your fees with national benchmarks, spot opportunities to grow revenue, and gain insights to position your firm competitively.

Get the report here →

H🔥t today

Every CPA Must Triple Their Productivity by 2035 or Face Professional Extinction

David Wurtzbacher shared this projection on an episode of the Earmark Podcast. As the founder and CEO of Ascend, a private equity-backed platform that’s completed over three dozen firm acquisitions in just over two years, Wurtzbacher offers an outsider’s perspective on the profession.

According to him, demand for services continues to climb while the number of people entering the profession each year decreases.

To put this in perspective, a typical well-performing firm today generates around $200,000 in revenue per employee. Wurtzbacher’s projection means that the number needs to approach $600,000 per person within a decade. Even scarier? By 2035, roughly 85% of the profession will consist of people with ten years or less of experience in an industry where most say you can’t even make partner in that timeframe.

Continue reading →

The Accounting Profession’s Status Is Under Review

So, quick accounting tea ☕️

There’s a proposal circulating that would essentially declare accounting no longer a professional degree, and the accounting world collectively responded: absolutely not.

Nine major accounting organizations, led by the AICPA and representing approximately 1.5 million professionals, have joined forces to push back. They sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education expressing strong opposition to any draft regulation that would exclude accounting programs from a professional degree designation and urging that accounting programs be included as a professional degree in the proposed rule.

At a time when firms are facing staffing shortages, aging practitioner populations, and rising complexity in compliance and advisory work, de-incentivizing formal accounting education sends the wrong message to the next generation. It frames accounting as less rigorous, less essential, and less worthy of institutional support.

Continue reading →

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Firm Spotl💡ght

How Profit Constructors Run Multi-Firm Projects Without Things Falling Apart

Tonya founded The Profit Constructors after realizing that the traditional corporate environment no longer fit the life she wanted for her family.

With years of experience in construction accounting and a growing desire for a more flexible and remote-friendly work system, she set out to build a firm that operated differently.

After returning from a maternity break and struggling to ease into work, Tonya decided to use her expertise to create a virtual accounting practice that would give her and her team the freedom to work from anywhere.

When the company started, Tonya and her first staff could comfortably rely on their memories to manage projects because they had worked together for about 20 years; they understood themselves and what each client engagement required, even without spelling things out.

However, as they took on more clients and added staff, they now needed a system to document workflows and collaborate effectively, standardizing their processes across the board.

Continue reading →

Events

📍Master the Intuit Bookkeeper Certification - Free Workshop (Today, 7 pm EST)

Margie Remmers-Davis is transforming accounting education by making learning hands-on, practical, engaging, and fun.

During the workshop, you’ll discover:

• What the certification actually is (and what it’s not)

• Who really needs it vs. who’s wasting their time

• The fastest, simplest way to pass without cramming wrong material

• How to use it to stand out to clients and employers

Seats are free, but they won’t last, and the live Q&A is where the real gold happens.

Sign up here

Noteworthy

How Stacey Feldman CPA Makes Sure to Fuel Properly Even with a Busy Schedule

In the thick of client demands, team responsibilities, and firm growth, Stacey Feldman, Partner/COO at Full Send Finance, has built a system for wellness.

What makes her approach unique isn’t the discipline (though there’s plenty of that). It’s how she treats her health as a strategic advantage, instead of something to deal with after the busy season. For Stacey, staying sharp means thinking ahead about everything from food to calendar to bandwidth. It means creating predictability in her day so she can lead with clarity.

If you’ve ever told yourself you’ll rest after this deadline, or wondered how to keep showing up for your team without burning yourself out, Stacey’s story is your reminder that taking care of yourself is a business decision.

Continue reading

15 Proven Accounting Firm Growth Strategies for 2026

Growth in 2026 requires more than new clients.

Clients no longer want you only for year-end cleanups. They seek guidance, clarity, and a trusted advisor who can translate financial data into informed decisions.

Also, remote teams are becoming more common. Talent shortages have made geographical hiring optional. Remote and hybrid teams open doors to stronger hiring, but they also require better systems for collaboration, oversight, and accountability. Firms that build for flexibility are the ones keeping their teams engaged and productive.

Growth right now takes smarter operations, modern software, and systems that can actually keep up. To help you navigate this shifting landscape, this guide outlines 15 practical strategies designed to foster your firm’s growth with confidence and profitability.

Continue reading

Happy Holidays, Friends 💚,

See you in 2026!

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Small Change, Big Results

Step Into 2026 With Systems That Support You

There comes a time when the status quo no longer feels tolerable.

You know it.

You recognize that something in your accounting firm needs to shift, yet every time you move toward that change, it slips out of reach. The reasons vary: client demands, staffing challenges, shifting priorities, but in the end, the result is the same. Another year passes without the systems you need to grow with intention.

At some point, though, the cycle becomes unsustainable. What once felt manageable begins to strain the limits of your capacity. The interruptions feel heavier, errors are more costly, and pressure is more persistent. The thought of heading into another year with the same gaps and frustrations becomes harder to justify.

That is precisely why the End-of-Year Workflow Reset Series exists.

It offers structured, distraction-free time to evaluate what has worked, what has not, and what must change before 2026. This month, the series is led by three industry experts who understand operational change as lived experience.

Justine Lackey will guide you through structuring your first 90 days of 2026 with intention, resetting your workflows ahead of the busy season, and utilizing real planning frameworks to map out Q1 deliverables.

Nick Bosica, CPA, brings a grounded, strategic perspective shaped by years of building and refining firm operations. His approach is practical, direct, and designed to help owners audit and tighten recurring workflows.

Kellie Parks, CPB, FCPB, is known for making processes accessible, scalable, and sustainable. Her systems-first methodology helps firms standardize their work in a way that supports both the firm owner and the team behind them.

Together, they provide a balanced, real-world framework for the work ahead, one that pairs strategic clarity with operational discipline.

If you feel the tension between where your accounting firm is and where it needs to be, this is your opportunity to bridge that gap. The stability, confidence, and structure you want next year begin with the decisions you make now.

👉 Sign up for the EOY Workflow Reset Series

Community 🫶

The Velocity Retreat With Justine Lackey

If you’re a bookkeeper or accountant who needs a strategic plan for 2026, consider this your official invite to Velocity, Justine Lackey’s half-day (FREE!) virtual planning retreat on December 11th from 12–4:30 pm EST.

Velocity is a community favorite for a reason: in just a few hours, you’ll walk away with:

• A crystal-clear 2026 plan that feels achievable and exciting

• A simple method to break big goals into tiny weekly actions

• A gorgeous 2026 digital planning workbook you’ll use all year

• A mindset reset that gets you out of the weeds and laser-focused on building your #dreamfirm

If you want 2026 to be the year you feel grounded and organized and gain real momentum, register for Velocity today. Your future self will thank you.

Sign up here →

NexPath Coaching

NexPath Coaching helps organizations of every size create cultures where people understand each other, trust each other, and take ownership so that growth, collaboration, and results happen naturally.

They believe communication and leadership aren’t soft skills but the structure that holds everything together.

If you’re an accounting firm owner and want your team to take more ownership and improve collaboration, start here.

Join the coaching community →

H🔥t today

What Will Accounting and Finance Look Like By 2040?

Daniel Burrus has quite a history as a futurist. Over the past 40 years, the New York Times bestselling author has delivered keynote speeches at more than 3,000 conferences worldwide, advised numerous Fortune 500 executives, and foretold scores of technology and business developments.

These predictions have not come via a crystal ball. They are the result of a methodology Burrus developed to identify trends and use those to anticipate what is most likely to happen in the coming years.

His anticipatory business model is a big reason why the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) has teamed with Burrus on Finance and Accounting 2040: Rise to the Future Together, an ambitious attempt to envision what the world might look like in 2040 and what accountants in firms and finance departments may do to guide the profession to continued success over the next 15 years.

The AICPA has twice conducted visioning projects like Rise2040. The 1997 CPA Vision Project gathered more than 3,000 CPAs in 200 focus groups to plot the profession’s path through 2011. That report established a new purpose statement for accounting: “Making sense of a changing and complex world.”

Continue reading →

Why Managed IT Services Make Sense for Accountants

It’s hard to imagine anything an accounting firm does is not tied to technology and processes; however, with so many firms still stretching the limits of dated technology, it is one of many reasons to consider utilizing managed IT services.

Cybercriminals become incredibly sophisticated, and it’s been made clear accounting firms—with all of the sensitive information they potentially have access to—remain a key target. In fact, according to IBM’s 2024 Threat Intelligence Report, professional services, including accounting, ranked among the top five most attacked industries, with an average breach cost of $5.9 million.

Another survey by the AICPA found that 91% of accounting firms experienced at least one attempted cyberattack in the past year. In the middle of this storm, the IRS tightened its own data security requirements.

Under IRS Publication 4557 and the FTC Safeguards Rule, every tax professional must maintain a Written Information Security Plan (WISP) and demonstrate ongoing security controls. This isn’t advisory anymore; it’s mandatory.

Continue reading →

Swipe this workflow template

Swipe this Year End Reporting Workflow Template by Mélyssa Brunet (Workflow Champion 2025)

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Relatable?😆

Firm Spotl💡ght

How Strategic Tax Planning PLLC Reclaims Time to Serve More Clients

Strategic Tax Planning PLLC was still a side business when Carter Lance began searching for practice management software.

He learned a lesson many accounting firm owners discover too late: Technical accounting skills alone won’t lead to success if your workflow systems are manual and disconnected.

Carter was determined to help businesses create financial plans that met regulatory standards and enabled confident decisions through bookkeeping, tax planning, and fractional CFO services.

However, his search for a suitable workflow software led to an unpleasant realization: most tools were strong in some areas of accounting practice management but lacked in others. He wanted a tool that checked enough boxes and solved enough problems to warrant his financial commitment.

This decision to discontinue the search and continue with manual workflow systems opened the door to some of the worst challenges an accounting firm can face:

Continue reading →

Events

📍Digital CPA 2025 - Dec.7 - 11 (Washington D.C)

Digital CPA (DCPA) is the place where the future of the profession is being shaped in real time. Hosted annually by CPA.com, a subsidiary of the AICPA, DCPA has spent more than a decade bringing together the firms, leaders, and innovators who refuse to settle for outdated ways of working.

If you want to stay ahead of the curve, this is the room you need to be in. You’ll hear directly from industry trailblazers, gain insights that can shift the direction of your firm, and see what’s coming long before everyone else does

Check the agenda →

📍 Ensuring Success 2025 - Dec. 10 - 11 (Virtual)

Ensuring Success is the end-of-year virtual conference that accountants and tax professionals don’t want to miss. Hosted annually by CPA Practice Advisor, this two-day live event brings together some of the most respected voices in the profession right when you need their insights most.

Designed to help you sharpen your expertise and secure those final CPE credits before the year closes, Ensuring Success delivers high-value sessions at no cost. You’ll hear directly from industry leaders on the topics that matter most—practice management, tax updates, accounting technology, workflow efficiency, and more.

Sign up here

Noteworthy

Sarah Won’t Let ADHD Stop Her Bop

If you were at the WorkflowCon 2025 after-party, you can attest to the fact that the jams were fire! All thanks to DJ Sarah Eldridge, an accountant by day and DJ by night.

However, she wasn't always like this.

Rewind three decades, and you’d find a little girl desperately trying to make sense of a brain that worked differently. A child who alphabetized her CD collection while other kids played outside. Who begged for calendars every Christmas and played “school” for fun when she got home from actual school.

One of Sarah’s biggest breakthroughs was understanding how her brain processes focus. Unlike many people who need quiet to concentrate, Sarah discovered she needs lots of noise. She took this discovery even further by learning to DJ and now creates her own mixes of dubstep and drum & bass music. When impostor syndrome strikes or work gets overwhelming, she puts on one of her creations.

Continue reading

The Art of Letting Go (Without Losing Control)

It’s the end of the year, and your accounting firm is buzzing with activity.

Clients are calling non-stop, emails are piling up, and your team is stretched thin trying to meet deadlines. As the firm owner, you find yourself working late nights, meticulously checking every detail, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. The stress is palpable, and the bottleneck effect is in full force.

Every decision and task needs your direct input, leaving you overwhelmed and exhausted.

According to a study by Gallup, CEOs who delegate effectively generate 33% more revenue than those who don’t​​. This boost in productivity translates to more clients served, faster turnaround times, and, ultimately, higher profits. Consider how much more efficient your firm would be if routine tasks like data entry and initial client communications were handled by junior staff, freeing up senior accountants to focus on complex financial analysis and strategic planning.

Also, when your employees are entrusted with responsibilities, they feel valued and are more engaged. This empowerment leads to higher job satisfaction and retention rates.

Continue reading

Until Next Time,

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Small Change, Big Results

Inside WorkflowCon 2025: How 2,400 Firm leaders & Operators Found Calm

First of all, a standing ovation to y’all who made it to WorkflowCon 2025.

On Nov 12 & 13, 2025, 2,400 accounting and bookkeeping professionals logged in for one reason: they were tired.

Tired of racing against deadlines with broken workflows, of feeling guilty every time they opened their inbox, and pretending that being busy was the same thing as being successful.

WorkflowCon 2025 was built around a simple, uncomfortable question. What if the problem is not that accounting firms need to work harder, but their workflows were never designed to handle the reality they are operating in today?

Watch a replay of all the sessions here

Clear the Chaos. Find Your Calm was not just a tagline, but a filter for every keynote, every panel, every Workflow Champions Live session, and every conversation in chat. This is what actually happened over those two days, what people learned, and why it matters now that everyone has gone back to their client work and deadlines.

👉 Read the full recap

Community 🫶

Akadian by Margie Remmers-Davis

This is a community and a platform that empowers accounting professionals with hands-on education, innovative learning tools, and a supportive community to bridge the gap between theory and on-the-job experience.

Over 20,000 students have used the Akadian Accounting course library to study for and pass the QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor exam and become experts in the bookkeeping field.

If you're looking to become a better bookkeeper and accounting professional, their courses will help you before, during, and after your certification journey.

Join the community →

The National Association of Enrolled Agents

The NAEA is a community for tax practitioners from aspiring enrolled agents to experts with decades of experience. They advance the professional tax practice through leadership, management, community, and ethics.

What makes them stand out is the collective belief that tax work can evolve. They question outdated standards, push for stronger representation, and create learning environments where practitioners sharpen their judgment rather than rely on random facts.

Join the community →

H🔥t today

Artificial Intelligence Has a trust Problem

We've all agreed that AI is here to stay, and it's essential to incorporate it into the work we do, right?

Then it begets this question: Can we trust the algorithms at the core of artificial intelligence’s ability to learn and solve problems?

According to the Journal of Accountancy, this question is becoming increasingly pertinent as businesses rely more heavily on artificial intelligence (AI) to automate tasks such as talent recruitment, market trend prediction, and cybersecurity assessment. But what if businesses could seek an independent third-party assessment of their AI software that can assure the efficacy of their controls?

Robert Seamans, professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, suggested that so-called “AI auditors” could fill this emerging role.

CPAs aren’t the only professionals who could perform these “AI audits.” However, CPAs adhere to professional standards designed to instill trust in the results of assurance engagements, whether to provide confidence to investors that a company’s financial records are accurate and fair or to assure banks that a company complies with loan covenants.

Continue reading →

1,400 IRS employees receive layoff notices, adding to staff losses

The IRS sent layoff notices to almost 1,400 employees, adding to the losses at the agency where 25% of staff had left as of May, according to a court document filed earlier this week in a lawsuit brought by unions against the federal government.

The layoffs are in addition to a workforce reduction of about 25% as of May through some sort of incentive program, such as deferred resignation, according to a report released in July by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

The report stated that 25,386 employees had departed as of May through some sort of incentive program, such as a deferred resignation. Another 294 employees received RIF notices but had not been terminated because of a court injunction, as was the case for 3,023 probationary employees. These employees continued to work at the IRS unless they chose to separate or were terminated for reasons other than those stated in the report, it said.

Continue reading →

Swipe this workflow template

Swipe this Client Year-End Document Request List Template by Abhijeet Sangani

Get more templates from firm owners like you in our community template library.

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Relatable?😆

If you missed WorkflowCon 2025, you can catch the replays here.

Firm Spotl💡ght

How Pedante and Company Made Work Visible Enough to Fix Problems Before They Spread

Since 2018, Pedante and Company has built strong relationships with businesses across Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, and Philadelphia counties.

For over 22 years, Jenna Rodriguez has worked alongside the firm’s owner, building a successful career and cultivating deep relationships within the local business community.

When the firm’s owner decided it was time to retire, Jenna knew she would have to answer a critical business question: How does the team maintain operational consistency, hand off work seamlessly, and ensure the firm continues delivering the same, if not better, quality of client service?

Continue reading →

Events

📍Digital CPA 2025 - Dec.7 - 11 (Washington D.C)

Digital CPA (DCPA) is an annual accounting conference that has been held for over a decade. CPA.com, formed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), organizes the event, which is for accountants interested in creating a better future for the profession.

The conference will provide you with the opportunity to gain professional insights from industry leaders that will shape your thinking. You should also attend if you are into client advisory services or want to offer this service.

Check the agenda →

📍 Ensuring Success 2025 - Dec. 10 - 11 (Virtual)

Ensuring Success is an annual virtual accounting/tax conference organized by the CPA Practice Advisor at the end of the year.

It is designed to help professionals in the accounting and tax industry learn and earn CPE credits before the end of the year. The free event, which is live-streamed for two days, features an impressive lineup of accounting and tax industry leaders and experts sharing insights on topics like practice management, taxes, accounting technology, and more.

Sign up here

Noteworthy

Erin Pohan on Building an Accounting Firm With Boundaries, Balance, and Boldness

Sometimes, we like to think that Accounting has rules. Unspoken ones.

Keep it serious and play it safe. Don’t be too loud or too bold.

It was only when Erin started her own firm, Upkeeping, that she realized she no longer needed permission to be herself. “I’m a little cheeky. I think I’m fun. But for years, I kept that part of me separate. I didn’t think it belonged in accounting.” But everything changed the moment she started showing up as herself on LinkedIn, in client calls, in community spaces. “You can be anyone you want to be in this industry,” she said. “Your people will find you.”

She was at QuickBooks Connect, in a ballroom full of accountants dancing to Pitbull and Daddy Yankee. “I’m Puerto Rican,” she laughed. “I saw them dancing and thought, wait, we’re allowed to have fun? We can do both?”

She left that night with a new idea: what if there were more spaces where accountants could just be real?

Continue reading

Here's How You Can Build Your Accounting Firm's Tech Stack

The cost of operating in manual systems or disconnected apps is becoming too high, but a well-integrated tech stack helps you avoid spending valuable time on manual tasks.

It minimizes, if not eliminates, tasks like manual data entry, bank feeds, and client reminders to enable your team to focus on understanding and applying their accounting expertise to clients’ financial situations.

Building that kind of tech stack requires clarity on what problem each tool solves, how it integrates with the rest of your workflow, and how it supports the outcomes you want to see in the next few years, not just right now.

To start, assess your firm's pain points and needs. This is a good place to ask your team members where they are struggling and where client complaints are coming from.

Sometimes, you don’t need to buy a tool for a problem. Maybe a task needs to be eliminated or delegated to someone with better capacity to handle it.

Continue reading

What Are Your Thoughts?

Share your POV in the comments.

You can also join the FC Reddit community here.

Until Next Time,

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Small Change, Big Results

 Clear the Chaos, Find Your Calm.

There’s a strange thing that happens when you’re swimming in the ocean.

If a wave hits you and you panic, thrash harder, fight the pull, you sink faster. But if you pause, take a breath, and let yourself float for a second, the ocean actually brings you back up. The calm of the water saves you.

That’s what running a firm often feels like.
You start out swimming with purpose, steady strokes, and clear direction. Then the current changes. Client demands rise like tides. Your team feels stretched. You start working longer hours just to stay above water. You add tools, hire help, patch holes, but somehow it only makes the water choppier.

The lesson is that you can’t outswim chaos. You have to find calm inside it.

That’s the heartbeat of WorkflowCon 2025: a space for accounting firm leaders, operators, and their teams to stop paddling for a day and actually float. To look at the current beneath your work — systems, processes, people — and learn how to build a firm that moves smoothly, not frantically.

Over two days, you’ll learn from experts who’ve been through the storms how to scale without losing your sanity, how to simplify client management, and how to use AI to take back your time.

Here’s the best part: the sessions will help you get your firm back in shape while also moving your career forward. You can earn up to 12 CPE credits while learning how to clear the chaos in your processes, reclaim your time, and find calm in how you work.

It’s a rare kind of maintenance, the kind that doesn’t just get you back on the road, but makes the next stretch smoother, quieter, and faster.

👉 Save your spot

Community 🫶

The 6-Figure Bookkeeper’s Club by Joe Wood and Zoe Whitman

This is a supportive, women-led community that focuses on helping bookkeepers build businesses that fit around their lives. With practical resources, coaching, and a focus on confidence and profitability, it’s designed to empower bookkeepers to charge what they’re worth and succeed on their terms.

Join the community →

The Accountant's Lounge

The Accountant’s Lounge is a community where accountants, bookkeepers, CFOs, and tax professionals have the opportunity to learn, network and scale our businesses together.

Within the group, they talk about ALL the things. From accounting software to taxes, budgeting and goal setting, money mindset, setting prices, outsourcing, workflows, and everything in between.

Join the community →

H🔥t today

The accounting graduate pipeline: Where do things stand?

If you’ve been worried about the accounting talent shortage (and who hasn’t?), the latest update from Journal of Accountancy actually brings a little relief. For the first time in a while, we’re seeing some positive movement in the accounting graduate pipeline.

Yes, the total number of accounting degrees awarded fell again, about 6.6% last year. But here’s the part that caught my attention: enrollment is up more than 12%, the highest since 2020. That means more students are at least starting accounting programs, even if fewer are graduating right now. To me, that’s a hopeful sign that the interest is coming back, and maybe, just maybe, our collective outreach is paying off.

However, fewer master’s grads and a big drop in CPA exam candidates (partly because of the exam overhaul) remains a challenge. Still, roughly three-quarters of firms plan to hire as many or more grads this year, which shows that demand clearly isn’t slowing down.

For firm owners, this is the time to double down on your people strategy. That means making your firm stand out to young talent, through culture, flexibility, growth paths, and technology. The next generation is coming; we just have to meet them where they are and make accounting careers worth choosing.

Continue reading →

Tax Pros Anxiously Await Guidance on New Overtime Deduction

Tax pros are buzzing about a new provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a temporary above-the-line deduction for overtime pay. Right now, qualifying employees can deduct the premium portion of their overtime (that “half” in “time-and-a-half”) from gross income. The cap sits around $12,500 for single filers and $25,000 for joint returns, with phase-outs for higher incomes.

So, why does this matter for firm owners? Two reasons: clients and compliance.
For clients with hourly or overtime-eligible staff, this is a tax-planning opportunity worth preparing for now. On the compliance side, firms (and their clients) will need to ensure payroll systems can separate regular pay from overtime premiums and track qualified hours accurately.

The IRS hasn’t finalized guidance yet, and several questions remain like whether state-level overtime rules or employer-paid bonuses will qualify.

Continue reading →

Swipe this workflow template

Swipe this Client Weekly Accounting Checklist Template by Tonya Schulte

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Well, well, what do we have here?

Events

📍Digital CPA 2025 - Dec.7 - 11 (Washington D.C)

Digital CPA (DCPA) is an annual accounting conference that has been held for over a decade. CPA.com, formed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), organizes the event, which is for accountants interested in creating a better future for the profession.

The conference will offer you a chance to get professional insights from industry leaders that will shape your thinking. You should also attend if you are into client advisory services or want to offer this service.

Check the agenda →

📍 Ensuring Success 2025 - Dec. 10 - 11 (Virtual)

Ensuring Success is an annual virtual accounting/tax conference organized by the CPA Practice Advisor at the end of the year.

It is designed to help professionals in the accounting and tax industry learn and earn CPE credits before the end of the year. The free event, which is live-streamed for two days, features an impressive lineup of accounting and tax industry leaders and experts sharing insights on topics like practice management, taxes, accounting technology, and more.

Sign up here

Firm Spotl💡ght

400+ Projects, 8 People, One Team: Inside Payroll Restoration’s Workflow Machine

When other accounting firms hit a wall with payroll issues, they call Shannon Ballman Theis.

Known as “the accountant’s accountant,” Shannon has built a reputation for solving the kinds of payroll problems most people avoid, the messy, confusing, IRS-letter-triggering kind.

From her home base in Minnesota, Shannon founded Payroll Restoration with a passion for untangling the payroll puzzles no one else could (or wanted to). Her team steps in when businesses receive IRS or state notices and don’t know where to turn. “We help address the payroll issues they’re having,” Shannon explains. “We also do ERC reviews to help businesses that may have gotten the wrong amount of ERC.”

Fast forward 14 years, and the solo shop has evolved into a powerhouse team of eight accountants, all focused on one thing: helping businesses regain payroll compliance.

But with 400+ active projects and a small team, staying organized became mission-critical. That’s where finding the right practice management system made all the difference. Instead of wasting time figuring out what to do next, Shannon’s team now logs in each day knowing exactly what to work on and gets straight to helping clients.

Here’s how Payroll Restoration keeps its lean team running like clockwork ⬇️

Continue reading →

Put Your Phone Away

This CNBC article has made one thing clear: if anxiety levels are high, your phone might be part of the problem.

Constant pings, endless scrolling, and the need to constantly check in keep the brain on alert, making it nearly impossible to unwind truly. Jonathan Haidt, author and professor at the NYU Stern School of Business, says that even brief breaks from screens can reset the nervous system and help restore focus.

Putting your phone down doesn’t mean disconnecting completely, but about creating moments of calm in a world that never stops buzzing. A few minutes of quiet might just be the simplest stress fix out there.

Continue reading

What Are Your Thoughts?

Share your POV in the comments.

You can also join the FC Reddit community here.

Until Next Time,

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Small Change, Big Results

 Your Ticket to Mexico

It’s October 23. Your team’s already talking about Q4 like it’s a medieval siege. The air smells like pumpkin spice and stress (spooky szn, is that you? 👀). Somewhere in the distance, a client just asked for a 7-month backdated financial report in “one simple PDF.”

And you, brave, sleep-deprived accounting firm owner, are clutching your SOP binder like a life raft.

Friend, you need a break. Not a fake break where you half-watch Netflix while replying to “quick question” emails. A real break. A revival. A sunshine-soaked, workflow-taming, margarita-flavored awakening.

Which brings us to the Workflow Showdown, and the truth that built it: sometimes the biggest results come from the smallest changes.

Maybe it was the checklist you finally documented.
Maybe it was the automation that replaced five emails and three status updates.
Maybe it was even ditching a clunky step that no one liked, and suddenly your whole team breathed easier.

Every firm has one of those moments—a small shift that creates calm where there used to be chaos, a micro-move that turns into a macro-win.

We want to see yours.

The Workflow Showdown is your chance to share the system that changed your firm, and possibly earn an all-expense-paid trip to Mexico.

See this as an opportunity to share that positive improvement in your processes. When you give others a glimpse of what’s possible, the impact grows even bigger.

So take five minutes and submit the workflow.

This time, your system could be your ticket to rest, recognition, and a round of drinks on the beach in Mexico.

All on Financial Cents, of course 😉

👉 Submit your workflow

Community 🫶

Advisory Accountants & Bookkeepers Network By Alyssa J Ciera

This community is for accountants, bookkeepers, and financial professionals who are starting to think differently about the way they work. If you’re looking to build a firm that isn’t just busy but intentional, this is the place.

It’s where firm owners like you talk honestly about what it takes to grow without constantly doing more, what it means to move beyond basic compliance work. How to attract clients who value your insight, and what it looks like to offer deeper, more strategic services without overcomplicating things.

You don’t need to have a big plan mapped out. Maybe you’re just exploring what’s next. Maybe you’ve already started making shifts. Either way, you’re not alone in figuring it out.

Join the community →

The Profitable Accountant By Reza Hooda

If you’re worn out from the long hours and not seeing the return you hoped for, you’re not alone. A lot of people feel the same. You had a vision when you started, and maybe it’s drifted. That doesn’t mean it’s too late to get things back on track.

This community is for accountants and firm owners who want to turn their practices into something more profitable and more fulfilling.

This is also a space to talk through the challenges, the roadblocks, and the small wins. To learn from others, share what’s real, and slowly build a firm that works for you, not the other way around.

Join the community →

WorkflowCon 2025 is in 3 Weeks! 🤯

If you’ve been meaning to rethink how your firm operates but haven’t had the time or space to step back and do it, this might be a good place to start.

Over two days, you’ll hear from firm owners, advisors, and workflow specialists who quietly build practices that run more smoothly and sustainably. The sessions are focused, the conversations are practical, and the goal is simple: to help you create systems that support your team, your clients, and your capacity.

If you haven’t registered yet, now’s a good time. Set the time aside. You might come away with a different view of what’s possible.

Don’t let FOMO win!

P.S.: If you’d like to convince your boss for a chance to attend WorkflowCon, here’s an email template you can use to convince them.

H🔥t today

Accounting Could Be STEM’s New Offshoot

According to a recent survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), three-quarters of Americans (74%) believe accounting courses should be designated as a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education program.

The AICPA is advocating for legislation to establish the accounting profession as a STEM career pathway and to support long-standing efforts to bring awareness of the opportunities accounting can provide to young people who are considering their future careers.

“The role of an accountant has been significantly transformed by technology, which now goes beyond adopting advanced tools to innovating systems that support clients in making better decisions and enhancing service quality,” said AICPA President & CEO Mark Koziel, CPA, CGMA. “STEM legislation would highlight the clear and logical integration between accounting and technology – emphasizing the value of accounting professionals, including CPAs, as technological leaders.”

Continue reading →

The Exit Wave Is Coming. Who’s Ready to Catch It?

As a growing number of Baby Boomer business owners near retirement, concerns are being raised about what happens next for the small businesses they leave behind. Without a clearer path for ownership transfer, many of these businesses could end up in the hands of large corporations or private investors—not because it’s the best option, but because it’s the only one available.

In Queensland, one accountant decided to act. They launched a petition asking the federal government to consider a loan program similar to what exists in the US—one that makes it easier for everyday buyers to step in and take over profitable small businesses. The petition has already drawn nearly 1,300 signatures.

In the US, the Small Business Administration helps ease the risk for banks by guaranteeing part of a buyer’s loan. It’s a structure that gives more people a shot at business ownership, not just those with deep pockets.

Continue reading →

Swipe this workflow template

Swipe this Quarterly Accounting Checklist Template by Misty Scott

Get more templates from firm owners like you in our community template library.

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The audacity. Relatable?😀

Events

📍Intuit Connect - October 27 -29, 2025 (Las Vegas)

The Intuit Connect conference kicks off next week!

Intuit Connect 2025, which was called QuickBooks Connect until 2024 when it was changed to “emphasize its integrated platform”, is a popular annual event that brings together accounting professionals and Intuit users of all experience levels to learn, grow, and build relationships.

At this conference, you’ll see how other firms across different levels effectively leverage Intuit software like QuickBooks, top speakers that cut across various industries, and Intuit Connect’s Peer-to-peer learning.

Oh, Financial Cents will be there too!

We'll be partying with Woodard in our VIP Suite, and you're invited.

Join us! →

📍 Reframe 2025 - November 2 - 5 (Florida)

This event empowers accounting professionals to master value-driven pricing strategies, communicate their worth with assurance, and elevate their pricing conversations to drive business growth.

Key topics include the psychology of pricing, building client trust through transparent and confident communication, and overcoming objections with ease.

Attendees will delve into strategies to position premium services, implement tiered pricing models, and transition from hourly billing to value-based and subscription models.

If you’re ready to get your money up, don’t miss it.

Sign up here

NoteWorthy

Karl Strube’s On the Hot Seat & Disneyland’s On the Line

In this episode of Who Wants To Be An Accounting Millionaire, we meet Karl Strube, the owner of Strube CPA PC. He’s playing for a $1,000 prize, not for himself, but to take his kids on a trip to Disney World.

Over ten questions, all centered on tax loopholes, Karl has to think fast and stay sharp. The further he goes, the harder it gets. No buzzers or flashing lights, just one accountant, a quiet goal, and a shot at turning tax knowledge into something his kids will remember.

Watch here →

Mark Wickersham’s GenAI Guide for Accounting Firms

Maybe you used to think AI was something only big tech companies played with. Something cool in theory, but not really built for Accounting firms.

But that’s changed.

Tools like Generative AI, yeah, the kind behind ChatGPT, are becoming more accessible, and they’re actually useful. We’ve started seeing how they can help manage workflows, draft client emails, and brainstorm content or processes. Nothing flashy. Just small shifts that save time and make things run a little smoother.

Mark Wickersham, Chartered Accountant, public speaker, and #1 best-selling author, Value Pricing Academy, shares how you can integrate AI into your accounting workflow to save time, improve efficiency, and deliver more value to clients.

In just 5 pages, he’ll show you how to get started.

Get the GenAI guide here

What Are Your Thoughts?

Share your POV in the comments.

You can also join the FC Reddit community here.

Until Next Time,

Share Get Work Done - a newsletter for accounting firm owners.

Small Change, Big Results

You’re Working 10X Harder Than You Need To

It’s a strange reality, isn’t it?

The more your firm grows, the more it feels like you’re sprinting uphill. There are more opportunities, yes, but also more moving parts, expectations, and pressure to deliver value without overextending your team.

Growth has a way of quietly piling on complexity, and some firms respond the only way they know how: by working harder, hiring more, hustling more, and compensating for process gaps with extra hours and good intentions.

But what if working harder isn’t the only path to the results you want to see?

Here’s a perspective worth considering: Firms that grow without burning out tend to look inward before they scale outward. They don’t just add more people to handle more work; they become obsessive about building repeatable workflows.

At this 10X Virtual Bookkeeper’s Bootcamp, you'll unpack some of the practices that help firms like yours operate at 10X efficiency, not by grinding harder, but by getting clearer.

You’ll see:

• The kinds of workflows top-performing firms rely on to eliminate wasted motion.

• How better project tracking can reduce rework, delays, and the nagging feeling that “someone dropped the ball.”

• Why visibility across your team makes your services more consistent and profitable.

• A plug-and-play workflow template that you can start experimenting with.

You started your firm to build something meaningful, to serve your clients well, and to create a business that supports the life you want, not one that consumes it.

This is for anyone who’s tired of feeling like they’re working harder than they should. It’s for firm owners who know there’s a better way but aren’t quite sure where to start. And it’s for teams who are ready to work smarter.

Register here

Community 🫶

The Successful Bookkeeper Community By Michael Palmer

With over 10,000 members and growing, this community is more than just a Facebook group; it’s a space built for bookkeepers, by bookkeepers.

Whether you’re just starting out or scaling your firm, you’ll find support, answers, and inspiration from people who actually get it. Got questions about pricing? Need feedback on your onboarding process? Want to celebrate a win, or vent about a tough client day? This is the room for it.

Join the community →

The Entrepreneurial Accountants by Ben Brown

This community is for self-employed accountants who want more than just clients; they want the right clients. The kind who respect your expertise, value your time, and happily pay for the quality you bring.

Here, you’ll connect with fellow accountants, bookkeepers, and tax professionals who are all working toward the same goal: building highly profitable firms without running themselves into the ground.

You'll learn how to position your services so they stand out, how to communicate your value with confidence, and how to attract clients who see you as a partner, not just a service provider.

Join the community →

Clear the chaos, Find Your Calm at Workflowcon 2025

There’s a moment every firm owner has. Usually around 11:43 p.m. When you’re staring at your laptop, realizing you spent the entire day putting out fires that shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

This is where WorkflowCon 2025 comes in, and it’s definitely not another “you just need to hustle harder” pep talk.

With 20+ sessions and workshops, you and other firm owners will figure out how to stop duct-taping your businesses together and start building systems that work.

Save your spot!

H🔥t today

AICPA Calls For All IRS Employees to Keep Working During Shutdown

You know it’s bad when the AICPA starts raising its voice.

So here’s the tea, according to Accounting Today.

The American Institute of CPAs is urging the federal government to keep all Internal Revenue Service employees working for the duration of the shutdown, pointing to the approaching Oct. 15 deadline for filing C corporation tax returns and for individuals who requested a six-month extension back in April.

The AICPA believes the consequences of a drastically smaller workforce during a tax filing deadline and immediately preceding the start of next year’s tax filing season would be dire.

“Right now, taxpayers, C-corporations, and tax advisors are working hard to meet the October 15th filing deadline — this can be stressful enough,” said Melanie Lauridsen, vice president of tax policy and advocacy with the AICPA, in a statement. “An extended government shutdown during this important filing deadline will compound this anxiety if the IRS is not 100% staffed.”

Continue reading →

Excel's Reign is Experiencing a Paradigm Shift

On Sept. 30, 2025, Microsoft Excel officially hit middle age, celebrating 40 years of being the cornerstone business tool for accountants and other finance professionals in quantitative and qualitative tasks alike.

Excel’s accessibility, versatility, flexibility, simplicity, and sheer ubiquity (1.5 billion users can’t be wrong) have made it the dominant player in the number-crunching workplace. It should be lauded for being the universal go-to tool for accountants. But it is starting to look tired and replaceable as the tool of choice for accountants and decision-makers worldwide.

Excel has been threatened many times before, and although there have been successful competitors, modern, AI-centered solutions are emerging everywhere.

Continue reading →

Swipe this workflow template

Swipe this Withholding Assessment Checklist Template by Eden Badertscher

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Events

📍Intuit Connect - October 26 -29, 2025 (Las Vegas)

Intuit Connect 2025, which was called QuickBooks Connect until 2024 when it was changed to “emphasize its integrated platform”, is a popular annual event that brings together accounting professionals and Intuit users of all experience levels to learn, grow, and build relationships.

At this conference, you’ll see how other firms across different levels effectively leverage Intuit software like QuickBooks, top speakers that cut across various industries, and Intuit Connect’s Peer-to-peer learning.

Oh, Financial Cents will be there too!

We'll be partying with Woodard in our VIP Suite, and you're invited.

Join us! →

📍 Women Who Count Conference - October 21 - 25, 2025 (Arizona)

Women Who Count is an annual conference organized by the Accounting and Financial Women Association (AFWA). For four days, Women Who Count helps female accounting and finance professionals to learn and network across several topics, including tax, finance, leadership, and communications.

This event teaches attendees hard accounting skills and soft skills that will give them a competitive edge in the industry.

If you’re a woman, it’s also a great avenue to connect with other women in the industry.

Sign up here

NoteWorthy

What Happens When Accountants Compete for Glory and $1,000?

Turns out, more than you’d think.

We gave accountants a spotlight, a seat in the hot chair, and one question:
“Final answer?”

Who Wants to Be an Accounting Millionaire is not your average quiz show. It’s where firm owners, tax pros, and CPAs go toe-to-toe for bragging rights and a shot at $1,000.

Over eight episodes, from Nick Boscia, CPA (EP 1) to Amber Thompson (EP 7), we’ve seen close calls, bold plays, quiet panic, and some answers so confident, they were wrong. Gloriously wrong.

If you’re in it for the questions, the competitiveness, or just to see your peers crack under pressure (gently), the full series is now ready for your viewing pleasure.

Binge all 8 episodes here →

7 Figures Later: What Brandon Hall, CPA, Did Differently

Brandon Hall is the Managing Partner at Hall CPA PLLC. A firm he founded in 2016, which has grown to a 7-figure firm.

Hall CPA PLLC, also known as The Real Estate CPA, is a boutique accounting and consulting firm with a sole focus on serving the needs of real estate investors and real estate business owners. They’ve provided candid, intelligent counsel to more than 600 clients.

So what’s the difference between building a solid practice and scaling a 7-figure advisory firm?

According to Brandon, it comes down to two things most accountants tend to overlook: Knowing your advice is worth paying for, and knowing how to say it out loud.

If you don’t believe in the value of your recommendations, your clients won’t either.

Brandon didn’t just offer advisory services; he built his firm around it.
And he’s sharing exactly how he did it.

Get Brandon's Playbook Here

What Are Your Thoughts?

Share your POV in the comments.

You can also join the FC Reddit community here.

Until Next Time,

Share Get Work Done - a newsletter for accounting firm owners.

Small Change, Big Results

If you run an accounting firm, there’s a good chance you’ve found yourself thinking, “It’ll be faster if I just do it myself.”

The truth is, most firm owners don’t struggle with delegation because they don’t want help. They struggle because it feels risky. Letting go of control, even just a little, can bring up fear: fear of mistakes, of slowing things down, of clients noticing. But the alternative? A practice where every task stops with you. Where your team can’t grow, and you can’t step away.

Delegation is about creating clarity for yourself and team. When you delegate well, you’re not just handing something off. You’re explaining why it matters, what success looks like, and what resources are available to get it done. You’re building confidence, not just in them, but in yourself as a leader.

Letting go is hard, but it’s also the doorway to growth.

Also, the biggest difference you can make in your firm isn’t adding more tools, hiring more people, or working more hours; it’s simply learning to share the load with intention.

That’s the small change.
And it makes all the difference.

Continue reading here

Community 🫶

Accelerate 2 Advisor Community By Lisa Campbell

This is a breakthrough community for bookkeepers and accountants who are still deep in the day-to-day work, but ready to step out of the technician role and start building a business that runs like a system, not a scramble.

Inside, they focus on helping you clarify your true value, tap into where your real power comes from, and learn how to call in what you actually want: more time, money, and freedom. It’s about setting intentional goals, taking aligned action, and also learning how to show up and get your business seen in a way that feels right for you.

Join the community →

The Bookkeeping Buds By Cindy Schroeder

This community is where women running bookkeeping firms come together to realize their dreams. In this lively and supportive community, you'll find a wealth of knowledge, inspiring ideas, and a sisterhood of like-minded women all working towards building the businesses they’ve always envisioned.

Bookkeeping Buds blends the best of both worlds: a dynamic online forum and monthly Zoom meetups, creating a space where you can connect, learn, and grow. Every quarter, they help you stay focused on both your business and personal goals, ensuring you achieve balance and success.

Their private Slack channel is like your own little clubhouse, perfect for getting advice, sharing wins, and asking questions. Plus, their member directory is a great way to connect with small business owners looking for your expertise.

Join the community →

Thrive 2025—ATAP’s premier Practice Management Seminar

Come connect with accounting, bookkeeping, and advisory professionals from across Canada for two days of learning, networking, and real strategies to help you grow and future-proof your practice.

Thrive 2025 is happening September 25–26, 2025, at the Ottawa Conference and Events Centre, and it’s the perfect chance to step out of the day-to-day and focus on what’s next for your firm.

Not a member yet? The Affiliate Membership is a great way to get access to Thrive 2025 and other exclusive perks throughout the year.

If you’re looking for fresh insights, powerful connections, and tools to take your firm to the next level, this is where you’ll find them.

Register here →

You’re One Step Away From a Better Tech Stack (and a shot at $1,000 to build it)

We’re wrapping up The Flavor Stack campaign with a bang!
Just in case you missed it, we're hosting a live raffle draw on September 30 at 1 PM EST, and four lucky firm owners will each walk away with $1,000 to upgrade their tech stack.

Yup. Real cash. Real tools. Real transformation.

Here’s how to enter:
✅ Take the Flavor Stack Quiz here (if you haven’t already)
✅ Discover your firm’s tech flavor
✅ You’re automatically entered to participate in the raffle.

Winners will be selected at random during the live draw on YouTube (turn on notifications).

Start here

H🔥t today

Stalled Career Paths Are Causing Top Talent to Leave

Workday’s 2025 Global Workforce Report is sounding the alarm on a triple threat business leaders can’t afford to brush off: top performers are leaving, career growth has hit a wall, and employees are losing trust as AI shakes up the workplace without clear communication.

The report points out something many firms overlook, while leaders are busy recruiting outside talent, their best people are slipping away because they can’t see a future for themselves internally. Add to that the uncertainty around AI reshaping roles, and you’ve got a workforce that feels anxious, disconnected, and left out of the bigger picture.

How can firm owners and business leaders reverse this trend?

This article from CPA Practice Advisor expands more on it.

Read the article here →

NASBA, AICPA release proposed revisions to CPE standards

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) and the AICPA issued an exposure draft of proposed changes to the Statements on Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs, Journal of Accountancy reports.

According to a news release, the proposed revisions to the CPE standards are designed to “address emerging learning methods, further clarify credit-awarding mechanisms, and ensure continuing professional education remains relevant and responsive to evolving professional practice needs.”

The CPE standards, published jointly by NASBA and the AICPA, provide the framework for developing, presenting, measuring, and reporting CPE programs.

“These proposed revisions reflect the hard work and collaboration of the CPE Standards Working Group, NASBA’s CPE Committee, and the Joint AICPA/NASBA CPE Standards Committee, as well as input from stakeholders across the profession,” Erin Scruggs, associate director of NASBA’s National Registry, said. “As learning technologies and delivery methods evolve, it is essential that the standards adapt to maintain the quality and integrity of CPE.”

Read the story here →

Swipe this workflow template

Swipe this Business License Renewal Checklist Template by Amanda Starkey.

Get more templates from firm owners like you in our community template library.

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Events

📍Master the Intuit Bookkeeper Certification: Your Complete Guide to Passing Fast and Building Credibility (September 25, 2025)

Join the FREE workshop that reveals everything you need to know, including how to pass quickly and whether it's actually worth your time.

Your instructor for this session is Margie Remmers-Davis, who is transforming accounting education by making learning hands-on, practical, engaging, and fun!

With a background in software training, she realized that traditional methods focus too much on theory and not enough on real-world application. This led to Akadian Accounting Education, which has since trained over 20,000 bookkeepers, equipping them with the confidence, clarity, and practical skills they need to thrive in an evolving industry.

Sign up here →

📍 The 10X Virtual Bookkeeper’s Bootcamp - October 15th (Virtual)

Join hundreds of bookkeepers for the 10X Bookkeeper’s Bootcamp, a one-day, virtual event where six industry thought leaders will share their proven 10X strategies to help you:

• Earn more without working longer hours

• Streamline your systems and workflows

• Attract higher-quality clients

• Grow your revenue and profit with confidence

This is your chance to learn directly from experts who’ve scaled their own firms and helped countless bookkeepers do the same.

Registration is free.

Sign up here →

📍 Find Your Calm at Workflowcon 2025 – November 12 - 13, 2025 (Virtual)

If your days feel like a tug-of-war between deadlines, client pings, and a team that needs answers five minutes ago, WorkflowCon is built for you. Two focused days to step out of the noise, reset your systems, and come back to the work with more clarity, more control, and a lot less stress. It’s 100% virtual, free to attend, and open to every accounting and bookkeeping professional, not just Financial Cents users.

You’ll hear from industry leaders, connect with peers who understand, and discover new ways to create a practice that runs more easily, with less stress and better results.

It’s your chance to reset, refocus, and finally create the space your firm and your life deserve.

Save your spot →

NoteWorthy

Discovering ADHD After 30 Years: Blake Oliver’s Journey and How It Has Shaped His Career

Picture this: you’re sitting down with your family for a relaxed dinner when, out of nowhere, your mother casually reveals a piece of your history that changes everything—"Oh, by the way, you’ve had ADHD since you were 10.” That’s exactly what happened to Blake Oliver.

After 30 years, the founder of Earmark and a successful CPA discovered that the key to many of his life’s challenges and victories had been hidden in plain sight.

Diagnosed with ADHD as a child but unaware of it until adulthood, Blake’s journey is one of resilience, creativity, and adapting to a neurodivergent way of thinking that has shaped both his personal life and his career in public accounting.

For many neurodivergent individuals, being confined to a rigid office environment can be stifling and counterproductive. Blake struggled immensely with this during his brief stint working at a traditional accounting firm.

Read Blake's story here

Why Executives Should Focus On Energy Management Over Time Management

Time management, long considered the cornerstone of productivity, assumes every hour is equal. Yet research and experience show the opposite. A strategy session at 9 a.m. sparks more clarity than the same discussion at 4 p.m. after several meetings. One energized hour can create more impact than three unfocused ones.

For most of the 20th century, productivity was measured in hours. The industrial model valued time on the clock and visible activity. In today’s knowledge economy, hours don’t tell the whole story. What matters is the energy people bring to those hours.

This begs a new question for leaders: Instead of asking, “How can I fit more into my schedule?” Start asking, “When do I have the energy to do my best work?”

That small shift changes the way leaders design their days, their teams, and ultimately their organizations. It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing the right things at the right time, with the energy they deserve.

Continue Reading

What Are Your Thoughts?

Share your POV in the comments.

You can also join the FC Reddit community here.

Until Next Time,

Share Get Work Done - a newsletter for accounting firm owners.

Small Change, Big Results

Could it be that the reason clients take your kindness and availability for granted is because you haven't built your boundaries as tall as they should be?

You want to help and serve, and saying “no” feels like you’re letting people down. But without boundaries, your time, energy, and sanity will disappear.

One of the quickest ways to create boundaries is to decide what’s off the table. Logan Graf, CPA, calls this getting crystal clear on what you’re not going to work on.

For example, Logan avoids diving into unfamiliar tax laws outside his area of practice. Why? Because learning those laws might take hours and he could better spend that time on other high-impact tasks. The same goes for services outside your core expertise. Just because a client asks doesn’t mean you have to say yes.

Another change you can make is to create policies that set expectations. Think of them as your “rules of the road” for working together. They help accounting clients understand your operations, so there’s less room for confusion. For example, if clients don’t submit their documents by the informed deadline, you can’t guarantee their return will be filed on time. Setting these types of boundaries protects you from last-minute scrambles and puts the responsibility back on the client to meet your deadlines.

It is important to know that saying no is a strength. Every time you say yes to something that doesn’t align with your goals, you’re saying no to something that does.

Continue reading here →

Community 🫶

The Modern Firm Challenge by Justine Lackey

Six more days to go!

Industry powerhouse and dynamic digital educator Justine Lackey is bringing you The Modern Firm Challenge, which starts on September 15th, for free.

You’ll learn how to confidently charge premium rates, master workflows that keep clients thrilled, and market your services in a way that actually feels good. This isn’t theory, it’s how to hit six figures while working 20–30 hours a week.

If you’re ready to stop spinning your wheels and start burning rubber, join The Modern Firm Challenge and take the first step toward your most profitable year yet.

Join the challenge →

Thrive 2025—ATAP’s premier Practice Management Seminar

Join fellow accounting, bookkeeping, and advisory professionals across Canada for two days of learning, networking, and practical strategies to grow and future-proof your practice. This seminar is happening September 25–26, 2025, at the Ottawa Conference and Events Centre.

If you’re not already a member, consider joining through the Affiliate Membership, which gives you access to Thrive 2025 and other exclusive benefits.

Take advantage of this event to gain valuable insights, connect with peers, and discover innovative tools to help your firm thrive.

Register here →

Tools, treats, and $1,000?

We’ve partnered with top accounting tools, SmartVault, Relay, and Reach Reporting, and turned them into satisfying flavors your firm will actually enjoy using.

Meet: The Flavor Stack
From smoother workflows to clearer reports, every flavor fixes a part of your tech chaos.

What's in the Flavor Stack for you:
🍫 Tools your firm will love
📦 A 5-minute quiz to find your perfect stack
💰 A shot at $1,000 to upgrade your tech tools
🍬 Get a box of custom chocolate flavors from your perfectly curated flavor stack

Ready to find your firm's flavour?

Start here

Can Amber Win $1,000 to Visit Her BFF in Arizona?

In this episode of Who Wants To Be An Accounting Millionaire, we meet Amber Thompson, the Accounting Operations Manager at L&L Bookkeeping, with one mission: win $1,000 and fly to Arizona for a long-overdue reunion with her best friend.

But before the hugs and happy tears, she’ll need to survive 10 rounds of Accounting & the Law trivia, a category known for turning confident accountants into puddles of doubt. No multiple-choice safety nets. No second chances. Just Amber, her instincts, and questions that get more ruthless with each round.

Will she make it all the way to the top?
Or will a rogue question stop her short?

Watch Episode 07 now.

Watch here →

H🔥t today

Bad tax advice on social media leads to $162M in IRS penalties

This is why it's good to listen to your accountants.

The Internal Revenue Service has hit taxpayers with over $162 million in penalties for claiming fraudulent tax credits they heard about through social media, Accounting Today reports.

The claims involve illegitimate claims for tax breaks such as the Fuel Tax Credit and the Sick and Family Leave Credit. The IRS has seen a surge in such claims in the past five years and warned last year about abusing them. Social media posts promoting such schemes have prompted thousands of taxpayers to file inaccurate, frivolous returns, often leading to the denial of tax refunds and hefty penalties.

Many of the posts falsely claim that all taxpayers are entitled to tax credits they don't actually qualify for, such as those aimed at self-employed people or businesses. The IRS regularly publishes and updates a list of frivolous positions on IRS.gov that could lead to penalties.

Read the article here →

Grant Thornton Advisors to Sink $1 Billion Over Three Years on AI

Top 10 accounting firm Grant Thornton announced that Grant Thornton Advisors is investing $1 billion over three years to provide artificial intelligence tools and technology to the entire workforce at its multinational professional services platform, which stretches from the Americas across Europe to the Middle East.

According to reports from CPA Practice Advisor, the investment will help the platform deliver innovative and high-quality accounting, tax, and advisory services based on a people-centric model powered by AI. As a result, the multinational platform will be able to deliver a better end-to-end digital experience for both its professionals and its clients.

Mike Kempe, chief information officer for Grant Thornton Advisors, added, “This investment is a big step as we ensure that every person at the Grant Thornton Advisors platform has AI and technology resources at the ready—from our newest hires to our most seasoned professionals. The Microsoft 365 Copilot rollout, for example, will help our people save time, balance their workloads, and make more insightful decisions. This means they’ll be able to efficiently provide our clients with personalized high-quality services.”

Read the article here →

Swipe this workflow template

Swipe this Bookkeeping Client Offboarding Checklist Template by Taylor Ammons.

Get more templates from firm owners like you in our community template library.

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Events

📍The 7-Step Client Experience That Keeps Firms Organized w/Nick Boscia, CPA - September 16, 2025 (Virtual)

Join Nick Boscia, CPA, a firm owner and operations expert, for a practical, step-by-step walkthrough of how modern firms are redesigning their client experience from the ground up.

Plus, you’ll see how SmartVault’s secure document storage and Financial Cents’ workflow and firm management tools work together to deliver a seamless experience your clients (and your team) will love.

Sign up here →

📍 Pre-Register For Workflowcon 2025 – November 11 - 12, 2025 (Virtual)

WorkflowCon 2025 is coming! 🚀
Last year, we had over 1500+ attendees who walked away with actionable strategies to scale their firm, and this time, we’re trading burnout for breathing room.

What you can expect:
✅ Proven strategies to tame workflow chaos
✅ Learn from the best in the accounting industry
✅ Tailored sessions for every firm size
✅ The return of the Workflow Awards
✅ Unveiling the 2025 FC Champions

Two days. One simple goal: clear the chaos and find your calm.

Pre-register now to get early access to the speaker lineup, agenda, and VIP perks.

Save my spot →

Noteworthy

Skilled for success? Accounting newcomers say yes, managers say no

Regarding the skills needed to succeed in accounting and finance roles, less-experienced employees and their managers aren’t on the same spreadsheet.

Accountants in their first five years of employment in the profession, recently surveyed by the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS), gave themselves an average score of 7.39 out of 10 across 37 preparedness skills. Managers who oversee employees in their first five years gave the workers an average score of 4.95.

While employees collectively rated themselves above 7.0 on 30 of the 37 skills in the ICPAS survey, managers didn’t rate employees at 7.0 on any skill, and rated them above 6.0 on just one (“working with spreadsheets to manage large data sets and apply formulas”).

“The goal of our research was to better understand how prepared early-career professionals feel and how their managers perceive their readiness,” Geoffrey Brown, ICPAS president and CEO, said in a news release. “We hope these findings will spark action and inspire profession-wide conversations that shape new strategies, resources, and support systems that’ll help early-career accounting and finance professionals grow and thrive.”

Read article here

Mike Sylvester Has Worked on a Nuclear Submarine, Traveled to 37 Countries and He Isn't Stopping Anytime Soon

From going into depths below the polar ice to building SBS CPA Group and leading a thriving community of accountants through The Collaboration Room, Mike’s life has been anything but ordinary.

His travels have taken him to some of the world’s most breathtaking destinations, but they’ve also brought him face-to-face with stark realities.

In Brazil, he witnessed the extreme poverty that many children endure. “I remember watching children digging through trash for food in Rio de Janeiro,” he recalls solemnly. “It’s a moment I’ll never forget. Seeing that kind of poverty makes you appreciate the privileges we often take for granted. It gives you perspective.”

His love of travel has always been central to his life and has influenced his family’s journey. Mike and his wife, Karena, have taken their children on countless adventures around the globe, helping them see life from a broader lens. “My kids have been to 20 foreign countries,” he says with pride. “We wanted them to grow up understanding that the world is vast and full of diverse people, stories, and ways of life. I think it’s one of the best gifts we could give them.”

With retirement on the horizon, Mike is already planning his next chapter.

“I’ve been to 37 countries, but I want to add five to ten more each year when I retire,” he says, smiling. “We’ve saved some easier places, like England and Ireland, for when we’re older. We’re keeping the more rugged destinations for now.”

Continue Reading

What Are Your Thoughts?

Share your POV in the comments.

You can also join the FC Reddit community here.

Until Next Time,

Share Get Work Done - a newsletter for accounting firm owners.

From smoother firmops to seamless reports, every flavor solves a different piece of your day-to-day tasks.

What’s inside:
- The top accounting tools, reimagined as a box of flavors
- A 5-minute quiz that reveals your firm’s flavour stack
- win $1,000 towards your tech upgrade
- Plus: Randomly selected winners will get a real chocolate box

It’s time to find your flavor.

Start here!

Small Change, Big Results

Did you know that there are 11.3 million non-filers in the United States?

That’s not to mention over 15 million taxpayers with balances due. These numbers aren’t just statistics but a massive opportunity for tax professionals to step in and provide valuable services.

The first step to tapping into that opportunity is to shift from practice to business

When you’re running a practice, you’re likely doing most of the heavy lifting yourself.

You’re the one meeting clients, handling their cases, chasing payments, and putting out fires. While this might work for a while, it’s exhausting and unsustainable. Plus, it limits your growth because your income is tied directly to your time.

A business, on the other hand, operates independently of you. It’s a machine with systems, processes, and automation that do the work for you, or at least most of it.

In Eric Green’s words, “if you want to build a million dollar firm, you have to stop being the doer and start being the builder”

Imagine you’re preparing your practice to sell (even if you never intend to). What would make it more valuable to a potential buyer? The answer is almost always systems. Buyers don’t want to purchase a practice that’s completely reliant on the owner, they want a scalable, efficient operation that runs smoothly.

Continue reading here →

Community 🫶

The Bookkeeping Business Accelerator by Serena Shoup, CPA

What if you could skip over all that wasted time, confusion, and overwhelm, and instead jump straight into building a bookkeeping business you truly love?

This accelerator program is for experienced bookkeepers and accountants start & grow their own virtual bookkeeping businesses so they can create their ideal life. It's a small group coaching + mentoring program coupled with an online course that takes you through 3 simple phases to create the business of your dreams and serve your clients at your highest level.

Join the program →

The Modern Firm Challenge by Justine Lackey

If you are an ambitious bookkeeper or accountant who wants to make more money, work fewer hours, then come learn from an expert who built her firm from the ground up, alongside an amazing community of people just like you.

Industry powerhouse and dynamic digital educator Justine Lackey is bringing you The Modern Firm Challenge starting on September 15th, for free.

You’ll learn how to confidently charge premium rates, master workflows that keep clients thrilled, and market your services in a way that actually feels good. This isn’t theory, it’s how to hit six figures while working 20–30 hours a week.

If you’re ready to stop spinning your wheels and start burning rubber, join The Modern Firm Challenge and take the first step toward your most profitable year yet.

Join the challenge →

What's Your Firm's Flavour Stack?

We’ve partnered with top accounting tools, SmartVault, Relay, and Reach Reporting, and turned them into satisfying flavors your firm will actually enjoy using.

Meet: The Flavor Stack
From smoother workflows to clearer reports, every flavor fixes a part of your tech chaos.

What’s in the box:
🍫 Tools your firm will love
📦 A 5-minute quiz to find your perfect stack
💰 A shot at $1,000 to upgrade your tech tools
🍬 Bonus: random winners get chocolate. Real chocolate.

Ready to find your firm's flavour?

Start here

H🔥t today

IRS Backtracks on Layoff Plans

The Internal Revenue Service is reversing course on some of its wide-ranging job cuts after realizing they reduced the staff too drastically, Accounting Today reports.

The IRS sent a memo permitting employees to rescind their applications for its Deferred Resignation Program and Treasury Deferred Resignation Program, which offered incentives for voluntary buyouts to employees.

According to IRS records, 25,386 employees have separated, taken a voluntary buyout offer under one of the deferred resignation programs, or used some other incentive to leave. Another 294 employees were sent termination notices due to reduction-in-force actions. The separations hit particularly hard at employees in enforcement positions, with approximately 27% of tax examiners now separated, and 26% of revenue agents separated.

Another report released found out they also didn't follow its own internal procedures when terminating thousands of probationary employees nor consider their individual performance. The IRS now plans to bring back 400 revenue agents and 300 revenue officers who accepted the deferred resignation offer.

Read the article here →

Meet the First Accountant to Win $1,000 on EP 06 of Who Wants to Be an Accounting Millionaire

The rules were the same. Ten questions. One accountant and a shot at $1,000.

This time, the theme was around entity structures; LLCs, S Corps, C Corps, questions that test not just your memory, but how well you actually understand what clients are (and aren’t) allowed to do.

Yuri broke down each question like a client case. What applies? What’s a trap? What’s technically true, but operationally risky? With every answer, you could see the years of practice and pattern recognition paying off.

When he hit Question 10, he didn’t hesitate. He answered, won $1,000 and made it look easy.

Want to see how he did it or test your entity structure IQ under pressure?

Watch Episode 06 now.

Watch here →

Swipe this workflow template

Swipe this S-Corp Onboarding Checklist Template by Veronica Ray.

Get more templates from firm owners like you in our community template library.

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Relatable?😀

Events

📍Master Your Month-End Close w/Dave Kersting - September 2, 2025 (Virtual)

The month-end close is one of the most important processes in accounting, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

In this session, you'll learn how to manage varying tasks, perform reviews, and monitor quality assurance, all from one template. Whether you’re handling complex reconciliations or just looking to tighten up your month-end workflow, this session is designed to help you streamline, standardize, and close your books with confidence.

Sign up here →

📍The 7-Step Client Experience That Keeps Firms Organized w/Nick Boscia, CPA - September 16, 2025 (Virtual)

Join Nick Boscia, CPA a firm owner and operations expert, for a practical, step-by-step walkthrough of how modern firms are redesigning their client experience from the ground up.

You’ll learn a proven 7-step framework to build a firm that runs smoother, communicates better, and keeps clients coming back.

Plus, you’ll see how SmartVault’s secure document storage and Financial Cents’ workflow and firm management tools work together to deliver a seamless experience your clients (and your team) will love.

Sign up here →

📍 CPB Ignite 2025 – September 9 - 12, 2025 (Calgary)

CPB Ignite is where Canada's bookkeeping and accounting pros come to level up.

Hosted annually by the Certified Professional Bookkeepers of Canada, this event is all about learning, growing, and connecting with the best in the industry. From insightful sessions to hands-on workshops and networking that actually feels worth your time, it’s the go-to conference for bookkeepers who take their craft seriously.

The Financial Cents team will also be there, live and ready at Booth 101!

If you’re curious about improving your firm’s workflow, want a live demo, or just feel like geeking out over accounting systems, swing by and say hello. We’d love to meet you.

See the agenda →

📍 Pre-Register For Workflowcon 2025 – November 11 - 12, 2025 (Virtual)

WorkflowCon 2025 is coming! 🤯

Last year, we had over 1500+ attendees who walked away with actionable strategies to scale their firm, and this time, we’re trading burnout for breathing room.

What you can expect:
✅ Proven strategies to tame workflow chaos
✅ Learn from the best in the accounting industry
✅ Tailored sessions for every firm size
✅ The return of the Workflow Awards
✅ Unveiling the 2025 FC Champions

Two days. One simple goal: clear the chaos and find your calm.

Pre-register now to get early access to the speaker lineup, agenda, and VIP perks.

Save my spot →

Noteworthy

Michael Eckstein Isn't Scared to Say the Quiet Part Out Loud

There is a stereotype of the accountant. Grey suit. Careful smile. Careful words. Eckstein does not fit it. He credits an unconventional apprenticeship. “I left college and worked for my dad. Most people went to big firms where they’re told, this is professionalism. I never knew better,” he says. He talks to clients like a person and posts like a person. It is deliberate and effective.

“I’m very much a text-based ranter,” he says. “I don’t want to shower and dress up to rant on TikTok. By the time I’ve done that, the rant’s gone.” The frustration has evaporated. The moment has passed. But on LinkedIn? “LinkedIn doesn’t know it’s the same shirt I was wearing yesterday,”

Michael leaned into what he knew best: honesty, timing, and voice.

That combination has won him a dedicated following. The kind of loyal visibility that gets him speaking invites, new clients, podcast requests, and respect from peers who are quietly tired of pretending to love the rules.

Read Michael's story here

Autopilot mode is good for planes but bad for your mindset

For most of the day, your brain is on autopilot, guiding you along your familiar drive home and throughout the daily routine you know so well, says psychotherapist and author Steven Stosny.

The “autopilot brain handles the grunt work,” he tells CNBC Make It, adding that it’s “impulsive” and driven by learned reactions and triggered by familiar situations and habits. On the other hand, your reflective brain uses reason and deep thinking to work through problems.

Though the autopilot brain uses far less energy, it does have its shortcomings.

That’s why, whether in a moment of frustration or of judgment toward another person, Stosny advises you turn to your reflective brain. That’s “the regulatory part of the brain,” he says, and “the part that calms you down when you’re upset, or revs you up if you’re feeling down.”

Continue reading →

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Share your POV in the comments.

You can also join the FC Reddit community here.

Until Next Time,

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