Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals

Hosted by Jetpack Workflow

Business ManagementInterviews guests

Website RSS feed LinkedIn Facebook Instagram YouTube

Episodes

388

Latest episode

Jun 2026

Language

About the show

Growing Your Firm is the top podcast for ambitious firm owners to find tips, tactics, and strategies on how to grow their firm (or practice). In this podcast we'll be interviewing unique thought leaders in accounting, tax, and bookkeeping about topics including: practice management, marketing, social media, succession planning, partner relations, hiring, pricing, and much more.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

June 7, 202633 min

How This CPA Built and Sold a $2M Accounting Firm with Adam Shay

Are you a firm owner trying to break past that next big growth plateau? Many managing partners and bookkeeping firm owners find themselves stuck in the daily grind, struggling to build a practice that can survive independent of their personal production. In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host Dave Cristello sits down with Adam Shay, CPA, a dad, entrepreneur, and high-performance firm coach. Adam pulls back the curtain on his own journey of building, scaling, and ultimately selling a multimillion-dollar accounting firm. Today, through Share the Knowledge LLC, he helps fellow owners design companies built with intention—and positioned perfectly for a future exit. Whether you are an operations manager trying to optimize workflow or a CPA starting a firm from scratch, this episode offers practical, data-driven strategies to maximize structural efficiency. In this episode, we unpack: The Firm Snapshot: What Adam's firm looked like two years prior to a successful sale (10 team members and nearly $2M in revenue). Ditching the Compliance Trap: Moving clients to a mandatory high-value advisory package that features proactive tax planning. The "Broken Process Document": Adam's highly practical, low-friction Google Sheets strategy that empowers teams to log workflow bottlenecks as they happen. Capacity & Staff Ownership: How to encourage senior team members to bring proposed solutions rather than just dumping problems on management. The Multiplier Mindset: Key metrics to track weekly, including labor efficiency ratios and technical rework percentages. A Candid Look at M&A: The real-world nuances of working with specialized brokers and navigating post-merger transition periods. Featured Guest: Adam Shay

May 23, 202640 min

How This Accounting Firm From 0 to $10M in 7 Years with Joe Manganelli

Are you running an accounting practice that relies entirely on your own personal production, or have you built a scalable business that can exist independently of you? For accounting firm owners, managing partners, and CPAs starting firms, understanding how to shift from manual operations to an acquirable business model is the ultimate goal. In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host David Cristello sits down with Joe Manganelli, the former founder and CEO of Calculate. Joe shares his incredible journey of launching, scaling, and successfully selling his outsourced CFO and accounting firm in under seven years. He pulls back the curtain on his aggressive top-line growth strategies, pricing models, and how he scaled his team to nearly 45 headcounts with zero outside funding. In this episode, we explore: - The Bootstrapped Blueprint: How Joe scaled Calculate to a $10M run rate without taking on venture capital or outside investment. - Top-Line Growth vs. Profitability: The strategic decisions behind running a high-growth firm (averaging 75%+ year-over-year) with modest margins. - Frictionless Client Acquisition: Transitioning from exhausting networking events to building a highly efficient, inbound B2B referral network. - The "Experienced" Hiring Strategy: Why your first operations managers and team members should have more experience than you do to truly offload workflow responsibilities. - The Reality of M&A: What the modern sale structure looks like for accounting firms, from equity rollovers to earnouts and transition periods.

May 8, 202636 min

15 minutes to Complete a Month-End Close? Interview with Issac Perdomo

In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host David Cristello sits down with Isaac Perdomo, founder of Opzer, to discuss the practical application of AI and low-code/no-code tools in modern accounting practices. Isaac shares real-world case studies of firms drastically reducing manual workloads and increasing their capacity for high-value advisory services. In this episode, we explore: - The "Window of Opportunity": Why the next 12–24 months are critical for firms to adopt AI before the market settles. - Beyond the Hype: Moving from generic ChatGPT use to building bespoke internal tools with Claude, Replit, and Lovable. - The 15-Minute Close: How a case study firm reduced bookkeeping time from 2 hours to 15 minutes per client using automated workflows. - Quality Assurance (QA) with AI: Using LLMs as an additional layer of review for financial statements and deliverables. - Vibe Coding & Custom Apps: Why the era of the "30-app tech stack" is evolving into firms building their own specialized internal software. - Sentiment Analysis: How to use meeting transcripts from tools like Granola or Fireflies to detect client dissatisfaction before they churn. Key Tools Discussed: - Automation Engines: Make.com, n8n, and Zapier. - AI Models: Claude and ChatGPT. - Prototyping: Lovable and Replit. - Meeting Intelligence: Granola, Fireflies, and Fathom. Featured Guest: Isaac Perdomo

April 25, 202631 min

How to Build a 90% Automated Accounting Firm

Is the traditional general ledger dead? As small businesses and startups demand real-time data, the standard "wait two weeks for a black-and-white P&L" model is becoming obsolete. In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host David Cristello sits down with Jeff Seibert, co-founder and CEO of Digits and former Head of Consumer Product at Twitter (now X). Jeff reveals why he spent over five years and $100M in venture capital to rebuild accounting software from the ground up to be AI-native. Whether you're a firm owner looking to scale or a tech-forward CPA, this conversation explores how "Agentic Accounting" is moving the profession from manual data entry to high-level advisory. In this episode, we discuss: The Genesis of Digits: How Jeff's experience scaling Twitter exposed the massive data gap between engineering and finance. What is an Agentic General Ledger? Moving beyond "bolt-on" AI to a vector-graph data model where the intelligence is baked into the ledger itself. Automating the Month-End Close: Why Jeff predicts 90% of bookkeeping, reconciliation, and schedules will be automated by the end of 2026. Classification Accuracy: Why LLMs (like ChatGPT) fail at bookkeeping and how Digits achieved 97% accuracy using custom predictive models. The Future of Firm Competition: Why the gap between AI-adopting firms and traditional firms will create a "margin opportunity" that reshapes the industry. Jeff's Top AI Tools for Founders: Insights into Whispr Flow (for voice dictation) and Granola (for frictionless meeting notes).

April 10, 202638 min

Why Accountants Are Leaving Money on the Table (And How to Fix It)

Are you tired of the "compliance grind"? Most accountants overlook a goldmine sitting right in their current database: Tax Resolution. With over 27 million Americans currently facing IRS issues, the demand for representation has never been higher. In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host David Cristello sits down with Michael Rozbruch, founder of Roz Strategies and a pioneer in the tax resolution industry. Michael shares how he grew a practice from his dining room table to a $23 million-a-year powerhouse and why now is the best time in history for firms to enter this space. In this episode, we explore: The "Stealth" Referral Letter: How to generate $5k–$10k cases from your existing clients without spending a dime on ads. The 4 Collection Alternatives: Michael simplifies the IRS maze into four main outcomes (Installment Agreements, Offer in Compromise, Penalty Abatement, and Currently Not Collectible). The $6,000 Marketing Campaign: A step-by-step breakdown of the "Old School" direct mail strategy that targets PTIN holders and generates consistent inbound leads. The "Sales Prevention" Department: Why not answering your phone live is costing you hundreds of thousands in potential fees. The IRS "Mega API": How the government's transition to AI and machine learning will exponentially increase enforcement and audits in 2025/2026. The Tax Resolution Intake Script: Michael reveals the "Psychologically Induced" questions every firm should ask to qualify leads, including: "Does the IRS claim you owe $10,000 or more?" "Has the IRS levied your bank account yet?" "Has the IRS garnished your paycheck yet?"

March 25, 202632 min

The M&A Shift Toward Adjusted EBITDA Margins

Are you building a firm to last, or building it to sell? Whether you're a CPA starting a firm or a Managing Partner eyeing retirement, understanding the current M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions) landscape is critical for your largest wealth-generation tool: your practice. In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host Dave Cristella sits down with Doug Lewis, Managing Director at The Visionary Group, to pull back the curtain on how buyers are actually evaluating accounting and bookkeeping firms in 2026. From the impact of Private Equity (PE) to the "sticky revenue" of Client Accounting Services (CAS), Doug breaks down the metrics that determine your firm's valuation. In this episode, we discuss: 1. The Shift in Valuation: Why firms are moving away from gross revenue multiples and toward Adjusted EBITDA. 2. The CAS Premium: Why Client Accounting Services and outsourced bookkeeping are trading for higher multiples than traditional audit or tax. 3. The Talent Shortage & M&A: How the pipeline shortage is moving "Talent" to the #1 spot on buyer wishlists. 4. The "Layover Test": Why culture alignment is the first thing that kills a deal (and how to spot red flags early). 5. Internal Succession Stress Testing: What to do when your "locked-in" successors have other plans (like opening a tiki bar in Thailand). 6. Staying Fiercely Independent: Why selling isn't the only path and how to build value even if you never plan to exit. Featured Guest: Doug Lewis Take control of your practice: Optimize your workflow with Jetpack Workflow: https://bit.ly/4bj4a0H 🚀 Sign up for a 14-day free trial to Jetpack Workflow! https://app2.jetpackworkflow.com/auth/login 🚀 Stay Connected: Subscribe for bi-weekly stories from firm owners and modern accounting strategies. 👋 Say hi on social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jetpackworkflow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jetpackworkflow Twitter: https://x.com/jetpackworkflow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jetpack_workflow/# 🎙 Listen to Growing Your Firm Podcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/growing-your-firm-strategies-for-accountants-cpas-bookkeepers/id923004172 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6MauXYaHFyS0rlb6L3Qb1U Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jetpack-workflow/growing-your-firm

March 13, 202638 min

The EOS Lite Framework for Growing a Remote Firm

Are you an accounting firm owner, managing partner, or CPA starting a firm who wants to achieve rapid growth without losing your sanity? In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host David Cristello sits down with Ben Curtis, co-founder and CEO of Good Measure Financial. Ben shares the inside story of how his firm transitioned from a slow, intentional build to adding 4 full-time employees in just 90 days during a massive growth spurt. Whether you are an operations manager looking for better workflow systems or a leader interested in the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), this episode provides a tactical roadmap for scaling a remote-first accounting business. What You'll Learn in This Episode: 1. The 50/50 Partnership Model: How Ben manages a firm with a "fractional" co-founder while maintaining clear role definitions and a healthy 50/50 ownership split. 2. EOS Lite for Accounting Firms: Why Ben uses the Vision Traction Organizer (VTO) and L10 meetings to keep his team of 10 aligned, and what parts of EOS he chose to discard. 3. Capacity & Production KPIs: A deep dive into why Good Measure Financial still tracks time and how they use Effective Hourly Rate and Actuals vs. Budget to protect profit margins. 4. Smoothing the Workflow: Tactics for implementing weekly workflows to eliminate the "peak and valley" stress of month-end close. 5. Founder-Led Sales & Relationship Deposits: How Ben's long-term "relational deposits" led to a flood of new clients from churches and nonprofits.

March 10, 202629 min

Why Accounting Firm Owners Burn Out (And How to Fix It with Better Operations)

Burnout is often misdiagnosed as a lack of effort, but the true culprit is usually a lack of infrastructure. From excessive rework to murky processes, operational friction is what actually drains a team. The solution isn't to work harder; it's to transition from an owner-dependent model to a robust operating system that scales without requiring the founder's constant intervention. Get the full breakdown and see the process in action on our blog.

March 10, 202634 min

Why Talent Is the Real Growth Constraint for Accounting Firms: Insights from Jennifer Wilson

If your firm's growth has hit a plateau, you might be looking for answers in outsourcing or capital infusions. However, Jennifer Wilson suggests a different perspective: the primary constraint facing firm leaders today is the people-power behind the work. Success in the modern landscape is less about the "how" and entirely about the "who." Check out the blog here to learn more.

February 26, 202645 min

GYF Summit: Future of Professional Roundtable

Discover why industry leaders are feeling more optimistic than ever about the future of professional accounting. This roundtable discussion explores a pivotal shift from a culture of burnout toward one centered on high-value advisory and long-term client success. The experts dive into how emerging technologies like AI can automate compliance tasks and free up practitioners for strategic leadership roles. By embracing modern business models and intentional change management, firms can unlock new opportunities for growth and personal satisfaction.