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

Title: A/B Test How This Accounting Firm Earns 50% Margins on $150 Clients | AJ Zepeda How to Build an Accounting Firm That Runs Without Founder Calls | AJ Zepeda How to Standardize Your Accounting Firm Before Adding AI | AJ Zepeda What if the secret to building a more scalable accounting firm isn't charging every client more, but giving each client the right service model? In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host David Cristello sits down with AJ Zepeda, Founder and COO of Maverick. AJ shares how he and his partners combined their accounting practices, created a three-tier pricing model, and built an operational system designed to grow without requiring the founders to manage every client relationship. AJ explains how Maverick serves smaller clients through a highly standardized $150 monthly package with an estimated 50% accounting margin, while its highest-tier clients receive controller and fractional CFO support. He also breaks down the firm's deliberate six-week onboarding process, standardized chart of accounts, Notion-based operating system, and practical approach to using AI. In this episode, we explore: The $150 Monthly Accounting Package: How Maverick uses QuickBooks Ledger, asynchronous service, and standardized delivery to serve smaller clients profitably. Building a Three-Tier Pricing Model: How the firm separates highly standardized clients, its profitable core accounts, and controller or fractional CFO engagements. Creating a Firm That Runs Without Founder Calls: Why Maverick's core clients receive proactive weekly bookkeeping and monthly reporting without requiring recurring meetings with a founder. The Six-Week Onboarding Rule: Why the team refuses to begin production until every login, document, prior-year return, and client detail has been collected. Standardizing the Chart of Accounts: How a consistent accounting structure helps the team onboard clients faster and deliver work more efficiently. Building the Operating System Before Adding AI: Why AJ believes clean data, documented processes, and a centralized system must come before automation. Using Notion as the Firm's Central Database: How Maverick connects client information, SOPs, Scribe documentation, calendars, Slack, and time records in one system. Managing Out-of-Scope Work: Why AJ wishes the firm had established stronger boundaries and billed additional work earlier. Key Metrics & Operational Frameworks: Entry-Level Package: $150 per month for standardized bookkeeping, reporting, and tax support through QuickBooks Ledger, with an estimated 50% margin on the accounting work. Core Client Pricing: Approximately $650 to $1,500 per month for the firm's profitable, lower-stress middle tier. High-Level Advisory Pricing: Approximately $2,500 to $4,000 per month for controller and fractional CFO services. Onboarding Timeline: Roughly 30 to 45 days, with the firm allowing up to six weeks to collect information, clean up the books, and document the engagement properly. Client Communication: Weekly bookkeeping questions and monthly reports delivered by the 15th, with deeper financial reviews reserved for higher-tier packages. Featured Guest: AJ Zepeda

Is your firm relying entirely on word-of-mouth referrals to grow? While client referrals bring in warm leads, they make controlling your growth trajectory nearly impossible. To build a high-performing advisory practice, you need a predictable, repeatable go-to-market engine. In this live panel session from the Growing Your Firm Summit, host David Cristello moderates a discussion with three firm leaders who have built, scaled, and transformed modern advisory practices: Shane Mason – Co-Founder at Nimble (led 8 years of hyper-growth) Marcus Dillon – Founder & CEO at Dillon Business Advisors (DBA) Roman Villard – Founder at Fullcent From custom proposal generation and gatekeeping bad-fit clients to positioning your brand on LinkedIn and utilizing LLM files for SEO, this panel provides a practical blueprint for accounting and bookkeeping firm leaders. In this episode, we explore: Moving Beyond Referrals: Why you need an active sales and marketing engine to control your firm's pipeline and timing. Educating Referral Partners: How defining your Ideal Client Profile (ICP) prevents partners from sending low-margin, bad-fit leads. Packaging vs. Customization: The debate between standardized internal baseline packages vs. tailored client proposals. The "Gatekeeper" Sales Role: Why hiring the right sales lead to filter out non-communicative or uncooperative prospects protects your service team. Targeted Niche Networking: How attending industry-specific events (e.g., dental or construction conferences) with top clients drives warm, high-trust leads. AI for Go-To-Market & SEO: How to use LLM.txt and robots.txt files on your website to ensure AI models recommend your firm in search results. Avoiding "AI Slop": Leveraging Claude and custom GPTs to streamline 60% of proposal drafting without losing your human voice. Key Takeaways & Frameworks: B2B Partnership Channels: Partnering with specialized CFOs or legal professionals who need an execution arm for accounting and bookkeeping. Language Alignment: Using the specific language, metrics, and goals of your clients (e.g., "exit-readiness" instead of "month-end close") in sales conversations. Single-Software Focus: Why mastering one core accounting application (e.g., QBO or Xero) drives internal team delivery speed. Featured Guest: Marcus Dillon Shane Rowley Roman Villard

Are your firm's internal processes starting to creak under the weight of new growth? When scaling a Client Accounting Services (CAS) or advisory practice, standardizing workflows, managing team capacity, and maintaining quality control become the ultimate operational test. In this live panel session from the Growing Your Firm Summit, host David Cristello brings together a "Council of Operations Experts" to discuss how to build sustainable systems that scale without causing team burnout: Amy McCarty – Director of Operations at Dillon Business Advisors (20+ years coaching firm leaders) AJ Zapata – Co-Founder & COO at Maverick (grew his book of business to $1M in 9 months flat) Melanie – Systems & Admin Lead at Soren Whether you are an operations manager driving software adoption, a bookkeeping firm owner, a managing partner, or a CPA starting a firm, this panel provides actionable blueprints to streamline practice management and elevate firm performance. In this episode, we unpack: Identifying Bottlenecks Early: Practical daily and weekly rituals to spot stale tasks and capacity friction in tools like Canopy and Carbon before they derail deadlines. The "Bat Signal" Onboarding Method: How Maverick uses dedicated, loud-and-proud communication channels to keep new client onboarding on track. Frictionless AI Workflows: Real-world use cases for Microsoft Copilot, Claude CoWork, and Notion for automated call summaries, data cleanup, and IRS notice response templates. Gamifying Firm Improvements: How Dillon Business Advisors uses the "Optimus Pessimus" game to get team buy-in on process changes and achieve an 80% on-time financial delivery rate. The "Start When Ready" Onboarding Rule: Why slowing down the onboarding process to ensure complete data collection actually speeds up firm delivery and protects staff sanity. Setting Up Your First Ops Hire: How to delegate authority, clean up baseline data, and "let your operations team cook" so firm leaders can focus on strategy. Key Takeaways & Operational Frameworks: Financial Delivery Incentives: Rewarding teams for delivering monthly client reports by the 15th with clear open-item disclosure rules. Office Hours for Feedback: Holding bi-weekly 30-minute open office hours to uncover hidden software friction points and train staff on quick efficiency wins. Data-First AI Readiness: Why clean, centralized client data is mandatory before deploying automated agents. Featured Guests: Amy McCarty AJ Zapata Melanie

Is the billable hour finally dead? While many in the accounting profession expected the competition for talent to end timesheets, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is delivering the final blow. If your firm is still pricing based on time and effort rather than value and outcomes, you are risking your margins in an AI-driven world. In this exclusive fireside chat from the Growing Your Firm Summit, host David Cristello sits down with Ron Baker, founder of the VeraSage Institute, author of 8 best-selling books, and co-host of The Soul of Enterprise podcast. Ron breaks down the core psychology of value pricing, why firms must transition from selling "services" to guiding "transformations," and how subscription models create predictable recurring revenue. In this episode, we explore: The Death of the Billable Hour: Why AI makes pricing by the hour obsolete—and what firms must do to adapt. Value is a Feeling, Not a Number: The psychological factors behind pricing and why nobody should price themselves. Fixed Pricing vs. Value Pricing: Understanding the key differences and why fixed pricing based on hourly estimates is just the starting point. The Concierge Firm Model: How to eliminate "scope creep" by staying in your lane and offering white-glove, subscription-based packages. AI Beyond Efficiency: Why treating AI like a co-collaborator to create value—rather than just a tool to save time—is the key to future firm growth. Ditching Timesheets: What to measure instead of hours to track performance, accountability, and project success. Bonus Segment: Jetpack Workflow Capacity Management Demo Starting at 33:40, David Cristello gives an exclusive first look at Jetpack Workflow Version 2's Capacity Management View. Learn how operations managers and firm managers responsible for workflow can: Gain full visibility into future team workloads across weeks and years. Prevent staff burnout by identifying over-capacity team members instantly. Filter capacity by role, industry expertise, and client packages. Make one-off or recurring project reassignments with drag-and-drop ease. Featured Guest: Ron Baker

Is your accounting practice built to scale—or positioned for a high-multiple exit? In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host David Cristello welcomes back Geoff Bruskin, founder and CEO of White Tiger Connections. Geoff pulls back the curtain on the current "white-hot" public accounting M&A market in 2026. From the rise of Fractional COO engagements to 7x+ EBITDA multiples, Jeff breaks down what buyers are looking for and why private equity (PE) plays fail 40% of the time when they ignore the human element of change management. Whether you're an Operations Manager looking to optimize workflow, a Managing Partner eyeing a future exit, or a CPA starting a firm, this episode is packed with real-world deal structures, go-to-market strategies, and tech implementation blueprints. In this episode, we explore: The Fractional COO Model: Why $1M to $20M accounting firms are hiring fractional executive leaders to build infrastructure for scale rather than overpaying for full-time roles. Inside a 7.4x EBITDA Deal: A deep dive into a $2.7M remote, subscription-based micro-platform firm asking $8M. The PE Spectrum (Successes vs. Failures): Why 30–40% of private equity acquisitions fail due to aggressive price hikes, poor software adoption, and staff turnover. The "Solutions Architect" Role: Why every growing practice needs an internal champion to bridge systems like CCH, TaxDome, Carbon, and CRM tools. Offensive vs. Defensive Strategy: How cross-selling Client Advisory Services (CAS) and wealth management can multiply your firm's enterprise value. Agentic AI & Claude CoWork: How modern leaders use AI agents to automate IT mapping, proposal scoping, and client deliverables. Key Deal Benchmarks Mentioned: Average Deal Multiple: 4x to 6x Adjusted EBITDA for traditional practices. Micro-Platform Multiples: Up to 7.4x+ for firms with 100% subscription models and balanced CAS/Tax integration. Solutions Architect Compensation: $60k to $150k annually (domestic or offshore) to eliminate technology friction. Featured Guest: Geoff Bruskin 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 #accounting #accountingfirm #firmgrowth #accountingworkflow

Growing accounting firms often misdiagnose turnover and capacity issues. Erin Daiber explains why these problems usually start at the partner level, how trust breakdowns create hidden churn, and what firms must fix first before hiring or offshoring. The firms that stabilize fastest focus on leadership alignment, clear expectations, and disciplined workflows. Resources: Erin Daiber's LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/cpacoacherin