Accounting High

Episode 74 | Recorded April 11, 2022 Register for FreshBooks Partner Meet Ups and admission to the Lil Toddler World Tour 2022 Come hang out with us to enjoy food, drinks, and free swag. And an opportunity to earn some extra credit with the possibility of being featured on a fresh recording of Accounting High. Spots are limited so act now! November 3, 2022 - Atlanta November 10, 2022 - Portland November 29, 2022 - Toronto December 4, 2022 - Austin Register for FreshBooks Partner Meet Ups and admission to the Lil Toddler World Tour 2022 Scott is joined by Sandy Johns of Revolution Financial Solutions. A laid-back chat about tax, the accounting space, the pandemic, Apple, subscriptions, and relationships. A real refresher of what has been happening in our world over the past years. Sandy shares her experience of growing up in a conservative household and how their shared grace made up the uniqueness of her family. Surely, our diversity brings us all together to continue learning from each other in making this space a great place to evolve and revolutionize. 2 - Tax season in 2022: Cushions from the past two years are gone now Shoutout to Jason Ackerman, CPA, CFP®, CGMA 6 - Sandy’s Unique family 10 - It's important that we approach things looking for an opportunity to find common ground with others 13- the importance of bringing diverse points of view and life experiences to the profession so that we can learn from each other 17 - Outsourcing Tax Shoutout to SurePrep LLC, Thomson Reuters’ UltraTax, Donna Bordeaux 22 - The more touch points you have with the client, the easier everything else is 26 - If you look at this relationship as purely transactional, you're probably not the right fit for us 29 - Doing sales gives us the ability to filter and get the kind of clients that we want Shoutout to Ryan Lazanis, CPA 32 - How the Pandemic changed us 35 - The unintended bonuses (and consequences) that came with the changes we do to our firm Shoutout to Karbon 41 - Connecting the community is a service to the profession Shoutout to Xero, James Clear’s Atomic Habits 46 - 100 Days of No Code Shoutout to Jason Staats, CPA, MBA, Airtable, Apple 49 - The Apple Empire Supremacy Shoutout to Scott Galloway, Disney, Amazon 57 - One of Apple’s brilliance: Backing the right horse 59 - We don’t need to be afraid of pricing because pricing attracts the right clients 63 - a poor man and a rich man 65 - What Crypto brings to the Accounting space

Episode 73 | Recorded May 27, 2022 A Fresh Book Report @ Accounting High  with Scotty Scarano and Twyla Verhelst, CPA Today's Book Report is on Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday Ever felt like you’re the king of the world? Or like you’re carrying the world on your shoulders? When was the last time you felt like you won? Or the last time you felt like you lost? What and who got you there? Our Ego, if left unchecked, clouds our vision and prevents us from reaching greater heights. It affects us not just in moments of success but in our failures as well. Do you have too much pride to ask for help? Look in the mirror and gauge yourself. Listen in as Scott and Twyla attempt to defeat their greatest enemies, themselves. 4 - Your biggest enemy is yourself and you’re more likely to be what gets in the way than anything else 7 - The three components: Aspire, Success, and Failure Shoutout to Atomic Habits by James Clear, The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek 8 - Aspire: losing touch with reality and letting your pride block what’s in front of you Shoutout to Frank Shamrock 10 - Find your Plus, Minus, and Equals in life and in business Shoutout to Catherine Graham, Angela Merkel 15 - You get confidence, but if you’re not careful, it takes you too far 17 - Once you taste that success and you feel like you know it all… That’s gonna lead to failure 20 - Beware of the disease of me Shoutout to Pat Riley, Steve Jobs, Kanye West 22 - A lot of awareness and intention is required to keep us from becoming our own barriers 25 - A monk is separate from all and in harmony with all 27 - Failure: being defined by your success that you can’t even define yourself when you fail 36 - Was it them? Was it me? Or is it the circumstances that got us here? 37 - Every step of the way, Ego is the Enemy 39 - We may think that we're never equipped to get there, but there are definitely people like you that have gotten there and even past that Shoutout to Kenji Kuramoto, Nikole Mackenzie, CPA

Episode 72 | Recorded October 6, 2022  Guest: David Barrett  Hosts: Nikole Mackenzie and Scott Scarano  Scott and Nikole get to chat with Expensify’s David Barrett. Unfiltered, uncaged, unmasked talk with the SuperApp founder. For real, no summary would be enough to describe just how dope David is. Are you ready to be shaken from your core beliefs? Go past your limit and be limitless just like how David and his team ushered their company to continuously evolve with the times. Familiar with Expensify? Think you know what they really are? Guess you’ll be dumbfounded to know where they’re really headed. This is definitely an episode you wouldn’t want to miss as David shares his experiences and imparts his way of thinking that’ll make you say “Guess it’s time to let the alien in me take control”  "The story we tell ourselves about who we are, that story can change. The ink should never dry on the novel you're writing about yourself. You should reinterpret your history."  2 - Who inspires David?... the fictional Mr. Darcy  5 - Tell me something you fucked up, “Confident I do the best I can with the info I have” and “I’ve made some very expensive mistakes”  6 - What is the root of all evil? Altruism  9 - The secret to happiness and success is purpose. Do you believe that your actions are advancing you to some sort of long-term personal purpose? “Real change happens with a business model - that's the only way to save the world”  16 - Expensify’s structure? It is like a garden, a magical, mysterious garden where everyone, every day is planting seeds that we've never seen before “Live rich have fun and save the world  - Every day should be awesome - Work-life balance is almost toxic”  19 - A comp model determined by your peers? Do you worry about unconfirmed biases?  26 - It was never built to be an expense reporting product… We just happen to start with expense management because it has a number of great features to it “Perfection is unachievable. - I never want to leave my company - Be bizarre, be different”  32 - What are the limits of Expensify as a superApp? Or are there limits?  34 - Change is not intrinsically good. We don’t do anything without defining the problem we’re trying to solve  39 - There are no rules. Only CONSEQUENCES: If I think it's gonna drive the business and help us leverage, have fun, save the world, we're gonna do it  41 - Self-doubt got burned out of David throughout his career  47 - How to make your company an environment for creativity?  62 - We haven’t even launched yet, in my mind. It’s just that our prototype is so valuable  69 - We’re alien in many respects, not because we seek to appear alien. It’s just that we don’t see the same constraints that others do  70 - Failing to mind the imagination gap was my biggest fuck up  71 - I am limited by what I can convince people to do  72 - Grappling with notions of identity.  Don't look into your self-identity The ink should never dry on the novel of your life.  73 - A creative mother fuckin force Everything bad is good for you - link to this book   74 - Evolution of books, radio, tv, and internet - the screen time battle  75 - Negative patterns. Experts are only experts in historical events  76 - The business model of social networks. Expensify as a social network? It’s for people who wanna get shit done  82 - Scott RAPS UP the episode

Episode 71 | Recorded April 11, 2022 Guest: John Briggs Hosts: Jason Ackerman & Scott Scarano John Briggs, the man who created an accounting firm where accountants make more money and work less cause traditional firms suck. Scott and Jason got great insights on how John manages his firm and you can too! This is an episode that firm owners wouldn’t want to miss. Not a firm owner? No problem cause you never know what you’ll get here until you listen to John’s stories and how his team is getting the best out of their professional lives 2 - Too many accountants seem like they end up working for the government instead of their clients 7 - 100K belt buckle?! Aggressively writing off your expenses for your business 10 - Focusing on taxes, is it the opposite way now? Shoutout to Intuit TurboTax 14  - In-depth discussion of CFO work/advising services 18 - Ever heard of the PITA box of clients? 20 - Incite Tax’s take on pricing their services 25 - I think to save the industry, we have to be aware as firm owners of the burden we're putting on our team 29 - John’s secrets to efficiency Shoutout to Insightly, Canopy 38 - Incite Tax’s management structure: Breaking away from the norm 47 - All of our audience understand that revenue is not the same as profit. Right? Right? Shoutout to Padgett Business Services, Dark Horse CPAs, Breakaway Bookkeeping & Advising, High Rock Accounting 52 - The challenges that come with Incite Tax’s structure setup for it’s licensees 57 - Too much more to learn but too little time with John. 58 - Interested in becoming a licensee of Incite Tax? Reach out to John at john@incitetax.com Shoutout to Greg Kyte, CPA, Reach Reporting, Justin Hatch

Episode 70 | Recorded July 12, 2022 Purpose - the reason for which something is done or created. What is your reason for doing or creating something? In this episode, Niks and Scott share their own purposes and give us an insight into how we can find ours. Our passion defines us but our purpose defines who, what, and where we want to be. Listen in and get a better look into yourself like our hosts did and you might be surprised at what your true purposes are. 1 - A lot of things I do are by accident, but accidentally on purpose 2 - Be sure to check out liveflow.io/sons 6 - How do moments in our lives fit into our purpose 8 - Figuring things out as they come along. Does that work out? Shout out to Jason Ackerman, CPA, CFP®, CGMA, Blake Oliver, CPA 10 - The moment we realize it’s always about money until it’s not Shout out to Dave Olsen, Jay Shetty, Madeline Reeves 14 - Living in your Dharma is a certain route to fulfillment Shoutout to Liz Mason 16 - Purpose. What is it really? How do we know what ours is? 19 - Quadrants of potential 24 - Niks goes through an exercise about finding her Dharma Shoutout to Ashley Carroll 25 - The 4 types of people: Creators, Makers, Guides, and Leaders 27 - Creators are always on the move. Work hard, play hard 32 - My passion where I really want to help people is to learn from my mistakes and that’s doing this podcast 36 - Makers work hard but always maintain balance. The best right hand Shoutout to Christopher Leon 38 - Guides use their knowledge to help people find their purpose Shoutout to Ryan Lazanis, CPA, Kenji Kuramoto 39 - Leaders govern, inspire, and engage others Shoutout to Ron Baker 45 - Most of the reason we're so serious is that we're so worried about what somebody else will think if we do different Shoutout to Zachary Call, CPA 49 - Helping others is a lot easier when we’re comfortable in our own shoes Shoutout to Mary Delaney, Karbon 54 - Nobody’s going to tell you what your purpose is. You gotta figure that out 56 - Our purpose can change. It evolves with us Shoutout to Chet Buchman, CPA, CVA, CEPA, CGMA, CNC 60 - Your passion is for you. Your purpose is for others. Your passion becomes a purpose when you use it to serve others 74 - Everybody has something that they are great at and that's part of their purpose 75 - This podcast became a platform for Scott to find purpose 77 - Making the accounting world a better place one ear at a time. Thank you!

Episode 69 | Recorded April 4, 2022 Guest: Ryan Lazanis, CPA Hosts: Jason Ackerman and Scott Scarano Let’s bring our focus on the Accounting Messiah, the Righteous Lazarus aka Ryan Lazanis, and how he started impacting the accounting space. Ryan shares his internal process on how he started his accounting firm, so far ahead of the curve he practically created the curve. What is your end goal? Why not start with that end goal in mind? As for us, we aim to keep you informed, entertained, and educated until the last minute of this episode so be sure to make space for all the insights that Ryan, Scott, and Jason share. 2 - Accounting is the language of business 3 - Accounting, you’re going to need it no matter what profession you go into 6 - Ryan’s path to starting up his own accounting firm 8 - The Accounting Messiah from Montreal 13 - Xen Accounting’s early days 14 - Growth and Scale difference Shoutout to Xero, ReceiptBank (now Dext) 18 - To scale professional services, it really starts at the offering level 21 - Creating a factory that could replicate it without you there 24 - How selling his accounting firm came about 27 - My purpose was really about helping advancing the accounting profession. Modernize the profession in some way, shape, or form 31 - An accounting trip to the tax havens 33 - Future Firm provides coaching, training, education, and community to modern accountants that want to create a scalable systematic firm that improves their lifestyle 36 - Biggest mistake traditional firms make? The firm’s structure 40 - What’s hotter than a million-dollar cloud firm with low churn 43 - What is a healthy profit margin? No lower than 30% Shoutout to Jeff Phillips, Padgett Business Services, Dark Horse CPAs, Chase Birky, CPA, Marie (Phillips) Greene, CPA 47 - Ryan’s take on the changes coming to the accounting world 50 - Bringing the relationship back to accounting while scaling your firm 57 - Want Ryan’s tips and tricks directly in your inbox? Checkout futurefirm.co/newsletter 58 - Ryan’s advice for firm owners? Start with the end in mind

Accounting High (aka Sons of CPAs Podcast) Season 3 Bonus Ep | Recorded July 26, 2022 this is our reaction episode to one of the latest Expensify emails... Okay.  So if you are on Expensify's email list. You probably get emails from David Barrett all the time. He's known for sending really long opinionated irreverent emails... and we got an email directly from David with an invite to ExpensiCon. now, now granted his emails come from David Barrett. It's got his picture on there in my Gmail, it always looks like a very personal email...  here's the email  It can be hard to look past the grim headlines that seem to pummel us daily, but beneath the bad news are some good trends. The worst of the pandemic is behind us, the markets have stabilized and are recovering. Good days are on the horizon, and as we all scramble to stay afloat, it's easy to overlook the slow tectonic shift happening in the accounting industry around us: the Age of the Preaccounting Superapp is dawning. And just like we did at previous moments of transformation, we're heralding this dawn by hosting our third ExpensiCon - and you're invited! In May 2023, 100 accounting titans will gather in the pristine Puglian countryside at Borgo Egnazia to experience the finest in Italian food and wine - by the pool and around the table - while swapping stories, sharing best practices, and planning the future of our industry. If you haven't been to ExpensiCon before, here's a quick glimpse of what it'll be like: ... We don't host ExpensiCon every year; we only do it when there is something important to discuss. Join that discussion at ExpensiCon.com. -david Founder and CEO of Expensify Questions? Ask me on Twitter! @dbarrett PS: Remember that Tesla contest for Approved! Accountants? We have a winner! Learn how Casey from AirCFO won a shiny new Tesla just by helping her clients adopt Expensify! PPS: Are you an Approved! Accounting firm (or would you like to be)? Reply to this email to learn how to get significantly discounted client pricing, a dedicated account manager, and live onboarding for your clients by chat and video!

Episode 68 | Recorded March 28, 2022  Guest: Drew Carrick aka The Rapping CPA aka Petty Ca$h  Hosts: Blake Oliver and Scott Scarano  Sponsor: Jirav - head over to jirav.com/sons  PBC. If you don’t know what that means, it’s not for you. Or, go ahead, and watch the show made by accountants for accountants. Scott, Blake, and Drew dive deep into the accounting revolution that we’re currently in and bridge the connection between accounting and mainstream media. How, when, and where did this start? Where are we headed? How do we keep up with all this? Find out and listen.  4 - Petty Ca$h’s hardcore self-introduction, give it up for The Rapping CPA  Shoutout to Mike Whitmire, CPA, FloQast  6 - Scott as The Rapping EA… What chu think huh?  10 - PBC: The Office, but it’s hyper-focused on the accounting department  Shoutout to The Office, Kate Flannery, Creed Braton, Michael Gallagher  12 - Get insights of some upcoming projects for the accounting demograpics from Drew  15 - Accoutant Drew vs Entertainer Drew  22 - You create your own luck by going into the business world and making the connections  Shoutout to Earmark  25 - How Blake got into accounting? He didn’t want to be a starving musician  29 - The Accounting Revolution  33 - If you could change one thing about accounting, what would it be?  36 - Accounting: deemed the most difficult of the school of business majors  Shoutout to Jay-Z, NAS, Jason Ackerman, CPA, CFP®, CGMA  40 - Public Accounting Anthem’s purpose  43 - Drew’s taste of fame  Shoutout to Lil Dicky aka David Burd  45 - The multiverse of Drew Carrick  Shoutout to Marissa Jones, Logic, EMINƎM, Weird AL Yankovic  51 - The goal is not to make money off of this. It’s to make something that the accounting demographic can relate to  Shoutout to Phil Mickelson, KPMG  56 - PBC Season 2?  Shoutout to Josh Sims, Joshua Glassman  61 - I haven't really felt like it's over my head cause like I said, I think I've been preparing my whole life for this specific job  65 - Can I have your attention, please?  71 - My entire life is built on this notion of balance… it’s been this balancing act  Shoutout to Joe Rogan, Jamie Fox  77 - Nobody could ever come close to being you, so always stay true to you

Episode 67 Accounting High (aka Sons of CPAs)  Hard Numbers Vol. 2 Scott and Jason dive deep and reveal all of their hard numbers for their respective accounting firms... this is full disclosure of their revenues and margins for the period of Jan-July 2022

Episode 66 | Recorded March 21, 2022 Guest: Adam Markowitz, EA Hosts: Jason Ackerman and Scott Scarano Sponsor: Karbon - Karbon firms are connected firms - check em out at https://karbonhq.com/ Join Scott, Jason, and Adam as they talk about tax, branding, software apps, social issues, #TaxTwitter, finding your purpose, and everything in between.  Find out how Adam, a Bachelor of Arts who majored in Music and History ended up in the Tax/Accounting space and why he’s here to stay. It’s about keeping in mind what’s really important to each of us, and finding our purpose.  What’s yours?  For Adam, it’s to help out his local community and really help out those who need it the most. 3 - Dad started the business back in 1993 5 - The best thing that ever happened to me was telling me they couldn't give me an extra buck and 50 an hour. 7 - I was into sports gambling and it was a miserable, miserable crutch for a college kid who thought he knew much more about sports than he did Shoutout to Mike Rose 8 - You're not paying me because I'm dressed in a suit. You're paying me because I've got a good brain on my shoulders 11 - A writer disguised as an accountant 13 - Having done maybe 20 returns and probably f*cked up half of them, that’s when Adam decided he’s buying into the family business 17 - I'll promise you, the name Markowitz, it ain't going to be in there anywhere. I want this business to be a lot bigger than me and I want this business to live on a lot longer Shoutout to AJ Campo 21 - How the f*ck do we think we're going to help these people when we don't offer them any help? Shoutout to Netflix, Adam Project, WeCrashed, Adam Newman, TV+ 25 - Does any accountant or tax preparer love themselves on March 21st? Shoutout to Karbon 28 - Why is Adam using Karbon? It keeps his team on task and its automators are absolutely the secret sauce 29 - Adam and his dad’s only argument in the 15 years they’ve been working together was overpaying him Shoutout to Jim Costello 32 - #TaxTwitter Shoutout to Kelly Phillips Erb aka @taxgirl, Jason Staats aka @jstaatscpa, Andrea @andreacpa0, Ed Zollars aka @edzollars, Glen Birnbaum 38 - So what really is an EA? Shoutout to Drake Software, KanyeTax, EasyACCT 42 - Adam’s horrible confession re: general ledger Shoutout to Intuit QuickBooks, Xero 44 - By doing the actual manual entry, even though it took more time, I have a lot better understanding about what the client has going on in their business 49 - 2020 was about helping everyone, 2021 was about survival, and 2022 is about the last push of growth 53 - We’re headed to a firm that is going to be less about me and more about the community 57 - What is your purpose? 60 - Adam’s advice? treat the person on the other side of the table like they’re your grandmother