Accounting High

Another special BONUS featuring some of our great friends at THE GrowthLab FaaS Today we're pleased to be joined by Heather Satterly, CPA and Steven Byler. Heather is the newly appointed CIO (Chief Innovation Officer) of The GrowthLab and co-host of the Appy Hour; Heather is also the Founder of Satterley Training & Consulting LLC, a firm dedicated to helping accounting professionals gain the skills and confidence to explore and adopt new accounting technology. Also the founder of Satterley Accounting Services, a bookkeeping, and tax firm located in Rhode Island, providing clients order, simplicity, and clarity in their financials. As well as the Co-Host of The 'Appy Hour with Liz and Heather, a bi-monthly webinar series dedicated to educating accounting professionals about the latest trends in accounting technology and automation techniques.  Steven Byler is the President & Co-Founder of The GrowthLab, a Finance-as-a-Service (FaaS) company that serves Founders and Management Teams with Financial Planning, Accounting, and CFO support. GrowthLab specializes in helping startups, emerging growth companies, and companies in turnaround mode by providing leadership and execution with their financial management, accounting, and strategic planning functions. 

Episode 53 | Recorded January 31, 2022 Today we're pleased to present you Mr. Tate Henshaw, CFP, who has run point on projects for Grammy winners, TV personalities, and NBA All-Stars. He's even been named as one of the top 40 accountants under 40 in the nation and one of the top 50 cloud accountants in North America. While he's enjoyed bringing confidence and consistency to his clients, his true passions lie in three areas: faith, family and music. We learn how Tate went from employee (team) to employer (coach), and talk about the hardest, most difficult, but best decision Tate’s made so far and where he and Arc Business Management go from here. 1 All about Tate, mostly since the middle of the pandemic, anyway ... ***Shout out to Xero*** 2 Going straight for the steak – Tate’s firm’s pricing and biz models – specializing in serving music, entertainment, and professional sports 7 The communication non-gap 10 The model client for Tate’s firm 12 Why the athletes, influencers, and stars need financial assistance of the accounting kind 15 Relationship building by extracting deers from lakes ... 19 The Four Qs – gross revenue, employee count, gross margin, and year-end analysis 22 How did Tate make the jump? ***Shout out to Lorne Clark, and Polay, Clark, and  Co.*** 24 Rooms with elephants 26 The hardest, most difficult, best decision Tate made 29 Woulda-coulda-shouldas and other learning from starting a firm ***Shout out to Liz Mason*** 32 From coworker to boss – how it changes a relationship 35 Marketing Etiquette 101 – Permissions ***Shout out to Blake Griffin, XPAC, Edward Norton, Eric Church, Zach Galifianakis, Chris Farley*** 38 ARC’s big picture view ***Shout out to Richard Branson, Venus Williams, Paris Hilton*** 41 All about the best swag and the deductibility of breast implants ***Shout out to Chesty Love*** 44 Tate’s parting advice – bet on yourself, and keep your employees happy Find Tate here: Website: ARCmgmt.co Twitter: https://twitter.com/arcbusinessmgmt Tate’s personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/str8t814 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatehenshaw/

Accounting Conference Season 2022 is in full force, and our hosts are certainly well qualified in that arena, as of early June our hosts have been to a combined total of 18 different accounting conferences... aka partying  Thank you to our wonderful sponsor, LiveFlow, and get 20% off for 3 months with promo code SONS Check em out at liveflow.io/sons  Life is just one big party, if you approach it with style and grace…  Today we’re pleased to participate in this podcast with our pal Kenji Kuramoto in another plus version of NiksTips  Shout out to Ryan Lazanis and Heather Smith  There’s a silent majority of people out there that don’t particularly like conferences and we’re here to shine some light on the benefits of going to some of these events, especially with XeroCon 2022 on the horizon in NOLA  Shout out to Earmark and Blake Oliver Shout out to Shelly Lingor, Will Lopez, Jamie Shulman and Jamie McDonald Shout out to Amanda Aguillard and Dave Emmerman  NiksTips When you sign up for a conference create a “burner” email  Shout out to Josh Lance at Ignition and Twyla Verhelst at FreshBooks  Shout out to Justin Hatch at Reach Reporting and Will Lopez at Gusto and Scott Scharf and Patti Scharf, Keri Gohman, Steve Vamos, Matthew May, Nicole Davis, Jason Ackerman, Greg Kyte  Check out AccountingConferences.com shout out to David Leary  Thank you listeners for making it this far. We appreciate you.  Please leave us a review Apple Podcasts because 60% of you are listening on Apple. So please go on there and write something. And I promise you, I will read it. if you want Nikole to read it, she will, or if you want Kenji to read it, he'll come on another “Plus” one…and you can say any single thing you want. We will say it on air. (Only if you leave a five star, if you leave a four star review we’re going to leave a few words off)  Thank you listeners we love you.  And tap 5 stars if you’re on Spotify!

Episode 52 | Recorded January 24, 2022 thank you to our supporters this week! Amaka.com  On today’s episode, Scott and Zach tackle the tough subjects, such as staying sober, dressing up, touching knees, Mormon mentioning, subtle jabs, and more with the very special self-proclaimed cartoonist, MC, CPE presenter, standup comedian, comptroller, podcast host, fry-sauce connoisseur, and master of all thing CPE comedy Greg Kyte. *A little tongue-twisting talk on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, choirs, and context *On being the son of a wool-monger and grandson of a Boeing financial forecaster, and Greg’s angelic childhood demeanor *How Greg made it from middle-school math teacher to CPA by way of a summer job and standup *Resolving Scott’s need for attention... without chopsticks *About Greg’s work ethic, and integrity and what really drives him – the fear of failure *Living life as an ambivert *The art of cartooning *Greg’s history of podcasting *Pricing shaming *Investment strategy turned life plan: 85% security, 15% crapshoots *Barbells, Speedos, and tigers – oh my! *Freedom and Free CPE with Oh My Fraud! (Now with 11 episodes to hear!) *Fry sauce matters – two parts mayo, one part ketchup, catsup, or however you spell it where you live ... Check out Greg’s toons: https://www.instagram.com/exposuredrafts/ Listen to Oh My Fraud: https://ohmyfraud.com/ Talk to Greg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkyte/ Get your UT Fry Sauce merch here: https://utfrysauce.com/ A Thrivecast discussion on perfecting niches: https://thriveal.com/resources/podcast-episode/niches-bring-stitches-and-an-interview-with-jason-blumer/ The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable https://amzn.to/3NnMcf6 Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder https://amzn.to/3MfBGoV Shout out to that church with all the words, that choir that got renamed, that place that makes The Dude’s cardigan, Pendleton, The Journal of Accountancy, monkey bars, Oprah, Men at Work, The Police, all the children of the ‘80s, Gusto, teleprompters, Oh My Fraud!, Venn diagrams, Gary Larson, Scott Adams, Dilbert, Caleb Newquist, The Far Side, Going Concern, Rubik Yeriazarian and RuBook Creative, EY, Divvy, the law of attraction, Jason Blumer, Thrivecast, Tom Hood, Accounting Today, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Sam's No. 3

thank you to our supporters this week, Amaka, the gold standard in accounting automation and integrations, visit amaka.com Do you take on projects at your accounting firm? most accounting firms i talk to nowadays don't really want to take on projects... tbh, we're kind of scared of projects. Sometimes I'm so scared to price them. I'm scared that they're going to be the wrong project and take too much time. And then it's all everybody's talking about at the firm is this client with this big project and we're still not done with it, and it's been seven months... So let's define a project. when I say people don't want to take on projects, what am I referring to? I think of a project as something that is not going to be recurring or unlikely to be recurring.... So for example, someone comes to you and they want to sell their business and they need three or five years of financials recreate it and then possibly help them through due diligence. And then they're gone so huge spike in work, but potentially if you price it right, you can make a lot of money...

Episode 51 | Recorded January 24, 2022 In this episode, Jason and Scott are joined by Shane Mason, CPA/PFS, CFP®, CPWA® to talk about mustaches, method acting, and the mastery of the myriad letters behind his name. * The obsession with credentials * Shane’s accounting adventure – from education to letter collecting * Nish? Neetch? Nitching? Niched? (We still aren’t sure) * Moving from PwC to NY via sailboat * Racing towards a self-sustaining business * On being necessary * Why investment advising intimidates * Behavior = ROI * Sampling workflows – what worked, what didn’t * Pricing – how Brooklyn FI makes it work (hint: no tracking time) * Navigating the market crapshoot * One time on a podcast ... Shane met AJ * Why firing sucks but why it can be a necessity * On using LinkedIn Recruiter * Why Brooklyn FI fired clients * Scott says lead with your knees, no ... Niche! * The hard question – defining FI * Circling around the “Net” question * Tooth Fairy economics * Evaluating and managing PITA margins * Brooklyn FI’s build of equity compensation analysis software * Looking ahead * Shane’s advice – partner power Visit Shane here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanemasoncpacfp Check out The Liquidity Event podcast a listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-liquidity-event/id1576748996 Shout outs: Ole Miss, Clemson, Mississippi, faceless porn stars, Brooklyn FI, PwC Austin, Mason Tax, Jetpack Workflow, TaxDome, Karbon, Jason+, Ackerman+, Apple, Tate Henshaw, Palantir, Moneysplained, Lacerte, Charlotte, The Outsourced Accountant, Ignition, Traction, XY Planning Network, Ryan Lazanis, Future Firm, and all you other fabulous people we failed to mention!

thank you LiveFlow, visit liveflow.io/sons and get 20% off for 3 months with promo code SONS Niks breaks down perfectionism in an accounting firm... Perfectionism is often defined as the need to be or appear to be perfect, even to believe that it's possible to achieve perfection. It is typically viewed as a positive trait rather than a flaw. People may use the term healthy perfectionism to describe or justify perfectionist behavior. if you're a perfectionist, I don't think that you should run a business when I think of perfectionism, I also think of delegation because people who are perfectionists can't delegate, but I see you as the ultimate delegator because you basically have somebody else running your business I wouldn't call myself a perfectionist, but I'd like things done, right. If I know. If it doesn't get done, right. It's going to create problems later. I'm a big fan of a one-way workflow know your weaknesses, know your strengths. but then also, you know, while you're doing something always know that there's room for improvement and that you don't already have something that is perfect. Expect your systems to always need to be improved upon. this way you leave room for margin of error and for improvement

Episode 50 | Recorded January 21, 2022 Today, we’re talking about the Artist Formerly Known as π (PI) … Guy Pearson, CEO of Ignition, about all the personal and professional goings-on in his world – marriage, funding rounds, rebranding, moving, and achieving a puppy, and what's ahead for Ignition.   Visit Ignition: https://www.ignitionapp.com/  Connect with Guy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guypearson1/?originalSubdomain=au  What's on the menu:   Haircuts – or the lack thereof  Why the rebranding?  Anatomy of a firm – Karbon is the skeleton; Ignition is the heart; the blood is Xero and Gusto; the fingers are Digits; the eyes are LivePlan...  How Ignition helps firms move toward advisory  No more “P” swag ...  Ignition – The professional-services Airbnb  The Canadian component  Integrations – Xero, Gusto, Karbon, and more  GoProposal v. Ignition = More Feature Updates?  On being an extroverted introvert, and extroverted entrepreneur  Guy’s growing pains * No Fyre Festivals here!  All about the Series C, other funding rounds, and cleaning house  Uniforms of choice – Shorts, T-shirts, and Hawaiian shirts  The real reason for Ignition – People  Round pegs, square holes, and staying true  Annihilating scope creep and sticker shock  What Guy misses about running a firm  Reading: The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations https://amzn.to/39MfsNC  Shout out to Ignition, Michael Ly, Josh Lance, Blake Oliver, Talbot Sayer, John Lennon, Eddie Vedder, Ignition’s design and marketing teams, Gusto, Thomson Reuters, Intuit, Xero, Zapier, James Ashford, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, Tiger Global, EVP, LivePlan, Jirav and all who we appreciate but may have failed to mention here! 

BONUS to Season 2 Episode 17  Thanks to our sponsor, BooksTime! Visit bookstime.com/accountants We’ve got a bonus ep today – Happy One-Year-iversary to Sons of CPAs! Today, we’re going to review our firms to see what went right, wrong, or other, and what we’re going to change. this is the first solo "Scott + Ackerman" episode since Season 1 Episode 1 ... get ready for some time shits  * Defining our firms’ successes * Hard numbers for Scarano  * Scott’s fear of decisions and making them * Stepping away from the day-to-day * Being an artist trapped in an accountant’s body * When to prune the growth mindset * Jason is hesitantly happy with where his firm is at * The main focus is client service/satisfaction * Factoring opportunity costs – mundane tasks v. upping services * Hard numbers for Ackerman  * The cadence of meetings * The aftermath of COVID on firm culture * How BNA is encouraging non-mandatory team building * Jason’s personal goal is delegation * Processes for consistency rather than efficiency * Can people be managed? * Scott’s goal – Let it go Don’t forget to check out Earmark CPE (earmarkcpe.com) to get free CPE credit for listening to podcasts like this one! Shout Outs: Chris Leon, Matthew Meyer, and the rest of Scott's Padgett team, Jason’s Dad, Lorin, and the rest of Ackerman's BNA team, Xero, Ron Baker, Timeshits, LivePlan and anyone else we mentioned but forgot to mention here!

Episode 50 | Recorded January 17, 2022 this episode is sponsored by Xero. beautiful business. The Sons are honored and privileged to have THE Ron Baker on our podcast today. Scott can now drop his mic and slowly back away. Getting into the “spirit” of things, Ron talks about the real soul of enterprise, the spiritual v. physical, why timesheets are not useful, how Ron found his footing in the CPA world, and his grand unifying theory of everything. * The four defenses of timesheets – except for “The Lord doesn’t want me to throw them out ...” * CPAs are just historians with really shitty memories. * Better measures – turnaround time, keeping promises, HSDs, the NPS and value gaps * The three KPIs of every major airline in the world, except North Korea’s * Why Ron thinks airlines have gone too far with their nickel-and-diming * The awesomeness of being first in line * How CPA firms can be better pricers * How to replace timesheets * Flipping the script – measure the customer * Relationships aren’t efficient – they either grow or die * To be innovative is the antithesis of efficiency * The sin of running a firm at full capacity * The birth of fixed pricing c. 1989 * Scientism (not related to Scientology ...) * Why are futurists charlatans? * Refining your client-selection criteria * Riches are in the nitches, bitches! * Satisficing – the art of doing “good enough” * Next time – subscriptions! Check out Ron’s latest tome: Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms https://amzn.to/39Pfe8y Listen to The Soul of Enterprise - https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/ Shoutouts – Thomas Sowell, George Gilder, and “The Spirit of Enterprise,” Joshua Bell, Benjamin Franklin, Toyota, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Coincident indicators, FedEx, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Reginald Heber Smith, Google stuff, all of it, Kabuki, McDonald’s uniforms, Hydras, Socrates, Columbo, Paul Kennedy, and O'Byrne and Kennedy, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Pisenti & Brinker, Sparky, Ed Kless, Harvard Business Review, all the non-Zuckerberg, non-Bezos, and non-Branson types, Jody Padar, and everyone else we forgot to mention! Time Shits - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8RSBwSGlp8