Accounting High

Episode #29  Pricing Psychology 101: The Value Menu (feat. Mark Wickersham)  Recorded September 27, 2021  Mark Wickersham | Most Sought After Profit Improvement Expert, Value Pricing Expert, Professional Speaker, and Author 2 Portugal’s non-habitual resident's rules (NHR) scheme allowed Mark to save on 10 years of taxation 4 the COVID mindset shift that we may (or may not) have gone through 6 from one accident to another, Mark’s accidental entry into the accounting profession 14 what were the things you swore you wouldn’t do when you started your own accounting firm? 16 tell us about your pivot from running an accounting firm to consulting accounting firms? ***shout out to Steve Pipe, Paul Dunn, and Ron Baker*** 21 what were the biggest mistakes you made when you first started your accounting firm? 23 from pricing mistakes to hiring mistakes, to being obsessed with top-line over profit 25 when you compete on price you win poor quality clients 25 if you don’t give the price upfront then you can’t get paid upfront 29 before we go further with value pricing, how do you go about changing your firm to a fixed pricing model? if I change the price for my existing clients, will I lose them all? 30 the Pareto Principle and 20% 39 Value Pricing 2.0 40 the pricing journey and taking things one step at a time… 41 fixed pricing is all about having a process for assessing the scope 42 the things we do to add more value are often the easiest things to deliver 46 tell us about Effective Pricing 47 one of the most powerful principles of pricing psychology is anchoring 50 what’s the idea timeframe between an initial call and the pricing call? 52 What’s one piece of advice you would give to accountants today that are starting this pricing journey? #accounting #mindset Mark's Social Media Links LinkedIn:     https://www.linkedin.com/in/markwickersham1/ LinkedIn Author Page:  https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/markwickersham1 Twitter     https://twitter.com/wickersonabike YouTube:     https://www.youtube.com/user/Pricing4Accountants Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/markwickershamfca Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/mark_wickersham/

#NiksTips | The Future of Banking (feat. 👂 Blake Oliver, CPA, CPA and Nikole Mackenzie, CPA) Sons of CPAs Bonus to Episode #28 5 the difference between Relay Financial and Wells Fargo is Relay Financial lets you create as many checking accounts as you want, Wells Fargo opens them up without your consent 6 the pains and perceived costs of moving bank accounts is so high that we don’t do anything ***shout out to Caleb Newquist and Greg Kyte, CPA of the Oh My Fraud Podcast*** 9 for businesses that need to spin out different accounts really easily, that’s where the killer app is for Relay ***shout out to Mike Michalowicz and Profit First Professionals- It's your business. Shouldn't your profit come first?*** 11 if you worked with a small sub-set of contractors, or co-hosts, you could setup Relay accounts for them ***shout out to Jason Ackerman, CPA, CFP®, CGMA and TaxBandits*** 14 Business owners like rewards, how can Relay get them rewards? 15 Nikole Mackenzie, CPA’s Relay Wish List 18 a Simpsons and Twilight Zone break… 19 Niches and implementing new platforms at your firm… *** shout out to Xero***

Episode #28 Sam McCraw, CPA, MAC | Tax Director - CFO Timonier, Wealth Beyond Financial™ | Winston-Salem, NC Recorded  August 30, 2021  3 tell us about your dad, who retired at 48 years old…  4 tell us about being in the security forces for the US air force…  7 why did you go into accounting after leaving the air force?  14 tell us about the billing, marketing and service offerings at Timonier  ***shout out to our sponsor this week, Practice Ignition***  22 tell us about working as a tax analyst for Intuit…  30 the Xero v Intuit QuickBooks debate continues… but, not really  34 what would you say to a firm that’s thinking about adding wealth management?  35 it’s like adding a passive revenue stream to your accounting practice…  ***shout out to our sponsor this week, Reach Reporting***  39 when you started at Timonier, Wealth Beyond Financial™, what were the first things you changed?  40 A lesson on #ChangeManagement done right, from a fellow #ChangeAgent  42 how do you prioritize doing 230 tax returns, by yourself?  44 after the tech stack, what’s the next thing that you know you need to change?  46 getting a lot of self-actualization by maintaining a stand-alone CPA firm on the side, with the entrepreneurial spirit… so why not go out completely on your own?  47 as a sole tax practitioner, how do you get your training and do you have a support network?  49 what’s something you miss from being at Scott Scarano 🥶’s firm?  50 and another argument for tracking time at an accounting firm…  51 you’ve worked in all these different industries, give our listeners some advice if they’re going to go out on their own…

Please subscribe to the Sons of CPAs on your favorite podcast player, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts! #AccountingEvolutions | Future Change is Always Present (feat. Ian Vacin) BONUS to episode #27 Recorded Tuesday, November 16 @ Padgett FOCUS 2021 in Atlanta, GA - the epicenter of the tax epidemic Hello and welcome, we are all the Sons of CPAs, join us this week from the epicenter of the tax epidemic, with another special guest Ian Vacin recorded in person in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, November 16, 2021 ... today we're talking about the evolution of accounting, and it gets deep… here are some quotes from the episode how do we look introspectively and figure out how we're going to do things differently going forward? why would we impose change on ourselves or on our firm? California seems to have a lot of the change. Well, the change curve kind of starts there when it comes to tech and other things. How about tax? a lot of conversations I'm having start with, “I want to sell my practice”, OR “I want to buy books of business” the reason why we got where we were two years ago to where we are today was because of the backs of the accounting profession. Helping support psychologically, financially, all different efforts to be able to create the programs, to get people the support they needed. So we got to experience how much we, as accountants, have a lot more strength to withstand anything that could be thrown at us because we have a stoic mindset, we know that it could be worse. So my current present, I can choose and I have more power over the decisions. there's a lot out there that are looking to buy. So I think the frequency of buyers has increased because it's like a gold rush, they see the value... I think that the buyer's market can be a smaller firm and you can also play in that market. But if you do it, you better have gotten your house in order and the foundation needs to be there. You have to increase your margins. The problem has been consistent for the last 20 years. It's very hard to get talent. You're dealing with a situation where the talent growth has 0.4% - 0.6%. increased growth year over year on talent. I've noticed that too with my conversations are a lot different these days. it's a different, level of understanding on both parties. I've always had my head in the clouds, so to speak and that's been hard to relate. A lot of people have gone through another level of maturity, even at an older age, with different level of understanding and empathy. and people still let their egos get in the way…but that’s a story for another day, Cheers. Please subscribe to the Sons of CPAs on your favorite podcast player, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

Episode #27 Twyla Verhelst, CPA | Founder of Helm and Head of Accounting Community at FreshBooks and the founder of the Women in Accounting Hub - www.womeninaccounting.online Calgary, Alberta Canada Recorded September 7, 2021 ***shout out to our sponsor Tallyfor*** ***shout out to our sponsor Practice Ignition*** 2 outlets through COVID ***shout out to Acuity CFO Online Bookkeeping Accounting and Business Tax and Drink While You Think*** 6 USA vs Canada, the North American race to STOP using checks 9 Where Accounting and Technology collide… 11 Becoming a Software Entrepreneur Accountant… ***shout out to our sponsor Tallyfor*** 17 Twyla’s first Ethics/Integrity TEST 18 Starting, growing, and selling businesses… 19 The Birth of Helm | Cash Flow App… 20 The Birth of the Fresh Princess aka Head of Accounting Relationships at FreshBooks 25 Twyla, what’s your North Star? 27 Ackerman’s FreshBooks story ***shout out to Mike McDerment*** ***shout out to our sponsor Practice Ignition*** 33 FreshBooks was ahead of it’s time… in the cloud since 2003 35 There’s room for a 3rd player in the Cloud Accounting GL space… 41 Creating a client experience that your client can’t live without 46 Setting our clients up for success 48 Staying in your lane and widening the shoulders… 50 Why is there so much accounting tech coming straight outta Canada? 53 Stepping away from your firm and going deeper in the software biz to become closer to the Accounting Community 59 Give us one piece of advice to share with accounting firm owners… ***shout out to Kenji Kuramoto*** ***shout out to all women in accounting*** www.freshbooks.com/accountants

The Sons of CPAs Thanksgiving Special 2021 Thank You…Jason Ackerman Thank You…Liz Mason Thank You…Michael Ly Thank You…Zachary Call Thank You…Will Lopez Thank You…Jason Staats Thank You…Joshua Lance Thank You…Jeff Phillips Thank You…Marcus Mire Thank You…Donna Bordeaux Thank You…Nikole Mackenzie Thank You…Kenji Kuramoto Thank You…Dave Emmerman Thank You…Stephanie Holt Thank You…Blake Oliver Thank You…Lorilyn Wilson Thank You…Amanda Aguillard Thank You…Kathy Gregory Thank You…Kristen Keats Thank You…Ian Vacin Thank You…Brian Clare Thank You…Guy Pearson Thank You…Roger Harris Thank You…Chris Farrell Thank You…Dave Olsen Thank You…Nayo Carter-Gray Thank You…Twyla Verhelst Thank You…Samuel McCraw Thank You…Mark Wickersham Thank You…Yoseph West Thank You…Brannon Poe Thank You…Scott Scharf Thank You…Marissa Jones Thank You…Fady Hawatmeh Thank You…Peter Wen Thank You…Michael Kravshik Thank You…Daniel Gertrudes Thank You…John Garrett Thank You…Donnamarie Ryder Thank You…Rita Keller Thank You…Justin Hatch Thank You…Byron Patrick Thank You…Michael Eckstein Thank You…Dawn Brolin Thank You…Jody Grunden Thank You…Shane Mason Thank You…Greg Kyte Thank You…Tate Henshaw Thank You…Marie Phillips Thank You…Caleb Newquist Thank You… to all our sponsors and to all our listeners!!!! (Subscribe and leave us a review on Podcast…should you feel so inspired)

Hello and welcome, we are all the Sons of CPAs, join us this week with another special co-host, Marcus Mire, CPA recorded in person in Lafayette, Louisana on Friday, November 19, 2021 ... today we're talking about Change Management in an accounting firm, here are some takeaways: the pain of the present needs to be more powerful than the pain of change.  you have to be continually reminded of that big picture reverting back to the comfort of what's familiar don't make any changes in a cavalier way what is your intended outcome of the change and be very clear on that...is it time? Is it money? Is it freedom? Is it growth? you might have to backpedal, you might have to start back at square one sunk costs are the enemy in a world where our minds change over time to make change happen, you got to champion it accept the reality of change and move on Things are going to change around you and you've got no control over that. That's where you got to pivot your current mindset and shift. And th that's another story for another day...Cheers  

Episode #26 ❤️🖤💚Nayo Carter-Gray, EA MBA  | Founder of 1st Step Accounting Baltimore, MD Recorded August 30, 2021 6 Does the CPA matter to clients anymore? 9 from the summer job in high school to filing your own taxes and getting refunds #SideHustleStories… Nayo - High School doing friends 1040-EZ in high school for $25 a pop Scott - High School selling CDs for $25 a pop Scott - Middle School doing friends book reports for $10 a pop Nayo - MaryKay to Slumber Parties, adult toys and lingerie for ladies… 12 getting an MBA in IT and passions for cyber security ***shout out to LastPass and Cashapp*** 14 Internship at a black accounting firm in Baltimore during college 15 Healthcare accounting for 10 years ***shout out to Shoeboxed and Square*** 15 Paperless from the jump 16 A Side Hustle is A Side Effect of growing up, not too rich… 17 multilevel marketing aka mini-franchises 21 the strategies of selling sex toys and making $750 an hour 22 to run a successful business you need to make sure you have scalable processes… ***shout out to 1st Step Accounting: We make Accounting a little less Taxing for Small Business Owners*** 23 breaking down complex topics into simplified processes and formulas 24 Do you have any employees at 1st Step Accounting? ***shout out to InboxDone.com*** 24 Outsourcing Email 25 How do you keep all the multiple hats of running a business on your head? ***shout out to the Passion Planner and Nifty and the Pomodo Technique*** 26 TimeBlock and STOP trying to multitask, because it doesn’t work ***shout out to our sponsor Reach Reporting*** 27 What Makes your firm different from other firms? ***shout out to Cognito Forms*** 28 Where do you feel you’re at with 1st Step in your journey? 38 tell us a little bit about Steps to Success… ***shout out to Intuit QuickBooks and Xero*** ***shout out to Amanda Aguillard CPA CISD and Cathy Iconis, CPA*** 41 QuickBooks vs Xero is also Blue vs Green… speaking of colors…let’s talk diversity in accounting… 44 The first Intuit Black Accountants Meetup of 2019 45 It Starts with a Voice then you become The Hero 47 Unfortunately, it might take a generation “melting away” before we see some real change… 48 Take an internal bias test… once you understand who you are and what makes you tick, then you can really understand how you show up in the world 54 What are some of the barriers for black accountants to become licensed CPAs? 56 working hard and putting yourself through college as a teen mom 59 what’s the biggest piece of advice you can give other accountants? ***shout out to our sponsor Practice Ignition***

Episode #25 Determined. Agile. Vision. Evolve. (feat. Dave Olsen, CPA) recorded 8/23/2021 Dave Olsen, CPA | CEO Nimbl & Nimbl Staffing South Jordan, UT 2 from Brigham Young University accounting to information systems to programming to EY 5 the CFO of a 5 person startup isn’t a full-time job 7 Are you a multitasker or an entrepreneur? 9 from India to the Philippines in 2012… ***shout out to Cathy Tio at Nimbl Staffing*** 10 Putting your business pants on in 2017… ***shout out to Patti Scharf, CPA*** 13 The birth of Tanalytics… the death of Tanalytics… ***shout out to Jason Staats, CPA, MBA*** 15 Where did the name Nimbl come from? 18 Your brand should be a reflection of you…according to Scott Scarano 🥶 ***shout out to our sponsor Practice Ignition*** 21 What brings you the most joy? 23 Reverse engineering, kinda like our friends at Acuity CFO Online Bookkeeping Accounting and Business Tax? ***shout out to Matthew May & Kenji Kuramoto*** 24 To Scale by leveraging your own experiences through your team ***Get your Nimbl Staffing on today at Nimblstaffing.com*** 25 Rebranding, a worthy $10k investment! ***shout out to Reed Hill*** 27 Let’s hear about your app-stack… ***shout out to Intuit QuickBooks, Xero, Gusto, Bill.com, Asana, Front*** 29 Let’s talk about A World Without Email, and our buddy Cal Newport… 30 Let’s teach our clients how to work with us…from the start 31 Two hour response times… YIKES!! ***shout out to Jason Fried at Basecamp*** 36 Is your tech-stack scalable? Will it still work if you double or triple in size? ***shout out to our sponsor Reach Reporting*** 39 So Dave, what does the future hold for Dave Olsen and Nimbl? 40 CFO work and building financials models in Google Sheets vs any platforms… 42 Dave’s current focus: Growth and Scaling and Team Training ***shout out to Kenji Kuramoto & Matthew May, again*** ***shout out to Scott’s mom, he’s trying not to curse now*** 46 Zachary’s philosophy: Hire with your gut, fire quickly. 47 Let’s talk about the Book of Mormon… and the great outdoors of Utah 51 Living and working through COVID ***shout out to Amanda Aguillard CPA CISD & ▪David Leary▪*** ***shout out to Bronco Mendenhall***

Hello and welcome. We are all the Sons of CPAs. Join us with this week's #20minLy or Sons of CPAs Bonus episodes where Michael Ly and Scott Scarano discuss some choice topics on running their respective modern accounting firms. Today's Topic: Losing key employees that your team loves, and techniques or ways of planning for and grieving for lost employees in general...