Why Accounting Firm Owners Burn Out (And How to Fix It with Better Operations)
Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals
Release Date: 03/10/2026
The M&A Shift Toward Adjusted EBITDA Margins
Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals
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...
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The EOS Lite Framework for Growing a Remote Firm
Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals
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...
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Why Accounting Firm Owners Burn Out (And How to Fix It with Better Operations)
Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals
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 .
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Why Talent Is the Real Growth Constraint for Accounting Firms: Insights from Jennifer Wilson
Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals
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 to learn more.
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GYF Summit: Future of Professional Roundtable
Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals
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.
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How Matt Gardner Scaled a Niche Accounting Firm Without Chasing Referrals
Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals
Matt Gardner scaled Hiline by moving beyond referral-only growth and building systems designed to scale. By niching down, investing ahead of demand, restructuring sales roles, and embracing automation and technology, Hiline created a predictable growth engine that does not rely on founder hustle. Scaling an accounting firm beyond referrals is one of the hardest challenges firm owners face. In this episode of Growing Your Firm, Matt Gardner shares how Hiline grew by niching down, investing ahead of growth, and building a real go-to-market engine instead of relying on referrals or founder...
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Fixing Turnover and Capacity Problems Inside Growing Accounting Firms with Erin Daiber
Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals
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
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How William Hamilton Breaks Down Pricing, Packaging, and Value for Accounting Firms
Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals
On an episode of the , David Cristello spoke with , founder of , about why pricing problems often sit underneath many operational issues firms experience. William has spent more than a decade studying how accounting firms price services and where those models tend to break down. Rather than focusing on theory, the conversation centered on how firms can think more clearly about pricing, packaging, and value in real client situations.
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How Justine Lackey Turned a Focused Bookkeeping Firm Into a Successful Exit
Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals
built a sellable firm by staying hyper focused on one service, one platform, recurring revenue, documented systems, and ethical leadership. Long before selling in 2023, her firm was structured to operate independently, making the transition successful for clients, employees, and buyers. Key Takeaways Focused service offerings help firms stand out in M&A discussions Recurring prepaid revenue improves cash flow stability Standardized systems support smoother transitions Ethical leadership enables better client and team outcomes during exits Reducing owner...
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AI Tools That Help Accounting Firms Scale Faster: Insights from Anderson Petergeorge
Growing Your Firm | Strategies for Accountants, CPA's, Bookkeepers , and Tax Professionals
, co-founder of , explains how accounting firms can scale from startup to multi-million-dollar operations by using ChatGPT, meeting transcript tools, and modern ledgers. He argues that AI will not replace accountants but empower them to work faster, smarter, and more human. Key Takeaways Firms can reach $1M in revenue using basic AI tools like ChatGPT and meeting note automation. ChatGPT can write its own prompts and streamline advisory workflows. Meeting transcripts are valuable data for training staff and personalizing client experiences. Post-$1M, automation shifts toward...
info_outlineBurnout 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.