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

Are you past the basic "ChatGPT as a search engine" phase, but wondering what practical, high-impact AI implementations actually look like in an accounting practice? In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host David Cristello welcomes back Isaac Perdomo, founder of Opzer, an automation agency dedicated to helping accounting firms implement AI safely and effectively. Isaac cuts through the noise to demo real-world AI applications that save hours on routine compliance, cleanup, and quality control workflows. Whether you are a Managing Partner wanting to protect firm capacity, an Operations Manager building better systems, or a CPA starting a firm, this episode breaks down what is genuinely working in AI right now. In this episode, we explore: The Evolution of Browser Automation: How new models like Claude Opus and GPT are finally making browser-level automations reliable for legacy portals and systems without native APIs. Security & Risk Boundaries: Why browser automation should be kept on read-only permissions and where human supervision is non-negotiable (e.g., bank transfers, payroll, and fund movements). Automating Big Catch-Up & Cleanup Work: How modern AI handles transaction categorization across years of bank statements and charts of accounts in an afternoon instead of months. De-Scaling the Review Process: Using Claude to create pre-review layers where junior staff catch critical errors before deliverables reach senior partners. Live Demo: The Claude Tax Review Skill: How Opzer uses pre-packaged Claude Skills and Artifacts to scan tax returns, highlight mismatching data (like state codes vs. zip codes), and surface critical discrepancies side-by-side. AI Video Editing & Social Media: How dropping raw footage into Claude can generate edited, captioned client case study clips in under an hour. Key Takeaways & Frameworks: Focus on High-Volume Bottlenecks: Don't implement AI for the sake of novelty; map your firm's most repetitive, time-draining processes and start there. Systems of Record vs. Micro-Tools: Why core practice management platforms remain essential while general-purpose models like Claude continue to absorb niche point solutions. Pre-Packaged Skills: Developing reusable internal skills to standardize quality control across bookkeeping and tax returns.   Featured Guest: Isaac Perdomo  

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    

What if the secret to building a highly scalable, multi-million dollar practice isn't just growing an accounting firm, but surrounding it with banking, legal, wealth management, and insurance services? In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host David Cristello sits down with Tobby Kommer, CEO of Haga Kommer and President of Aspire Bank and Aspire Insurance. Tobby brings a unique background from the banking and M&A sectors, rather than traditional public accounting, allowing him to rethink the entire accounting firm business model. Over the last decade, Tobby has led over 35 acquisitions of CPA firms, growing his practice from a 12-person team to over 250 employees across 15 locations. He shares his exact framework for running an acquisitive firm, restructuring partner and staff compensation around production instead of billable hours, and preparing his company for a 100% Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) transition. In this episode, we explore: The Integrated One-Stop Shop: Why bringing banking, legal, wealth management, insurance, and CPA services under one umbrella creates the ultimate client retention engine. The CPA as the "Center of the Universe": Why Tobby originally thought banking would lead the client relationship—and why CPAs actually hold far more client trust. Acquiring 5 to 8 CPA Firms Annually: How Haga Kommer positions itself as the "acquirer of choice" for 1M–2M firms looking for an alternative to private equity. Replacing Billable Hours with Production Pay: How Tobby structures salary increases and trimester reviews based on output rather than time logged. Eliminating Firm Hierarchy: Why Haga Kommer dropped traditional titles (Associate, Senior, Manager, Partner) in favor of transparent, production-based compensation. The Internal Leadership Academy: How Tobby uses quarterly 2-day offsites, book reviews (like The Five Dysfunctions of a Team), and sports documentary studies (like The Last Dance) to train emerging leaders. Transitioning to an ESOP: Why Tobby is transitioning his 100% single-owner equity model into an employee-owned firm. Key Metrics & Operational Frameworks: Scale Benchmark: 250+ employees across 15 offices, with a target client size of $10M and under in revenue. Office Structure: Hub-and-spoke model keeping individual locations small and personal (10–20 employees) with back-office corporate support. Culture Alignment: Open P&Ls shared down to administrative assistants to align performance with overall firm health. Featured Guest: Toby Kommer  

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 you feeling overwhelmed by the endless wave of AI tools, new models, and vendor hype? Many accounting firm owners, managing partners, and CPAs starting firms know that AI is reshaping the industry, but they don't know where to actually start without getting lost in the noise. In this episode of Growing Your Firm, host David Cristello sits down with Preston Cardwell, founder of Memorial Ridge. As a CPA-led AI and automation partner, Preston helps small-to-midsize accounting firms (10–30 employees) map their processes, train staff on practical AI applications, and implement high-impact workflows. Preston breaks down why most firm leaders overcomplicate AI, the top high-yield use cases to implement first, and the truth behind the lie that "AI won't replace accountants." In this episode, we explore: Where to Start with AI: Why every AI implementation must begin with process mapping and a tech stack audit. High-Yield Use Cases: Solving common operational pain points across client communication, inbox management, and document intake. Cutting Through the AI Noise: Why mastering core tools like Claude CoWork or Microsoft CoPilot gets firms 98% of the value without endless shiny object syndrome. The Hiring Shift Reality: Why AI will change hiring cycles, job titles, and output expectations for new grads and senior staff. Overcoming Adoption Bottlenecks: How to cultivate "AI Champions" in your firm to build agents and lead change management. The Future Operating System for Accountants: How AI models are becoming the central data operating system for firm advisory and client insights. Key Takeaways & AI Tools Mentioned: Primary AI Platforms: Claude CoWork, OpenAI Codec/ChatGPT, and Microsoft CoPilot. Process Mapping First: Focus on automating repetitive administrative tasks (document collection, follow-ups, draft emails) to free up advisory capacity. Data Integration: Consolidating client communication into single-source AI layers.   Featured Guest: Preston Cardwell #accounting #accountingfirm #firmgrowth #accountingworkflow