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This is a fan favorite replay, and if you missed it the first time, now's your chance. I sat down with Ashley Ford of Pretty Penny Accounting, who works specifically with women-owned and creative businesses, and this conversation answers nearly every financial question I had when I started my art business. We walk through the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant, when it's actually time to hire one, what artists can legitimately write off, why you need a separate business bank account sooner than you think, and how to make sense of sales tax, 1099s, and quarterly estimated payments without losing your mind. Ashley also reframes budgeting as a spending plan instead of a restriction, which might change how you think about your own money. We close out with listener questions, covering how much cash to keep on hand, what to do when your revenue grows but your profit doesn't, and the easiest way to stay on top of your books if bookkeeping is your least favorite task. Find Ashley at heyprettypenny.com and on Instagram @prettypennyaccounting. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
AI agents are going rogue — deleting bookings, sending unauthorized emails, and lying about it — and Blake and David trace the trend into the $3 trillion of off-balance-sheet AI commitments hiding in Big Tech's footnotes (and why accountants will get blamed when the bubble pops). They also recap what stood out at XeroCon 2026. Then Hoover Institution fellow Ben Jaros runs the real numbers on California's Prop 40 billionaire wealth tax — why the $100 billion estimate is closer to $40 billion, and whether taxing 200 people is even constitutional.SponsorsCanopy - http://accountingpodcast.promo/canopyThomson Reuters - http://accountingpodcast.promo/taxautomationOnPay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/onpayCloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/casChapters(00:00) - Welcome to The Accounting Podcast (03:00) - Rogue AI Agents Gone Wild (07:53) - Controlling Agent Permissions (12:08) - Microsoft AI Receivables Surge (14:49) - Three Trillion Off Book Commitments (17:09) - Meta Hyperion Lease Loopholes (21:33) - Bubble Risk and Circular Financing (28:24) - XeroCon Highlights and AI Agents (32:21) - Bank Reconciliation and Roadmap Gripes (34:10) - Conference Vaporware Rant (34:37) - Billionaire Tax Preview (36:33) - Prop 40 Basics (38:40) - Revenue Reality Check (42:44) - Residency Cutoff Drama (45:01) - Wealth Tax vs Income Tax (45:52) - One Time Or Not (46:34) - Healthcare Backfill Claims (51:42) - Better Ways To Tax (55:23) - Constitutional Challenges (58:01) - Why Voters Oppose It (01:02:09) - Trial Balloon And Wrap Up Show NotesComing soon!Need CPE?Get CPE for listening to podcasts with Earmark: https://earmarkcpe.comSubscribe to the Earmark Podcast: https://podcast.earmarkcpe.comGet in TouchThanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.SponsorshipsAre you interested in sponsoring The Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.Need Accounting Conference Info? Check out our new website - accountingconferences.comLimited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessitiesTeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merchSubscribeApple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcastsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAccountingPodcastSpotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/SpotifyPodchaser: http://cloudacctpod.link/podchaserStitcher: http://cloudacctpod.link/StitcherOvercast: http://cloudacctpod.link/OvercastClassifieds Flowglad - https://cal.com/team/flowglad/flowgladFearless Foundry - www.advisoryamplified.comExpense Bot - https://www.expensebot.ai/accountantProfitRoot - https://tryprofitroot.com/Want to get the word out about your newsletter, webinar, party, Facebook group, podcast, e-book, job posting, or that fancy Excel macro you just created? Let the listeners of The Accounting Podcast know by running a classified ad. Go here to create your classified ad: https://cloudacctpod.link/RunClassifiedAdTranscriptsThe full transcript for this episode is available by clicking on the Transcript tab at the top of this page
See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → If you've been watching the AI wave roll in and wondering what it means for your bookkeeping practice, this episode is for you. Alex Lee, co-founder and CEO of Truewind, brings a clear-eyed perspective grounded in three and a half years of building AI tools specifically for accountants. His message is direct: the future of accounting has always been about you, and that isn't changing. Chapters [00:00] Opening: Fear and Opportunity [01:18] Alex Lee's Unlikely Path to AI [04:18] The Future Is Still You [08:00] Will AI Replace Bookkeepers? [12:00] Crawl, Walk, Run: Getting Started [16:30] AI Adoption Across the Profession [19:30] Data Privacy and Security Checklist [24:00] Vision for Accounting's Future [27:00] About Truewind The Work That Has Always Mattered Alex draws a useful historical line — from carving debits and credits in limestone, to paper ledgers, to file cabinets, to cloud software, and now AI. "I see AI as the next iteration of technology that may shape how accountants are doing the work," he says. "But ultimately, the work of the accountants is the same." What AI does is create space for bookkeepers to spend more time on the things that are genuinely hard to automate: being a trusted advisor, being a real business partner, and — as Alex puts it — shaking hands and looking someone in the eye. Those things don't disappear no matter how good the models get. The Spreadsheet Comparison Worth Remembering When the fear of replacement comes up — and it does — Alex points to a pattern that has played out before. When spreadsheets arrived, people predicted mass job losses in accounting. Instead, the profession grew. Some small business owners did start managing their own five-line chart of accounts, and some will use AI to handle basic recordkeeping themselves. But that's not your client. "As accountants, it puts you in a very unique position to elevate yourself in terms of your AI skills and demonstrate to businesses, I know how to use this tool exceptionally well." The expertise gap has always been the value. AI doesn't close that gap — it widens it in your favor if you lean in. A Crawl, Walk, Run Framework for Getting Started Alex is practical about adoption. Start by picking one AI tool you've already heard of — maybe tried once — and use it for everyday tasks: drafting a client email, writing a performance review, planning a trip. Get comfortable at that level before adding complexity. Walking looks like connecting your AI to your Slack, email, or call recordings and asking it to synthesize information — summarizing client pain points before a proposal, for example. Running is letting AI handle a meaningful portion of your day-to-day operations. "Just get started," Alex says. "Over time, get more sophisticated, and then over time, let it be the primary operating system for you." Handling Data Privacy the Right Way Financial data demands careful handling, and Alex doesn't gloss over it. His checklist for vetting any AI vendor: confirm they are SOC 2 Type 2 compliant with a reputable auditor (not a quick rubber-stamp), verify that data privacy agreements exist between your vendor and the underlying model providers like OpenAI or Anthropic, and look for a genuine philosophy of data protection — not just a claim on a website. For teams that are still nervous about connecting client data to AI tools, his advice mirrors the crawl-walk-run approach: start by using AI internally with your own team's Slack and shared drives. Build confidence there before expanding to client-facing workflows. A Bigger Demand for Accountants Is Coming Alex's outlook for the next one to five years is genuinely optimistic. He sees AI acting as a catalyst for what he calls a "Cambrian explosion of demand for accounting." As business models shift from billable hours toward fixed-fee engagements and technology enables firms to handle more clients with the same headcount, he expects more businesses — not fewer — to seek out qualified accounting professionals. "Accountants can get more done with less, driving an influx of demand for what accounting firms can provide." The firms positioning themselves now, building AI literacy and deepening client relationships, are the ones that will be ready to capture that demand. Links Mentioned Truewind — Alex's AI-powered accounting platform The Successful Bookkeeper — show resources and guest information PureBookkeeping — episode sponsor, proven system to grow your bookkeeping business About the Guest Alex Lee is the co-founder and CEO of Truewind, an AI-powered accounting platform built for accounting firms and corporate finance teams. Before founding Truewind, Alex worked as an aerospace engineer at Boeing, spent time in venture capital, and built a financial planning and analysis company. Truewind launched in the same month as ChatGPT and has spent the past three and a half years building what Alex describes as an "agentic workspace" for accountants — integrating with QuickBooks Online, Sage Intacct, and NetSuite to help teams cut close time by 30 to 50%. You can reach Alex directly on LinkedIn or learn more at truewind.ai. About the hostMichael PalmerMichael Palmer is the host of The Successful Bookkeeper podcast and co-founder of Pure Bookkeeping and The Successful Bookkeeper. He started this work because of his father — a brilliant electrical contractor who worked twice as hard as he should have had to, because nobody on the financial side was in his corner. That gap is what The Successful Bookkeeper exists to close. His view: bookkeepers are the most undervalued force in small business — and every bookkeeper who builds a real business changes two families: theirs, and their clients'.
If you've ever sat at the kitchen table staring at a pile of bills, wondering how hard you're working and still feeling behind, Krista McLellan knows exactly how that feels. Widowed and raising children on her own, she rebuilt her life by learning how money really works—and now she helps others do the same. Krista is the founder of E&M Bookkeeping Solutions, an author, speaker, and Elite QuickBooks ProAdvisor who helps entrepreneurs stop fearing their finances and start understanding them. Known for her motto, "Ignorance isn't bliss, it's expensive," Krista teaches people how to take control of their money, build confidence, and create financial freedom. Visit embookkeeping.com/ where you can also get her free money guide. Follow @embookkeepingsolutions & E&M Bookkeeping Solutions Romani crushes this episode are Krista's friend Anne's mother Ulla Gronfors and Anne's sister Paivi Majaniemi, of Helsinksi, Findland. Visit the Finnish Romani AssociationThank you for listening to Romanistan podcast. Please subscribe, rate, + review, + share with your friends! Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @romanistanpodcast. Subscribe to our Patreon to join the conversation and our private community for just $5 a month. Or donate any amount to Ko-fi.com/romanistan. We depend on your support to keep going. You can book readings and events and take workshops with Jez at jezminavonthiele.com, and book readings and holistic healing sessions with Paulina at romaniholistic.com. Follow Jez on Instagram @jezmina.vonthiele & Paulina @romaniholistic. Get our book Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling wherever books are sold. If you love it, write us a review. Visit us at romanistanpodcast.com and email us at romanistanpodcast@gmail.com for inquiries. Romanistan is hosted by Jezmina Von Thiele and Paulina StevensConceived of by Paulina StevensEdited by Dia LunaMusic by Viktor PachasArtwork by Elijah VardoSupport the show
Want to Start or Grow a Successful Business? Schedule a FREE 13-Point Assessment with Clay Clark Today At: www.ThrivetimeShow.com Join Clay Clark's Thrivetime Show Business Workshop!!! Learn Branding, Marketing, SEO, Sales, Workflow Design, Accounting & More. **Request Tickets & See Testimonials At: www.ThrivetimeShow.com **Request Tickets Via Text At (918) 851-0102 See the Thousands of Success Stories and Millionaires That Clay Clark Has Helped to Produce HERE: https://www.thrivetimeshow.com/testimonials/ Download A Millionaire's Guide to Become Sustainably Rich: A Step-by-Step Guide to Become a Successful Money-Generating and Time-Freedom Creating Business HERE: www.ThrivetimeShow.com/Millionaire See Thousands of Case Studies Today HERE: www.thrivetimeshow.com/does-it-work/
See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Nancy Benet, CPA, fractional CFO, and founder of Fix It Accounting, joins Michael Palmer for a conversation that is equal parts hard-won life lessons and practical bookkeeping wisdom. If you work with small business owners — or you are one — this episode will give you a sharper eye for the financial warning signs that show up long before a crisis does. Chapters [00:00] Nancy's Origin Story Begins [02:28] Five Failed Businesses, $650K in Debt [06:08] Robbing Business Cash Flow [08:40] Opening Up and Taking Responsibility [12:28] Hiring Before You're Ready [15:30] Hidden Costs of a New Hire [18:00] Building the Firm From Scratch [22:00] Advisory Work and a $600K Win [24:30] Finding Clients Today [27:00] Using AI With Clients From Rock Bottom to Running a Firm Nancy's path to accounting was anything but straight. After leaving a CPA firm, failing at five businesses with her husband, and waking up at 45 with four children, no income, and $650,000 in debt, she had no obvious next step. What she did have was her CPA license and a willingness to start over. She landed a lease on a building the day before her intended business deal fell apart, and instead of walking away, she decided to fill that space herself. "I think that was probably the moment in my life when I stopped being a victim and I started taking responsibility," she says. That shift — from blame to ownership — gave her the confidence to hustle her way to a real client base. The Hidden Cost of Robbing Business Cash One of the most common mistakes Nancy sees — and lived herself — is pulling cash out of the business too early to fund a lifestyle the business hasn't earned yet. Big houses, expensive vehicles, family payroll that isn't justified by revenue: the money leaks out gradually and owners are often blindsided. Her advice is direct: keep three to six months of business expenses in the bank at all times, and live below your means in the early years. "That is what leads to problems later on," she says. "You just don't realize." Fix the Systems Before You Hire When clients come to Nancy wanting to add staff, her first question is whether they've made their existing operation as efficient as possible. Hiring looks like growth, but without the cash or the systems to support it, it just accelerates the leak. She walks clients through the full cost picture — not just salary, but holiday pay, absenteeism, the time spent fixing errors, and a training curve that can stretch a full year even for experienced hires. "A lot of newer businesses are not efficient at all," she says. "How can we address your systems first before you go into hiring, especially if you can't afford it?" When Clients Won't Listen — and What to Do Bookkeepers and accountants often see red flags that clients aren't ready to act on. Nancy is candid about the limits of what advisors can control: you can raise the concern, frame it carefully, and ask if they're open to a conversation, but you can't force a decision. What you can do is stay consistent and keep the door open. The clients who are willing to be guided, she finds, are also the ones most likely to grow — and to ask for the deeper advisory work that makes the relationship genuinely valuable. Building Advisory Services and Using AI Nancy started offering CFO-style work after a quick conversation with a client helped him decide to buy two pieces of equipment instead of paying off a loan — a choice that increased his net income by $600,000 the following year. That moment convinced her the advisory layer was worth building intentionally. On the technology front, her firm now uses a private AI instance to compare monthly financials year-over-year, then distills the output down to three bullet points for clients. "The client can't comprehend" a long analysis, she notes, so keeping it tight opens the door to a deeper conversation rather than closing it. Links mentioned Fix It Accounting — Nancy Benet's CPA and fractional CFO firm CareerSource — free hiring and skills-testing resource for business owners (search your state's local CareerSource office) Pure Bookkeeping — episode sponsor The Successful Bookkeeper — show resources and guest information About the guest Nancy Benet is a CPA, fractional CFO, and the founder of Fix It Accounting, based in Florida. She built her firm from the ground up after overcoming significant personal and financial setbacks, starting with IRS problem resolution and growing into a full-service accounting, bookkeeping, and business advisory practice. Nancy works with small business owners to help them understand their numbers, make smarter financial decisions, and build businesses that actually support the life they want. About the hostMichael PalmerMichael Palmer is the host of The Successful Bookkeeper podcast and co-founder of Pure Bookkeeping and The Successful Bookkeeper. He started this work because of his father — a brilliant electrical contractor who worked twice as hard as he should have had to, because nobody on the financial side was in his corner. That gap is what The Successful Bookkeeper exists to close. His view: bookkeepers are the most undervalued force in small business — and every bookkeeper who builds a real business changes two families: theirs, and their clients'.
You can be doing your numbers, using software, even paying someone to handle your books and still be quietly cutting the one corner that keeps it from actually working for you. This episode walks through the three ways heart-centered entrepreneurs convince themselves their bookkeeping is handled when it's not, and why "I'm not a numbers person" is fear talking, not fact. For anyone who's been avoiding their books and telling themselves it's not that big a deal yet.Cashflow Calculator: https://aimeecerka.com/cashflowFor the full transcript and all links mentioned, see the blog post: https://aimeecerka.com/265Ready To Take Action: https://aimeecerka.com/podcastlinks
Join the Millionaire University AI Mastermind at MillionaireUniversity.com/AI #1028 Bookkeeping might feel like an industry “at risk” in the age of AI — but according to returning guest Kate Johnson, it's actually positioned for major growth! In this episode hosted by Kirsten Tyrrel, Kate shares how the accounting landscape is evolving, why AI-enabled bookkeepers will thrive, and how to ethically use new tools to speed up workflows and deliver higher-value insights. She also highlights the rising demand for fractional bookkeeping and CFO-style support, the opportunity in emerging software, and why storytelling, advisory skills, and strong financial fundamentals will keep human bookkeepers indispensable for years to come! (Original Air Date - 12/2/25) What we discuss with Kate: + AI's impact on bookkeeping + Security concerns with financial data + Hourly vs. project-based pricing + Using AI for notes and summaries + Automating client intake workflows + Emerging accounting software options + Value of human context and storytelling + Transitioning to fractional roles + Expanding into CFO-level advisory + Niching down with specific software Thank you, Kate! Use code MU for 50% off the Bookkeeping Side Hustle Guidebook. Join the Bookkeeping Side Hustle Facebook Group. Follow Kate on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Follow Kate on Substack. Watch the video podcast of this episode! Get your FREE 5 Minute Business Plan at MillionaireUniversity.com/Plan To get exclusive offers mentioned in this episode and to support the show, visit MillionaireUniversity.com/Sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Side hustle tax questions often start small. You sell clothes on Vinted, list items on eBay, rent a room through Airbnb, freelance online, create content, or take on local work. Money comes in, and the business problem becomes simple: do you need to tell HMRC, and does the £1,000 trading allowance apply? This episode helps side hustlers, online sellers, freelancers and people with occasional trading income understand the difference between tax, reporting, records and platform data before assumptions create stress. About this episode Extra income is easier to earn than ever. You might sell unwanted items online, rent out accommodation, deliver food, drive passengers, create content, offer freelance services, or provide local help such as gardening. What starts as a hobby or occasional activity can gradually become regular income. That is when the tax questions begin. HMRC is not especially interested in what you call the activity. The important question is whether there is taxable income and whether reporting is required. We look at side hustles, online selling, the trading allowance, HMRC reporting, digital platform data, personal possessions, business records, and why headlines about a future £3,000 reporting threshold need to be understood carefully. Why this matters Many people assume that small amounts of online or side hustle income do not matter. Others assume that if a platform reports information to HMRC, tax is automatically due. Both assumptions can be wrong. The key is understanding the difference between trading income, personal items, reporting thresholds, tax thresholds and records. If you know where you stand, you can make better decisions, avoid unnecessary panic and reduce the risk of missing something important. This is also part of a wider HMRC shift towards digital information and online platform reporting. Our episode on HMRC's Invisible Crackdown: What Business Owners Need to Know is a useful follow-on if you want to understand how HMRC uses data and records. Key points from this episode Side hustle income can take many forms Side hustle income is not limited to one type of work. It can include online selling, freelance work, delivery income, driving, content creation, renting out space, hiring out equipment, local services, or occasional trading. The label does not decide the tax position. Calling something a hobby, side hustle, part-time activity or occasional income does not automatically take it outside HMRC's interest. If the activity creates taxable income, the tax question needs to be considered. The £3,000 proposal is not a new tax-free allowance There has been confusion around government plans to increase the Self Assessment reporting threshold for trading income. The proposal is to raise the reporting threshold to £3,000 during the current parliament. That does not mean the trading allowance is increasing to £3,000. The trading allowance remains £1,000. That distinction matters. Less paperwork does not automatically mean less tax. Under future rules, some people may have a simpler way to report income, but tax could still be due depending on the facts. “Just because less paperwork is required, it doesn't automatically mean less tax is payable.” What is the trading allowance? The trading allowance gives individuals up to £1,000 of trading income each tax year. If your gross trading income is £1,000 or less, and there are no other reporting obligations, that may be the end of the matter. Once income moves beyond that level, we need to look more carefully at reporting, taxable profit, expenses and whether the allowance is the best option. For a broader foundation on self-employed tax, registration, expenses and record keeping, our episode on Tax basics for self employed: What You Need to Know gives a useful next step. How to calculate taxable profit When income exceeds the trading allowance, there are generally two ways to calculate taxable profit. The first is the traditional profit calculation method. You take your income, subtract allowable business expenses, and the remaining amount is your profit. The second is to claim the £1,000 trading allowance instead of actual expenses. This is known as partial relief. You deduct £1,000 from your trading income, but you do not also claim your actual expenses. Which method is better depends on the numbers. If your side hustle income is £5,000 and your expenses are £400, the trading allowance may give a lower taxable profit. If your income is £5,000 and your expenses are £1,800, claiming actual expenses may be better. The practical lesson is simple: compare both methods before deciding. The trading allowance has limits The trading allowance is useful, but it is not a magic tax wand. It can reduce profits to zero, but it cannot create a loss. This matters because trading losses can sometimes be valuable, depending on your circumstances. If your income is low and expenses are high, claiming the allowance may remove the ability to record a tax loss. The allowance also applies to combined trading activities. If you freelance and separately sell products online, you do not get a separate £1,000 allowance for each activity. It is one person, one allowance, not one allowance per side hustle. There are also restrictions where income comes from certain connected companies, connected parties, employers, or a spouse or civil partner's employer. Tax rules are rarely as simple as social media headlines make them sound. Online platforms and HMRC reporting One of the biggest myths is that online income stays invisible. Increasingly, that is not true. Digital platforms may need to collect and report seller information to HMRC under platform reporting rules. That can include platforms used for online selling, accommodation, freelancing, delivery work or content-based income. However, platform reporting thresholds are not tax thresholds. Someone can be reported to HMRC and owe no tax. Someone else could owe tax without triggering a platform report. The report tells HMRC about activity. It does not, by itself, decide whether tax is due. Selling personal possessions is different from trading Selling unwanted personal items is not the same as buying items with the intention of selling them for profit. If you are clearing out your wardrobe and selling old clothes, that is different from regularly buying stock to sell online. HMRC looks at the nature of the activity. Intent matters. Frequency matters. Profit motive matters. This is where the badges of trade become relevant. Good records reduce stress If there is one practical takeaway, it is this: keep good records. Track money coming in, expenses, dates, receipts, platform statements and supporting information. Good records help you decide whether tax is payable, support allowable deductions and reduce anxiety if questions are asked later. Tax becomes harder when records are poor. The problem is often not that the numbers are complicated. The problem is that the information is missing. For practical support on building better records, our episode on Bookkeeping for Small Business explains why records tell the real story behind your numbers. FAQs Do I need to tell HMRC about my side hustle? You may need to tell HMRC if your total trading income is more than the trading allowance or if other reporting obligations apply. The answer depends on the facts, the amount earned, the type of activity and whether it is genuinely trading income. Is the trading allowance increasing to £3,000? No. The planned £3,000 change relates to the Self Assessment reporting threshold, not the trading allowance itself. The trading allowance remains £1,000. Do I get a separate £1,000 allowance for each side hustle? No. The trading allowance applies across combined trading activities. It is one allowance per person, not one allowance per activity. Does an online platform report mean I owe tax? No. A platform report does not automatically mean tax is due. It means information may have been reported. Whether tax is due depends on the underlying activity, income, expenses, allowances and your wider tax position. Is selling old clothes online taxable? Selling unwanted personal possessions is different from trading. If you are...
QuickBooks Live is officially retired, and Alicia sits down with Dan DeLong and Matthew Fulton to unpack what replaces it: Intuit Experts, a narrower set of services built directly into QBO Simple Start and above. They walk through the new Books Check-In, Smart Expert Categorization, and Expert Books Upkeep offerings, how the accountant-attached toggle works, and why onboarding still applies to every new client regardless of status. They also dig into the Intuit ProPartner Accountants program launching in 2027 and what firm-billed versus client-billed accounts mean for who controls what.Sponsors:Intuit Accountants - http://uqb.promo/intuitPilot - http://uqb.promo/pilotKick.co - http://uqb.promo/kick(00:00) - Welcome and Setup (01:12) - QuickBooks Live Ends (02:47) - What Makes an Expert (07:08) - Firm of the Future Article (11:03) - Who Intuit Experts Serve (13:41) - Pro Partner Matching Network (15:35) - Services Built Into QBO (17:31) - Breaking Down New Services (21:36) - Consent and Default Off (25:57) - Intelligent Onboarding (28:50) - Cross Sell and Workforce (34:18) - Do They Compete With Firms (38:16) - Marketing Toggle Recap (38:52) - Unknown Accountant Status Rules (40:17) - Overlap Services Confusion (43:52) - Onboarding Versus Suppression (45:52) - Where Controls Live (46:28) - Client Versus Firm Billing (49:55) - Expert Hub Visibility (52:51) - QuickBooks Live Rebrand (56:39) - Why Intuit Changed Course (59:42) - What To Do Now (01:05:11) - ProPartner And Suite Updates (01:06:40) - Wrap Up And Community (01:07:32) - Hosts Updates And Outro LINKSIntuit Experts Shift: https://www.firmofthefuture.com/product-update/intuit-experts-and-accountant-controls/Intuit Experts Onboarding: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/bookkeeping/quickbooks-onboarding/Alicia's upcoming classes:3rd Party App Exploration, Aug 12: http://royl.ws/3rdpartyIntuit Enterprise Suite, Aug 19: http://royl.ws/intuit-enterprise-suiteBattle of the Books - QBO vs. Xero, sponsored by Xero: https://xero.zoom.us/webinar/register/4717843154915/WN_jWTalQhPSka8DGL2mQerIA#/registrationAI in QBO: http://royl.ws/AIIntuit Accountant Suite in Sept: http://royl.ws/IASDan's School of Bookkeeping blog on AI/Claude:Connect Claude to QuickBooks Online?: https://www.schoolofbookkeeping.com/blog/QBOClaude What Specifically can Claude do in QuickBooks Online: https://www.schoolofbookkeeping.com/blog/what-specifically-can-claude-do-in-quickbooks-online No, AI Isn't Coming for Your Bookkeeping Job: https://www.schoolofbookkeeping.com/blog/AIinAccounting1 The Blind Spots Automation Can't See (Yet): Where QuickBooks AI Still Needs a Human: https://www.schoolofbookkeeping.com/blog/AIinAccounting2 How to Become the Human Your Clients (and Their AI) Actually Need: https://www.schoolofbookkeeping.com/blog/AIinAccounting3 Schoolofbookkeeping YouTube: https://snip.ly/SOBYTFree Live Workshop Wednesdays: https://www.schoolofbookkeeping.com/workshop-wednesdayQB Power Hour: https://www.qbpowerhour.com/ We want to hear from you!Send your questions and comments to us at unofficialquickbookspodcast@gmail.com.Join our LinkedIn community at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14630719/Visit our YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@UnofficialQBOPodcastSign up to Earmark to earn free CPE for listening to this podcasthttps://www.earmark.app/onboarding
The (Not Boring) Boring Small Business Bookkeeping and Accounting Podcast
When the accountant sent these books back as unusable, and three previous bookkeepers had all called them clean, our favorite Bookkeeping Mensch, Paul Rosenblum, knew this cleanup would take a lot of time. Now he's deep into it and the books are starting to come together.Picking up where Part 1 left off, Paul walks through the hands-on work of the last several weeks: two of six tangled credit cards now fully reconciled through 2025, months of "buy now, pay later" purchases separated out from cost of goods sold, and adjusting entries created to make beginning-of-year balances finally match reality.Along the way, he uncovers a compliance issue that goes beyond typical cleanup: one business partner had been running a separate, wholly-owned LLC that was billed as a subcontractor to the company. This is something that the IRS doesn't allow when that partner also owns a stake in the business being billed. With the profit and loss nearly finished, Paul turns to the balance sheet: sorting out the equity split between two partners, tracking down company assets and home-office expenses that were never recorded, and weighing a tricky judgment call on categorizing meals between business partners, all against unclear new 2026 rules on meal deductions.This is a grounded look at what it actually takes to turn a multi-year mess into books a tax preparer can trust. No shortcuts, and no AI required.Part 1: https://pod.link/1688000860/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC0xOTUwMjg1NQSend us Fan MailSupport the showAbout the hostPaul Rosenblum has been doing hands-on bookkeeping for over 30 years, starting with QuickBooks Desktop and adapting to the world of cloud-based QuickBooks Online. He shares practical, in-the-weeds lessons from real client files every episode.
Building a Business That Supports Your Life: How Financial Clarity Creates ConfidenceI'm honored to welcome Valaise Smith EA, Financial Clarity Architect and Founder & CEO of Tried and True Financial Services, to The Kim Jacobs Show on Thursday, July 30, 2026 from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST!As an Enrolled Agent, author, speaker, and trusted advisor, she believes financial success starts with clarity—not confusion.Watch LIVE on The Kim Jacobs Show on CTR Media Network (Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV), YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other streaming platforms.Subscribe today and turn on notifications so you don't miss this powerful conversation!YouTube.com/c/KimjacobsshowReady to launch your own virtual talk show?Our next Start Your Virtual Show from Scratch small-group training is filling up quickly! Only a few seats remain.Email: Kimjacobsshow@gmail.comCall: 704-944-3534HELP US CONTINUE BRINGING LIFE-CHANGING CONTENT TO THE WORLD!Every interview, every broadcast, and every opportunity to educate, empower, and inspire is made possible because of viewers and supporters like YOU. If The Kim Jacobs Show has ever encouraged you, informed you, connected you with valuable resources, or blessed your life in any way, please don't wait—give today.Give now using whichever method is most convenient:PayPal: paypal.me/KimjacobsincVenmo: @ThekimjacobsshowZelle or Apple Cash: 704-962-7161Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kim-jacobs-show--2878190/support.
The (Not Boring) Boring Small Business Bookkeeping and Accounting Podcast
Who is responsible for deciding whether a business expense is tax deductible: the client, the bookkeeper, or the tax preparer? In this episode, our favorite Bookkeeping Mensch, Paul Rosenblum, shares his approach to handling missing receipts, client gifts, business meals, and other bookkeeping gray areas. He touches on where professional responsibility begins and ends, and whether bookkeepers should rely on client information or use their own judgment when categorizing expenses. Send us Fan MailSupport the showAbout the hostPaul Rosenblum has been doing hands-on bookkeeping for over 30 years, starting with QuickBooks Desktop and adapting to the world of cloud-based QuickBooks Online. He shares practical, in-the-weeds lessons from real client files every episode.
Manuel Aragon helps individuals and small businesses build financial clarity through expert accounting, bookkeeping, and tax preparation, delivering clean books, confident decisions, and a stronger foundation for growth. Top 3 Value Bombs 1. You cannot build a successful business on a weak financial foundation. Clean books create the visibility needed to make confident decisions and scale effectively. 2. Financial clarity drives growth. Accurate records help entrepreneurs secure funding, identify profit leaks, improve cash flow, and make better strategic decisions. 3. A great accountant or bookkeeper should not feel like an expense. They should function as an investment that continually pays for itself through improved financial performance and decision-making. Check out Manuel's website to learn more about him and his services - Aragon Tax Return Services Sponsors HighLevel - The ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies. Learn more at HighLevelFire.com. Strawberry - Discover what's possible with a professional coach by your side. Start today and get 50 percent off your first coaching session at Strawberry.me/fire.
The (Not Boring) Boring Small Business Bookkeeping and Accounting Podcast
Three bookkeepers said the books were clean. The accountant said otherwise.Bad bookkeeping creates business problems, not just accounting problems. Inaccurate financial records can lead to overpaying taxes, missing valuable tax deductions, making decisions based on unreliable numbers, and creating challenges when applying for loans or funding. Our favorite Bookkeeping Mensch, Paul Rosenblum, is here to explain why accurate books matter long before tax season arrives and why getting the numbers right can save businesses significant time, money, and stress.Using a real bookkeeping cleanup project as a case study, Paul shares how what initially appeared to be a routine cleanup uncovered missing bank accounts, unrecorded credit cards, unreconciled transactions, and financial reports that couldn't be trusted. Along the way, he explores the importance of tax loss carryforwards and demonstrates why bookkeeping is far more than data entry. Accurate books provide the foundation for business decisions, tax planning, financial reporting, and long-term growth.Paul continues untangling this client's books in the episodes ahead, working through the credit cards, balance sheet, and compliance issues that emerge along the way.Mentioned in this episode:Does Bookkeeping Need To Be More Regulated? S7E4https://pod.link/1688000860/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC0xODcxMTY0NgSend us Fan MailSupport the showAbout the hostPaul Rosenblum has been doing hands-on bookkeeping for over 30 years, starting with QuickBooks Desktop and adapting to the world of cloud-based QuickBooks Online. He shares practical, in-the-weeds lessons from real client files every episode.
AI is changing the way every bookkeeper works, but are you getting the most from your software? In this episode, we explore how every bookkeeper can rethink their tech stack, reduce unnecessary subscriptions, embrace AI, and use technology to deliver more value instead of just working faster. From workflow improvements and analytics to advisory services and client communication, these conversations are packed with practical ideas for the modern bookkeeper. Bogdan Uzbekov ➡️ https://getapron.com/ ➡️ Lee Russel https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-russel/ ➡️ Kieran Lotze https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%92%99-kieran-lotze-13289b77/ ➡️ Will Polston https://www.linkedin.com/in/willpolston/ ----------------------------------------------- About us We're Jo and Zoe and we help bookkeepers find clients, make more money and build profitable businesses they love. Find out about working with us in The Bookkeepers' Collective, at: 6figurebookkeeper.com/collective ----------------------------------------------- About our Sponsor This episode of The Bookkeepers' Podcast is sponsored by Xero. Get 90% off your first 6 months by visiting: https://xero5440.partnerlinks.io/6figurebookkeeper ----------------------------------------------- Promotion This video contains paid promotion. ----------------------------------------------- Disclaimer The information contained in The Bookkeepers' Podcast is provided for information purposes only. The contents of The Bookkeepers' Podcast is not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of the Bookkeepers' Podcast. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of the Bookkeepers' Podcast. The 6 Figure Bookkeeper Ltd disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of the Bookkeepers' Podcast. Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:00:43 - Software Subscriptions and Workflow 00:01:28 - Xero's Workflow 00:02:36 - Xero Analytics and SIFT Analytics 00:04:00 - Advisory Services 00:05:39 - The Human Connection Service 00:06:21 - The Role of Technology in Workflow 00:08:42 - Choosing the Right Tool 00:12:29 - Interview with Bogdan Uzbekov from Aprin 00:13:05 - Identifying the Bottlenecks 00:14:09 - Using Aprin to its Fullest Potential 00:15:23 - The Impact of Books Club 00:17:46 - The Role of AI in Professional Services 00:18:51 - The Shift to Advisory Services 00:20:06 - Interview with Lee Russell 00:20:21 - The Journey of Tech Startups 00:21:54 - The Importance of AI in Business 00:23:15 - The Challenges of Implementing AI 00:24:22 - The Value of Bootstrapping 00:27:26 - The Future of Bookkeeping and Accountancy Practices 00:30:26 - Leveraging AI in Business 00:31:35 - The Humanistic Side of Business 00:31:52 - Efficiency and Client Relationships 00:34:01 - Interview with Special Guest 00:34:18 - Understanding the Importance of Advisory Finance 00:35:08 - The Value of Awareness and Key Metrics 00:36:31 - The Role of Bookkeepers in Awareness 00:39:18 - Closing Remarks #bookkeeper
See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Andrew Seguin was already running a strong bookkeeping firm when he last appeared on this podcast — at $1 million in revenue with a team of eight. Two and a half years later, he's back with a $2 million firm and a team of fifteen. In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Andrew walks through the real work behind that growth: the systems he built, the delegation habits he had to form, and the profitability metrics that changed how he runs everything. Chapters [00:00] Opening quote on delegation [00:42] Introducing Andrew Seguin [02:30] From $1M to $2M: the story [05:30] Getting out of the weeds [09:00] Building training systems that scale [13:00] Managing change without overwhelming the team [17:00] Introducing the effective hourly rate [23:00] Building the profitability dashboard [28:00] Time tracking: getting team buy-in [34:00] Pricing strategy and the 3-month clause Getting Out of the Weeds Even after hitting $1 million, Andrew was still deep in the day-to-day — doing bookkeeping, managing clients directly, and holding too much tax knowledge himself. The path to $2 million required him to deliberately reduce his own workload. "I was probably still doing a lot of day-to-day work," he says. "I knew I had some goals for '24 and '25, which was to reduce my own workload." That meant hiring a dedicated payroll team, bringing on a tax specialist, and doubling down on the pod structure — senior and junior team members working together as a unit. Delegation Starts With Systems, Not Just Trust One of Andrew's clearest lessons: delegation without a proper training system is just dumping work on people. He invested heavily in building a training package so that new hires could learn the firm's tools, standards, and workflows without having to figure things out from scratch. "You spend a little bit of time upfront — it's always hard because you have to find time to do it. But once you get over that hump, that's where things really start cascading into a really strong effect." He also cautions against piling on too much change in a single year, aiming instead for one meaningful improvement goal per year so the team isn't overwhelmed. The Effective Hourly Rate: A Metric That Changed Everything The single biggest profitability driver Andrew introduced was tracking each client's effective hourly rate (EHR) — revenue divided by hours worked on that file. His firm uses ClickUp for time tracking and QuickBooks Online for revenue data, feeding into a custom-built dashboard that shows the team exactly where they stand, client by client. "We essentially cut about 10% of our clients and then priced up about 40% of our clients to a rate that we wanted internally." The target range is $125–$150 per hour, minimum. Before this system, the firm's average was around $106–$108 per hour. After 18 months of using the data, it's closer to $250. Transparent Data, Aligned Teams Andrew doesn't hide this metric from his staff. The management team sees it. The bookkeepers who work on those files are aware of it. When a client's EHR falls short, the conversation isn't about poor performance — it's about scope creep, underestimated complexity, or pricing that needs revisiting. He also ties compensation growth directly to hitting those rates, so the team has a real reason to track their time accurately. "I'm very transparent — you guys wouldn't have these increases the way you have been getting for the last 3 years if we didn't have this data." Pricing, Minimums, and the 3-Month Revisit Clause Andrew's pricing approach is a hybrid of fixed and value-based: estimate the hours, multiply by the target EHR, then add complexity factors like multi-currency, e-commerce, or payroll. The firm's minimum for monthly engagements is $1,000, with an average around $1,600. Critically, every new engagement includes a clause allowing the firm to revisit pricing after three months — when actual time and complexity data is in hand. "We've had to do that a few times because there is no perfect system. A questionnaire and a quick conversation isn't going to tell you enough about the complexities and the volume of the file." Links Mentioned PureBookkeeping — episode sponsor The Successful Bookkeeper — resources and episode archive ClickUp — project and time-tracking tool used by Seguin Financial About the Guest Andrew Seguin is the founder of Seguin Financial, a virtual bookkeeping firm based in Canada with a team of fifteen full-time staff. Over eight and a half years, Andrew grew his firm from a solo side practice to a $2 million business, built around strong systems, transparent team culture, and data-driven client management. He is a frequent speaker and educator in the bookkeeping community. About the hostMichael PalmerMichael Palmer is the host of The Successful Bookkeeper podcast and co-founder of Pure Bookkeeping and The Successful Bookkeeper. He started this work because of his father — a brilliant electrical contractor who worked twice as hard as he should have had to, because nobody on the financial side was in his corner. That gap is what The Successful Bookkeeper exists to close. His view: bookkeepers are the most undervalued force in small business — and every bookkeeper who builds a real business changes two families: theirs, and their clients'.
You have your financial statements. But do you actually know what to do with them? Most of us were taught to check our numbers after the month is already over. That's the moment I want to change for you. In this episode, I walk through the four ways business owners make decisions and why most of us default to reacting instead of planning. I share the three shifts I use in my own business. Two of them are about your numbers: using them instead of just knowing them, and looking ahead instead of only looking back. The third is about your role, moving from expert to CEO. I also break down the four roles every money team needs and share what happened when one of our clients built her ten year vision and finally felt confident enough to hire. In this episode of CEO Numbers Network, I break down why your budget alone isn't enough to guide your decisions. You will learn the four decision making styles I see most often, plus the three shifts that move you from reactive to strategic. I also walk through the four roles you need on your money team. If you have ever made a big decision off pure gut instinct or panicked after one bad month, this episode will help you build a process you can actually trust.
Most accounting firms have the talent to deliver real CFO-level advisory work. They just have not built the path to get there. In this episode, Tom Wadelton sits down with Hannah Hood, VCFO Principal at Anders, to talk about what it actually takes to grow accounting talent from senior accountant to trusted CFO. Hannah has lived the full journey from bookkeeper to controller in industry, to VCFO Principal at one of the fastest-growing advisory practices in the country. You'll hear how Hannah made the mindset shift from doing the work to advising on it, why staying in the weeds is the most common trap for newly promoted CFOs, and how weekly cash flow conversations can become one of the most powerful advisory touchpoints a firm offers small business clients. For any firm owner thinking about building stronger teams, pricing subscription services, or moving clients up the advisory value curve, this episode delivers the blueprint.Press play on Advisory Skills for CPAs: Moving from Bookkeeping to CFO Services and hear what intentional firm growth looks like from the inside. Episode resources:● Website: https://anderscpa.com/ ● If you have questions or would like to be a guest on the show, email us at mcpasuccessshow@anderscpa.com ● Check out the Virtual CFO Playbook Course: https://anderscpa.com/virtual-cfo-services/vcfo-playbook/ QuotesHannah Hood: "We are selling trust to our clients more than we are selling accounting work."Tom Wadelton: "The best value in advisory comes from asking really good questions, not from telling the client what you already know."The Modern CPA Success Show is the go-to podcast for accounting firm owners eager to enhance profitability and master Virtual CFO services. This podcast leverages combined expertise in delivering top-tier Virtual CFO services across North America.Website: https://anderscpa.com/learn/podcasts/the-modern-cpa-success-show/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndersCPA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anders-cpa/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anderscpa/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@andersvcfo Tom Wadelton is a Partner and Virtual CFO at Anders, bringing over 20 years of financial expertise from his tenure at a Fortune 500 company. He has extensive experience spanning financial management, accounting operations, and information technology integration. Tom specializes in delivering strategic Virtual CFO services, helping businesses optimize their financial performance through advanced accounting solutions.Website: https://anderscpa.com/about/your-anders-team/#thomas-d-wadelton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomwadelton/ Hannah Hood is a VCFO Principal at Anders, leading practice operations, onboarding, capacity planning, and team development for the Virtual CFO division. With 20 years of accounting experience spanning bookkeeping, controllership, and public accounting, Hannah brings a ground-level understanding of what it takes to grow accounting professionals into high-performing advisory practitioners. She also co-hosts the Young CPA Success Show. Website: https://anderscpa.com/about/your-anders-team/hannah-c-hood/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahchood/
You have your financial statements. But do you actually know what to do with them? Most of us were taught to check our numbers after the month is already over. That's the moment I want to change for you. In this episode, I walk through the four ways business owners make decisions and why most of us default to reacting instead of planning. I share the three shifts I use in my own business. Two of them are about your numbers: using them instead of just knowing them, and looking ahead instead of only looking back. The third is about your role, moving from expert to CEO. I also break down the four roles every money team needs and share what happened when one of our clients built her ten year vision and finally felt confident enough to hire. In this episode of CEO Numbers Network, I break down why your budget alone isn't enough to guide your decisions. You will learn the four decision making styles I see most often, plus the three shifts that move you from reactive to strategic. I also walk through the four roles you need on your money team. If you have ever made a big decision off pure gut instinct or panicked after one bad month, this episode will help you build a process you can actually trust.
A messy shoebox of receipts and a commingling bank account isn't a paperwork problem — it's a business flying blind. Real-world food truck training in about 10 minutes. Profit, pricing, food cost, speed of service, marketing, events, and smart systems—no hype, just what works.Enjoyed this episode? Please do two things for me. First hit "Follow" on Spotify so you never miss a new one.Second go to https://www.nsfva.org/join and become a member today!
317: How to Align Your Bookkeeping with Your Design Business Finances Back with me on the podcast today is Erin McGhee, a financial strategist and accountant who has dedicated her career to building bookkeeping and CFO-level services specifically for the interior design industry. In today's conversation, we're looking beyond the financial reports and focusing on the inputs that drive your numbers long before they ever reach QuickBooks or your accounting software. Erin shares how the decisions, processes, and systems throughout your business directly impact profitability—and where hidden profit leaks are most likely to occur. Our hope is that this episode inspires you to take a closer look at one area of your business, uncover opportunities for improvement, and strengthen the financial health of your company. Topics Mentioned: Backend business operations Alignment of financial workflows Financial system of record Key Thoughts: Organizing the backend of the business with the design process allows work to flow smoothly. Business processes are changing due to technology and our internal process needs to change as well to support. Be clear on where the detail for your financials lives. Keeping your project management system and financial systems aligned is critical for success. Be clear on when your company recognizes revenue. Contact Michele: Email: Team@ScarletThreadConsulting.com Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL Website: scarletthreadconsulting.com LinkedIn: Michele-Williams Contact Erin: Email: erin@mcgheefinancials.com Website: https://www.mcgheefinancials.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mcgheefinancials References and Resources: Work with Me The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today CFO2Go Metrique Solutions
Clean Biz Network Podcast | How To Start a 7-Figure Commercial Cleaning Company
Join us in Clean Biz Network! https://www.cleanbiznetwork.app/Get your Cleaning Business Automated! Visit https://cleanbizuniversity.com/automa...Join this channel to get access to perks: / @ajsimmonsonline Schedule a 1 on 1 Consultation: https://calendly.com/ajsimmonsLet my lead generation company to set bid appointments for you! Click here https://www.cleanbizcrm.com/leadgener...Follow: @AjSimmonsOnline on Instagram / ajsimmonsonline Need Business Insurance? Click this link https://nextinsurance.sjv.io/Ea23K9Need Business Credit? Apply at this linkhttps://americanexpress.com/en-us/ref...Need help with Accounting, Bookkeeping, and Taxes? This is the company that I use https://www.bench.co/partner/clean-bi...Thank you for watching, subscribing, liking, sharing, and commenting!!!!
How can a bookkeeper use AI to save time, improve client relationships, and build a better practice? In this episode of The Bookkeepers Podcast, we go through some of our previous episodes related to AI, and we explore why AI is creating new opportunities for every bookkeeper. From automating repetitive tasks to delivering more value through better client conversations. If you're a bookkeeper looking to work smarter and future-proof your practice, this episode is for you. Bookkeeper's Collective: 6figurebookkeeper.com/collective ----------------------------------------------- About us We're Jo and Zoe and we help bookkeepers find clients, make more money and build profitable businesses they love. ----------------------------------------------- About our Sponsor This episode of The Bookkeepers' Podcast is sponsored by Xero. Get 90% off your first 6 months by visiting: https://xero5440.partnerlinks.io/6figurebookkeeper ----------------------------------------------- Promotion This video contains paid promotion. ----------------------------------------------- Disclaimer The information contained in The Bookkeepers' Podcast is provided for information purposes only. The contents of The Bookkeepers' Podcast is not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of the Bookkeepers' Podcast. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of the Bookkeepers' Podcast. The 6 Figure Bookkeeper Ltd disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of the Bookkeepers' Podcast. Chapters: 00:00:00 - Why AI is Good News for EVERY Bookkeeper 00:00:36 - AI and Data Security 00:01:17 - AI and Human Interaction 00:02:02 - AI and Data Security Concerns 00:03:53 - AI and the Importance of Human Involvement 00:06:39 - AI and its Limitations 00:07:53 - AI in Bookkeeping and Small Businesses 00:08:16 - AI and Efficiency 00:09:26 - AI and Client Interactions 00:10:10 - AI and Time Management 00:10:55 - AI and the Future of Bookkeeping 00:13:48 - AI and the Future of Professions 00:15:14 - AI and the Evolution of Professions 00:15:44 - AI and the Future of Bookkeeping 00:17:22 - AI and the Trust Element 00:18:32 - AI and the Automation of Manual Work 00:19:41 - AI and the Empowerment of Bookkeepers 00:22:39 - AI and the Automation of Document Collection 00:26:27 - AI and the Challenges of Modern Bookkeeping 00:29:35 - AI and the Evolution of Software 00:30:26 - AI and Practice Management 00:30:58 - AI and Hiring Practices 00:32:08 - AI and Skills for the Future 00:33:41 - AI and the Future of Accounting 00:35:06 - AI and the Role of Advisory 00:36:15 - Conclusion and Invitation #bookkeeper
See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Amanda McKinney is back, and this conversation picks up right where the field is most uncomfortable: the place where your own capability quietly becomes the ceiling on your growth. If you've ever thought "it's faster if I just do it myself," this episode was made for you. Amanda brings her accountability coaching lens to the real-world pressures bookkeepers face — the revolving door of client work, the resistance to delegation, and the habits that quietly drain capacity before burnout ever arrives. Chapters [00:00] The 3-Times System Rule [01:18] Welcome and Guest Introduction [03:30] Amanda's Journey Since 2023 [08:30] Working With Teams Long-Term [13:00] When Capability Becomes an Obstacle [17:00] Warning Signs of Unsustainable Pace [21:00] The Case for Hobbies [25:00] Building Systems to Delegate [29:00] SOPs in Practice: Quarterly Taxes [32:30] Amanda's Podcast Pause The Highly Capable Trap Being good at your work is a genuine asset — right up until it isn't. Amanda explains that capability creates capacity, and capacity gets filled. "The problem with being capable is that it opens up more capacity. And when you have more capacity, you get more work. Either it's given to you or you give it to yourself." For bookkeepers, where the work never truly stops, this cycle can accelerate fast. Recognizing the pattern is the first step out of it. Warning Signs Worth Watching Amanda walks through the early signals that something needs to change — before burnout forces the issue. Physical heaviness when someone asks how you're doing, or the moment you realize your only answer to "what do you do for fun?" is your work. She shared that in 2024, that was her own reality. "I realized, oh my gosh, I have no hobbies. I don't have anything that I do just for fun." Intentionally adding even 15 minutes of something non-work-related a week can start shifting that. The 3-Times Rule for Systems This is the practical core of the episode. Amanda's rule of thumb: if you do something more than 3 times, it needs a system. She uses invoicing as a quick gut-check — if you can't describe your process fast, you're spending unnecessary brainpower every single time. The fix is straightforward: the next time you do that task, record yourself walking through it using a screen recorder like Loom or Neato (free). That recording becomes your SOP, and that SOP becomes your delegation tool. She applied this to her own quarterly tax payments: "I did it in like 15 minutes. Whereas that would have taken me an hour or two if I didn't have those steps written out." Delegation Without the Dread Most bookkeepers resist handing work off because training someone else feels slower than doing it themselves. Amanda reframes this: a documented system removes most of that training burden. The SOP does the heavy lifting, and the person you're delegating to — whether human or software — gets a clear path to follow your standards. As Michael put it during the conversation, "SOPs are the pathway to profitability." Sustainable Growth Requires a Pause Amanda recently did something that surprised her own audience: she intentionally paused her podcast after eight straight years of weekly content. The flood of concerned emails she received made her realize how rarely people pause before something forces them to. The message for bookkeepers is the same — growth that lasts has to be built on something sustainable. Waiting for a crisis to rest isn't a strategy. "You don't have to be burnt out before you make a decision to change something." Links Mentioned Loom — screen and voice recording tool for creating SOPs Neeto — free alternative screen recording tool (used by The Successful Bookkeeper team) purebookkeeping.com — episode sponsor; system to grow your bookkeeping business thesuccessfulbookkeeper.com — show resources and guest info Accountable podcast by Amanda McKinney (300+ episodes available; currently on intentional pause) About the Guest Amanda McKinney is an accountability coach, speaker, and the host of the Accountable podcast (formerly The Unapologetic Entrepreneur). She works primarily with driven entrepreneurs and leadership teams to help them follow through on goals that keep getting pushed to the back burner — without burning out in the process. She has been coaching since 2017 and now leads engagements ranging from 90-day individual programs to 9–12 month team partnerships. You can find her through her podcast archive of 300+ episodes or by reaching out directly through her website. About the hostMichael PalmerMichael Palmer is the host of The Successful Bookkeeper podcast and co-founder of Pure Bookkeeping and The Successful Bookkeeper. He started this work because of his father — a brilliant electrical contractor who worked twice as hard as he should have had to, because nobody on the financial side was in his corner. That gap is what The Successful Bookkeeper exists to close. His view: bookkeepers are the most undervalued force in small business — and every bookkeeper who builds a real business changes two families: theirs, and their clients'.
The (Not Boring) Boring Small Business Bookkeeping and Accounting Podcast
Online computerized accounting changes almost everything about bookkeeping. But don't worry, our favorite Bookkeeping Mensch, Paul Rosenblum, is here to help you navigate the potential problems to come from these “advancements.” For example, QuickBooks Online creates problems that QuickBooks Desktop never had, like duplicate sales, mismatched credit card merchant fees, phantom accounts receivable, and sales tax reports that quietly go wrong. Paul draws on 30 years of hands-on bookkeeping experience to outline the challenges the transition creates for business owners and bookkeepers. And of course, he's got advice on what to look out for to make sure things run smoothly for your QBO experiences. Send us Fan MailSupport the showAbout the hostPaul Rosenblum has been doing hands-on bookkeeping for over 30 years, starting with QuickBooks Desktop and adapting to the world of cloud-based QuickBooks Online. He shares practical, in-the-weeds lessons from real client files every episode.
How can a bookkeeper use AI to save time, improve client service, and build a better practice? In this episode of The Bookkeepers Podcast, we sit down with Stuart Hurst to explore how every bookkeeper can use AI to automate repetitive tasks, build custom workflows, and spend more time delivering value to clients. Whether you're a new bookkeeper, an experienced bookkeeper, or you're looking to future-proof your bookkeeping practice, this episode explains how AI is changing the profession and why the best bookkeeper won't be replaced by technology, they'll become even more valuable. Connect with Stuart! ➡️ / stuart-hurst-cloud ----------------------------------------------- About us We're Jo and Zoe and we help bookkeepers find clients, make more money and build profitable businesses they love. Find out about working with us in The Bookkeepers' Collective, at: 6figurebookkeeper.com/collective ----------------------------------------------- About our Sponsor This episode of The Bookkeepers' Podcast is sponsored by Xero. Get 90% off your first 6 months by visiting: https://xero5440.partnerlinks.io/6fig... ----------------------------------------------- Promotion This video contains paid promotion. ----------------------------------------------- Disclaimer The information contained in The Bookkeepers' Podcast is provided for information purposes only. The contents of The Bookkeepers' Podcast is not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of the Bookkeepers' Podcast. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of the Bookkeepers' Podcast. The 6 Figure Bookkeeper Ltd disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of the Bookkeepers' Podcast. Chapters: 00:00:00 - How a Smart Bookkeeper Uses AI 00:00:28 - Discussing AI and Vibe Coding 00:00:52 - Explaining Vibe Coding 00:01:26 - AI in Cloud10 00:01:50 - AI and Workflow Customization 00:05:00 - AI in Management Accounting 00:06:17 - Strategic Approach to AI 00:06:43 - AI in Team Development 00:10:29 - Impact of AI on Software Selection 00:12:07 - Hiring in the AI Era 00:14:45 - Future of Bookkeeping and Advisory Role 00:14:59 - The Changing Skillset in the AI Era 00:15:57 - AI in Financial Analysis and Tax Planning 00:18:06 - Potential Increase in AI Token Prices 00:18:15 - Effective Use of AI and Learning to Prompt 00:19:46 - Conclusion and Contact Information #bookkeeper
AI is already changing tax and accounting firms, but not in the simplistic way the headlines suggest.On one side, the hype machine says AI will replace accountants, eliminate compliance, and automate the profession overnight. On the other side, some professionals are still acting like nothing meaningful is going to change.The truth is more practical and more important.AI is beginning to remove real production drag from tax and accounting firms. Document review. Client follow-up. Meeting notes. First drafts. Research support. Workflow reminders. Repetitive explanations. Client education. Internal training.That creates a bigger question for firm owners:If AI gives your firm 10%, 20%, or even 30% of its time back, what will you do with it?In this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant, Lee Reams and Rebekah Barton have a more mature conversation about the future of tax and accounting. They cut through the extremes, challenge the idea that every firm must become a fractional CFO practice, and explain why the real opportunity for many firms may be practical advisory, or what we call soft advisory.Soft advisory is the advice that already lives inside compliance work.Entity reviews. Tax planning conversations. Student loan planning. Retirement questions. Social Security planning. Bookkeeping issues. Payroll problems. Cash flow concerns. Business transitions. IRS notices. Life events. Client decisions that have financial, tax, or operational consequences.Many firms are already giving this advice, but they are often doing it inconsistently, reactively, or without billing for the value being delivered.Lee and Rebekah discuss how AI can help firms surface these opportunities earlier, prepare client conversations faster, and create a better system for delivering advisory value without forcing every accountant into a CFO advisory model.They also address the biggest strategic issue for firms in the AI era: protecting the moat.The relationship is still the moat, but only if firms actively use it. If clients only hear from their accountant once a year, that relationship may not be as strong as the firm thinks. AI will make generic compliance work easier to compare, easier to shop, and easier to replace.The future-ready firm will use AI differently.It will automate the drag, then reinvest the time into communication, planning, education, client experience, and proactive advice.The real AI opportunity is not replacing the accountant.It is helping firms become the advisor clients thought they already had.Ready to See How Future-Ready Your Firm Is?The future of accounting is not just about automation.It is about what your firm does with the capacity automation gives back.If you want to understand where your firm may be losing time, where advisory opportunities may be hiding, and how your digital presence, client experience, and technology stack compare to where the profession is headed, start with a free Future-Ready Firm Assessment from CountingWorks PRO.We'll show you what's working, what may be holding you back, and what practical steps can help your firm become more proactive, more visible, and more valuable to clients.Start your free assessment: https://www.countingworkspro.com/start
In this episode of the Cannabis Accounting Podcast, host Raymond Guns sits down with Mark Waller, Director of Client Accounting Services at SAX and former owner of Moore & Waller CPAs. Mark has one simple belief: if you don't fix cash flow first, nothing else matters. Not 280E. Not tax strategy. Not compliance. Cash flow kills more cannabis businesses than any of those combined.Mark spent 20 years in traditional accounting before launching his own cannabis CPA firm during COVID. He merged into SAX in January 2026 and now runs their cannabis practice. He has watched operators obsess over tax optimization while their bank accounts drain to zero. And he keeps seeing the same mistake destroy businesses over and over again.He talks about:
See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Your clients' financials tell one story. What your clients think about their business tells another. In this episode, fractional CFO, course creator, and speaker Debra Angilletta returns to show how closing that gap — through simple, curiosity-driven conversations — is the most direct path to selling advisory services. No complicated sales process required. Chapters [00:00] Opening Quote and Intro [01:35] Meet Debra Angilletta [03:30] Why Bookkeepers Struggle to Sell Advisory [06:10] The "Curious" Question Technique [09:20] Staying Human in a Digital World [11:50] Finding Your First Five Clients [14:30] The Advisory Transformation [17:30] What 100 Business Owners Said [20:30] About the Book: Hidden Profits [22:40] Rapid Fire: Steps to Take Now The Missing Half of the Story Numbers give you the facts; your client's perspective gives you the context. Debra frames advisory as the natural result of putting those two pieces together: "When you put those two pieces of information together, that's where the magic happens, and that's where you can fill the gap." The good news is you already have one half. You just need to ask for the other. One Word That Changes Everything If you're not sure how to start a probing question without sounding nosy or accusatory, Debra has a single practical fix: lead with "curious." Saying "Curious — I noticed this in your books, can you tell me more?" removes any sense of blame, gives your client permission to explore rather than defend, and opens the conversation rather than closing it down. It's a small shift with a big effect on how clients respond. Finding Your First Five You don't need to overhaul your entire practice to get started. Debra's advice is to scan your client list, pick five people who seem most open to a deeper conversation, and book a 30-minute call — framed simply as "I saw some interesting things in your books that might be of value." That's it. The goal isn't to pitch advisory on the spot; it's to practice having the conversation. "There's nothing complicated here," Debra says. "I don't want to make it complicated for your audience at all." Business Owners Are Waiting for You to Ask Debra interviewed 100 small business owners while writing her book Hidden Profits, and the finding stopped her in her tracks. When she asked what they wished their bookkeeper did that they weren't doing, the answer was overwhelming: more strategic advisory. "I wish they would give me information that I can use to drive my business forward." Most business owners operate in isolation, with no one to think out loud with — and your existing financial relationship puts you closer to that trusted-advisor seat than you might realize. The Transformation on the Other Side Bookkeepers who start having these conversations consistently go through a noticeable shift. Debra sees it regularly: once they experience what advisory conversations feel like, they want more of them. More importantly, the relationship with the client changes. "It actually uplevels you to partnership level... they're going to see you as that trusted advisor." The compliance work stays valuable — but it's no longer the ceiling on what the relationship can be. Links Mentioned Hidden Profits: Stop Chasing Cash, Predictable Profit in 90 Days by Debra Angilletta — findmyhiddenprofits.com (free download of first 3 chapters) or search "Hidden Profits" on Amazon MasterMySales.com — Debra's sales training for financial professionals PureBookkeeping.com — episode sponsor thesuccessfulbookkeeper.com — show resources and guest links About the Guest Debra Angilletta is a fractional CFO, course creator, and speaker at MasterMySales.com who specializes in helping bookkeepers, accountants, and financial professionals sell and deliver advisory services with confidence. She works primarily with small business owners in the $500K–$3M revenue range and is the author of Hidden Profits: Stop Chasing Cash, Predictable Profit in 90 Days. Debra is a returning speaker at The Successful Bookkeeper Summit and a consistent audience favourite. About the hostMichael PalmerMichael Palmer is the host of The Successful Bookkeeper podcast and co-founder of Pure Bookkeeping and The Successful Bookkeeper. He started this work because of his father — a brilliant electrical contractor who worked twice as hard as he should have had to, because nobody on the financial side was in his corner. That gap is what The Successful Bookkeeper exists to close. His view: bookkeepers are the most undervalued force in small business — and every bookkeeper who builds a real business changes two families: theirs, and their clients'.
For years, food founders have had exactly two bookkeeping options:* Pay a bookkeeper hundreds of dollars a month (and hope they understand your industry and provide accurate & timely numbers)* Do your own bookkeeping (with no access to guidance or support)And if we're being honest, the third option… don't think about it until tax time.There was never anything in between.Until now.In this episode of The Good Food CFO Podcast, Sarah Delevan sits down with Jennifer DeFilippo, Founder of Hello Jenn D, to share how they're reimagining bookkeeping support for small food businesses and truly meeting founders where they are in their bookkeeping and financial journey.Here's what this episode covers:* The founder feedback Sarah got that inspired this new take on bookkeeping support* How the most common bookkeeping mistakes - overestimating income and not capturing all expenses - hurt cash flow and increase your tax bill.* The three new ways all founders can get budget-friendly bookkeeping support, from monthly office hours, to 1-on-1 sessions, to done-for-you servicesLearn more about The Good Food CFO Software at https://thegoodfoodcfo.com/software_______________________________________________________________The Good Food CFO software offers independent food businesses a low-cost and partnered approach to financial strategy and day-to-day financial management. Our mission is to create innovative tools and resources that provide founders critical financial insights, education and support to build profitable businesses. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegoodfoodcfo.substack.com
Alicia and Dan break down June's In the Know session, starting with the big one: QuickBooks Online Accountant is being discontinued on December 31, 2026, with Intuit Accountant Suite taking its place. They cover the modern reports rollout timeline, new consolidation and elimination tools in Intuit Enterprise Suite, and the ProAdvisor program's transformation into the tiered ProPartner Accountants program, including revenue share changes and expanded benefits.Sponsors:Intuit Accountants - http://uqb.promo/intuitSTR Search - http://uqb.promo/str(00:00) - Podcast Welcome (00:37) - Scaling New Heights Buzz (02:04) - New Sponsor Update (03:19) - Screen Share Format (04:40) - June 2026 Recap Intro (06:07) - ProAdvisor Awards Shoutouts (07:24) - QBOA Sunset Reminder (10:00) - Advanced Bundle Deals (10:39) - Events and CAS Training (13:02) - Modern Reports Overhaul (15:35) - Why Reports Are Changing (18:57) - Modern Reports Timeline (19:50) - Recent Report Fixes (22:42) - Customization Improvements (25:30) - Modern Reports Updates (25:45) - Canny Boards Feedback (26:45) - Enterprise Consolidations Demo (28:30) - Intercompany Eliminations Tools (30:34) - Early Access Beta Features (31:19) - Accountant Revenue Share Boost (32:56) - ProPartner Program Overview (35:22) - Support and Revenue Share Changes (37:46) - IAS Accelerate Top Tier (38:41) - Training and Team Management (39:38) - Community Pipeline and Awards (41:28) - Tiers and Readiness Poll (45:41) - Wrap Up and Next Steps LINKSIn the Know Recording: https://intuit.ondemand.goldcast.io/on-demand/4e46b94e-346a-4981-9971-f4d88f47788cIn the Know Handouts: https://staticassets.goldcast.io/public_images/organization/c1847aac-670a-476f-9c63-ad93ce43b7eb/uiktKVQT5OYNhEwMD4uQ_June2026_ProAdvisor_InTheKnow_Handout.pdfPrevious Episodes Mentioned:The Canny Can Can - uqb.show/125 July 21 through October 8: HANDS-ON QUICKBOOKS TRAINING COURSE, http://royl.ws/HOT2026?affiliate=5393907Alicia's book on Amazon: http://royl.ws/conversion-bookDan's School of Bookkeeping blog on Realm Consolidation: https://www.schoolofbookkeeping.com/blog/making-realm-consolidation-easy-a-practical-guide-for-accountants Dan's LinksSchoolofbookkeeping YouTube: https://snip.ly/SOBYTFree Live Workshop Wednesdays: https://www.schoolofbookkeeping.com/workshop-wednesdayQB Power Hour: https://www.qbpowerhour.com/ We want to hear from you!Send your questions and comments to us at unofficialquickbookspodcast@gmail.com.Join our LinkedIn community at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14630719/Visit our YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@UnofficialQBOPodcastSign up to Earmark to earn free CPE for listening to this podcasthttps://www.earmark.app/onboarding
In this episode, Joe returns to share how AI has changed his life... but first, his entrepreneurial journey from childhood to becoming a successful business owner, best selling author, and podcaster. He discusses the impact of books, podcasts, and mindset shifts on his success, as well as his experiences working abroad and leveraging AI.“You have to get out of the competitive mindset. There's enough opportunity in the world for everybody.”0:00–0:48 — Opening and guest intro: The host introduces Joe, his background, and the episode's focus.0:48–4:53 — Early entrepreneurial roots and CPA path: Joe shares how he became entrepreneurial as a kid and how his father pushed him toward accounting.4:53–11:05 — Mindset shift, books, and life direction: Joe explains how reading changed his thinking, helped him define his goals, and led to the Philippines.11:05–15:32 — Writing books, credibility, and his recommended book: He talks about how writing books helped his business and recommends From Myths to Money.15:32–17:34 — Support systems and historical entrepreneur choice: The conversation shifts to mentorship, resilience, and why Joe would choose Benjamin Franklin.17:34–19:49 — Podcasting, rebrand, and closing: Joe explains how podcasting supports business growth and shares the Bedrock 360 rebrand.“I believe that some of us are born to be entrepreneurs.”Other Takeaways*The influence of 'Think and Grow Rich' and 'The Science of Getting Rich'*Success often starts with mindset shifts and giving more value than you receive.*How working abroad and in AI transformed Joe's business*The importance of tenacity and support systems in entrepreneurship*Persistence and tenacity are crucial for overcoming entrepreneurial challenges.Enjoy his last appearance with us to follow his journey after this episode here!Send us Fan MailSupport the showRemember to subscribe for the next episode. Show Sponsor: ComingAlive PodcastProduction.com (Download your Podcast Launch Checklist for only $1 here)Music Credits: Copyright Free Music from Adventure by MusicbyAden.
WHAT IFWhat if you didn't need a tech background, a development team, or even a single line of code to build your own software? Kay Allen-Carr launched a working app in four hours and a full software company in 48. She's not a developer. She's a marketer. And she did it by stopping prompting AI and starting to partner with it — and now she teaches women entrepreneurs to do exactly the same.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROKay Allen-Carr is a data-driven marketer, owner of a seven-figure agency, keynote speaker, and the founder of KAC Marketing and Collab AI. After 15 years climbing from marketing manager to agency partner to business owner, she hit a ceiling — and instead of waiting for the next rung on the ladder, she built an entirely new one. Today she runs her business in roughly ten hours a week, has replaced almost all of her software subscriptions with tools she built herself using AI, and teaches women entrepreneurs how to stop using AI like a search engine and start using it like the business partner they've always needed. No coding required. No tech background necessary. Just a willingness to have a conversation.INSIDE THE EPISODEFrom the Corporate Grind to a Seven-Figure Agency. Kay started at Comcast, moved to an Inc. 500 startup, climbed to partner at a Miami ad agency, and then asked herself: what's next? She breaks down the moment she realized the ladder had run out of rungs — and what she did about it.5am to 8pm to 10 Hours a Week. Kay was a self-described perfectionist and control freak who would redo her team's work rather than trust it. She takes us through the honest before-and-after: the exhausting grind, the expensive senior hires, and how AI completely transformed how she runs her business — and her life.From Prompting to Partnering. The biggest mistake people make with AI isn't using the wrong tool. It's treating it like a search bar. Kay breaks down what it actually means to build a real working relationship with AI — one where you give it the end goal, not a perfectly engineered prompt, and let it figure out the plan.She Built a PR Pitch Tool in Four Hours. A fashion brand client needed PR outreach. Kay didn't hire an agency. She described what she wanted to her AI in plain language, built a working prototype, deployed it, and made it free for anyone to use — all for zero dollars and a few hours of her time. This is what's now possible.Give Your AI a Job Description. Kay's methodology for corporate employees and business owners alike: give your AI a name, a role, defined responsibilities, and access to your institutional knowledge. Stop asking it generic questions and start treating it like a new team member who needs to be onboarded properly — and watch the quality of output transform.Any Repetitive Task Is Fair Game. Marketing reporting. Sales call documentation. Bookkeeping categorization. Email triage. Kay walks through role-specific examples and gives listeners a simple framework: describe your repetitive task to Claude or ChatGPT like you're talking to a friend, ask what can be automated, and see what comes back.Follow Your Intuition. When Erica asks Kay what advice she'd give her former self — the Kay who was nervous to pivot from KAC Marketing to Collab AI — her answer is simple and worth sitting with: “I'm glad you followed your intuition.” AI is the internet of this generation. The people who ignore it will be the ones who said they didn't need a website.SPECIAL OFFER FOR LISTENERSKay is offering Glass Ceilings & Sticky Floors listeners 20% off any Collab AI membership tier (quarterly or annual) with code ERICA20. Use the link below to join.Join Collab AI (20% off with code ERICA20): https://thecollabaicompany.com/RESOURCES & LINKSCollab AI: https://thecollabaicompany.com/KAC Marketing: https://www.kayallencarr.com/LinkedIn: Kay Allen-Carr: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayallencarr/HER Collective: Send Erica a DM. She'll invite you to sit in on a live HER Collective session as her personal guest. No pressure, no strings attached. RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual
WHAT IFWhat if you didn't need a tech background, a development team, or even a single line of code to build your own software? Kay Allen-Carr launched a working app in four hours and a full software company in 48. She's not a developer. She's a marketer. And she did it by stopping prompting AI and starting to partner with it — and now she teaches women entrepreneurs to do exactly the same.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROKay Allen-Carr is a data-driven marketer, owner of a seven-figure agency, keynote speaker, and the founder of KAC Marketing and Collab AI. After 15 years climbing from marketing manager to agency partner to business owner, she hit a ceiling — and instead of waiting for the next rung on the ladder, she built an entirely new one. Today she runs her business in roughly ten hours a week, has replaced almost all of her software subscriptions with tools she built herself using AI, and teaches women entrepreneurs how to stop using AI like a search engine and start using it like the business partner they've always needed. No coding required. No tech background necessary. Just a willingness to have a conversation.INSIDE THE EPISODEFrom the Corporate Grind to a Seven-Figure Agency. Kay started at Comcast, moved to an Inc. 500 startup, climbed to partner at a Miami ad agency, and then asked herself: what's next? She breaks down the moment she realized the ladder had run out of rungs — and what she did about it.5am to 8pm to 10 Hours a Week. Kay was a self-described perfectionist and control freak who would redo her team's work rather than trust it. She takes us through the honest before-and-after: the exhausting grind, the expensive senior hires, and how AI completely transformed how she runs her business — and her life.From Prompting to Partnering. The biggest mistake people make with AI isn't using the wrong tool. It's treating it like a search bar. Kay breaks down what it actually means to build a real working relationship with AI — one where you give it the end goal, not a perfectly engineered prompt, and let it figure out the plan.She Built a PR Pitch Tool in Four Hours. A fashion brand client needed PR outreach. Kay didn't hire an agency. She described what she wanted to her AI in plain language, built a working prototype, deployed it, and made it free for anyone to use — all for zero dollars and a few hours of her time. This is what's now possible.Give Your AI a Job Description. Kay's methodology for corporate employees and business owners alike: give your AI a name, a role, defined responsibilities, and access to your institutional knowledge. Stop asking it generic questions and start treating it like a new team member who needs to be onboarded properly — and watch the quality of output transform.Any Repetitive Task Is Fair Game. Marketing reporting. Sales call documentation. Bookkeeping categorization. Email triage. Kay walks through role-specific examples and gives listeners a simple framework: describe your repetitive task to Claude or ChatGPT like you're talking to a friend, ask what can be automated, and see what comes back.Follow Your Intuition. When Erica asks Kay what advice she'd give her former self — the Kay who was nervous to pivot from KAC Marketing to Collab AI — her answer is simple and worth sitting with: “I'm glad you followed your intuition.” AI is the internet of this generation. The people who ignore it will be the ones who said they didn't need a website.SPECIAL OFFER FOR LISTENERSKay is offering Glass Ceilings & Sticky Floors listeners 20% off any Collab AI membership tier (quarterly or annual) with code ERICA20. Use the link below to join.Join Collab AI (20% off with code ERICA20): https://thecollabaicompany.com/RESOURCES & LINKSCollab AI: https://thecollabaicompany.com/KAC Marketing: https://www.kayallencarr.com/LinkedIn: Kay Allen-Carr: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayallencarr/HER Collective: Send Erica a DM. She'll invite you to sit in on a live HER Collective session as her personal guest. No pressure, no strings attached. RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual
See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Dr. Sabrina Starling has spent over 20 years helping small business owners build profitable, sustainable companies without burning themselves out. In this episode, she brings her business psychology background directly to bookkeepers — walking through her $10,000-an-hour framework, the mindset shift that changed everything for her, and the practical steps you can take right now to stop trading hours for dollars and start building a business that works without you. Chapters [00:00] Opening and guest introduction [01:35] Burnout and starting a business [04:40] The E-Myth epiphany [08:10] The $10,000-an-hour framework [12:40] First hire and finding A-players [17:00] Time audits and glass ceilings [19:10] What has and hasn't changed in 20 years [22:40] AI and the human advantage [25:30] Serving your top clients and micro-innovation [28:50] The free download and closing thoughts From Burnout to 25 Hours a Week Sabrina started her business fresh out of a gruelling career as a psychologist in community mental health — working 40- to 50-hour weeks, taking on-call shifts, and running on empty. When she launched her coaching practice and started a family at the same time, she made what she calls a "very naive declaration": she would only work 25 hours a week. What felt like an impossible constraint turned out to be one of the best decisions she ever made. "Limits force innovation and creativity," she explains. That boundary forced her to be ruthlessly focused on only the work that moved the business forward. The $10,000-an-Hour Framework The turning point came when Sabrina started categorising every task in her business by its dollar-per-hour value — $10, $100, $1,000, or $10,000. She printed the chart and put it behind her monitor so she'd see it constantly. "Inevitably, I would be nose down working on something for a client, and then I would look up and say, oh my gosh, I've just spent 4 hours in $10 and $100 an hour activity." Blocking her highest-value work on the calendar first — before checking email, before firefighting — is what made the difference. She's made the chart available as a free download at tapthepotential.com/10k, along with two podcast episodes walking through how to use it for yourself and with your team. Hiring A-Players Into the Right Seats Sabrina's first hire was a virtual assistant — and the thinking she put into that hire became the seed of her How to Hire the Best book series. Rather than hiring fast out of desperation, she asked: what strengths does this role actually require to deliver results day in and day out? Her original VA, hired for her people skills and attention to detail, is still with the company 20 years later. "One A-player in the right seat working from their strengths will be 900% to 1,200% more productive than a warm body team member." For bookkeepers, payroll is already the biggest profit leak — and it's usually not optimised with A-players. AI, Adaptability, and the Human Advantage AI is reshaping bookkeeping, and Sabrina doesn't sidestep that. But her take is direct: when you offload $10-an-hour busywork to AI, you free yourself to do the work that actually can't be automated — deeply understanding your best clients, spotting problems they can't see in their own numbers, and delivering insight that goes far beyond the books. "When we convey to our team members that we want them doing $10,000 an hour work and we're going to show them how, they get so excited and they are relieved because they know they have job security at that point." The bookkeepers who will thrive are the ones having real conversations with their top clients and continuously innovating around their needs. Working From Your Sweet Spot Sabrina encourages bookkeepers to identify the 20% of clients driving 80% of revenue — and then narrow that further to the ones who are also a genuine joy to work with. Those are the relationships worth doubling down on. Use your natural detail orientation to tune in to what those clients are worried about, what's keeping them up at night, and where you can remove friction for them. She calls the result "micro-innovation" — small, consistent improvements that compound over time and make you genuinely irreplaceable. "Small steps forward taken in a consistent direction lead to big change over time." Links Mentioned Free $10,000-an-hour activity chart + bonus podcast episodes: tapthepotential.com/10k The E-Myth by Michael Gerber How to Hire the Best book series by Dr. Sabrina Starling Profit by Design Podcast (Tap the Potential) thesuccessfulbookkeeper.com About the Guest Dr. Sabrina Starling is a business psychologist, speaker, and author, and the founder of Tap the Potential LLC. She helps entrepreneurs build profitable, sustainably run companies by hiring A-players, building strong systems, and designing businesses that support their lives — not the other way around. Her entire team works 25 hours a week, and she has personally worked down to about 10. She is the author of the How to Hire the Best series and hosts the Profit by Design podcast. About the hostMichael PalmerMichael Palmer is the host of The Successful Bookkeeper podcast and co-founder of Pure Bookkeeping and The Successful Bookkeeper. He started this work because of his father — a brilliant electrical contractor who worked twice as hard as he should have had to, because nobody on the financial side was in his corner. That gap is what The Successful Bookkeeper exists to close. His view: bookkeepers are the most undervalued force in small business — and every bookkeeper who builds a real business changes two families: theirs, and their clients'.
Investor Fuel Real Estate Investing Mastermind - Audio Version
In this episode, Grace Wills shares her unique approach to real estate investing and bookkeeping, highlighting her strategies, challenges, and future plans. Discover how her CPA background and community connections drive her success in both fields. Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind: Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply Investor Machine Marketing Partnership: Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com Coaching with Mike Hambright: Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform! Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/ New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club —--------------------
SEASON: 6 EPISODE: 33Episode Overview:Welcome back to Becoming Preferred, the podcast designed to help you become the best version of you.Let's be honest: most entrepreneurs start a business out of a deep passion for a craft, not a love for spreadsheets. But as your business scales, relying on gut instinct or simply checking your bank balance to see if you're successful becomes a dangerous game. If you're only looking at your numbers once a year at tax time, you aren't driving your business—you're just reacting to it.Our guest today is here to take the fear out of finance. Danielle Hayden went from working behind a salon chair to earning her CPA and stepping into the corporate boardroom as a CFO. Today, she is the founder of Kickstart Accounting Inc., where her team of nearly 50 professionals has helped thousands of small business owners transition from emotional guessing to data-driven confidence.Whether you are trying to price your services for true profit, looking to make your next big hire, or ready to step into your true power as a CEO, today's conversation is an essential roadmap for turning financial clarity into a massive competitive advantage. Please join me for my conversation with Danielle HaydenGuest Bio: Danielle Hayden started her career behind the salon chair. Working as a hairdresser, she discovered she had a knack for using numbers to help herself and the people around her hit their goals. That instinct sent her back to school, through a CPA and a master's in accounting, and into the corporate boardroom as a CFO. After more than a decade there, she left to build Kickstart Accounting Inc., where her team is nearly 50 now and has served thousands of small business owners through bookkeeping, CFO services, and tax preparation.Danielle's approach starts with the foundation: clean books, the right systems, and a clear picture of cash and profit. From there, she teaches business owners to use their numbers every month, not just at tax time. For owners who have been avoiding their finances or running on gut instinct, she gives them the tools to lead with data.Resource Links:Website: https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/Product Link: https://envisioncfo.org/Insight Gold Timestamps:02:38 I left high school with no interest in math or numbers or accounting05:00 I keep on using the words tool in our toolbox, and I do that very intentionally07:19 I think you call it 'tax time only accounting'08:58 My mission is that every single business owner looks at their numbers every single month10:42 A lot of the bad habits that we have in business, they're probably because we have bad habits personally12:10 Four key performance indicators that you're looking at every single month13:59 So I have a confession that I am guilty as well, okay? I am what I call a free spender15:14 Answer these three questions: What just happened? Why did it happen, and what am I going to do about it?23:10 Make sure that your bookkeeping is accurate first, and then go play in AI with those accurate financial statements instead of doing it the other direction24:40 Do not go dump a product line just because it's not profitable27:29 Why did you make the choices that you made?29:58 We need to understand what we're spending and why, and then use that same data to properly price ourselves31:33 Bookkeeping is looking backwards, and CFO is looking forward34:50 The website is kickstartaccountinginc.com and from there you can get over to the envisioncfo.org.Connect Socially:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-hayden-kickstartaccounting/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kickstartaccountinginc/X: https://x.com/kickstartacctCEO Numbers Network Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ceo-numbers-network-with-danielle-hayden/id1574515604Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kickstartaccounting/Email: danielle@kickstartaccountinginc.comSponsors: Rainmaker LeadGen Platform Demo: https://calendar.summit-learning.com/widget/booking/JKItVP7WErmCBjU2cCIxRainmaker Digital Solutions: https://www.rainmakerdigitalsolutions.com/
Smart, competent business owners tend to lose IQ points the second the conversation turns to their finances. Heidi DeCoux built something to fix exactly that. In this episode, Kelly sits down with Heidi, the founder of Cashflowy.AI to talk about why so many solopreneurs freeze around their numbers, the brutal co-founder situation Heidi had to fight her way out of before she could bring the tool to life (and the three lessons that saved her), and how an AI CFO named Clara is making "how much can I safely pay myself this month?" a question you can finally answer. If your books are a source of dread, this one's permission to stop being afraid. What's inside: Why understanding your numbers is the thing that actually sets you free The partnership red flags Heidi ignored, and what she'd do differently What makes bookkeeping built for one type of business so much smarter Where AI is about to take the entire accounting industry Timestamps 01:42 — From rural Minnesota to four businesses and three exits 03:14 — The unsolved pain she set out to fix: solopreneurs frozen around their numbers 04:47 — The co-founder she had to legally remove 05:33 — Three hard lessons (move slower, don't skimp on legal, understand the tech) 08:05 — The right co-founder, the test project, and divine timing 09:22 — Why your partner is the biggest defining factor of your success 10:01 — Kelly's own partnership lesson learned 10:52 — How Cashfowy.ai works and who it's built for 11:23 — Why QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and Wave miss the mark for solopreneurs 13:11 — One plan, $39/month, everything included 13:54 — Meet Clara, the built-in AI CFO 14:37 — From recordkeeping to real decision-making 15:52 — The dashboard features users love most (safe pay, tax estimator) 17:58 — Where the accounting industry is heading with AI 18:15 — AI tax returns and the future of the CPA 22:38 — How fast you can get set up (6 minutes, 33 seconds) Resources & Mentions Follow Heidi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heididecoux/ Get your free trial at: https://cashflowy.ai/sales?via=kelly-roach Register for Kelly's FREE AI for Sales training: https://accelerator.virtualbusinessschool.com/ai-for-sales-register
Scaling New Heights Podcast: Cutting Edge Training For Small Business Advisors
On this episode of the Woodard Report podcast, Joe speaks with Jessica McKellar about her journey from studying computer science at MIT and building successful software startups to founding Pilot, a bookkeeping and accounting technology company. Jessica shares how Pilot evolved from solving the financial back-office challenges faced by entrepreneurs into a platform and explains how automation, AI, and value-based pricing are reshaping the economics of accounting firms. She also introduces Meridian, Pilot's new platform that enables autonomous bookkeeping, month-end close processes, and AI-assisted accounting workflows designed to help firms scale while improving both client and employee experiences. About Jessica McKellar Jessica McKellar is the co-founder and CEO of Pilot. She started the company with a simple conviction: small business owners shouldn't have to be their own bookkeeper, accountant, and financial advisor all at once. Today, Pilot serves more than 3,500 businesses, from neighborhood restaurants and retail shops to growing service businesses, helping owners get books off their plates so they can focus on what actually grows their company. Before Pilot, Jessica founded two other companies that were acquired by Oracle and Dropbox. She holds 3 degrees from MIT. Jessica also teaches programming at San Quentin State Prison and advocates for hiring formerly incarcerated people. She believes that excluding talented workers based on their records doesn't make business sense, and that second chances belong in the workplace too. Learn more about Meridian from Pilot Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn Thank you to our show sponsor, Canopy! Unclunk your firm with Canopy, the fully integrated practice management that helps accountants build the firm they always wanted. The suite includes client and document management, workflow, time and billing, engagements and proposals, and more. Check out GetCanopy.com. Learn more about the show and our sponsors at Woodard.com/podcast.
See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Teresa Gregory has spent her career helping leaders find the hidden patterns that quietly shape every decision they make. In this conversation with host Michael Palmer, she turns that lens directly on bookkeeping professionals — the people who sit in a unique seat of trust with their clients every single day. Whether you manage a team, serve a full client roster, or are building your firm on your own, the mindset habits Teresa shares here apply immediately. Chapters [00:00] Introduction and Teresa's Background [03:13] Hidden Bias and First Impressions [07:00] Bias as a Biological Response [11:00] Working With Difficult Clients [14:30] The PAUSE Method Explained [19:00] Active Listening vs. Reloading [23:00] Strategic Client Check-Ins [27:00] Why Every Bookkeeper Needs a Coach [31:30] Positioning Yourself as an ROI Expert [35:30] Teresa's Resources and Wrap-Up Hidden Bias Is Running in the Background Every interaction you walk into carries invisible baggage. Teresa calls it the fight-or-flight response — a biological pattern your brain uses to assess safety and make quick judgments. The problem isn't that it exists; the problem is when you let a past experience cloud what's happening right now. "I'm reinforcing every time I have this engagement with them without identifying it and without saying, 'hey, this is what's going on,'" she explains. The first step is simply naming the bias before you walk into a meeting, a call, or a difficult conversation. The PAUSE Method for Breaking the Pattern Teresa teaches a five-step framework — Pause, Awareness, Unwind, Strategic, Effectiveness — that gives leaders a repeatable way to interrupt bias before it takes over. Pause and name what you're carrying. Build awareness of when it tends to show up. Unwind the reinforced pattern. Be strategic about what you'll do differently. Then evaluate honestly: did it work? "You have to identify it and say, 'this is what's causing me to do this,' and then look at how do I overcome it?" The method works whether you're prepping for a tense client review or walking into a room full of people you're slightly in awe of. Active Listening vs. Reloading Most people think they're listening. Teresa says they're reloading — nodding, making eye contact, and waiting for their turn to talk. Active listening looks different: you take in what the client actually said, reframe it back in your own words, and confirm you got it right. "What I heard you saying is…" followed by "Did I get that right?" This one shift builds more trust than almost anything else you can do. For bookkeepers — who already have deep, consistent access to business owners — it's a fast path to becoming a true strategic partner rather than a transactional vendor. Know What Your Client Actually Cares About Teresa is direct: you should have a running list of each client's core values and priorities. "If I cannot say to Michael, your number one important thing is ROI or bottom line or taxes, I need to be able to identify that. You should have a running list of what are the things that are important to that client so you can speak to those — and then any solution that you're proposing or any conversation you're having ties right back to it." Schedule intentional check-ins — monthly if possible, quarterly at minimum — to ask what has changed. Businesses change. Lives change. If you're not asking, you're missing it. Reposition Yourself as an ROI Expert One of the most practical moments in this episode is Teresa's challenge to bookkeepers to rethink how they introduce themselves. "If you were to tell me, 'I offer business owners a strategic advantage because I help them understand ROI' — now I'm like, whoa, I need that." Her own sister, a bookkeeper, spent six months practicing a new way of describing her work at local chamber events. The result: new clients in industries she'd never considered. You track every dollar that moves through a business. That is, by definition, the work of an ROI expert. Lead with that. Links mentioned Squared Success website: squaredsuccess.com Teresa Gregory on LinkedIn: search "Teresa L. Gregory" PureBookkeeping: purebookkeeping.com The Successful Bookkeeper: thesuccessfulbookkeeper.com About the guest Teresa Gregory is the founder of Squared Success, a leadership strategy and coaching firm. She began her career in training and development inside corporate organizations — including supporting the finance team at Microsoft — before transitioning into executive coaching for business owners. Her work focuses on helping leaders uncover hidden mindset barriers, break bias patterns, and build the intentional habits that drive real results. Teresa is also a speaker and, notably, coaches her own bookkeeper sister to help her grow her firm. About the hostMichael PalmerMichael Palmer is the host of The Successful Bookkeeper podcast and co-founder of Pure Bookkeeping and The Successful Bookkeeper. He started this work because of his father — a brilliant electrical contractor who worked twice as hard as he should have had to, because nobody on the financial side was in his corner. That gap is what The Successful Bookkeeper exists to close. His view: bookkeepers are the most undervalued force in small business — and every bookkeeper who builds a real business changes two families: theirs, and their clients'.
Misa Bacon, CEO of Perfectly Kept Books®, a bookkeeping firm who helps women entrepreneurs gain financial clarity and confidence, whether they are ready to outsource or still DIY-ing their books.Through trusted bookkeeping services, QuickBooks training, and cleanups, Misa supports business owners in building systems that bring calm, control, and sustainability to their finances.Now, Misa's journey from being denied a corporate promotion to running a business that outpaces her former salary demonstrates what's possible when women step into ownership and back themselves fully.And while navigating the messy middle of scaling, embracing the CEO mindset, and balancing life as a single mum, she's reframing bookkeeping as an act of self-care and self-leadership.Here's where to find more:https://perfectlykeptbooks.comhttps://www.facebook.com/perfectlykeptbookshttps://www.instagram.com/perfectlykeptbooks________________________________________________Welcome to The Unforget Yourself Show where we use the power of woo and the proof of science to help you identify your blind spots, and get over your own bullshit so that you can do the fucking thing you ACTUALLY want to do!We're Mark and Katie, the founders of Unforget Yourself and the creators of the Unforget Yourself System and on this podcast, we're here to share REAL conversations about what goes on inside the heart and minds of those brave and crazy enough to start their own business. From the accidental entrepreneur to the laser-focused CEO, we find out how they got to where they are today, not by hearing the go-to story of their success, but talking about how we all have our own BS to deal with and it's through facing ourselves that we find a way to do the fucking thing.Along the way, we hope to show you that YOU are the most important asset in your business (and your life - duh!). Being a business owner is tough! With vulnerability and humor, we get to the real story behind their success and show you that you're not alone._____________________Find all our links to all the things like the socials, how to work with us and how to apply to be on the podcast here:https://linktr.ee/unforgetyourself
Text a question to Victoria!Do you dread looking at your financial statements? This conversation with Danielle Hayden might be the bit of encouragement you need to change your perspective. Danielle is the founder of Kickstart Accounting Inc. and brings 15+ years of finance experience to help six and seven-figure founders understand their numbers, feel confident making financial decisions, and build sustainable wealth.In this episode, Victoria and Danielle cover the four money personality types she sees most often in entrepreneurs and how understanding your money mindset can change how you run your business. They dive into the impact childhood experiences have on your present-day view of money, money myths that keep entrepreneurs stuck, and why relying on AI tools for financial planning can be problematic.If you've ever told yourself, “I'm just not good with numbers”, spend from a place of fear or lack, or simply avoid looking at your finances altogether, this conversation will inspire you to approach your numbers with clarity and confidence. Whether you're deep cleaning your house or sipping on a latte from your favorite local coffee shop, you'll leave this episode feeling empowered to know your numbers.Links Mentioned in Today's Episode:Work With Kickstart AccountingFollow Kickstart on InstagramFollow Danielle on InstagramListen to Business By the Books PodcastFor show notes, head to www.thebrandingbusinessschool.com/thepodcast/Show notes for episodes 1-91 can be found at www.brandwelldesigns.com/thepodcast/Follow BrandWell on Instagram. Follow The Branding Business School on Instagram.Save on your first year of Honeybook using this link! Save 50% off your first year of Flodesk using this link! Get $30 off your first month of Nuuly using this link!Get up to $150 off your first box of Factor Meals using this link!
You started the year off strong, you set all your goals for how you wanted to do your bookkeeping this year, and just like that, it's June, and now is the time for you to do a mid-year bookkeeping and financial checkup to see how your small business is doing. Time flies by so quickly, and before you know it, we will be flipping the calendar to the month of December. Today, we are doing a checkup to make sure you have stayed on track with your small business bookkeeping. Now is the time to make sure you are doing everything you can to stay up to date, and if you find that you have slipped a little, this episode will help you get back on track quickly and make sure you are able to stay up to date going forward so that you can ensure you have a smooth transition at year end. This halfway point is also a great time to assess how your business is doing. Are you meeting your sales goals? Is your income higher or lower than what you were projecting? And what should you do if you are seeing numbers you didn't expect? I'll also help you focus on which reports you should be looking at, whether you are using a computerized system like QuickBooks or keeping track of your business finances manually or in a Google or Excel spreadsheet. It is extremely important to keep a pulse on how your business is doing throughout the year, whether you are just starting your small business, you're a solopreneur, entrepreneur, small business owner, virtual online bookkeeper, or virtual assistant, so listen in and make sure your business is on track to reach all your goals by doing a mid-year financial checkup… Join us in a community built specifically for accountants and high-stress professionals. You'll receive support, accountability, and a community that understands what you're going through. We focus on stress reduction, increasing productivity, time management, goal achievement, health, happiness, and desired lifestyle: https://www.financialadventure.com/community Schedule your Complimentary Stress Audit And Clarity Session, where we'll work together to create a clear and focused plan and overcome the obstacles that stand in your way so that you can move forward and immediately start enjoying your life with less stress, increased productivity, and more time to spend doing what you love with the people you care about: https://www.financialadventure.com/work-with-me Accountants, CPAs, Bookkeepers, Tax Preparers & Financial Professionals, sign up here to get updates on upcoming opportunities & grab the Audit Of Your Well-Being & Balance Guide here: https://www.financialadventure.com/accountant Ready to set up your business? I have a program to help you get your business set up so that you can start making money. Sign up for this program here: https://www.financialadventure.com/start Are you ready to try coaching? Schedule an Introductory Coaching Session today. You'll have the opportunity to see how you like coaching with an Introductory Coaching Session: https://www.financialadventure.com/intro Join us in the Mastering Your Small Business Finances PROFIT LAB if you are ready to take control of your business finances and create the profitable business you are striving for. Are you ready to generate revenues and increase the profit in your business: https://www.financialadventure.com/profit If You Are Ready To Choose, Start Or Grow Your Side Hustle, Get Your Free Checklist And Assessment Here: https://www.financialadventure.com/sidehustle Grab Your FREE guide: 5 Essential Strategies For Stress-Free Bookkeeping: https://www.financialadventure.com/5essentials Your FREE Online Virtual Bookkeeping Business Starter Guide & Success Path Is Waiting For You: https://www.financialadventure.com/starterguide Join Our Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenbusinessownersultimatediybookkeepingboutique The Strategic Bookkeeping Academy, including Bookkeeping Basics, is open for registration! You can learn more and sign up here: https://www.financialadventure.com/sba Looking for a payroll solution for your business? You can get an exclusive 15% discount on your payroll services when you sign up here: https://www.financialadventure.com/adp QuickBooks Online - Save 30% Your First 6 Months: https://www.financialadventure.com/quickbooks Sign up for a virtual coffee chat to see if starting a Bookkeeping Business is right for you: https://www.financialadventure.com/discovery Show Notes: https://www.financialadventure.com This podcast is sponsored by Financial Adventure, LLC ~ visit https://www.financialadventure.com for additional information and free resources.
Sasha Orloff is the CEO and Co-founder of Puzzle, an AI-powered accounting platform helping startups, small businesses, and accounting firms gain real-time financial insights through a smart general ledger. Before Puzzle, he was a serial entrepreneur, serving as Co-founder and CEO of LendUp and Co-founder & Advisor to Mission Lane, with previous ventures collectively raising over $1 billion. Sasha also hosts the "Tech Finance" with Sasha Orloff podcast, where he interviews leaders shaping the future of finance and accounting. In this episode… For many businesses, accounting remains a slow, backward-looking process that delivers insights long after decisions have already been made. As AI reshapes industries across the economy, could financial operations become real-time, accurate, and proactive rather than reactive? What would it take to modernize one of the most critical yet overlooked functions in business? Sasha Orloff, a serial entrepreneur and technology innovator, says the key is to rebuild accounting systems from the ground up, with data integrity and AI at the core. He notes that traditional software lacks real-time intelligence, leading to inefficiencies and delays. By reengineering the general ledger, businesses can access faster, more reliable financial insights and automate complex workflows. AI-powered anomaly detection and reconciliation further improve accuracy while reducing manual effort. The outcome is a more scalable and intelligent financial system for companies of all sizes. In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz talks with Sasha Orloff, CEO and Co-founder of Puzzle, about transforming accounting with AI. They cover rebuilding systems for the AI era, using AI for accuracy over speed, why strong accounting drives growth, and strategies for adoption, customer trust, and go-to-market in a conservative industry.
This episode is a wake-up call for anyone who's ever felt frustrated with the system. The speaker shares a shocking story about a 72-year-old woman who was fired from her job at Circle K for defending herself against an armed man with knives. The court's recent ruling has sparked a crucial conversation about the right to self-defense and the responsibilities of employers.The speaker delves into the details of the case, highlighting the importance of understanding the nuances of the court's decision. They also touch on the broader implications of the ruling, discussing how it affects employees' rights and the role of employers in protecting their workers. Along the way, the speaker weaves in personal anecdotes and historical examples to illustrate the complexities of the issue.One of the key takeaways from this episode is the need for a more critical examination of the way we approach issues like government waste and corruption. The speaker shares some staggering statistics on the amount of money lost to improper payments and highlights the importance of accountability in government. They also discuss the ways in which the system is designed to perpetuate waste and corruption, and how this affects everyday people.If you're tired of feeling like the system is stacked against you, this episode is a must-listen. The speaker offers a call to action, encouraging listeners to demand more from their government and to take a closer look at the ways in which they can make a difference. Join the conversation and listen to this episode to learn more about the issues and how you can get involved.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See what the team at The Successful Bookkeeper has on right now → Melissa Broughton, founder of Busy Bee Advisors in Sacramento, has built a bookkeeping firm that grows not just through referrals and marketing, but through strategic acquisition of other bookkeeping practices. In this episode, she pulls back the curtain on her complete acquisition process — from finding firms before they shut their doors, to vetting the financials, to integrating clients without losing them. If you've ever wondered whether buying a book of business could be part of your growth plan, Melissa's experience — including the deals that went sideways — is exactly what you need to hear. Chapters [00:00] Cold open teaser [01:15] Melissa's growth journey since last episode [05:30] Launching an online bookkeeping course [09:00] How the acquisition strategy began [12:30] The 70% rule and the water test [17:00] Vetting financials and avoiding pitfalls [21:00] What makes a firm attractive to buyers [25:30] Client integration and transition lessons [30:00] Reading the seller's personality [33:30] Capacity, formulas, and skipping brokers How Melissa Got Into Acquisitions It started with a pattern Melissa kept hearing from tax professionals: a bookkeeper with a thriving practice would simply close up shop, send clients a farewell letter, and leave them scrambling. "There were bookkeepers who had successful, thriving practices and they just decided to retire — they just closed their doors." That gap between a bookkeeper ready to walk away and clients who still need service looked like an opportunity. The goal became getting in front of those owners before they pulled the plug. The 70% Rule and Other Benchmarks Melissa's core filter is straightforward: would the acquisition still be profitable if you only kept 70% of the clients? "We look at, is the business still profitable if you only retain 70% of their business? That's our benchmark." She calls it the "water test," and a surprising number of potential deals don't pass it. She also looks at minimum client roster size, client interaction levels, software alignment (her firm runs exclusively on QuickBooks Online), and whether all clients are under a signed contract. A book of business built on handshakes and mixed software platforms is a much riskier buy than it appears on paper. Vetting the Financials — Don't Take It as Gospel Because bookkeepers are numbers people, Melissa says they're actually well-positioned to do the kind of financial scrutiny most buyers skip. "Ask for proof of those deposits. Make sure that the income lines up." She requests bank statements alongside tax returns, digs into payroll breakdowns, and checks lease agreements — because taking on a seller's remaining lease obligations can quietly sink a deal. She also warns against letting a seller's likability cloud the numbers: "Nice has nothing to do with it." Integration: What Makes or Breaks the Transition The smoothest acquisition Melissa ever completed involved an owner who was fully ready to walk away and sent a clean, brief handover note to clients. The hardest ones involved sellers who couldn't really let go. "We generally will not have the owners stay on — I can only think of two situations where we've had the owners stay on, and I will say I regretted it both of those times." For every acquisition, she brings on extra team support and deploys what she calls a "client whisperer" — a trusted admin who calls each new client, makes the introduction, and asks the question most people avoid: what did your previous bookkeeper do that drove you crazy? What Sellers Should Know Melissa also flips the conversation for bookkeepers thinking about eventually selling their practice. The three biggest value drivers in her eyes are: signed contracts with every client, a reasonable level of ongoing client communication (not too hands-off, not so personal that clients will leave when you do), and consistent use of mainstream software. She also recommends having payment on file rather than invoicing after the fact — both as a business practice and because it signals a well-run, collectible revenue stream to any buyer. Starting negotiations, Melissa uses a 1.25x multiplier on receivables as a baseline and works from there. Links Mentioned Busy Bee Advisors: busybeeadvisors.com Contact Melissa directly for her acquisition formula and checklist — email will be in the show notes The Successful Bookkeeper: thesuccessfulbookkeeper.com Pure Bookkeeping: purebookkeeping.com About Melissa Broughton Melissa Broughton is the founder and owner of Busy Bee Advisors, a fully remote bookkeeping firm headquartered in Sacramento, California, with team members spread across the United States. She has built and sold businesses across multiple industries and has applied those lessons to growing her bookkeeping practice through strategic acquisitions. In 2024, she launched an online course to help aspiring bookkeepers start their own businesses; by August 2025, more than 3,500 people had completed it. Melissa is a returning guest on The Successful Bookkeeper podcast. About the hostMichael PalmerMichael Palmer is the host of The Successful Bookkeeper podcast and co-founder of Pure Bookkeeping and The Successful Bookkeeper. He started this work because of his father — a brilliant electrical contractor who worked twice as hard as he should have had to, because nobody on the financial side was in his corner. That gap is what The Successful Bookkeeper exists to close. His view: bookkeepers are the most undervalued force in small business — and every bookkeeper who builds a real business changes two families: theirs, and their clients'.
Can AI now do bookkeeping better than humans? Blake and David dig into new data showing major AI models outperforming outsourced accountants on basic transaction coding, then explore what that means for firms, finance teams, and the future of audit. They also cover a one-person finance team powered by AI agents, KPMG's scramble to keep up, and why the accounting talent shortage still isn't going away.SponsorsOnPay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/onpayThe Value Builder System - http://accountingpodcast.promo/valueR.E. Cost Seg - http://accountingpodcast.promo/recostsegChapters(00:00) - TAP 491 (00:38) - Top stories preview (03:23) - OnPay support story (04:08) - Finance team of one (06:49) - LLMs vs humans benchmarks (09:15) - Ramp Stack agents (13:04) - Digits interview begins (19:55) - Outcome pricing and skills (28:05) - Livestream Q&A reactions (29:27) - Future of audit Oath (30:29) - Oath AI Audit Vision (31:46) - Continuous Audit Workflow (32:21) - Business Model Debate (33:02) - Big Four On Alert (33:07) - Accounting Engineer Hiring (33:47) - KPMG Courts AI Startups (35:15) - Talent Shortage Worsens (36:31) - Why Seniors Are Scarce (39:55) - Ramp Stack AI Agents (47:14) - Procurement Agents And Valuation (48:50) - KPMG Token Maxing Dashboard (52:31) - KPMG Australia Fallout (54:45) - Trump Tax Settlement Update (56:14) - IRS Leadership Vacuum (59:28) - Wrap Up And Earmark News Show NotesDigits "Beyond the AI Hype" Benchmark — AI Models Now Beat Human Accountantshttps://blog.insightfulaccountant.com/digits-releases-latest-edition-of-their-beyond-the-ai-hype-benchmarkRamp Launches Stack, an AI Operating System for Accounting Firmshttps://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ramp-launches-stack-an-ai-operating-system-for-accounting-firms-302789630.htmlRamp Launches Fleet of AI Agents Across Its Procurement Platformhttps://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ramp-launches-fleet-of-ai-agents-across-its-procurement-platform-302756657.htmlRamp Raises $750 Million Series F at $44 Billion Valuationhttps://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ramp-raises-series-f-at-44-billion-valuation-302791103.htmlAccounting Talent Shortage Surges — Accounting Todayhttps://www.accountingtoday.com/news/accounting-talent-shortage-surgesEx-PCAOB Regulator Joins AI Audit Startup Oath Targeting 80% Automationhttps://thefinancestory.com/ex-pcaob-regulator-joins-ai-native-audit-firm-oathKPMG Exploring Start-Up Deals in Silicon Valley to Counter AI Threat — Financial Timeshttps://www.internationalaccountingbulletin.com/news/kpmg-exploring-start-up-deals/KPMG Sets 75% AI Usage Target with New Dashboard, Employees Flag It's Easy to Game — Business Insiderhttps://www.aol.com/articles/kpmg-now-dashboard-where-consultants-154532433.htmlAmazon Shuts Down Internal AI Leaderboard After Employees Inflate Usage via Tokenmaxxinghttps://www.hcamag.com/us/specialization/hr-technology/amazon-shuts-down-ai-leaderboard-after-tokenmaxxing/577189KPMG Australia CEO Andrew Yates Resigns Amid Whistleblower Scandalhttps://www.internationalaccountingbulletin.com/news/kpmg-australia-ceo-andrew-yates-resigns-amid-whistleblower-scandal/Trump Administration Drops $1.8 Billion Anti-Weaponization Fund — Todd Blanche Testimonyhttps://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/02/doj-fund-trump-todd-blanche.htmlBessent Says He Is Performing IRS Commissioner Duties Amid Trump Tax Settlement Scrutinyhttps://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/03/bessent-irs-commissioner-trump-tax-settlement-doj-fund.htmlNeed CPE?Get CPE for listening to podcasts with Earmark: https://earmarkcpe.comSubscribe to the Earmark Podcast: https://podcast.earmarkcpe.comGet in TouchThanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.SponsorshipsAre you interested in sponsoring The Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.Need Accounting Conference Info? Check out our new website - accountingconferences.comLimited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessitiesTeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merchSubscribeApple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcastsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAccountingPodcastSpotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/SpotifyPodchaser: http://cloudacctpod.link/podchaserStitcher: http://cloudacctpod.link/StitcherOvercast: http://cloudacctpod.link/Over...