leave your silos and explore an incredible breadth of options.
by liz farr
accounting, by its nature, is a solitary activity. but we don’t have to solve our firm’s problems alone. we don’t have to suffer alone.
join liz farr at the linkedin 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 group | more liz farr | follow liz farr on the disruptors wherever you get your podcasts: apple, google/youtube, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music, audible, player fm, audacy, rss.
all we need to do is reach out to others, listen, ask for guidance, and know we will be heard and supported.
most of the time, we sit in front of a computer, and with our hands, we move bits and bytes around, shuffling the digital representations of numbers from one spot to another.
i used to call it “working in the number mines.” i imagined that with every journal entry, every number i added to a calculator or spreadsheet total, i was shoveling numbers from one pile to another until every number was in the correct pile.
while we depend on the others in our firms to do their parts of the task after we pass it off to be reviewed, corrected or added to the pieces that other team members are doing, we still do most of our work in solitude, especially in today’s remote or hybrid world. maybe there’s a discussion around the mistakes in the work, or maybe we just get a list of points to clear before passing it off.
or maybe, as reviewers, we should not bother sending the work back to the staff and just fix the problems ourselves. “i can fix it faster, so i’ll just do it myself,” we grumble, too frustrated and time-stressed to have that discussion. and the staff loses the opportunity to learn from mistakes.
audit – at least when onsite – can be different, with everyone gathered around the table in the client’s conference room, working on their assigned parts, and asking questions from time to time. but even gathered around a table or sitting in adjacent cubes – or connecting via zoom or teams for a co-working session – we still largely work in solitude.
the power of conferences to connect to others
however, even as an admitted introvert, the most powerful experiences of my time as a cpa have been when i have connected with a community of forward-thinking professionals, as i have had the opportunity to do in person at four separate conferences so far this summer: firm growth forum in san diego, aicpa engage in las vegas, scaling new heights in orlando, and bridging the gap in chicago.
my best experiences have been at smaller conferences like firm growth forum and bridging the gap, both of which were on the smaller side, with only about 200 attendees. there is a sense of community at these small gatherings that’s not as palpable as at the bigger ones.
another peak community was the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 dinner for guests of my disruptors podcast at aicpa engage. that dinner was a who’s who gathering of thought leaders in accounting. many of the guests have since thanked me for the invitation and the opportunity to spend time in an intimate setting with others. it was an amazing privilege to gather so many of my accounting heroes and heroines in one room.
i talked with my accounting friends about distinctly non-accounting topics at bridging the gap. we discussed mental health, lgbtq+ issues, spirituality, politics and health. speakers shared details about vulnerability, imposter syndrome, mental health journeys, leadership and self-care in sessions. we heard stories we’d never heard and perhaps did not expect to hear. who knew that so many of the leaders of our profession have had so many struggles over the years?
we also heard how firm owners had created amazing firms that most cpas would consider an impossible dream.
- dawn brolin shared how she built a firm that enabled her to leave the office at 2 p.m. during tax season to coach college softball.
- sean duncan told us about being paid for what he knows, including tips for visiting disney world.
- kenji kuramoto and matthew may shared how they built acuity and how their intimate friendship has played a big role.
- randy crabtree shared his mental health journey and how that has impacted his firm’s operations.
become one of the few with the power of community behind you
sadly, most cpas are fully unaware that such a reality exists. just last week, i had a conversation with the wife of my former tax partner’s boss, who was astounded when i told her that firms exist where people do not work insane hours during tax season.
mathematically, it’s no surprise that most cpas are trapped on the saly hamster wheel. 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research puts the number of people employed as accountants and auditors in the u.s. in 2023 at 1.4 million. of those, about half are cpas.
this means that only about 0.03 percent of u.s. cpas were at bridging the gap. the biggest conference i attended, aicpa engage, had over 5,000 in-person and virtual attendees in 2024, but it only reached about 0.7 percent of u.s. cpas.
when we stay in our silos, we remain unaware of the many ways other accountants have found to operate their firms. connecting to other accountants helps us explore that incredible breadth of options. i’ve met accountants and bookkeepers worldwide and learned that no two firms operate similarly. fortunately, for the future of accounting, many firm leaders are breaking the mold of traditional firms and doing things differently.
the best description of the magic that happens in the community came from one of my conversations with mike maksymiw. mike is the executive director of the aprio firm alliance, a community of future-oriented firm owners. in a new alliance meeting, one member explained how his firm was doing something that worked well in his state. another member says her firm had a different approach to the same issue in her state. a third member didn’t think either approach would work where he lived. however, another member suggested taking part of the first approach and combining it with part of the second approach. maybe that would work? boom! a solution that wouldn’t have emerged without the power of community.
community is everywhere
fortunately, connecting to a community of like-minded accountants is easy in today’s online world. here are some ways to find the supportive communities you need:
- attend professional conferences. this is my favorite and the best way to meet many people quickly. after those conferences, reach out to the people you met. connect on linkedin, x, facebook or wherever your online happy space is. drop them an email or dm. keep the conversation going.
- join an online community. realize, future firm, roundtable labs, thriveal, aprio alliance, automation town, and ask a cpa are examples of paid member communities. new ones are always emerging, so there is sure to be one that fits you.
- social media. #taxtwitter is a vibrant and supportive group of accountants. on facebook, there’s the accounting alchemy network and accounting influencers, to name just two. 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research also has groups on facebook, at facebook.com/cpatrendlines and people who love accountants, and on linkedin, where you can join more than 50,000 colleagues worldwide. follow and connect with the thought leaders in accounting. like and comment on their posts.
- create a mastermind. reach out to other firm owners to create a mastermind group where you can bounce ideas off each other and support each other. when i started writing, i was part of a mastermind that met weekly on zoom to critique each other’s writing and to support each other.
- get active in your state society. besides cpe and legislative advocacy, nearly every state society has opportunities to serve on committees and to socialize.
- attend conferences in your niche. do you have an industry specialty? attend and speak at those conferences where you may be the only accountant. you will have a captive audience of business owners who need your services. jody grunden built his firm in the early days by attending advertising agency conferences.
community is powerful. through community, we are lifted when we need energy. we get ideas and inspiration to make the future of accounting better than the past or present. it’s a sounding board when we need to vent or consider a new approach. we learn about the creative things that others are doing to create firms that improve the lives of their clients, their team members and the leaders of the firms. we don’t feel like we’re the only ones with this problem.