The 5 Biggest Surprises About Owning a CPA Firm

I love owning a CPA firm, but I’d be lying if I said everything about my world today is exactly as I expected it to be. Here are the 5 biggest surprises I’ve discovered (so far) during the process of transitioning from accountant to owner.

It’s More About Managing People than Technical Expertise

Perhaps the most shocking realization is discovering how little your accounting acumen contributes to your success as an owner. Being a talented CPA matters, but not nearly as much as being a great leader.

Delivering high-level client work is a completely different animal than building and managing a team capable of producing that same quality of work – and the larger your firm grows, the more this reality comes into play.

Before making the leap to firm ownership, ask yourself if you aspire to run a business in general or simply see it as the next logical step, because the most pressing challenges you will face relate to management, not accounting.

You must invest time, money, and energy into becoming a better leader and learning the management skills needed to help others succeed.

Building the Right Team Won’t Happen Overnight

Recruiting, training, and retaining top-level talent is tougher than it looks—and that applies to every role in your organization, from senior CPAs to your operations team.

On top of that, finding employees that fit your unique company culture adds an additional twist, especially when you purchase a firm that already has an established team and way of doing things.

I absolutely love our team and culture, but getting to where we are today was a work in progress and something that took more time and effort than I had anticipated.

Offering clear career paths, professional development, competitive pay, and work-life balance is a great starting point, but for these tactics to work, you must first define your mission, values, and culture to understand how new hires (and current employees) will or won’t fit into your master plan.

You Need a Sales & Marketing Strategy

Business ownership would be so much simpler if the only key to sustainable growth was delivering on your promises. Unfortunately, this isn’t how things work—not even in a referral-heavy industry like accounting.

I’ve been amazed at how much firm growth depends on success in sales and marketing, and I believe this is a very common surprise for new CPA firm owners.

Your Most Profitable Clients Get the Most Value

In many industries, the best clients are those who make a purchase and never make a peep. Like someone who signs up for a gym membership and stops coming after the first month but never gets around to canceling.

In our business, the opposite is true. 

A tax-return-only client whose only interaction with the firm is to upload documents once a year isn’t a great client. They’re not a bad one, but they’re not the type of client you can build your firm around.

The best clients are those who are fully engaged. They keep your team crazy busy, always have questions, always want more, and always show up. These are the clients who understand the true value of partnering with a CPA.

It’s been surprising to see that the clients who love us the most are also the ones paying us the most money. That’s because they are the ones getting the most value out of what we do best.

Work-Life Balance is Possible as a CPA

In an industry typically associated with long hours and lengthy PTO blackout periods, I’ve found that being an owner can be remarkably flexible compared to life as an individual contributor – once you have the right team and systems in place!

Earlier this year I spent two weeks skiing in Japan with my husband and I was able to completely disconnect from the firm, with 100% confidence that every one of our clients was being served with A+ quality care.

This was made possible not just because our team is amazing, but also because our firm culture was carefully crafted to support automation, delegation, and working smarter, not harder.

As an owner, you enjoy the autonomy and freedom to forgo the rigid structure of traditional accounting firms and take a more modern approach. You can build a workplace that provides a lifestyle that works for you and your team.