The best time to build a different kind of accounting firm? Right now, while everyone else is panicking about the talent shortage.
Students are avoiding accounting careers, and it’s not because they can’t do the work. When Yuri Kapilovich recently presented to a Rutgers business honors society, accounting students made up maybe 4-5% of the room. The reason? Reddit and Fishbowl have given them full visibility into what firm culture could actually look like.
But here’s the thing, this is a golden opportunity for firms that actually get it and are willing to do things differently.
In this episode, Yuri (aka “The Fun CPA”) explains why now is the perfect time to build the kind of firm where people genuinely want to work. He’s spent four years building a following on LinkedIn by saying the things that managers and senior accountants at big firms are thinking but can’t say out loud.
His mission is to change the perception of accounting by showing what’s possible when you prioritize people, mentorship, and actually enjoying the work you do.
The good news is that students aren’t avoiding accounting because they don’t want meaningful work. The firms that figure out how to create those better options internally will win the talent game for the next decade.
The conversation covers:
- Why visibility into firm life (thanks to Reddit and Fishbowl) is actually helping the profession by forcing transparency and accountability
- How forward-thinking firms are building cultures where people genuinely want to stay, creating competitive advantage in a tight talent market
- The opportunity for firms that invest in mentorship and long-term thinking, while others chase short-term efficiency metrics
- Why the current moment is perfect for CPAs who want to build firms differently (or work at firms that prioritize culture over billable hours)
- How Yuri’s Mentors Count community is filling the mentorship gap for accountants in their first five years
- The rise of networking events that people actually enjoy attending (and why that matters for building genuine professional relationships)
Yuri also shares his journey from working with ultra-high-net-worth clients to serving business owners who need real tax planning, and why aligning your practice with work you genuinely enjoy makes all the difference. Plus, a wild story about a non-client who forged Yuri’s CPA signature on a bank letter (and why clear boundaries matter).
This episode is for firm owners who see the talent challenges not as an insurmountable problem but as a chance to differentiate themselves. The accounting profession is evolving, and the firms that lean into mentorship, transparency, and human-centered culture will attract the best talent while others struggle. There’s real opportunity here for those willing to lead differently.
If you’re building (or want to work at) a CPA firm where people aren’t just surviving until partnership but actually thriving along the way, this conversation will give you practical insights and renewed hope for what’s possible in this profession.
Book Recommended in this Episode:
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 – Introduction of Yuri Capilovich and his mission in accounting
03:10 – Yuri’s background and career path into accounting and technology
07:30 – The real problems holding accounting firms back
12:45 – AI as an enabler, not a replacement
18:30 – Using technology to improve client experience and firm margins
23:40 – The mindset shift firm owners must make to scale
29:10 – What forward-thinking firms are doing differently right now
34:50 – Final thoughts on the future of the profession
Disclaimer: The following is an unedited transcription of the episode and has not been combed for errors.
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 – 00:00:03:22
Unknown
But the problem is, is that people are not willing to wait that long anymore.
00:00:03:24 – 00:00:22:01
Unknown
People are not going into it nowadays, going into school thinking, I’m going to be there for ten, 15 years and make partner. It’s not happening. They want a good experience. Ownership. Not toxic, you know, good pay, decent pay and then everything else they’re willing to do. But you know, that combination? Not great.
00:00:22:01 – 00:00:35:24
Unknown
I’m Brandon Poe, and this is the county’s Flight Plan podcast, where you can enjoy engaging conversations about mergers and acquisitions in accounting, practice management. Listen in on strategies to build a more fun and valuable accounting firm.
00:00:36:00 – 00:00:56:24
Unknown
All right. Welcome to the Accountants Flight Plan podcast. I have Yuri Capello bitch on today who’s also known as the fun CPA. As you can see in his background, if you’re watching on video and Yuri’s mission is clear, he wants to change the perception of the accounting profession, which is a tall task. Here’s a secret he has no idea what he’s doing online.
00:00:56:24 – 00:01:37:07
Unknown
It’s been that way for four years, ever since he started posting in August 2021. If you’re wondering what to expect from his content, so is he. Generally, he shares his journey post. Some funny host is on networking events and runs a community called Mentors Count, providing mentorship for accounts in their first five years. Mostly he aims to be the voice of for those at larger firms who can’t say the things he can and does say, beyond that, he has about 15 years of high net worth experience and now focuses on small business owners, returns an area which he’s built a strong reputation.
00:01:37:07 – 00:02:00:22
Unknown
Welcome, Yuri. Yeah, thanks for having on the show, man. I had a great intro, I appreciate that. Yeah, I think that’s, you got some fun stuff going on. Love the the idea of mentorship. But I want to kind of get into something you said. We said in your bios, like, your mission is to change the perception of the accounting profession.
00:02:00:24 – 00:02:25:08
Unknown
Yeah. So what what do you think the current perception is? You probably have a good feel for that talking with kind of younger CPAs coming into the profession. So what what are their what are they telling you. Yeah I’m going to share that what the real realization of all of the perception came about. And I did about a month and a half ago, I did a presentation at Rutgers University.
00:02:25:08 – 00:02:39:01
Unknown
It’s not that far from me here. I went there, so I went there and I, and I did a presentation to a, their, their business, honor society that’s called a Beta Alpha Psi back in the day. You know, back in the day when I,
00:02:39:01 – 00:02:48:06
Unknown
when I was in college, the proportions of accounting to finance, to marketing, to whatever business degrees was pretty evenly split.
00:02:48:06 – 00:03:13:00
Unknown
Accounting was probably like even 30 to 40% of the business school, you know, populous, if you will. And now, when I went to that presentation to, a month and a half ago, it was for students doing accounting for out of now granted, in that in that particular class was probably like 40 people or 50 people. But again, the percentages are small.
00:03:13:02 – 00:03:42:11
Unknown
And so to bring context to that, yeah, the perception is not good. The perception is it’s boring, it’s low pay, the culture is toxic. And, you know, there’s no motivation to go there and there’s no upside because people like, when I went into the profession, everybody was like, I’m going to make, you know, everybody’s mentality was, I’m going to go to these firms, worked there for ten, 15 years, make partner, make a shitload of money.
00:03:42:13 – 00:03:52:24
Unknown
I hope I can occurs. I don’t know if I could go. So no it’s okay. Yeah. Let me out. All right. Cool. I’ll have to work. But, you know, make a lot of money, and so, you know, and go into it and do that.
00:03:52:24 – 00:03:56:21
Unknown
But the problem is, is that people are not willing to wait that long anymore.
00:03:56:23 – 00:04:15:00
Unknown
People are not going into it nowadays, going into school thinking, I’m going to be there for ten, 15 years and make partner. It’s not happening. They want a good experience. Ownership. Not toxic, you know, good pay, decent pay and then everything else they’re willing to do. But you know, that combination? Not great.
00:04:15:00 – 00:04:18:02
Unknown
So that’s what I try to highlight a lot in my content.
00:04:18:04 – 00:04:43:18
Unknown
Are the, upset with the number of hours expected in tax seasons? Is that are the hours probably a big obstacle, or is it more of just like, this is not fun work and it’s not great pay. It’s kind of the whole combination all together. Right. But the hour. So you know, when, when when I went to school, maybe when you went to school to, you know, there was no reddits there was no fishbowl, there was no nothing that you could really see.
00:04:43:18 – 00:05:00:22
Unknown
You knew about it conceptually from friends and from tales, right? Yeah. If people telling you. Oh, yeah, like I worked a lot of hours, but, you know, like. But it’s okay. Like, I mean, maybe to to senior I’m a manager I’m a this some of that and you roll with they like that’s cool you know and that’s okay.
00:05:00:24 – 00:05:21:24
Unknown
But then like now what happened is it changed. It changed that. Now you’re seeing the visibility into it early on in your high school and you’re scrolling Reddit. You don’t want to be an accountant man. Like, so, you know, that’s really where the challenge is at. So. Yeah, so that’s kind of so that’s kind of the, the, the, the issue.
00:05:21:24 – 00:05:42:17
Unknown
And that’s kind of where it’s all culminating because people are seeing that early on and be like, nah, I don’t want to go into that. I’d rather go into finance where I still will work the hours, but at least I get 150 grand out of school. Yeah. So what do you see in is a compelling message that might shift people to look at accounting.
00:05:42:19 – 00:06:12:10
Unknown
So I think the compelling messages is many faceted. But I would say the number one thing is, you know, I mean, what you’re going to learn or what you’re going to see when you’re in the profession and when you’re like working with clients, you’re going to see some incredible insight into their lives, like you’re going to see a lot of like, the business, like, really dynamics and fundamentals within what they do, who have the most visibility into, like, their lives and and being their advisors and, you know, almost being therapists to some extent.
00:06:12:12 – 00:06:36:23
Unknown
But it does take some time. It does take some time to get to that level where where, you know, you know enough to be that confident person to the client. And then, of course, there’s the firm ownership aspect side of things. But there’s a lot of firms out there now, too, that are doing things differently, where you can work at their firms and not be like a miserable, you know, 60, 70 hour a week all the time working machine.
00:06:36:23 – 00:07:08:08
Unknown
So the options are, are increasing, and I think now is a good time to get into it. Yeah I remember and and man, I’m not good at these sorts of statistics because I don’t remember them. But I remember at one point, at some point since I’ve been a CPA, there was a high number of CEOs of, you know, fortune 500 companies that came up with CPAs, that came up on the finance side of the business, and they worked their way up into the, you know, top spot.
00:07:08:10 – 00:07:30:24
Unknown
Is that still is that still the case? Do you know if that’s I think I think that it’s a unique kind of accountant. I would say that that would then pursue, you know, entrepreneurship and and rise to the top. Most of the folks that are in the profession now that are rising to the top are becoming CFOs, you know, which again, get paid a lot of money and all that stuff.
00:07:30:24 – 00:07:59:23
Unknown
But the journey, you know, a lot of times I do feel like people again, this is a 15 year, 20 year journey to get to those kind of places. And so everybody I mean, when you look at YouTube YouTubers making, you know, million dollars a month, like, you know, it’s it’s it’s tougher, tougher to sell something that you’re going to get in ten years, 15 years where you can start YouTube and then ten years, 15 years.
00:08:00:00 – 00:08:32:09
Unknown
So there’s that challenge. Also, but but I do think, generally speaking, the skill set, what we learn, what we know, what we’re doing is, you know, is this pretty important. So you talk with a lot of, CPAs or accounts that are kind of working for some of the bigger firms. And again, you know, in the bio we mentioned, you’re kind of serving as a voice for some of those people saying some things that, that they don’t say what, what sorts of things.
00:08:32:11 – 00:08:58:11
Unknown
Can you elaborate on that a little bit? I, I like to stir the pot. I like to, on especially on Fridays. That tends to be my I call it Saucy Friday post. But really, what I talk about is, you know, the old school mentality of partners. Well, I talk about a lot. And, you know, that really kind of culminates in the raw billable hours only, you know, working as much as possible with no sense of, of thoughtful efficiency.
00:08:58:11 – 00:09:21:11
Unknown
It’s what everybody is thinking, right? Like you’re penalized for being efficient right now as a staff person or senior person or manager person. Right. You’re encouraged to put in more time than you spend, because if you put in what you have spent, truly you will be penalized because your hours will be short. You know, like you will not hit the 55 or 60 hour minimum, you know, work requirement.
00:09:21:13 – 00:09:46:02
Unknown
So those kinds of things is what I talk about. You know, I talk about like I had a post the other day that that did pretty well was for like, pizza, these pizza parties, you know, rewarding your staff with with pizza after tax season. And it was like the I don’t know if you ever seen that meme where a guy, like, slaps the, like, it’s, it’s it’s like the duct tape or whatever on the whole, you know, plugging in the water, the water is pouring out.
00:09:46:02 – 00:10:04:02
Unknown
It’s like, you know, it’s it’s like burnt out staff, overworked, you know, people burn taxes and like, terrible culture. And it was like pizza party and we’ll fix that, you know, like so. Yeah. Yeah. That’s that’s kind of the mentality. I poke a lot of fun at that. But I but I do voice the, the, the, the, the kind of thoughts of many other people in the profession.
00:10:04:02 – 00:10:31:13
Unknown
And I talk a lot, talk about the private equity side of things and how that’s impacting things negatively. Like there’s just a lot of things that unfortunately are not in the profession’s favor at the moment. Yeah. You mentioned private equity. You’re seeing some negative, what do you see in there? A lot of I get messages, a lot of messages, around, you know, basically the firms just kind of changing, like before private equity.
00:10:31:17 – 00:10:58:13
Unknown
It was unpleasant, but, I mean, to some extent. But at least, you know, the at the core of it, like the client service was, was what was at its, at its heart and its key. But private equity comes into these firms and starts squeezing out hours like, we’re not widgets. Right. Like accountants are people. And the only thing that we got, we’re not, you know, we can’t you can’t make at the process, you know, take less time.
00:10:58:17 – 00:11:21:01
Unknown
But that’s the squeeze. It’s less time. You know, it’s it’s it’s reducing like things that you enjoy doing, like going out to lunch and that not being reimbursed anymore or like, you know, pushing hours even harder than they were pushed before. It’s just pushing people really hard out of the, you know, of that particular firm. So I think that the reward now or the upside now is going to be to firms that don’t take PE.
00:11:21:03 – 00:11:53:10
Unknown
That’s going to be where a lot of the staff is going to go in my opinion. Yeah. I, I, you know, we we actually sell a lot of firms to private equity. Not all of our firms go to PE, but some of them do. And we try to we try to pick the ones that are trying to help our clients, say pick the ones that are a little more, you know, thoughtful of the people side of the business and not just driving by the spreadsheets, you know, but, you know, they’ve got to get that or that return on investment.
00:11:53:10 – 00:12:26:19
Unknown
So I think there’s going to be that pressure. And it will be interesting to see what happens with talent. But as a result of this, interesting story, you know, American Express back in the 1990s, I don’t know if you know this or not, but they were acquiring a lot of accounting firms back then. Yeah. And it was the talent that really kind of broke it because you’re you’re a players that were acquired, they would leave because they were like, hey, if I’m going to work this hard, I myself work for myself.
00:12:26:21 – 00:13:00:06
Unknown
Oh yeah. So there was a lot of that. And then American Express got out of that space. I don’t own accounting practices anymore. So yeah, to your point about PE, like I’m not I don’t necessarily think all PE, obviously all PE is bad. Like you said, I think there’s some that do it right. I know of a few out there that do a good job and that actually care about the staff and don’t necessarily push it, but you know, the trajectory of when a lot of times PE gets into things isn’t great, let’s just put it that way.
00:13:00:08 – 00:13:26:13
Unknown
And so you know, and to your point about a players leaving, I mean, that’s exactly what’s going to happen and already is happening. And you can we can see it in the path of a lot of people taking to go to firm ownership. I had a post about this the other day that, you know, I think, well, firm culture already as it is without PE, is pushing people into entrepreneurship that otherwise wouldn’t want to.
00:13:26:16 – 00:13:42:06
Unknown
Not everybody is meant to be a, you know, firm owner. And that’s okay. You know, you could be an employee. You can, you know, like there’s a lot of pains and a lot of, you know, a lot of struggles of being a firm owner. Like, that’s the reality. And you’re wearing so many hats and all that, leaving it at the door.
00:13:42:06 – 00:14:00:04
Unknown
So to speak. And being an employee is great. The problem is, you know, they’re not treating the folks that you know well. And so everybody’s looking for an exit. And now as PE enters and makes it even more unbearable in many places, people are just like, all right, that’s it, I’m done. Just like I said. Yeah, I’m going to go and launch the firm.
00:14:00:06 – 00:14:20:14
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. Or go into private, you know, industry or go in a private industry and just leave the public accounting. So yeah, the next couple of years are going to be interesting. It’ll be very interesting. Do you think there’ll be a lot of upward pay pressure, the like when you think these PE firms are going to go, hey, we’re going to we’re going to have to go up on comp to attract the talent.
00:14:20:14 – 00:14:42:06
Unknown
And then the there’s going to be a competition among firms for, for good talent. I mean I think that’s happening now and salaries are pushing up. They are I actually predict they will continue to get pushed up. I think there’ll be more and more competition for talent. I think so too. But unfortunately, I think that’s going to be at the more experienced level.
00:14:42:08 – 00:15:02:03
Unknown
Yeah. And what I’m seeing that that is also scaring me a little bit, is that the push towards AI and outsourcing is going to hollow out the space, like where you know, where you had entry level people coming in staff, people from college coming in. I’m getting some of the reports that even people from college are struggling to get jobs, right.
00:15:02:03 – 00:15:27:23
Unknown
Like that’s never was never a thing. But now you’ve got people coming in from college right before beforehand, coming from college, learning the basics to putting in the reps of learning, learning, learning, learning and then growing slowly up the ranks and, you know, getting their experience in and then becoming partners of managers. But if you hollow that out and you replace that with, I don’t know why or outsourcing, like, who’s going to be your manager and senior manager in a few years from now?
00:15:28:00 – 00:15:57:00
Unknown
Yeah. How are you going to build a pipeline? There’s no pipeline. It’ll be it. That’s why I say it’ll be very interesting to see. So I hope that some of those kind of practices go by the wayside, so to speak. Yeah. That’s my hope and dream. Yeah. Well, if the salaries go up, that’s going to pull people into the profession and it’s going to pull people to, okay, so maybe you have to work really hard for the first few years, and you have to grind and learn and not get paid super well.
00:15:57:00 – 00:16:23:02
Unknown
But you know, the the pay off is, is there and hopefully it’ll be there. I think it’ll be there. So I want to talk about mentorship because, I’m a huge believer in mentorship. I’ve been fortunate enough to have several I can think of, like three key people who were just instrumental in helping me develop my career, and I’m so grateful for that.
00:16:23:04 – 00:16:49:09
Unknown
And it’s a big part of your work with your mentors, count community. So tell me why you’re passionate about this topic and you know, what is it? Do for the industry? What does it do for the mentor and the mentee? Because I think the mentor benefits as well. Yeah, I remember myself just like I would go back to my days, both at the firms when I was a manager and I was able to be a mentor to people.
00:16:49:11 – 00:17:10:05
Unknown
And you know, just that feeling when somebody comes into your office and asks you those questions and says to you, hey, you know, like I’m struggling with this particular manager or this particular scheduler and I’m having an issue like managing my schedule, and I would give them that advice, those tips and just, you know, help them understand that the journey isn’t fast.
00:17:10:08 – 00:17:48:22
Unknown
You know, like like and and navigating it is very important. But a lot of that is gone now. And I think a lot of that mentorship is tough to find because the problem is, is that because of all these outside pressures and some people leaving the profession to go start their own firms or, you know, be squeezing people out, whatever it is that externally is making folks want to leave or feel like they’re pressured to do more work, leaves less time for that mentorship, really does, you know, a manager now or somebody up there who would be a good mentor is forced to work more hours and not have non billable time.
00:17:48:23 – 00:18:08:00
Unknown
So it’s super challenging. So that’s really the idea came from to just have a place to go where there’s soft skills. You can learn where there is, you know like some tax technical stuff you can learn or just have a place where you can just ask your question in an open forum where nobody is going to, like, judge you or, you know, give you like the real genuine advice.
00:18:08:06 – 00:18:31:12
Unknown
So to the mentees to answer your question like it’s a good place for them to go to get that information and feel like kind of like safe, feel like it’s a safe space for them to do that. And then also for the mentors, it just feels good. Like it feels good to help someone, like, I know it does for me all the time when I help people out, but I want to do it at scale because it’s tough to keep track of all the LinkedIn messages and all that stuff.
00:18:31:12 – 00:18:59:21
Unknown
Yeah, yeah, it’s it’s almost like short term versus long term thinking, right? Mentorship is a long, longer term investment for both. Yeah. And I do think PMA be introducing more and more short term thinking into the industry because a lot of them have, you know, turnarounds. They want to turn these around pretty quickly. And yeah, so there’s that short term pressure.
00:18:59:23 – 00:19:22:17
Unknown
That’s, that’s hopefully that will grow. It’s great that you’re kind of fostering mentorship because, man, it’s just for the long term. It’s like a game changer. Yeah. But I’ll be honest with you. It’s tough. I, you know, the membership in there, I mean, really, and I try to promote it and I try to push it forward, but, I don’t know what it is.
00:19:22:22 – 00:19:47:13
Unknown
I don’t know, I mean, I think I’ll big part of it is the follower base that I’ve had on LinkedIn over the years was was primarily firm owners or wannabe firm owners. So that’s not really for them necessarily. There are other places to go for that. Yeah. And people in the profession that are in their first five years, like, I don’t know, I think they’re just busy trying to just kind of survive.
00:19:47:13 – 00:20:09:21
Unknown
And so going out and finding a mentorship community isn’t hasn’t really it has been a tough challenge. I’ll be honest. It’s been really tough to get that to the point where, I’m actually going to be turning that over. The mentors count. I mean, I’ll be still involved, of course, but I’m going to be turning it over to one of the members within it who wants to build it out further, and push it out.
00:20:09:21 – 00:20:33:03
Unknown
And she has a better following than me in that space. So I think that that would be very helpful. But yeah, no, running a community is is tough. And, especially getting the right folks in there stuff. Yeah. Yeah. You run some networking events for accountants too, right? I do, yeah, yeah. Tell us about that. Yeah, that’s probably going to be expanding in some way in 2026.
00:20:33:09 – 00:20:59:05
Unknown
But I’ve run you know, because kind of like the fun CPA kind of came about. I was like, what’s fun? I enjoy networking, I really enjoy good networking, though I don’t enjoy I never did like that forced like you’re in some dingy conference room thing and you’re just like, oh, like I don’t there for this people. And and a lot of times I just distinctly remember myself, like coming into it already wanting to go home.
00:20:59:07 – 00:21:18:15
Unknown
Yeah. Like so my whole thing about creating that was I want to do something different. I want to have an event and, and some other people want to actually go to and like stay. And my events have been like, people will just stay until the end. Like it was that fun. So yeah. I catered it and and circle it around fun.
00:21:18:15 – 00:21:35:21
Unknown
We had like, and, you know, good food deejays. One of my, the latest one had boat rides, actually two of them out of it. The first one and the last one had boat rides with it. Open bar. You know, it was on the sand, like in this really nice little beach bar vibe kind of place.
00:21:35:21 – 00:21:52:01
Unknown
And it was a ton of fun. And people, I think, connect better in that kind of atmosphere. And really just talk about like, you know, I really just wanted to create a place where people could just come hang out and, you know, like, learn from each other. That’s really what the net, what the bottom line of that is.
00:21:52:01 – 00:22:15:02
Unknown
And I think what I’ll be doing in 2026 is making it, you know, partying is fun and all, but the party vibe is not super conducive to like, really connecting. I think, you know, people connected well and I and what I loved seeing in the events is like people didn’t exchange business cards and I love that. I hate business cards.
00:22:15:02 – 00:22:34:20
Unknown
Like, man, I got I got business cards right here on my desk like that, you know, like I got like, I’m not doing anything with these things. Like to me is when people exchange phone numbers and, like, genuinely connect, like that’s huge to me. Yeah. I think the venue’s important to like, I know personally, like if I’m looking at conferences or things I want to do.
00:22:34:22 – 00:22:53:09
Unknown
Yeah, I want to go somewhere that looks like it’s fun to be, you know? Yeah, a beach bar was fun. I had it at a brewery. The brewery one was probably the best venue. Really good beers. Like, really good food that I was that I had. I had, these pizza guys that actually have been in some of my other parties.
00:22:53:11 – 00:23:10:04
Unknown
And they just do like, like, like handmade pizzas right there on the spot. Toss them and put them in a little oven that they bring with them. And then, you know, they just get like slices of this pie, this pie, that pie like, and it’s like it’s working all night. That was fun. So that was a really good time.
00:23:10:04 – 00:23:27:23
Unknown
And there’s some good guys to like. And so that vibe was better because it was not as loud, like I had a little speaker that were playing a little bit like music, but everybody was really just chilling. And I heard some good conversations happening. So that was a good one. I might replicate that one again. Well, hey, if you want to do one in Charleston, South Carolina, maybe, maybe I could get involved.
00:23:27:24 – 00:23:48:09
Unknown
Charleston is a great city for events. I know, I know, I’ve been there once on, my road trip back home from Florida, back to Jersey, and, stayed there in Charleston. Such good food and good vibes. I went to have some brewery there. I remember it was really good, but I don’t remember the name, but it was, it was a really fun, really fun city for sure.
00:23:48:09 – 00:24:10:11
Unknown
So maybe one day. Who knows? Yeah. Yeah. Well, how did you start this? You know, the fun CPA. It’s really, unique in the space. How did that get going? So much of it really came out of, like, just like, posting on LinkedIn. So posting on LinkedIn for like, four years now, four and a half years.
00:24:10:13 – 00:24:26:16
Unknown
And initially, like, I just started adding it to my hashtags, to my like picture of like, you know, I ride my bike and share some thoughts about the profession and end up with the fun CPA. It was not intended to really be anything. And then as that grew and I kept posting that, I was like, oh, this is cool.
00:24:26:16 – 00:24:43:12
Unknown
And then I went to this event for like rich people toys. Basically, they had like private jets and you know, helicopters and sports cars. And I asked to have a booth and they said, yeah, you can have a booth. And I was like, oh, that’s cool. Like they’re like a CPA with a booth, like whatever company my I guess they had availability.
00:24:43:12 – 00:24:58:24
Unknown
They put me in the back, which was kind of funny. But it wasn’t that expensive. It was nice. And then I got my signed together. I did a bunch of, like, stuff to kind of prep for it, and then people were just looking at like, what the font the fonts fit with. What? Like it just didn’t translate.
00:24:58:24 – 00:25:09:05
Unknown
And I was like, yeah, so I’m onto something, you know, because when it doesn’t translate, you know, you’re, you’re, you’re onto something. So that yeah, that was really cool. That’s so just kind of organically happened. Yeah.
00:25:09:11 – 00:25:27:01
Unknown
You transitioned though, you were focusing on high net worth. You’re not doing that anymore. You’re focusing primarily on business owners, or there’s both something out there, but you’re seeing a little bit of overlap. But you know, the definition of high net worth just shifted. You know, like obviously when you’re in a big firms high net worth is, you know, 1050, $100 million.
00:25:27:02 – 00:25:47:13
Unknown
That’s, you know, the returns I was working on. But now high net worth just means, you know, $1 million or, you know, like it’s still high net worth, but but not to the level that I was at before. So at the average of my clients by the 500 grand or so a year, which I still I feel like I still considered high net worth and they still need a ton of tax planning.
00:25:47:15 – 00:26:15:24
Unknown
Yeah. But yeah, the, the the the scales just shifted. Yeah, yeah. So want to kind of turn the, turn the page a little bit and ask you some, some of the questions we have been asking all of our guests lately. And that’s do you have a good story, like a memorable or outrageous either client’s story or, you know, any kind of work related or career related story that you can share?
00:26:16:01 – 00:26:32:24
Unknown
Yeah, yeah, I do, I have a crazy one, which is definitely like it’s it was actually one of. So this this person got referred to me, need a desperate, like, needed some help, because they were trying to buy a house, and so they were not even a client of mine. They’re they’re they needed a house.
00:26:32:24 – 00:26:52:23
Unknown
They’re like, kind of in between homes. It was a very like, tough situation for them because, like, they sold their house and they’re like needed to buy another house. They’re practically like they had no place to live. So it’s a little bit desperate situation. But what happened there was the guy was like, oh, hey, you know, I need you to, like, sign this letter, like a CPA letter for the bank.
00:26:53:00 – 00:27:11:00
Unknown
And I was like, I usually don’t do that unless it’s like my client. And even then, I’m very cautious about doing that. But this particular person was not even a client, so they’re like, they just put together like a pal. And I was like, I’m not going to like, sign that. That’s crazy. So I’m like, no, like what I do is, oh, like, I really need that because I need to buy this house.
00:27:11:00 – 00:27:27:12
Unknown
Like, I really have no other choice. Anyway, long story short, they ended up like faking and writing their own letter on my behalf with my signature and faking my signature and then sending that into the bank. And I had to like, I was like, oh my God. Like I really had to go like to bank. It was like it was not me.
00:27:27:12 – 00:27:46:08
Unknown
I did not sign that. I did the things that audited to I’m like, that’s crazy. Like it’s not audited. Like it was all sorts of wonky. So yeah, that was probably one of the craziest stories. How did you find out at the bank, call you and say, hey, did you send this letter? I mean, like, thankfully they at least the guy was was was was kind enough to to to tell me he did it.
00:27:46:10 – 00:28:03:17
Unknown
And I was like and I was like, whoa, whoa. What? Like that’s crazy. So yeah, it’s strange. Yeah, I was I was like, he was like, yeah. So I ended up just sending the letter in and I was like, what letter? And he was like, oh yeah, I just put together this letter. I was like, oh God. Like I it was one of those things where like, I understand that it’s a desperate situation.
00:28:03:17 – 00:28:24:07
Unknown
And I mean, it really was. But like, no. So I had to like, reach out to the bank and be like, oh yeah, I didn’t write that. It was all the whole, whole lot of drama. Yeah. Wow. Sounds like. Yeah, that sounds like, it was, it was a wild. It was a wild ride on that one. Was strange that he would just tell you that to like, you know, like anything of it.
00:28:24:12 – 00:28:39:05
Unknown
A lot of people get so confused with these CPA letters. Like, it’s really like, you know, like there’s, like, it’s like just a letter, you know, like, but it doesn’t mean anything. You’re just writing a letter. And the amount of times I had to explain to people like, not like you’re testifying, you’re attesting to something, you know. Yeah, yeah.
00:28:39:09 – 00:29:00:08
Unknown
You’re not just writing a letter like, you know, but the confusion is out there, and I can understand that. Yeah. All right. Last question. Books. Do you have a good book to recommend to the audience? Yeah, I’ve been on a book kick for like the last like year and a half, probably just, all audiobooks. But the my favorite one right now has never split the difference.
00:29:00:10 – 00:29:26:13
Unknown
By Chris Voss. Man, that book is really good. I like it, so it’s such a good mixture of like, the he talks about it cause he was an FBI investigator, FBI, negotiator before. And, he talks about, like, certain things that happened when he was like, on, like, the street and, like, working as an FBI negotiator and bringing that into, like, a business context and really, really powerful book.
00:29:26:15 – 00:29:46:10
Unknown
I gotta, I gotta reread that one. Actually. I really listened to it because it was it was really good. Yeah. He’s got some good negotiating tips and, strategies is really. Yeah, it’s really good. Awesome. Well, you’re a this has been, fun. This has been fun, a fun conversation which. Good. Which is what we expected from you.
00:29:46:10 – 00:29:49:00
Unknown
So.
00:29:49:02 – 00:30:09:16
Unknown
That’s awesome. Good. I’m glad. I’m glad. And, Yeah, I appreciate you having me on the show, man. Yeah. What’s the best way for people to connect with you? Best way is just find me on LinkedIn, man. I’m on LinkedIn. Arguably more than I should be, but that’s a different story. But I’m on there, and if you need me, just hit me up and, I’ll answer your questions or whatever, or just give me a follow.
00:30:09:18 – 00:30:14:24
Unknown
Awesome. All right. Your thanks been fun. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me on.
00:30:14:24 – 00:30:35:23
Unknown
Thanks for listening to the Accountant’s Flight Plan podcast. You can keep the momentum going by subscribing and sharing your thoughts with us. Visit our website at home. Group advisors.com for more resources and tune in next time for more exciting conversations like this one. This podcast was produced and edited by Liesl Eppes of her group advisors. Thanks for listening.
