Business
Business lessons from a CPA who has seen a lot of things go right and a lot of things go sideways. I write about what I have learned running a firm, managing teams, and working with family. "Building Your Financial Castle: A CPA's Guide to Protecting What You've Built" opens with a harsh stat: 65% of businesses fail within 12 months of a founder's death. I wrote it because most business owners do not want to think about this, which is exactly why they should.
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Tearing the Operations Manual Down to the Studs After 15 Years
Over the last couple of months, I've been rewriting our SOPs. The documentation. The procedures…
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Why DIY Bookkeeping Almost Never Works for New Franchise Owners
I got off a call last week with a guy starting a franchise. Career salaried…
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Your Tax Return Isn't the Finish Line. It's the Starting Line.
Most people see the tax return as the finish line. It's actually the starting line.…
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Multi-Generational Wealth Strategies: Beyond the Trust Document
The data on multi-generational wealth is grim. Roughly 70% of family wealth is gone by…
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5 Common Wealth Mistakes Families Don't See Until It's Too Late
The pattern I see most in my practice isn't bad strategy. It's good strategy that…
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Why Calling Your CPA a Week Before the Deadline Costs You More Than a Penalty
Most tax penalties have nothing to do with complexity. It's timing. Every tax season we…
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The Family Blueprint: How to Plan 20 Years Ahead Without Losing the Next 12 Months
Most financial plans I see are stacks of statements. Allocations, projections, beneficiary forms. They're useful…
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The Quarterly Retreat: How High-Performing Families Run Their Wealth Like a Business
The default cadence for most families is annual. A meeting with the CPA in March…
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Why Most Firms Stay Behind After Tax Season (And What We're Doing Differently)
After tax season, most firms are already behind again. Everyone's exhausted, everyone wants a break,…
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Tax Optimization vs. Tax Risk
Most people use "aggressive tax strategy" as a single phrase, as if every plan that…
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Why Tax Season Is the Best Teacher for Young Accountants
Tax season is one of the most intense times of the year inside an accounting…
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Why Intentional Networking Beats Casting a Wide Net
Early in my career I went to every networking event I could find. Meetups. Happy…
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Why In-Person Relationships Still Win in Business
For a long time, business growth leaned heavily on digital channels. SEO. Online content. Paid…
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The Enterprise Agent System Is Knocking at Our Door
In several founder groups I'm part of, the same conversation keeps coming up. Tools people…
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Tax Season Is More Than Filing Returns: Here's What We're Really Doing Right Now
We're at that point in the year where roughly 20 to 25 percent of 2026…
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The Tax Season Bottleneck Between CEOs and Bookkeepers
One of the biggest tax season bottlenecks? The gap between the CEO and the bookkeeper.…
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Why Every Question on Your Tax Organizer Matters
People sometimes feel like the tax organizer is a lot. It's a lot of questions.…
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Planning Ahead of 2026 Liquidity Events
Going into 2026, we're seeing a lot of liquidity events. Exits, mergers, acquisitions, and private…
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Building Your Financial Castle: A CPA's Guide to Protecting What You've Built
Here's the harsh reality: 65% of businesses fail within 12 months of a founder's death.…
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How Fresh Talent Resets Team Energy (And When You Know It's Time)
We're three weeks into 2026, and the energy in our office feels completely different. It's…
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What December Teaches Us About What Really Matters in Business
This time of year always slows me down in the best way. We spend months…
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Family Business Changed My Mind
I used to think working with family was a mistake. I had seen the tension…
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October 2025 Business Updates
With the major tax deadlines of September and October behind us, our focus at Fusion…
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Why You Should Check In With Your Business Partners
As a business professional who has worked extensively with various service providers, I have learned…
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Why Your Accountant Should Be Your Confidant
As a tax professional, I have heard this countless times: clients who dread talking to…
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The Future of Accounting
I've been thinking a lot lately about the future of accounting. And I don't think…
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The Five-Figure Tax Mistake on a Cruise Ship
I was on a cruise talking shop with another CPA. He was a lifelong controller,…
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The $30K Lesson That Almost Cost Me Everything
At 25, I was living what looked like the dream on paper. I started a…
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