The Accounting Leads Now Podcast
The accounting industry has a growth problem. This podcast is the solution. The ALN Podcast is the premier show for firm owners and financial professionals who are serious about building something significant. Hosted by James Donovan, this is where the most successful operators in the industry stop gatekeeping and hand you exactly what's driving their growth. Every episode is built to be the most valuable 30-60 minutes of your week. Solo episodes deliver James's unfiltered analysis, field-tested frameworks, and the insights most people in this industry never get access to. Interview episodes go deep with elite firm owners, industry vendors, and the professionals quietly reshaping what modern accounting looks like, giving you a front-row seat to the conversations that used to happen behind closed doors. Lead generation. Client acquisition. Sales strategy. Pricing. Marketing that actually works. The real numbers behind fast-growing firms. If it moves the needle for ambitious accounting professionals, we cover it. This isn't background noise. This is the podcast you pause, rewind, and take notes on. Subscribe now and get an insider edge on the industry's most important conversations, before your competitors do.
Episodes
You've spent years building your firm. But if someone asked what it's worth today, could you actually answer that?
Most owners can't. And that gap is exactly where deals fall apart.
Justin Farmer is a licensed attorney and business intermediary who has helped close accounting firm transactions for over 12 years, with a 100% accepted-offer track record. He's sat at more closing tables than most CPAs will see in a lifetime, and he pull...
Your pipeline feeling a little thin? Clients suddenly asking more questions about price?
You're not imagining it. And you're not alone.
Since fall 2024, a perfect storm has been building, AI-assisted offshore firms, a softening economy, tariff anxiety, and clients who are now very aware there are cheaper options. The firms getting hit hardest? Bookkeeping and fractional CFO. And the old playbook of "raise your prices,...
Your prospects already know they need what you do. So why aren't they signing?
Most of the time, it's not your pricing. It's not your niche. It's that nobody picked up the phone.
Drewbie Wilson built a movement around three words, Call the Damn Leads, after watching a client demand a refund on 100 hot leads he never once called. In this episode, Drewbie breaks down how to figure out whether your prospect values time or money, why "pl...
You're exhausted. You keep telling yourself it's just tax season. But deep down, you know it's been longer than that.
Randy Crabtree pulled over at a phone booth to quit his job and become a CPA. He built a firm, burned out, sold it, co-founded Tri-Merit Specialty Tax and landed on the Inc. 5000 three years running. Then a stroke in 2014 forced him to rethink everything.
In this conversation, Randy gets real about what burnout actual...
A West Point grad invites you to shoot fully automatic machine guns and drink bourbon. You go. You meet a fractional CFO. Three months later, he's a multi-thousand dollar a month client.
That's not a marketing strategy. That's Sean Duncan's life and it's only the opener.
Sean built the largest accounting firm in Frisco, Texas, then torched two-thirds of his revenue on purpose and rebuilt around a fixed-fee, proactive advisory model b...
You're grinding through tax season wondering when it gets easier. What if the answer isn't working more, it's being more intentional about what you build and who you build it with?
Katie Helle walked away from a 15-year career at a traditional firm, launched Scaled Accounting, and hit capacity faster than she ever planned. Her growth engine? Referral partnerships with financial advisors, real relationships built at conferences, ...
Most accounting firms don’t lose deals because of price.
They lose them because they explain too much.
In this episode, Brian Merrill breaks down why prospects say “I need to think about it” and what’s actually happening on your sales calls.
Key takeaways:
- why too much information kills deals
- how to simplify your offer so prospects say yes faster
- how to control the sales conversation without sounding pushy
- what...
We recorded 70+ episodes of CFO Chronicles. Incredible guests. Great conversations.
And we still hit pause.
Not because we ran out of ideas, because something wasn't working. So we scrapped the name, retooled the format, and came back with one rule: if you can't apply it by Monday morning, it doesn't make the show.
Welcome to the Accounting Leads Now Podcast.
In this episode, we break down exactly what's changing, what we're doub...
Most accountants talk about innovation. Brian Clare actually builds it. From killing time tracking to launching his own payroll software for Canadian accountants, Brian isn't just running a firm, he’s engineering the next wave of how firms work.
In this episode:
- Why hourly billing is killing your margins
- How turning down the wrong clients changed everything
- The cost of hiring late and why he hired ops before he needed to
- Behin...
What if you could own a thriving accounting firm without a CPA, EA, or even industry experience?
Nik Watson did just that at 23 years old. After four failed startups and zero accounting background, he landed his first acquisition using a personalized pitch deck and the grit most people avoid.
In this episode, Nik shares:
• Why value-based pricing and 3-tier offers aren’t optional in 2025
• The exact tools and ...
2025 nearly broke me.
Clients dropped. Revenue cratered. My dream car? Totaled by a dump truck, with no one inside. At our lowest, we were bleeding over $12,000/month.
But we didn’t quit. And by November, we closed 10 new clients in a month and had our first $15K cash day.
In this special New Year’s edition, I walk through the real story behind the posts: the burnouts, breakthroughs, and the shift that ...
Most firms treat meetings like a checkbox. Talk. Wrap. Move on.
But what if the way you run and follow up on meetings is quietly costing you hours each week and revenue you don’t realize you’re losing?
Jordan Vickery, co-founder of Vinyl, joins the show to reveal how firms are reclaiming 30-40 minutes per meeting, identifying hidden sales opportunities, and coaching their teams using nothing but meeting transcripts.
If you...
Hourly billing isn’t just outdated, it’s blocking your growth.
In this episode, Dylan from Fabbi breaks down how his firm ditched time-based pricing, scaled past 500 clients, and became the go-to financial team for business owners who want more than just “books and taxes.”
You’ll learn:
- Why hourly billing kills service quality and client retention
- The tech + team system that allows his firm to run...
Still billing by the hour and afraid to raise prices? That’s exactly why you’re stuck.
Michael Ly, founder of Reconciled, joins CFO Chronicles to dismantle outdated firm models and share the mindset shifts that helped him scale a nationally recognized cloud accounting firm. From team turnover to pricing psychology, Michael opens up about the real work it takes to grow and why value-based pricing isn’t just a buzzwo...
Why are so many firm owners flat broke in Q4, even after six-figure tax seasons?
Tony Proctor’s been running a firm for 20 years, and he’s seen it all: tax pros who bleed cash every December, clients who push for fraud, and practitioners who won’t raise prices because they’re scared to lose “friend” clients.
In this episode:
- Why Proctor fired a paying client (and what it cost him)
- What he really ...
Most accounting firms are burning cash on cold leads and broken outreach funnels, but what if that’s not your real growth problem?
In this episode, I sit down with Kwame Agyei, founder of Appoynt, to reveal what actually scales firm growth: community, relationships, and real conversations. Kwame´s built a global team across Africa and shares how showing up in person has done more for growth than any automation ever could.
We ta...
Most firm owners stay stuck under $10K/month because they think “good work” is enough. It’s not.
Cameron Williams got fired while expecting his first child. Since then, he’s built KynLi Consulting, helped clients save $2M+ in taxes, and built a lean CFO firm with a 7-person team.
In this episode, he breaks down the real steps that helped him scale, without relying on referrals, ads, or undercharging. We talk:
<...Most accountants are losing business and don’t even realize it.
In this episode, we break down the 3 silent killers that are costing firms revenue, retention, and referrals, starting with outdated pricing models and ending with what your clients actually care about (hint: it’s not your reconciliations).
Debra Kilsheimer joins to share what actually drives client loyalty, why she ditched hourly billing decades ago, and how...
You’re not invisible. You’re just not on Google.
In this special workshop episode, you'll learn the exact strategy that's generated:
- $125K of new revenue in 49 days (Shaun)
- 113 inbound calls in 16 days (Shalini)
- $83K in five months (Justin)
If you’re tired of referrals drying up or watching competitors win business that should be yours, this is your blueprint.
You’ll learn:
- How to rank at the top of Go...
Most accountants aren't losing to AI, they're losing to their own bad systems.
In this episode, we sit down with Justin White, founder of JBookkeeping and a former trades business owner who’s now built a fast-growing remote firm on precision, responsiveness, and no-BS service.
He shares:
- What actually builds trust and wins clients in 2025
- Why most firms lose money before they even pick up the phone
- The questions that close 90%...
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