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Accountant's Flight Plan

Accountant's Flight Plan

By: Brannon Poe; Poe Group Advisors
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Welcome to The Accountant's Flight Plan, where we guide you toward building a top-tier CPA firm that you would want to buy. With over 20 years of working with accountants in mergers and acquisitions, Brannon Poe, CPA delves into engaging and vital topics with industry leaders. Unpacking everything from transition planning and accounting practice sales to practice management and firm development, Brannon equips you with the tools you need to build the practice of your dreams. Whether you are navigating firm growth or exploring the nuances of succession planning, join us to learn actionable insights that will empower and inspire you to love your firm again.

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Episodes
  • What Private Equity Means for Small and Midsize CPA Firms | Rebekah Brown Olson

    What Private Equity Means for Small and Midsize CPA Firms | Rebekah Brown Olson
    Jul 16 2026
    Rebekah Brown Olson didn't plan to lead a state CPA society. A single leadership assessment during a firm training session reframed how she saw her own strengths, and thirteen years later she's the CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs, connecting firm leaders across the profession every day. In this conversation, Brannon Poe talks with Rebekah about what's really driving change in accounting right now, and why she believes community, not information, is what separates firms that thrive from firms that struggle.Rebekah shares an encouraging read on the student pipeline, pointing to strong turnout and impressive second-career candidates at a recent University of Maryland accounting graduation event. She also walks through her theory on where private equity is headed: a barbell shaped profession, with large firms formed through consolidation on one end and a new wave of small, independent firms on the other, as CPAs who leave newly acquired environments choose to build something of their own.For firm owners thinking about their own exit, Rebekah's advice centers on two habits: treating strategy as something to revisit constantly rather than a plan that sits on a shelf, and involving the people around you early, since real alignment comes from letting your team weigh in on where the firm is headed.The Conversation Covers:How a leadership assessment redirected Rebekah's entire career pathWhy community may be the biggest differentiator for CPA firms over the next decadeHow private equity could reshape the profession into a barbell-shaped structureWhy small firms are positioned to specialize and move faster than larger competitorsHow involving your team early creates real strategic alignment ahead of a transitionWhy choosing the right private equity partner matters more than the deal itselfRebekah closes with a story from her college years at Ohio State, working as a football field manager during a live scrimmage, that ties back to the same theme running through the whole conversation: what it looks like when a community shows up for someone.This Episode Is For:Firm owners curious about how community and connection shape long-term successLeaders ready to think through a 5 to 10 year exit and succession planPractitioners wondering how private equity might change hiring, retention, and cultureAnyone interested in how small firms can compete through specialization and speedBook Recommendation:The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It by Dr. Kelly McGonigal Amazon linkTimestamps:00:00 - Brannon Poe intro and podcast welcome 00:14 - Introducing Rebekah Brown Olson, CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs 00:57 - How a quarter-life crisis and a leadership assessment changed Rebekah's career path 01:41 - From CPA firm senior to curriculum developer at the Maryland Association of CPAs 03:12 - Working part time, then full time, then becoming CEO three years ago 04:02 - What Brannon and Rebekah share: burning out of public practice and finding a better fit 04:45 - What Rebekah gets to do now: advocate for the profession and connect people across it 05:06 - The big picture view: what the Maryland Association of CPAs CEO is seeing right now 05:31 - Why getting good at change is the most important capability for any accounting firm 06:00 - Why community is the competitive advantage when complexity and change accelerate 06:34 - Why you can't know everything but you can know a lot of people 07:19 - Recruiting new students: are the numbers moving and what kind of students are coming in 08:15 - Why the pipeline alarm is starting to work and what recent graduation events are showing 08:40 - Accounting as a stable major during economic uncertainty 09:07 - What the new wave of accounting students looks like: different backgrounds, strong leaders 09:30 - Retention: are people staying in the profession better than they used to? 10:01 - The historical reality of planned attrition in CPA firm hiring 10:45 - The move from public to private still happens but may be slowing 11:10 - Brannon's theory on PE-driven salary increases and the poaching risk that comes with it 11:37 - Why starting salaries in accounting need to keep rising to compete for talent 12:00 - How private equity is creating a barbell-shaped profession 12:40 - What the disappearance of the midsize CPA firm looks like and why it matters 13:29 - How small firms can win through specialization and speed on technology 14:25 - What Rebekah would tell a CPA firm owner who is 5 to 10 years from an exit 15:17 - Why a 5 to 10 year plan has to be iterative, not static 15:43 - Involving your team in strategy: why it changes buy-in, retention, and execution 16:08 - The Business Learning Institute and working with small to midsize firms on strategy 16:32 - Why the best insight sometimes comes from the person scheduling client appointments 17:53 - Vision casting as a retention tool: why people stay when they know where ...
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    30 mins
  • Renewals, Referrals, Recent Conversations: Building Pipeline Without Extra Hours

    Renewals, Referrals, Recent Conversations: Building Pipeline Without Extra Hours
    Jul 2 2026
    Kristen McGarr has spent over 20 years helping businesses implement CRM systems that actually work. Her core belief is that the future of CRM isn't about more technology, it's about more humanity. For CPA firm owners who have tried a CRM, abandoned it, or never started one at all, that perspective changes the conversation entirely.Kristen is the founder of Adroit Insights and CRM Growth, a growth strategist, fractional chief revenue officer, and CRM implementation specialist. She works across platforms like Zoho, HubSpot, and ActiveCampaign, and she is known for making complex systems genuinely approachable. In this conversation, she gets specific about the problems she sees most often in accounting firms: systems that are over-configured, features that never get used, and adoption that stalls because the CRM feels like administrative work rather than a growth tool.The most actionable part of this episode is Kristen's framework for building a pipeline when you have never tracked one before. She calls it the three R's: renewals, referrals, and recent conversations. For renewals, look at one-off projects that could become recurring revenue and clients you haven't heard from yet this year. For referrals, send a simple email during busy season asking for introductions and reviews. For recent conversations, think about who mentioned a challenge you rolled right past without addressing. The irony, as Kristen points out, is that tax season is exactly when firms have the most contact with clients and the most opportunity for all three, even though it feels like the worst possible time.Kristen's approach strips away the complexity that keeps most firms from ever getting real value out of a CRM. Her advice is consistent throughout: start simple, solve for the 90% of problems you actually have, and build a system that can grow with you rather than one you have to replace in a year.This episode is for firm owners curious about what a CRM can actually do for their practice when implemented well, leaders wondering how to maintain business development momentum through busy season, practitioners ready to build a pipeline but unsure where to start, and anyone who has tried a CRM before and walked away frustrated.Timestamps:00:00 - Brannon Poe intro and podcast welcome 00:14 - Introducing Kristen McGarr, founder of Adroit Insights and CRM Growth 00:57 - Kristen's core belief: the future of CRM is humanity, not more technology 01:17 - Why most CRM implementations fail: adoption and overcomplicated configuration 02:07 - The demo trap: why what you see is rarely the off-the-shelf product 02:47 - Most firms use only 10 to 20% of their CRM's actual functionality 03:03 - Where AI fits into CRM today and why it shouldn't be trusted 100% 03:56 - Signs a CPA firm is ready to scale versus needing to fix its foundation first 04:17 - Why consistency and predictability matter more than fast growth 05:02 - How predictable, even revenue throughout the year affects accounting firm valuation 05:48 - The tax season surge and dip problem and how to create more consistency around it 06:05 - Why business development gets dropped during busy season and how to fix that 06:37 - The growth-ready system: templated outreach that still sounds like you 07:49 - How to automate personalized outreach without doing it manually every time 08:21 - Why spacing out outreach matters more than frequency 08:41 - Turning client education into shareable case study content for prospects 09:17 - The three R's: renewals, referrals, recent conversations 09:36 - Renewals: how to spot recurring revenue opportunities in your existing client base 09:53 - Referrals: why sending referral emails during busy season is low effort, high return 10:26 - Recent conversations: catching the tax planning and advisory needs you rolled past 11:09 - The irony of tax season: it's your busiest time and your biggest pipeline opportunity 11:31 - Why a transactional accounting firm cannot function well without a CRM 11:53 - Kristen's three-part CRM checklist: integrations, reporting, and flexibility 13:06 - Funny story: the vendor lesson that led to building an internal team 14:22 - Why trusting your gut early on a bad vendor fit saves time and money later 14:55 - How building an internal team improved client satisfaction across the firm 15:29 - Why picking technology vendors is especially hard for relationship-focused accountants 15:55 - The value of trusted resources and networks when evaluating new tools 16:11 - Book recommendation: "Never Split the Difference" by Chris Voss 17:09 - Where to find Kristen: LinkedIn and CRMgrowth.comBook Recommendation: Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
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    18 mins
  • 23 Years of Consecutive Growth: How One CPA Built a Firm Worth Merging Up

    23 Years of Consecutive Growth: How One CPA Built a Firm Worth Merging Up
    Jun 25 2026
    Frank Longobardi started a five-person CPA firm in Hartford, Connecticut on November 1st, 1984, with a first-year revenue goal of $300,000. For the next 23 consecutive years, the firm grew both top and bottom line, every single year. By the time he and his partner decided to merge up, they had built a $14.5 million firm with over 100 people and ten partners.In this conversation, Frank walks through every phase of that journey with the kind of candor that only comes from having lived it. He talks about the early days of working 3,000-plus hours a year, the moment he realized hating to lose a $400 tax return was holding his firm back, and why he told every partner the same thing: it is not your client, it is the firm's client. He also shares his perspective on the partnership model at scale, why private equity entered accounting, and what the profession's talent structure will look like as AI reshapes the work.The conversation covers:How a five-person startup grew for 23 consecutive years without a single down yearWhy hating to lose any client, even a $400 return, was the biggest early mistakeHow to transfer client relationships to the next generation of partners without losing the clientWhy he told every partner "it is not your account, it is the firm's account" and what shifted when they embraced thatHow the CohnReznick mega merger came together and what it took to lead a $430 million combined firmWhy the traditional pyramid staffing model is evolving into a diamond shape as AI changes the workHow private equity entered accounting and what PE firms are actually looking for in acquisitionsFrank's career is a rare example of someone who has seen the profession from every angle: sole proprietor, regional firm leader, mega merger architect, top 25 CEO, and now PE advisor. His perspective on what it takes to build something worth buying, merging, or leading is grounded in 40 years of doing exactly that.This episode is for firm owners curious about what the path from small firm to large firm leadership actually looks like, leaders wondering how to transfer client relationships without losing them, practitioners thinking about whether merging up makes sense for their next chapter, and anyone interested in how private equity is evaluating and reshaping accounting firms from the inside.TIMESTAMPS00:00 - Brannon Poe intro and podcast welcome 00:13 - Introducing Frank Longobardi, former CEO of CohnReznick 00:56 - Why Frank chose accounting: a blue-collar family, a high school course, and the University of Connecticut 01:55 - Frank's career path: regional firm, Big Eight, and starting his own firm in 1984 02:42 - The first business plan: $300K goal, five people, $40K salary each 03:02 - 23 consecutive years of top and bottom line growth at Longobardi and Company 03:27 - Merging into J.H. Cohn in 2007 as their entree into Connecticut 04:33 - Running industry groups and earning a board seat at J.H. Cohn 04:46 - The CohnReznick mega merger of 2012: combining a $240M and $190M firm 05:09 - Becoming a $430 million firm and one of the first mega mergers in the profession 05:43 - Running for sole CEO in 2015 and serving a four-year term with mandatory retirement at 65 06:01 - What the CEO years were really like: navigating the compliance-to-advisory shift and people challenges 07:01 - What Frank learned from wearing every hat at a small firm that big firm leaders never experience 07:27 - Strategic planning, partner coaching, and the reality of 1,500 to 1,600 charge hours a year 08:13 - Managing expectations during busy season: communicating with clients and keeping the team motivated 09:13 - The biggest challenges in growing from startup to $14.5 million 10:35 - Client service intensity and keeping good people for the long term as the two main growth drivers 11:07 - Home-grown partners and the value of developing talent from within the CPA firm 11:57 - The biggest mistake: hating to part ways with any client, including a $400 1040 12:13 - What managing at scale taught Frank about the discipline of bringing in the right accounting clients 12:31 - How difficult clients affect team morale and why post-Covid firms have gotten better at weeding them out 13:14 - Why technical CPAs struggle to let go and why letting go is how firms scale 13:46 - How to transfer client relationships to the next generation: patience, coaching, and making it a two-year process 14:42 - Clients belong to the firm, not the partner: why that mindset shift matters for CPA firm succession 15:27 - How Frank developed next-generation leaders by helping them build on their own strengths 16:17 - The partnership model: what works, what does not, and why 270 partners makes decision-making complex 17:26 - Why accounting has become capital-intensive and what that means for the traditional profit distribution model 18:01 - Retaining 5% of revenue inside the firm: why Frank pushed for it and why partners pushed back 18:35 - Why private...
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    34 mins
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