This week’s guest JUST started his journey to begin his own firm.

Yuri is joined by Kendall Castro, who, as of a few months ago, recently became a business owner. Together, they break down Kendall’s path to starting his own business, the one critical moment that kicked everything off and most importantly:

What his experience has been so far.

From pricing, adding new business and making more money – to concerns, burnout and cost of entry. Yuri and Kendall cover every aspect of his launch and the months that have followed.

Additionally they discuss larger topics within the industry such as educating clients, burnout and more.

If you’re on the edge of beginning your own entrepreneurial journey, this is the perfect episode to get you pointed in the right direction.

Episode Highlights:

0:00 - Intro

0:37 - Episode open

0:51 - Kendall’s background + entry in the profession

3:22 - Kendall’s ‘itch’ to go out on his own

5:42 - After being let go / before launch

8:14 - Educating, “being a one man army”

11:32 - Getting started, bringing people in, pricing

16:00 - Cost of entry, collecting money and software

19:38 - Balancing year 1 w/ future scaling

21:39 - The firm’s trajectory, adjusting client volume

26:25 - What Kendall’s days look like

28:32 - Kendall’s advice to new business owners

30:10 - Getting clients, how Kendall plans to scale

31:59 - Wrap-up, where you can find Kendall

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ABOUT HOST YURI KAPILOVICH

Yuri, aka #thefuncpa, has been in the accounting profession for over 15 years and has seen, first hand, the challenges the profession brings. After seeing that no firm was fitting the bill, Yuri set out to do things his own way with his firm K&A and the journey began with LinkedIn posting at the front end.

Yuri is proud to bring you #thefuncpa podcast highlighting the fun and all the amazing opportunities our profession can bring us all.

CONNECT WITH YURI KAPILOVICH

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ykapilovich/

Website: https://www.thefuncpa.co/

CONNECT WITH KENDALL CASTRO

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendall-castro-cpa-realtor/

Website: https://castrocpaadvisory.com/

Many guests on The Fun CPA have left their jobs, some of them at the ‘Big 4’ to begin their own business, or move to something tax and accounting adjacent.

This week’s guest is a little different! Blake Carroll works for a ‘Big 4’ firm, PwC, and has done so for the past 8 years.

As a Deployment Consultant for PwC, Blake is responsible for facilitating the development of high-performing teams by supporting workload balancing, enhancing team effectiveness, and fostering career growth opportunities for employees.

Blake joins Yuri to share his view on climbing the career ladder in one of the biggest and most competitive firms in the country – as well as what new CPAs can do to advance further and get paid more.

He also shares a sneak peek into how PwC is approaching the pipeline issue, his experience with scheduling, drawing boundaries, saying “no” at work, and much more!

For those of you looking to stay with a big firm for the start, or even majority of your career – this episode will give you a valuable look into what you can expect on an entry-level, all the way to senior roles.

Episode Highlights:

0:00 - Introduction

0:35 - Episode open

1:13 - Meet Blake

3:08 - Blake’s early career

6:49 - The process of being promoted (when you’re starting out)

11:34 - Scheduling, saying “no”

17:20 - Promotion and pay raises

20:14 - Are bigger firms concerned about pipeline?

23:01 - AI and Credentialling

25:45 - Coaching for the CPA exam

29:41 - Social media and comparisons

32:05 - “The sooner you can start the better”

35:01 - What has changed now (trackers and studying)

38:35 - Wrap up: Where you can find Blake

ABOUT HOST YURI KAPILOVICH

Yuri, aka #thefuncpa, has been in the accounting profession for over 15 years and has seen, first hand, the challenges the profession brings. After seeing that no firm was fitting the bill, Yuri set out to do things his own way with his firm K&A and the journey began with LinkedIn posting at the front end.

Yuri is proud to bring you #thefuncpa podcast highlighting the fun and all the amazing opportunities our profession can bring us all.

CONNECT WITH YURI KAPILOVICH

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ykapilovich/

Website: https://www.thefuncpa.co/

CONNECT WITH BLAKE CARROLL

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-carroll-cpa-03690b98/

Website: https://www.blakecarrollcoaching.com/

Michael Eckstein isn’t like most accountants.

He doesn’t talk like most accountants. Or think like them.

And he certainly doesn’t approach building a business the same way as them, either.

In this episode, Yuri and Michael sit down to discuss topics big and small – from client horror stories and biggest tax “beefs” to how Michael started his firm and why he built it around one central thing.

Additionally, they tackle some hot topics that come up again and again in LinkedIn and elsewhere: minimum fees, taking on more (or less) clients and designing your business around your life (and not the other way around).

Episode Highlights:

0:00 - Intro

0:36 - Episode beginning

3:16 - Mike’s journey and background

9:14 - What made Mike a “travelling accountant”

11:02 - Taking on clients and protecting your time

15:39 - LinkedIn, tech and getting business

18:11 - LinkedIn cringe stories

21:20 - Minimum fees, setting it and increasing it

26:43 - Mike’s goal for LinkedIn

34:45 - A day in the life of Michael Eckstein

37:46 - Biggest ‘beef’ with taxes

43:35 - Perfectionism in the industry, value-pricing

51:41 - Network building, client horror stories

1:03:11 - Wrap-up

ABOUT HOST YURI KAPILOVICH

Yuri, aka #thefuncpa, has been in the accounting profession for over 15 years and has seen, first hand, the challenges the profession brings. After seeing that no firm was fitting the bill, Yuri set out to do things his own way with his firm K&A and the journey began with LinkedIn posting at the front end.

Yuri is proud to bring you #thefuncpa podcast highlighting the fun and all the amazing opportunities our profession can bring us all.

CONNECT WITH YURI KAPILOVICH

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ykapilovich/

Website: https://www.thefuncpa.co/

CONNECT WITH MICHAEL ECKSTEIN

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/michael-eckstein

Website: https://restingbusinessface.com/about/#about

This week’s guest has achieved what many in the industry dream of.

A successful firm AND a successful exit.

Kenji Kuramoto is the founder and former CEO of Acuity, a pioneering outsourced accounting and fractional CFO firm that built and maintained financial functions for thousands of innovative entrepreneurs.

Kenji sits down with Yuri to discuss creating and growing his company – what he learned, what he would change and the central theme of the episode:

Should every firm scale?

Episode Highlights:

0:00 - Intro

0:37 - Episode beginning, Top-5 rappers

3:12 - Meet Kenji

8:17 - What made Kenji want to leave

13:46 - Taking the leap

23:29 - The early days of Acuity

28:57 - “would you do it the same way?”

31:14 - Where is the bottleneck?

36:13 - “Should everyone scale?”

42:45 - Balancing your life + the business/scaling

51:35 - Kenji’s post-exit mission

53:58 - If you’re an early-stage founder…

56:16 - Episode wrap-up

ABOUT HOST YURI KAPILOVICH

Yuri, aka #thefuncpa, has been in the accounting profession for over 15 years and has seen, first hand, the challenges the profession brings. After seeing that no firm was fitting the bill, Yuri set out to do things his own way with his firm K&A and the journey began with LinkedIn posting at the front end.

Yuri is proud to bring you #thefuncpa podcast highlighting the fun and all the amazing opportunities our profession can bring us all.

CONNECT WITH YURI KAPILOVICH

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ykapilovich/

Website: https://www.thefuncpa.co/

CONNECT WITH KENJI

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenjikuramoto/

Not all accounting journeys are the same, but most are similar.

Today’s guest has done it all differently – and his rare, entrepreneurial drive is something you seldom see in an industry so focused on conformity. Shahram Zarshenas is the CEO of Financial Cents, an accounting practice management software – a company and idea that started when Shahram was just in college.

Together, Yuri and Shahram discuss his software and what makes it unique, as well as their respective POVs as software-maker and software-consumer. They also cover how it was built and what made Shahram confident enough to make the jump, social media use and disconnecting from it all, and more!

Episode Highlights:

0:00 - Intro

0:36 -

1:17 - WorkflowCon and how it was created

4:40 - Meet

7:30 - Starting Financial Sense

15:32 - How he built it

20:50 - “What’s most difficult about selling to accountants?”

31:03 - The culture @ FinancialCents

37:46 - Shahram’s approach to conferences

40:17 - Disconnecting, social media use

51:40 - Where you can find Shahram, wrap-up

ABOUT HOST YURI KAPILOVICH

Yuri, aka #thefuncpa, has been in the accounting profession for over 15 years and has seen, first hand, the challenges the profession brings. After seeing that no firm was fitting the bill, Yuri set out to do things his own way with his firm K&A and the journey began with LinkedIn posting at the front end.

Yuri is proud to bring you #thefuncpa podcast highlighting the fun and all the amazing opportunities our profession can bring us all.

CONNECT WITH YURI KAPILOVICH

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ykapilovich/

Website: https://www.thefuncpa.co/

CONNECT WITH SHAHRAM

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahramzarshenas/

Website: https://financial-cents.com/

It’s the one big thing on everyone’s mind.

A.I.

This week’s guest has all the answers to your questions both hopeful and bleak. Chad Davis is the co-founder and partner of LiveCA LLP – and a self-proclaimed AI and automation geek.

Yuri and Chad discuss the AI of it all – it’s application in firms that are both tech averse and those that may be too tech-eager. They also investigate some situations where AI may not be the right answer, as well as how you can be a better shopper when it comes to new software.

For those of you with your own firms, or working on your own, this episode provides a great look into what your initial position should be and how bought in you are on this part of the future.

Episode Highlights:

0:00 - Intro

0:51 - Meet Chad Davis

4:15 - How Chad’s first firm “broke” and what he changed

8:32 - AI use in the industry

10:52 - “Leaning away” from AI

14:06 - When should you consider AI?

20:30 - Security issues

27:09 - Tax OCR software

37:40 - Recommendations for the tech-averse

44:58 - Chad’s favorite conference

47:46 - How you can reach out to Chad (and who should)

49:16 - Episode wrap-up

ABOUT HOST YURI KAPILOVICH

Yuri, aka #thefuncpa, has been in the accounting profession for over 15 years and has seen, first hand, the challenges the profession brings. After seeing that no firm was fitting the bill, Yuri set out to do things his own way with his firm K&A and the journey began with LinkedIn posting at the front end.

Yuri is proud to bring you #thefuncpa podcast highlighting the fun and all the amazing opportunities our profession can bring us all.

CONNECT WITH YURI KAPILOVICH

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ykapilovich/

Website: https://www.thefuncpa.co/

CONNECT WITH CHAD DAVIS

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaddavis1/

Website: https://www.liveca.ca/

Accounting students this one is for you!

In today's special release episode, Yuri shares his presentation to a group of students at Rutgers Business School from October 30th, 2025. In this presentation Yuri helps college students understand what their journey will look like after graduating and how to best succeed in their accounting career.

Here are a few highlights:

✅Yuri's journey after graduation

✅How to interview well

✅Audit Vs. Tax

✅How to succeed at the new job

✅Much more!

Steven Jarvis, “the least boring CPA”, joins Yuri in this week’s episode to talk real career moves, not LinkedIn fantasies.

Steven is CEO and Head CPA at Retirement Tax Services – but at one time, he was *this* close to landing a partnership at a national firm.

Instead, he built a tax + education company serving financial advisors so he could design his work around his life, and not the other way around.

Additionally, Yuri and Steven discuss why most sales happen by email (not social), and how he 4×’d a conference in a year without losing his mind (or his margins). They get honest about switching from audit to tax, when entrepreneurship is a bad idea, building teams and setting expectations at work and at home so you can actually enjoy the wins.

Episode Highlights:

0:00 - Intro

0:35 - Meet Steven Jarvis

1:32 - Steven’s career journey, how we started

5:42 - Moving from audit to tax

13:57 - “If you want a dramatic shift…”

17:09 - Turning down the partnership (and what happened)

20:50 - What happened

27:15 - Steven’s take on social media, LinkedIn

31:11 - Tips for running and creating events

41:45 - Steven’s firm now

44:47 - Offshoring and AI

49:38 - “Why should someone become an accountant?”

51:19 - Work life balance

54:50 - Episode wrap-up

ABOUT HOST YURI KAPILOVICH

Yuri, aka #thefuncpa, has been in the accounting profession for over 15 years and has seen, first hand, the challenges the profession brings. After seeing that no firm was fitting the bill, Yuri set out to do things his own way with his firm K&A and the journey began with LinkedIn posting at the front end.

Yuri is proud to bring you #thefuncpa podcast highlighting the fun and all the amazing opportunities our profession can bring us all.

CONNECT WITH YURI KAPILOVICH

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ykapilovich/

Website: https://www.thefuncpa.co/

CONNECT WITH STEVEN JARVIS

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenajarvis/

Website: https://retirementtaxservices.com/memberships/