Scaling with purpose: 3 principles for growing your accounting firm with intention

Over the last two decades, I’ve been fortunate to work with thousands of accounting firm leaders around the globe as they navigated the sometimes treacherous waters of growing their business. I’ve been inspired by their grit, talent, and business acumen as they overcame scaling plateaus and built the firm of their dreams.

As a result of my experience, I’m blessed to have a unique set of observations about what it takes to successfully scale a service business.

And that’s what inspired me to co-author a book with Jason Blumer, Founder and CEO of Thriveal CPA Network.

‘Scale with Purpose’ is the culmination of our decades of work observing, coaching, and running professional service businesses. It shares the stories of the owners and entrepreneurial leaders of firms from across the globe, the recipes they used to leap forward, and how you too can leverage your single most important resource: human capital.

In addition to our years of insight, we conducted qualitative one-on-one interviews with over a hundred entrepreneurial leaders of service organizations, used the ongoing long-term Practice Excellence cross-sectional study, and produced a qualitative survey to validate and substantiate our findings.

Here is a brief overview of the key elements of the book. I encourage you to get your copy for a more in-depth exploration of the insights, methodologies, anecdotes, templates, and examples.

What is intentional growth for accounting firms?

Intentional growth means knowing exactly what you want out of your business, what the goals are, and what it actually takes to run it, before you start scaling.

From the organizational design, to the strategy, to the execution, do you understand what it takes? What do you consider ‘success,’ and how will you measure and report on that?

Intentional growth is not about making more money, hiring more people, delivering more services. It’s a thoughtfulness about what you, as a firm owner, ultimately want to achieve.

Strategies for intentional growth

Not all firms need to grow. But for those that do, firm leaders need to be thoughtful about how they approach it.

Read the full article for Ian's key takeaways on achieving intentional growth for accounting firms >