Humans in Accounting

Victoria Vita came to the United States in 2004 and took her first job as a dishwasher. Twenty-two years later, she's a CPA and controller with two decades of experience in corporate America, as well as a life coach and energy healer focused on the human side of accounting. Two years ago, on an eight-hour drive home from a women's networking retreat, she decided to start a podcast. She had the nam...

Davis Starling grew up in a South Carolina town of about 290 people, kept bees, raised frogs, and earned the nickname Coach Barkley on a high school basketball court. At 12, a YouTube channel about failing companies had him reading balance sheets for fun. Today, Davis is based in New York, has spent five years working in accounting, and is pursuing his CPA license while staying deeply involved in...

Tyler Otto and Alex Roman have been playing chess for about two years, usually taking a day or three to make each move. For the Season 4 premiere of Humans in Accounting, they finally played a game live, and talked business between moves. Tyler runs a 16-person accounting firm that now operates day to day without him, co-hosts the Unaccountable podcast, and does his best work the same way he plays...

Ryan Page’s path to building Backpocket CPA wasn’t a straight line. After starting his career at PwC, working in financial reporting and FP&A, and experimenting with different businesses along the way, he spent years building his accounting firm on the side before finally going all in. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Ryan joins Alex Roman to talk about what his first year as a full-ti...

Ian Maxwell has always looked at business a little differently: instead of building a life around work, he believes your business should help create the life you actually want. Today, Ian is an executive coach and founder of Mindset Magic, working with small business owners while intentionally making room for another major part of his life: music. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Ian joins...

Chris Williams didn’t start his career in accounting. He came from finance and investing, looking for an entrepreneurial path that eventually led him to acquire System Six. Since then, System Six has grown from 20 to 65 team members, expanded through organic growth and acquisitions, and stayed focused on one principle: putting its people first. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Chris joins...

What does it take to go from working inside some of the world’s largest financial institutions to building your own accounting firm? In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Jabree Brooks, Founder and Principal at Four Palm Advisory, to talk about his journey from EY, UBS, and JPMorgan to CFO roles and, eventually, entrepreneurship. Jabree shares what pushed him to start...

Building a business isn't about following a perfect plan. It's about building one that evolves as your life does. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Eman Abdur-Rahman, Founder & CEO of Your Virtual Keeper, to discuss her journey from business operations to building a successful virtual accounting firm. Eman shares how she found her niche, built a remote team, cr...

Building an accounting firm takes more than technical expertise. It takes confidence, relationships, a clear business model, and the willingness to bet on yourself. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Mike Payne, Chief Growth Officer at Haga Kommer, to discuss his journey from the Big Four to building his own accounting and law firm from scratch. Mike shares the less...

Building an accounting firm is one challenge. Scaling it—and eventually selling it—is another. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Sharrin Fuller, founder of Glass Wallet Ventures and Clone & Conquer Hub, to discuss the lessons she learned from building multiple accounting businesses, documenting systems, overcoming self-doubt, and creating firms that can grow be...

What if the biggest milestone in your accounting firm wasn't adding another client, but taking a 17-day vacation? In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Karen McConomy, Founder of Your Numbers Person, to discuss building systems that allow business owners to step away without everything falling apart. Karen shares how she went from starting her firm on Upwork to leading...

Will AI replace accountants? Miguel Centeno doesn't think so. He believes the firms that thrive won't be the ones avoiding AI—they'll be the ones learning how to use it better than everyone else. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Miguel Centeno, Managing Partner at Centurion Firm and host of Beyond the Bottom Line, to discuss building an accounting firm, finding th...

Every successful CPA has technical skills. Not every CPA has a mentor. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Nancy Benet, CPA, entrepreneur, and CEO of Fix It Accounting, to discuss the lessons she learned from building her firm after multiple failed businesses, crushing debt, and starting over from scratch. Nancy shares why mentorship completely changed the trajectory...

Most business owners think payroll is their biggest expense. Monica Siciliano sees it differently. She believes people are a company's greatest opportunity. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Monica Siciliano, Partner at De Novo HR Consulting and Zinman & Company, to discuss leadership, business advisory, human resources, and what really drives long-term busines...

Most accounting firm owners focus on technical expertise. Seth Kamens believes that's the wrong place to start. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Seth Kamens, founder of Kamens & Associates, to discuss how he grew a firm from a handful of clients into a practice serving more than 2,000 clients across the world. Seth shares why he left corporate accounting, what...

Remote work wasn't trendy in 2012. For most accounting firms, it wasn't even an option. But that's exactly when Josh Zweig decided to build a virtual accounting firm. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Josh Zweig, Co-Founder and CEO of LiveCA, to discuss how a simple desire for location freedom led to one of Canada's first fully virtual accounting firms. Josh shares...

In this episode of Humans in Accounting , Alex Roman sits down with Josh Schneider, CEO of Multiply Advisors , to talk about entrepreneurship, culture, personal growth, and what it really means to build a business with purpose. Josh shares his journey from leaving the CPA firm world behind to becoming an entrepreneur, the struggles of building from scratch, and how a painful experience with his ow...

Most entrepreneurs think growth comes from working harder. Nicole Rose Yen believes it comes from better processes. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Nicole Rose Yen, Founder of Aerial Core, to talk about building systems that actually support growth. Nicole shares how her background in software and medical businesses led her into accounting, why she pivoted from h...

Most businesses don’t fail because of bad ideas. They fail because they run out of cash—or underestimate how long growth actually takes. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Michael Coronado, President of Pronto Advisors, to talk about building a firm that has evolved over 35 years. Michael shares how his father started the business after getting laid off, how they ad...

43% of professional women in the U.S. leave the workforce to raise children. But 97% would return—if flexible work existed. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Ashley Connell, CEO of Prowess Project, to talk about the real problem behind talent loss—and how she built a business to solve it. Ashley shares how she started with a simple insight, tested her idea by worki...

Most accounting firms don’t fail because of bad ideas. They fail because nothing gets executed. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, James Bohan shares how he built his firm starting from one client—and why taking action early mattered more than having everything figured out. From preparing tax returns by hand to becoming a CFO and eventually launching his own firm, his path wasn’t linear—and...

What if something as simple as your name affected how people saw you professionally? In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Astrid Daniela Galvez, Founder of Accounting Specialist & Business Solutions, to talk about building a firm from scratch—and the identity challenges that came with it. Astrid shares how she started her firm with no clients and only six months o...

What makes an accounting firm valuable—and what actually determines how much it sells for? In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Geoff Bruskin, Managing Partner at White Tiger Connections, to break down how accounting firms are built, scaled, and ultimately sold. Geoff shares his journey into the accounting space through M&A, recruiting, and consulting—and how priv...

Scaling an accounting firm sounds simple—until you’re the one stuck doing everything. In this episode of Humans in Accounting, Alex Roman sits down with Chase Damiano, Founder & CEO of Human at Scale, to break down why so many accounting firm owners struggle to scale—and what actually needs to change. Chase shares his journey from Accenture to building and scaling a coffee business, and how th...

In this episode of Humans in Accounting , Alex Roman sits down with Tracy Brantingham, CEO of Building Profits LLC , to explore how she built her firm from just three clients into a growing business — and the decisions that shaped that journey. Tracy shares her background in construction accounting, how she transitioned from employee to business owner, and the role networking played in getting her...