The Growth Minded Accountant

AI is already changing tax and accounting firms, but not in the simplistic way the headlines suggest. On one side, the hype machine says AI will replace accountants, eliminate compliance, and automate the profession overnight. On the other side, some professionals are still acting like nothing meaningful is going to change. The truth is more practical and more important. AI is beginning to remove...

Most tax and accounting firms are not invisible because they lack expertise. They are invisible because the market cannot clearly understand what makes them different. For years, tax and accounting firms focused on ranking on Google for searches like “CPA near me,” “tax preparer near me,” “bookkeeper near me,” “small business accountant near me,” or “tax advisor near me.” That still matters. But t...

Most firms think they have a responsiveness problem. Clients don’t send documents. They miss reminders. They go quiet. They wait until the last minute. But what if the real issue isn’t responsiveness? What if it’s uncertainty? In this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams II and Rebekah Barton talk about why the client experience is not the same thing as your internal task list. Your...

Story Beats Sameness in the AI Era Most accounting firms don't struggle because they lack expertise. They struggle because prospects can't quickly understand why they should choose them. In this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams and Rebekah Barton explore why so many talented firms become invisible online—not because they're bad at what they do, but because they so...

Why can a Rolex cost exponentially more than a $50 watch when both tell time? Why can Ferrari, Hermès, Apple, and Ryan Serhant create such strong demand, trust, and pricing power? And what can tax and accounting firms learn from them? In this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams II and Rebekah Barton unpack what premium brands understand about value that most accounting firms often...

Google’s latest AI Search updates may represent the biggest shift in online visibility since local search. In this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams II and Rebekah Barton break down what Google’s AI Search evolution means for tax and accounting firms — and why the future of visibility is moving from rankings to recommendations. They discuss Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO,...

Everyone is talking about AI prompts, ChatGPT, agents, automations, and saving time. But what if the real transformation happening in tax and accounting has very little to do with prompts at all? In this cornerstone episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams explores why the future of successful firms will not be defined by who adopts the most AI tools — but by who builds the strongest op...

Most tax and accounting firms aren’t running out of talent. They’re running out of capacity. In this solo episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams shares a candid perspective on where the profession is heading — and why the firms that thrive over the next decade may not be the firms with the biggest teams, but the firms that learn how to create bigger outcomes with the team they already...

Most tax and accounting firms still market themselves the same way they did a decade ago. Generic messaging. Generic positioning. Generic websites. The problem? AI-powered search is changing how clients discover and choose accounting firms — and sameness is becoming invisible. In this special presentation episode, Lee Reams II (CEO of CountingWorks) and Rebekah Barton (Chief Visibility Officer) br...

Most tax and accounting firms think growth comes from more clients. More referrals. More SEO. More tax returns. More volume. But what if the biggest growth opportunity is already sitting inside the clients you already serve? In this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams and Rebekah Barton break down why the future of accounting firms is shifting from reactive tax preparation toward p...

Most accounting firms aren’t stuck because they’re not working hard enough. They’re stuck because their model hasn’t caught up to the opportunity. In this episode, Lee Reams breaks down why the traditional compliance-first approach is limiting growth—and how firms can start unlocking more value from the clients they already have. Lee walks through a real-world example, explain why advisory service...

The tax and accounting industry doesn’t have an AI problem. It has a hiring problem. In this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams II and Rebekah Barton unpack one of the biggest shifts happening in firms right now: AI isn’t just a tool—it’s a role. With fewer accountants entering the profession and client demand continuing to rise, the traditional growth model—hire more people—just...

Tax season is over. Now comes the real question: What would you change before next year? Most firms think the answer is more staff, higher prices, or fewer clients. But in this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams and Rebekah Barton break down a different—and often overlooked—lever for growth: Your firm’s first impression. Because before a prospect ever speaks to you… Before they un...

The week after April 15 is a trap. You’re exhausted. Your team is checked out. And every instinct you have is telling you to just move on and forget the chaos. But here’s the cold, hard truth: If you don’t capture the data while the pain is fresh, you are choosing to repeat it next year. In this episode of the Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams II and Rebekah Barton sit down for a "post-gam...

Every tax season, your clients tell you exactly what they need. They mention hiring plans. They’re thinking about selling assets. They say things like, “I wish I had known that sooner…” And in the moment, you recognize it: 👉 That’s important. 👉 We should come back to that. But then the next client starts. The next return. The next fire to put out. And just like that… it’s gone. In this episode o...

Tax season has a way of revealing the truth about your firm. The long hours, the constant client follow-ups, the repeated questions—it all starts to surface the same thought: “There has to be a better way to do this.” In this solo episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams breaks down why tax season isn’t the time to fix everything—it’s the time to see what’s actually broken . Because und...

One of the most common complaints clients have about accounting firms isn’t about mistakes or pricing. It’s responsiveness. In this episode of Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams and Rebekah Barton explore why communication breakdowns happen in many tax and accounting firms—and how growth-minded firms design systems that allow them to stay responsive without burning out. Most accountants want to...

Bridge loans, SBA 504 financing, and alternative lending solutions are becoming essential tools for small business owners who can't access traditional bank financing. In this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , host Lee Reams sits down with Dave Manser, President & Chief Lending Officer at Business Loan Capital (BLC) to discuss how business owners are filling the growing capital gap...

Tax season isn’t just the busiest time of year for accountants. It’s also one of the most revealing. In this micro-episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams and Rebekah Barton break down the three signals that show up repeatedly in client conversations during tax season—and what those signals reveal about the future growth of your firm. They call them the SUC Signals : Surprise – “I wish...

Tax season doesn’t excuse bad preparation. In this solo micro-episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , Lee Reams shares a practical 5-minute AI workflow to help you walk into every client interview informed, confident, and positioned as an advisor — even during your busiest stretch of tax season. Most accountants don’t feel underprepared because they don’t care. They feel underprepared because th...

There’s a moment at the end of every tax interview that most firms rush through. And it’s quietly costing them six figures a year. In this episode of The Growth-Minded Accountant , Lee Reams shares a simple but powerful framework — the Post-Tax Bridge — that helps tax and accounting firms turn compliance conversations into advisory opportunities without selling, pitching, or slowing down tax seaso...

Most firms treat the tax interview like data collection. The smartest firms treat it like positioning. In this micro episode of The Growth Minded Accountant, Lee breaks down a simple shift that can fundamentally change how clients see you. Not after tax season. Not when you launch a new advisory package. But in the first few minutes of your tax interview. Clients decide what you are very quickly....

Capital decisions are some of the most important—and irreversible—choices a business owner will ever make. Yet many tax and accounting professionals don’t get pulled into the conversation until after the deal is already done. In this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , we break down how small and mid-sized businesses actually access capital today—and why accountants are uniquely positioned t...

In this episode of The Growth Minded Accountant , host Lee Reams II is joined by Rebekah Barton, Chief Visibility Officer , for a timely conversation on what actually drives firm growth in 2026—and why positioning alone is no longer enough. Most tax and accounting firms understand positioning. They’ve defined their services, clarified who they serve, and invested in looking professional. But in a...

Most tax and accounting firms don’t actually have a pricing problem. They have a pricing system problem . In this episode of Growth Minded Accountant , we break down why traditional pricing models — hourly billing, fixed fees, even “value pricing” — keep breaking as firms grow, adopt AI, and move toward advisory services. 👉 Download the Pricing System Playbook (Free PDF): https://tinyurl.com/CWPw...