The E-Myth Accountant

Distilled small business advice for accounting practices

Many accountants in small and mid-size practices are experts when it comes to their professional knowledge, but may not have considered their practice as much from a business perspective.

Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Accountant fills this void, giving you powerful advice on everything you need to run your practice as a successful business, allowing you to achieve your goals and grow your practice. Featuring Gerber's signature easy-to-understand, easy-to-implement style, The E-Myth Accountant features

• Gerber's universal appeal as a recognized expert on small businesses who has coached, taught, and trained over 60,000 small businesses
• A recognized and widely respected co-author and leader in the accounting field

The E-Myth Accountant is the last guide you'll ever need to make the difference in building or developing your successful accounting practice.

A Word about This Book ix

A Note from M. Darren Root xi

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xix

Introduction xxi

Chapter 1: The Story of Steve and Peggy 1

Chapter 2: This CPA’s Personal Journey 9

Chapter 3: On the Subject of Money 13

Chapter 4: The Pursuit of Money 27

Chapter 5: On the Subject of Planning 35

Chapter 6: The Value of Taking Aim 47

Chapter 7: On the Subject of Management 59

Chapter 8: Management by Design 65

Chapter 9: On the Subject of People 71

Chapter 10: We the People 79

Chapter 11: On the Subject of Associate Accountants 85

Chapter 12: Building a Professional Team 89

Chapter 13: On the Subject of Estimating 95

Chapter 14: The Value of Pricing 99

Chapter 15: On the Subject of Clients 103

Chapter 16: Making It All about the Client 111

Chapter 17: On the Subject of Growth 119

Chapter 18: The Art of Growth 123

Chapter 19: On the Subject of Change 127

Chapter 20: The Next Generation Accounting Firm 137

Chapter 21: On the Subject of Time 143

Chapter 22: Managing Choices, Not Time 149

Chapter 23: On the Subject of Work 155

Chapter 24: Getting to the Real Work 161

Chapter 25: On the Subject of Taking Action 167

Chapter 26: Getting Things Done 175

Afterword 181

"... easy-to-implement advice that should make the difference in building a successful accounting practice." (Finance & Management, April 2011)

MICHAEL E. GERBER is a small business guru; bestselling author (over 3 million copies combined sales worldwide); the founder and Chairman of Michael E. Gerber Companies—a group of highly unique enterprises dedicated to creating world-class start-ups and entrepreneurs in every industry and economy; and the founder of E-Myth Worldwide. E-Myth Worldwide transforms the way small business owners grow their companies and has evolved into an empire over its history of nearly three decades. Michael Gerber’s passion and genius for understanding entrepreneurs and the workings of small businesses are the crux of his tremendous worldwide appeal and success. For more information, visit www.MichaelEGerber.com.

M. DARREN ROOT, CPA, CITP, is CEO of Root & Associates, a nationally recognized speaker, and Executive Editor of the accounting profession’s leading technical trade publication, The CPA Technology Advisor. Darren has also built a world-class organization dedicated to educating accountants on transforming from technicians to savvy business leaders and building Next Generation Accounting Firms^™. Darren’s passion to change the way firms work, combined with twenty-five years of practical experience and technology expertise, has enabled him to emerge as a thought leader and trusted coach to small and mid-sized accounting firms across the country.

RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL small accounting firm is a juggling act. You need expertise in your practice area to provide services to clients. You also need the know-how to run a small business. You’ve probably been well prepared by your education and experience for the technical ins and outs of accounting. Yet what training has prepared you to run a business?

The E-Myth Accountant fills this knowledge gap, giving you a complete toolkit for either starting a successful practice from scratch or maximizing an existing practice’s performance. Full of useful, powerful advice you can implement easily, this soup-to-nuts guide enables you to reap all the benefits that come with a thriving accounting services firm.

Combining the wisdom of renowned business development expert Michael E. Gerber and the accounting knowledge of M. Darren Root, The E-Myth Accountant equips you to:

• Liberate yourself from the predictable and often overwhelming tyranny of unprofitable, unproductive, and time-consuming routines
• Transform yourself from a successful technician (accountant) into a successful accountant-manager-entrepreneur
• Rethink your practice, shifting from tactical thinking (working “in” your business) to strategic thinking (working “on” your business)
• Stop trading time for dollars
• Manage those processes through which people get things done, which becomes your management system—for everything you do
• Implement innovative systems to produce consistent results as your practice grows
• Take the sanctity of time seriously, blocking time for entrepreneurial work and using a weekly planning tool
• Create the story about your practice; this story becomes the heart of your practice

Leading an accounting practice can seem like a daunting task, with too few hours in the day, too many petty management issues, and problems accountants at Big Four and similar large accounting firms don’t seem to face. The E-Myth Accountant offers you a clear road map to create a business that’s self sufficient, growing, and highly profitable. Take your practice to levels you didn’t think possible with this unique guide!