Your Firm, Your Life: Achieving Balance in Accounting with Jeff Dredge

Here is a breakdown of the top insights from their conversation to help you build a firm that serves your clients—and your life.

About the Guest: Jeff Dredge

Jeff Dredge is a CPA, founder, and former owner of a highly successful advisory-focused accounting business. With a career that spans the introduction of the first desktop computers in accounting offices to the modern era of Client Accounting Services (CAS) and AI, Jeff has been an early adapter and innovator in the space. After building a firm with a strong emphasis on work-life balance and client advisory, he successfully sold his practice to Platform Accounting Group. Today, he leads their central CAS team, supporting over 40 offices and thousands of employees nationwide.

The Evolution of Accounting: From Hindsight to Foresight

Many professionals get trapped in the routine of historical compliance—doing the bookkeeping and filing the taxes. But as Jeff points out, offering true value means moving your firm into the realm of Client Accounting Services (CAS) through three distinct phases:

• Hindsight: This is the baseline. It involves preparing historical financial statements and documenting past transactions. Because hindsight is a commodity, it is highly price-sensitive.

• Insight: This is where you step up to KPI analysis. You help the business owner understand what those historical financial statements actually mean and how they can use that data to make better day-to-day decisions.

• Foresight: The highest level of value. Using hindsight and insight, you help clients build a forward-looking plan for growth, cash flow management, and strategic success.

When you transition from selling commoditized hindsight to offering valuable foresight, you elevate your firm’s status and can command substantially higher fees.

Three Pillars for Valuing and Selling Your Accounting Firm

If your ultimate goal is to sell your practice or merge with a larger group, you need to build a firm that has standalone value. Drawing from his own successful exit, Jeff highlighted the three core components private equity groups and buyers look for:

1. Client Retention and “Stickiness”: Buyers evaluate the quality of your revenue. Recurring revenue from ongoing accounting and bookkeeping engagements is much more valuable than cyclical, one-off tax return customers. Buyers want to know that the revenue won’t walk out the door the moment you do.

2. A Reliable, Quality Staff: Your team is the foundation of the business. Buyers look for competent professionals who are likely to stick around post-acquisition to ensure the work continues efficiently.

3. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): If all the institutional knowledge is locked inside the owner’s head, the business is a massive risk to a buyer. Utilizing practice management software, establishing strong internal controls, and documenting systems proves that the firm can function independently.

Why Collaboration Beats Competition in the Accounting Industry

A major roadblock for many accounting professionals is the fear of competition. However, Jeff and Roger emphasized that bookkeeping, accounting, and tax advisory are entirely different disciplines.

Instead of trying to offer every service “soup to nuts” and burning out, firm owners should embrace collaboration. If your specialty is tax preparation, partner with a trusted bookkeeping firm that can provide you with clean, timely, and accurate financial statements. If a client needs a cost segregation study and you don’t offer it, refer them to a specialist in your network.

There is more than enough market share to go around. By collaborating, you protect your time, elevate the client experience, and build a more profitable ecosystem for everyone involved.

Finding True Work-Life Balance as a Firm Owner

Building a premier accounting firm shouldn’t cost you your family life or your personal well-being. From the beginning of his career, Jeff prioritized a business model that allowed him to be an active father, serve on the city council, and spend time in nature.

Whether it is canyoneering in southern Utah or simply stepping away from the desk, finding a hobby that “sharpens the saw” is critical. If your mind is always full of client emergencies and payroll deadlines, you cannot be fully present for your family or find the mental clarity needed to act as a true advisor to your clients.

Next Steps to Grow Your Firm with Universal Accounting

Are you ready to work on your business instead of just in it? Universal Accounting Center offers several resources to help you take the next step:

• The Accountrepreneurs Challenge: Sign up for this free 90-day challenge at universalaccounting.com to receive weekly personal and professional exercises designed to help you build the premier firm in your area.

• Attend GrowCon: Join industry peers and experts at our annual conference dedicated to marketing, selling, and optimizing bookkeeping, accounting, and tax businesses.

Watch and Listen to More! To catch the full conversation, hear more of Jeff’s incredible stories, and dive deeper into building out your CAS offerings, watch the full episode on YouTube here.

Don’t stop there! Keep the momentum going by checking out our podcast playlist and listening to our previous episode for more expert advice on marketing, pricing, and scaling your accounting practice.