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Welcome back to another episode of Quantum Growth for Financial Advisors!

In this episode, Jon Kuttin welcomes back Joe Licciardi, Managing Director of Torchpoint Advisors, for the second installment of their three-part series — this time going deep on what actually drives growth inside a CPA firm. Joe lays out Torchpoint’s four pillars of accounting firm growth: talent, M&A, wealth services integration, and technology and systems — and Jon and Joe work through each one in turn.

On talent, Joe points to a real supply problem in the accounting profession — one no single firm can fix on its own — and lays out three ways firms actually build a bench: recruiting existing CPAs, developing young talent the traditional way, and what Jon calls an “acquihire”, where an acquisition brings a ready-made team along with it. Joe also pushes firms to expand their search nationally and lean into remote work and outsourcing rather than competing for scarce local talent, and to shift the work itself — turning a $500 compliance-only 1040 client into a $1,500–$2,000 advisory client by attaching visible value to the relationship.

On wealth and tax convergence, Joe distinguishes two models: a loose referral relationship, which tends to run on goodwill and rarely gets real priority from either side, versus a true ownership or investment partnership, where both sides have real economics and skin in the game. Jon adds his own view from the wealth management side, naming three methodologies he’s used — the alliance/referral model (his least favorite and least productive), a true partnership where money and equity actually change hands, and a newer idea he’s considering: hiring a CPA in-house to serve his own wealth management clients directly, after seeing how often an acquired accounting firm’s own delivery and staffing problems end up hurting the very clients the deal was supposed to help.

On building a self-operating company, Joe offers a simple test: if you disappeared on vacation for three months, would your firm keep functioning? Getting there means investing in a real tech stack — practice management software, client portals, workflow automation — and tracking the metrics that actually indicate a healthy business, like the percentage of recurring revenue clients, client retention, and revenue per employee, rather than just how busy the day-to-day feels.

Finally, on M&A, Joe reframes it as a growth and partnership strategy rather than simply “sell 100% of my practice in five years.” He draws a clear line between buying — acquiring a majority stake, sometimes structured as a majority recapitalization — and capital raising, bringing in a minority equity partner with real strategic experience to help fund and execute growth. Both Jon and Joe flag the same warning: acquisitions that aren’t structured thoughtfully can cost a buyer 30–40% of the acquired client base when the deal is treated as a simple handoff instead of a real transition.

Whether you’re a sole practitioner accountant, running a multi-partner CPA firm, or a wealth advisor thinking about bringing tax services in-house, this episode lays out a practical framework for turning a lifestyle practice into an enterprise — and sets up part three, where Jon and Joe turn their attention to what all of this means for financial advisors.

Listen in to learn:

  • Torchpoint’s four pillars of accounting firm growth: talent, M&A, wealth services integration, and technology and systems
  • Why the accounting profession has a real talent supply problem, and the three practical ways firms actually solve for it, including the “acquihire”
  • Why expanding your search nationally and leaning into remote work and outsourcing opens up talent a 20-mile radius never will
  • How to turn a $500 compliance-only client into a $1,500–$2,000 advisory client by attaching visible value to the relationship
  • The difference between a referral relationship and a true ownership partnership when combining wealth and tax services — and why only one of them actually works
  • Jon’s three methodologies for wealth-and-tax partnerships: the alliance/referral model, a true equity partnership, and hiring a CPA in-house
  • The “three-month vacation” test for whether you’ve actually built a self-operating business or just a well-paying job
  • Which metrics actually indicate a healthy practice — recurring revenue percentage, client retention, and revenue per employee — versus just feeling busy
  • The difference between buying (including a majority recapitalization) and capital raising (bringing in a minority equity partner) as two distinct paths under the M&A umbrella
  • Why unstructured acquisitions can cost a buyer 30–40% of the client base, and what a properly structured transition looks like instead

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