Blake Oliver’s Blueprint for Modern Accounting Firms

In episode 151of The Woodard Report Podcast, Joe Woodard welcomes a familiar voice in the profession: Blake Oliver, CPA, podcaster, founder of Earmark, and now author of Building a Sustainable Accounting Firm. Blake has spent years studying how firms operate, interviewing leaders across the profession, and helping accountants rethink continuing education through the Earmark platform.  

His new book serves as a practical companion to Ron Baker’s conceptual work, offering firm owners a clear, actionable roadmap for transforming outdated models into sustainable, outcome-driven practices. 

Why this book and why now  

Blake’s motivation was simple. Ron Baker’s writing helped reframe how accountants think about pricing and value. But many firm owners still struggle with the question, “How do I actually implement this?” Blake wanted to fill that gap.  

He explained that Ron provides big ideas, while practitioners often need ground-level application. He describes his book as “the field guide or the manual for how do you actually implement this stuff,” drawing on both his own experience running a modern CAS practice and the insights he has gathered interviewing dozens of firm owners.  

From the transactional treadmill to the transformation economy  

A core theme in Blake’s work is the shift from selling inputs to selling outcomes. He argues that most firms are still trapped in models that reward hours worked, top-line revenue, and staff utilization, which are metrics clients don’t care about.  

As he puts it: “We are focusing on the outcome, not just financially, but also in terms of our time, in terms of our life.”  

Blake reinforces that clients want results, clarity, speed, and insight, not a tally of hours or an explanation of who touched the file. Transitioning from transactional work to transformational service requires rethinking pricing, staffing, technology, and capacity.  

Fixing revenue first  

Blake is clear that revenue is where transformation begins. Underpricing is common, and hourly billing makes it difficult for firms to create breathing room for change. Without margin, no firm has the time or space to innovate.  

His advice: 

• Move to fixed fees. 

• Reprice aggressively based on value. 

• Shed clients who no longer fit. 

• Use pricing to smooth seasonality.  

Blake highlighted one effective approach: charging a premium for clients who insist on filing during peak deadlines rather than discounting those who extend. That shift turns calendar pressure into a pricing strategy and helps level the firm’s workload.  

Using productized services to design a better firm  

Blake believes productization is one of the profession’s most underutilized tools. Standardizing services around clear deliverables, clear pricing, and a consistent tech stack allows firms to scale intentionally without overburdening their staff.  

A simple example from his own firm illustrates the point. Their core CAS package consisted of bookkeeping in Xero, bill pay through Bill, and payroll via Gusto. It was priced using a straightforward formula based on bills, employees, and accounts.  

He emphasized that productized services are not impersonal, but that they’re predictable. And predictability is what allows firms to deliver consistently and profitably while freeing their teams to focus on transformation.  

Adding value through advisory and financial coaching  

Productization is the foundation, but recurring advisory engagement is where firms can move clients from stability to transformation. Blake recommends framing advisory not around technical tasks but around access.  

• Clients who buy bookkeeping have access to bookkeepers. 

• Clients who buy controller services have access to controller-level expertise. 

• Clients who buy CFO advisory get the full team.  

The real key, Blake notes, is scheduling: “The meetings are the deliverable.”  

When advisory happens in structured, recurring appointments, rather than whenever something comes up, it becomes the engine of intentionality, improvement, and capacity management.  

Breaking the profession’s unhealthy patterns  

A significant part of Joe and Blake’s discussion centered on the entrenched norms holding firms back. These include measuring value by credentials, rewarding speed over effectiveness, and expecting staff to eat hours to keep up.  

Blake highlights that none of these metrics matter to clients. What clients want is timely delivery, proactive guidance, fewer surprises, and confidence in their numbers.  

The firms that redesign around those expectations, not around legacy traditions, are the ones succeeding in the transformation economy.  

Practical next steps for firms ready to modernize  

Blake’s book outlines a full roadmap, but key first steps include: 

• Fix revenue: Move to fixed fees, reprice, and eliminate misfit clients. 

• Productize services: Standardize how you deliver and price CAS, tax, and advisory. 

• Schedule intentionally: Use recurring meetings to control scope and capacity. 

• Reduce seasonality: Use pricing to incentivize extensions and spread workload. 

• Build advisory into every engagement: Even basic clients benefit from guidance.  

As Blake says, sustainability is not a luxury. It is the only way forward for firms facing rising complexity, shrinking talent pools, and shifting client expectations.

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Thank you to our show sponsor, Canopy!
Unclunk your firm with Canopy, the fully integrated practice management that helps accountants build the firm they always wanted. The suite includes client and document management, workflow, time and billing, engagements and proposals, and more. Check out getcanopy.com.