In the 27th episode of Financial Planning for Canadian Business Owners, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host of the podcast Fintech Impact, welcomes Chad Davis of LiveCA, an all-remote accounting firm. They discuss the phases of workflow development LiveCA has used to get where they are, tips for transitioning to and improving remote work, and more.
Episode Highlights:
● LiveCA is an accounting firm that has always had a remote team.
● The CPA code of conduct stipulates that they had to have a physical office, so they worked with a lawyer to use their address for the firm and to work with CPA Canada to change that requirement.
● When they started, they had no idea how to manage remote work and had no established project management platform or workflows.
● One of their guiding philosophies was that they didn’t consider the cost of an app to enable their remote work, they simply tried anything they thought would work.
● They eventually needed to establish frameworks and processes so that the tools they were using were maintained and stayed useful.
● People are the weak link in cybersecurity, so educating people on company security measures is a big part of employee onboarding, and everybody uses LastPass.
● Your biggest signals when your team is remote is happiness of your employees and happiness of your customers.
● It’s okay to change systems and processes when you realize they’re no longer working.
● Having everything documented is crucial for remote work so anyone who needs information can access it.
● The next phase of development for LiveCA was understanding how to function using asynchronous communication, which can be a difficult transition when you’re used to everyone working at the same time and being in the same meetings.
● Messaging people on Slack constantly can actually be detrimental to their workflow by splitting focus.
● Ultimately, people want to be able to have control over their own lives.
● You have to decide who has decision-making power about pricing, quality and scope of work, etc.
● Training teams has a huge positive effect on a company versus individual training.
● If you think you know how your employees feel, you should still ask them.
● If your company stays rigid and does not evolve, you are doing a disservice to your clients.
● LiveCA works with clients who have about $1 million, or a year’s worth of cash to work with, because it’s those companies who take their finances seriously and want the service that LiveCA provides.
● Building a good corporate culture starts with hiring and onboarding.
3 Key Points
1. The cost of failure to try software and online apps is extremely minimal.
2. Remote work does require technology, but it’s more about corporate culture.
3. Asking your employees and customers for feedback with an open mind to find problems
before they get too big.
Tweetable Quotes:
● “Part of trying things was meeting customers that were also wanting to try things with their accounting firm.” –Chad Davis
● “The way you approach security is deeply rooted in the way you approach your own life & your own securities. So for us, we're well aware of phishing & trends, we try to keep up on news & we read a lot. Just being aware stops you from clicking on weird links.” –Chad Davis
● “Rigidity kills innovation.” –Chad Davis
Resources Mentioned:
● Website – Jason Pereira’s Website
● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook
● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn
● LiveCA Website – https://www.liveca.ca/
● The E Myth
● The Checklist Manifesto
● Trillion Dollar Coach
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