The close teardown · Free · 20 minutes with Owen
Find the work your close makes you repeat.
For owners of accounting and CAS firms. Start with your numbers, then walk through one typical month-end. We name the work that repeats and where a system could help. We also say what it would not fix.
No access, no passwords, nothing installed. No obligation to buy.
Bring three answers. Pick a time.
How many recurring clients do you serve? How many people deliver the work? Where does the close hurt? Rough numbers are enough to start. Leave client names and confidential details out of the booking form.
This is for firm owners with a delivery team, typically serving 30–80 recurring clients. If you work alone or only do tax, start with the free Field Guide.
Why it is freeWe both need to know whether there is useful work to do together. You get an honest diagnosis, including when we are not a fit.
Your callOwen asks permission before recording. You can decline and still have the teardown.
One firm. One close. An honest diagnosis.
Pick a typical client whose month-end you know well. Talk us through it from the first download to the report going out. A checklist helps if you have one. You do not need a presentation.
The limit of a conversationWe work from what you tell us. This is not an audit of your books or a test of your controls, and it does not establish how many hours a build would save.
- 1
Your firm today
Clients, delivery people, and what brought you here. We work out your clients per person and ask where you want the firm to be in twelve months.
- 2
Walk one close
Who does each step? How long does it take? Where does it break? We name the work that repeats, the review that still needs a person, and any backlog or next hire driving the urgency.
- 3
Decide what is useful
We say where we think a system could help and what it would not fix. You leave with that diagnosis. If a written map would help, we ask before making one.
Want it on one page?
Say yes on the call and Owen sends your map within 48 hours of the teardown. It is free and yours to keep, whether or not we work together.
Your numbers, with their limitsThe map uses the numbers you give us. Estimates stay labelled as estimates. A benchmark is context, never a promise of what your firm will achieve.
Where the work repeats
The steps we discussed, who does them, and the hours you estimate they take. One typical close, written down.
Where the firm stands
Your clients per delivery person, your target, and a comparison with the 2024 CAS Benchmark where the figures are comparable. The benchmark uses full-time equivalents, so we check that basis before comparing.
What to build. What to leave.
The work worth investigating, what still needs a person, and what a system would not solve.
You have a team. The close still depends on you.
You own an accounting or client advisory services (CAS) firm, typically with 30–80 recurring clients. You have already hired and raised prices. The next clients still seem to need another hire, or another evening of your own.
You may have tried building something and stalled. You may have signed clients waiting to start. Or you may simply want to understand why the same work comes back every month.
The aim is capacity for the team you have. If your goal is to cut staff, this is not the work we do.
Not there yet?If you work alone, serve fewer than 30 recurring clients, or focus only on tax, the free Field Guide is a better starting point. It explains the tools and the order to approach them.
A second conversation, if it helps.
If you want the map, we can book 30 minutes to walk through it together. Bring anyone else who would help decide what happens next. We look at what is worth doing and whether a second step makes sense.
That may mean building together, learning to build it yourself, or leaving it alone. There is no purchase required to receive or discuss the map.
No pitch to sit throughThe teardown is for diagnosis. If you ask about paid work, Owen will answer plainly. Otherwise, we spend the time on your firm.
Twenty minutes on the work you do every month.
Bring your client count, your team size, and one close. Leave with a clearer view of what repeats and what is worth doing about it.