Scott Scarano, EA

  • Scott Scarano is an eccentric entrepreneur with the heart of a lion and the soul of a housecat. He loves approaching problems from a different perspective and analyzing solutions—his “Why” is empowering all growth-minded entrepreneurs to thrive and prosper. Scott did the school thing and has the credentials, but his real value comes from his questioning mind and ability to push through any adversity. Scott lives in Raleigh, bleeds Carolina blue, and dedicates himself to his astonishing wife, Juana, and their three surprisingly intelligent kids Julia, Frankie, and Arya.

Jason Ackerman, CPA

  • Jason Ackerman, CPA, CFP®,CGMA runs BNA CPAs & Advisors, a 30 person firm based out of Rock Hill, SC. He helped the firm grow from a $1.8 million firm in 2012 to an over $5 million dollar firm in 2022. When not accounting, Jason enjoys playing golf and making fun of Scott.

Nikole Mackenzie, CPA

  • Coming soon!

Alex Miles

  • Alex Miles is the Partner Program Manager for the FreshBooks Accounting Partner Team. Alex loves working with people and has been connecting accounting professionals in the tech industry for over 5 years. Outside of sparking discussions in the Partner Community, Alex is a social media-obsessed mom of 2 and avid Peloton user.

Kenji Kuramoto

  • Kenji is the Founder and CEO of Acuity which builds and maintains financial functions for innovative entrepreneurs. Through Acuity, he’s provided thousands of companies with a full range of financial solutions from high-level strategic financial counsel through its fractional CFO practice all the way to virtualized bookkeeping and tax services. Acuity has been named one of Accounting Today's Top Firms For Technology and Top Firms To Work For. Kenji is also the co-founder of Acuity Invests which makes seed-level investments in Accounting Technology, SaaS, FinTech, and Crypto companies.

Twyla Verhelst, CPA

  • Twyla thrives on adventure, and she joined FreshBooks because she saw the opportunity to make an exponential impact on the evolution of the accounting industry and the business owners it serves. She’s been both an entrepreneur and an advisor, and as Head of the Accountant Channel and creator of the FreshBooks Accounting Partner Program, she supports and empowers other accounting professionals as they help small businesses flourish. Twyla is an experienced CPA and tech entrepreneur with a passion for helping others find and leverage their confidence. She is committed to elevating forward-thinking accounting professionals with the tools they need to thrive, as well as helping them discover their most valuable asset — their authentic selves.

Terrell Turner, CPA

  • Terrell A Turner, CPA is the founder and CEO of the TLTurner Group a bookkeeping and CFO firm for law firms. He also is the founder of the Business Talk Library an accounting and finance media company that makes accounting less complicated and more interesting.

    After spending years in the corporate as an accountant, controller, finance ghostwriter for fortune 500 executives, and a finance business leader, he decided to take his talents and start his own firm while cranking out tons of great media content.

Nicole Davis, CPA

  • Nicole Davis joins our faculty as the new head of business management. She brings more than two decades of experience having recently served as the business manager at Abbot Elementary. She started her career at Kids R Great Daycare with offices throughout the US.

    Nicole Davis has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Tulsa. She is married to her high school sweetheart who works as the superintendent for the county. They share 5 children together. She enjoys teaching others how-to fish, buying luggage for her non-existent travel, and watching reality TV.

Kristen Keats, CPA

  • Kristen launched her career at a national accounting firm and owned her own practice for more than eight years. Before founding Breakaway, Kristen served as a partner at a local Portland firm and a senior tax manager at a large regional firm.

    Kristen is an avid and early adopter of new accounting technologies and an expert on cloud accounting. She is passionate about listening to her clients and gaining a well-rounded understanding of their needs and long-term goals, always striving to make their lives easier.

    Kristen received her degree from the renowned W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. When Kristen is not advising her clients and leading her team, she enjoys reading, camping, and, most of all, spending time with her two lively teenagers.

Byron Patrick, CPA

  • Once a practicing public accountant Byron Patrick, CPA became the IT Director of a CPA firm, then business founder specializing in supporting Accounting Firms with their technology, to software startup land spending 3 years at Botkeeper. During the journey, Byron was the Chair of the Maryland Association of CPAs, published many articles, a national speaker, a podcast guest and deeply involved with the AICPA.

Liz Mason, CPA

  • Coming soon!

Blake Oliver, CPA

  • Blake Oliver, CPA, is an accountant, podcaster, and entrepreneur who specializes in financial technology. He has been named twice to Accounting Today’s list of the Top 100 Most Influential People and CPA Practice Advisor’s 40 Under 40 in the accounting profession.

    Blake is the creator of Earmark CPE, an app that offers NASBA-approved CPE for listening to your favorite accounting and tax podcasts. He is also the co-host the Cloud Accounting Podcast, a Top 50 Business News show on the Apple charts and the most popular podcast for accountants and bookkeepers in the world.

    In 2012, Blake founded Cloudsourced Accounting, an online accounting services company with a mission to disrupt the business model of traditional accounting firms. The company was an early adopter of cloud accounting technology, which enabled Blake’s staff and clients to collaborate 100% remotely. Aprio Cloud acquired Cloudsourced Accounting in 2015.

    After a stint at Armanino LLP, California’s largest accounting and consulting firm, Blake took the leap into tech startups. He joined FloQast as a product marketer and later led marketing at Jirav. In 2021 he set off on his own again to found Earmark CPE, a mobile app that enables accounting and tax professionals to earn CPE for listening to podcasts.

    Blake holds a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University and an Accounting Certificate from UCLA. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he likes to hike the the Sonoran Preserve and play his cello.

Lorilyn Wilson, CPA

  • Lorilyn Wilson is a CPA, author, mother, and accounting personality. Located in the Pacific Northwest, Lorilyn excels at distilling financial concepts into takeaways that business owners find actionable and clear. A proponent of modern accounting, she firmly believes that business owners—her clients—can find freedom and flexibility by embracing cloud-based accounting solutions. As a small business owner herself, Lorilyn’s goal is to equip business owners with the tools and support to move forward and grow their businesses with confidence.

    Known for her ability to turn complex financial concepts into bite-sized entertainment, Lorilyn grew her TikTok account, @TheNotSpicyAccountant, to an audience of over 35k subscribers in a matter of months. Her videos, which often feature pop culture references and a matter-of-fact attitude, regularly attract between 30k-50k views.

    After nearly a decade in the accounting industry, Lorilyn wrote her first book, Insight, in 2021. Insight aims to demystify common administrative and accounting burdens for business owners, so they can more effectively decide what’s appropriate to DIY vs. when it’s time to hire an outside expert.

    Lorilyn hosts her own accounting podcast, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Accounting Podcast, which is produced by Earmark CPE. She is counted as a Top 100 Accounting Media Influencer by Avalera, and a Top 50 Women in Accounting by Practice Ignition. She has been interviewed and quoted as an expert in Forbes, NPR’s Marketplace, and industry podcasts Cloud Accounting, The Green Apple, Sage Thought Leader, Accounting Salon Conversations, and Sons of CPAs.

TBD

  • Coming soon!

We’re here to help modernize the accounting profession. Take a look behind the scenes. 

Accounting High at a Glance

1K+

weekly downloads

500+

listeners

4.8-Star

rating

Our Mission

To equip accounting professionals with entertaining education that supports them in establishing practice models where they find freedom and purpose. 

About Scotty

Scott Scarano is an eccentric entrepreneur with the heart of a lion and the soul of a housecat. He loves approaching problems from a different perspective and analyzing solutions—his “Why” is empowering all growth-minded entrepreneurs to thrive and prosper. Scott did the school thing and has the credentials, but his real value comes from his questioning mind and ability to push through any adversity. Scott lives in Raleigh, bleeds Carolina blue, and dedicates himself to his astonishing wife, Juana, and their three surprisingly intelligent kids Julia, Frankie, and Arya.

Our Student Handbook

1. Check out our podcast.
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3. Subscribe to our email gazette.

  • “Podcast is awesome and it’s a fresh view on the accounting industry from a new perspective…the guests vary in generations and have reasonable and candid thoughts on our industry.”

    -JwilzCPA

  • “This podcast has some incredible discussion with some of the best minds in the accounting industry. They get great ideals and real details from people growing the next generation of firms. Light hearted and irreverent makes for an entertaining listen.”

    -stebroruns

  • “Engaging conversations with progressive leaders in the accounting profession. Love the conversational nature of the program! It’s like Forrest Gump’s mom said, ‘Sons of CPAs are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.’”

    -numbers grrrrrl

  • “Scott and his awesome co-hosts are a must-listen if you’re trying to build or scale a modern accounting or tax firm. What I love most is how tactical he gets…jumping all into the weeds talking about things like pod structure, details on pricing, etc.”

    -Cwilliams7829