If you struggle with better time management, feel like your to-do list is running your life, find yourself stressed and overwhelmed, or just want to regain control, a time audit can be an important first step. It can help you create more hours in your day, allow you to get more done in less time, and help you get some balance back in your life. An added bonus is that a time audit can improve your relationships, health, and finances. It can help you live a more purposeful, intentional life. A tim...
Feb 26, 2023•20 min
While I'm all for expressing more love in the world, I also want to empower you to become better at self-love. Why? Because it gives you all your power back. When you learn how to improve your self-love, February 14th is lovely, but it’s just a single cherry on top of a beautiful cake that’s been created over the previous 364 days of the year. The truth is that self-love makes life easier, more enjoyable, and more fulfilling. Self-love helps us make better choices - healthier choices. It allows ...
Feb 19, 2023•20 min
The Right Questions by NY Times bestselling author, Debbie Ford, explains, “Our ability to make choices implies certain rights and freedoms. If we can choose, then we can determine which decisions we will make about our bodies, our health, our relationships, our finances, our careers, our social lives, and our spiritual beliefs. Choice allows us to pick, to select, and to decide between paths. What makes each of us special and distinguishes us from all other forms of life is our capacity to weig...
Feb 12, 2023•26 min
Think about the first week of school - your teachers typically made the rules of engagement in the classroom clear. There was the rule of raising your hand instead of blurting out, asking permission to go to the bathroom, keeping your hands to yourself, and being respectful of other people’s things. These rules of engagement made it easier for the teacher to manage the students' various personalities and energy levels and made it simpler to provide redirection or consequences when someone broke ...
Feb 05, 2023•20 min
Time is one of our most precious assets as a busy accountant and mom. As you are well aware, we have 24 hours in a day that are typically divided among working, taking care of our family, and trying to squeeze in some sleep. How many of you could benefit from looking at the impact of your choices when it comes to how you spend your time? How many of you feel like there’s never enough time, that time is in short supply, and that there’s nothing you can do about it? Whether you realize it or not, ...
Jan 29, 2023•22 min
As accountants, we’re all about numbers and metrics. Accounting metrics and KPIs are critical components of business management, and a proper record of the cash flows, expenses, and gains is incredibly valuable to the companies we serve. Some metrics and KPIs we measure include Operating Cash Flow, Working Capital, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Gross Profit Margins, and Net Profit. These metrics help businesses decide what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change. Unfortunately, ...
Jan 22, 2023•21 min
How many of us are racing from one thing to the next, unknowingly speeding up time as we manage day after day? How often do we try to get from one deadline to another, from one holiday to another, or from one difficult situation to another? How many of us have ever learned how to pause? To take it easy? To stop what we’re doing and what we’re thinking and just be? To press the pause button on the video of our days and not do anything other than listen? To interrupt what we’re about to do that mi...
Jan 15, 2023•22 min
Whether you are in public or private accounting, there’s no denying that deadlines are a normal part of the accounting profession. But it’s not just our accounting work that has deadlines - our personal life also has plenty of deadlines. For example, not only are there filing deadlines for work projects like tax returns or financial reports but there are also plenty of deadlines like bills that need to be paid or discounts we want to take advantage of before they expire. As far as deadlines go, ...
Jan 08, 2023•21 min
Typically the start of the new year is when we take inventory of what’s working, what’s not, and what we’d like to do differently in the upcoming year. The 12 months ahead offer us a symbol of hope that we will have set and accomplished various goals by this same time next year. While it sounds so promising, how many of us find ourselves setting the same unmet goal year after year? How many of us, with all good intentions, have yet to break some bad habits and finally create better ones? If you ...
Jan 01, 2023•24 min
As the end of the holiday season typically leads to thoughts about the new year, I thought it would be a great idea to do something different this year. Instead of sitting down and doing a family budget or setting personal goals, I thought it would be a great time to consider creating a family mission statement. If you think about it, as a mom, you and your children are not traveling this life alone. You are making your way through the world connected as part of a family. So why does that matter...
Dec 25, 2022•25 min
Have you heard about the term “quiet quitting”? It’s believed to have started on TikTok but has gained popularity in all forms of social and mainstream media. Since so much has already been discussed on this topic, we weren't planning on doing an episode on it, but then realized we have a lot to talk about when it comes to the subject of quiet quitting, especially as it pertains to accountant moms. Even if you’re tired of hearing about quiet quitting, I suggest you listen because I might surpris...
Dec 18, 2022•20 min
While working moms have the herculean task of managing their careers and families throughout the year, the holidays can bring an added layer of pressure that makes even the most organized accountant mom want to hide. For this episode, we're not going to give you a bunch of tips and suggestions for navigating the holiday season. Instead, we're going to help you deal with the feeling of anxiety. If you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, you already know how to say no, set boundaries, a...
Dec 11, 2022•19 min
Whether it's a manager, supervisor, director, owner, or partner, it’s unfortunate that many of us will have to deal with bad leadership at some point in our accounting career. Research shows that bad leaders are often promoted for their confidence but lack actual leadership competence. So what does that mean for you? It means there’s an increased likelihood of having to work for a bad leader at some point in your career. While it might seem like you’re either stuck dealing with bad leadership or...
Dec 04, 2022•24 min
Do you find yourself unable to let go of small mistakes you made at work, believing you can’t do anything right? If you’re running late in the morning trying to get yourself and the kids out the door, do you question whether you’ve got the whole working mom thing down? Have you ever woken up to find a sink with dirty dishes and asked what’s wrong with you that you can’t do the simplest tasks to take care of your home? You’re not alone if you’ve had similar versions of these scenarios. But you’re...
Nov 27, 2022•24 min
Whether you realize it or not, we all possess both feminine and masculine energy, whether you identify as a woman, man, or non-binary. To varying degrees, we all have the yin and the yang, and the balance of these energies is used in many different aspects of our lives. When it comes to being a female accountant in a male-dominated profession like accounting, it is easy to lean more toward masculine energy to fit in and get ahead. For years in business, masculine energy has typically been revere...
Nov 20, 2022•22 min
I have yet to meet an accountant that isn’t dealing with productivity issues in one form or another. I see it time and time again - accountants trying to tackle their never-ending to-do lists and working too many hours. The problem for most accountants is that we tend to have a love/hate relationship with time. We’d love to have more of it, especially when there’s a deadline looming, but we hate how much time seems to be in control. If you want to improve your productivity and have more time for...
Nov 13, 2022•24 min
In this episode I’m actually going to help you use some of your perfectionist tendencies for good when it comes to managing your time. There are ways to leverage perfectionism when it comes to time management, and I want to help you see how. In other words, instead of completely fighting against your brain’s tendency, I want to teach you how to work with it a little bit. I’ve noticed in my own time management that sometimes my perfectionist tendencies aren’t always that bad, so I want to help yo...
Nov 06, 2022•24 min
The issue for many mompreneurs is that while their businesses grow, so does their mom guilt. As they tackle all the challenges of becoming an entrepreneur, they also tackle their angst about being a mompreneur. This episode is dedicated to all the accountant mompreneurs who struggle with having a business and being a mom. Not only should you not have to decide between having a career OR having a family, but you also shouldn’t have to feel guilty when you decide you want to have your own business...
Oct 30, 2022•19 min
While we typically interview accountants and moms for the podcast, this episode is slightly different. In this episode, we interviewed the spouse of a CPA and a mother of 3 with a baby on the way. Lara Johnson has developed a successful career over the last decade while marrying a busy CPA and raising her 3 (soon to be 4) kids. After seeing the unique challenges moms face while “juggling it all,” she became a Certified Life Coach to help moms navigate the emotional, mental, and physical load the...
Oct 23, 2022•52 min
The interesting thing about our desire to get things done is that we’ve become a society obsessed with productivity and efficiency, yet we all feel like we’re hamsters on a wheel that aren’t getting anywhere. We’ve become bogged down with ever-growing to-do lists that make it seem impossible to get anything done. We’ve got plenty of how-to books, TV shows, and classes to teach us, yet the irony is that we’re still struggling more than ever actually to get things done. Even with all the informati...
Oct 16, 2022•27 min
We all have things we want that require someone to say yes. For example, if you’re seeking a job, you need to interviewer to say yes, you’ve got the job; if you’re a parent, you often need to advocate for your children in various ways; if you are a spouse, you probably need your partner to say yes to certain things. It doesn’t matter how strong or independent you are; there are just certain things you need someone else’s agreement on. Thankfully, you don’t have to give up or become aggressive or...
Oct 09, 2022•26 min
What additional skills do you need to acquire to improve your odds of career success? Do you need to take an advanced Intuit course? Should you go for a Master’s Degree in Taxation? Should you become a CPA? How do you make yourself more valuable? How do you gain a competitive advantage in a competitive field like accounting? What skills are valuable to the current marketplace? These are questions I hear from many accountants, not just accountant moms. Honestly, these are important questions to c...
Oct 02, 2022•20 min
As busy, intelligent accountants and moms, we know all about doing what it takes to have a career and a family, but we’re often told at an early age that our worth is tied to how much we can get done. We’re rewarded by parents, teachers, and employers for all we can accomplish. We’re also told that we must work harder if we want more money. If we want that promotion, we must show how good we are at getting more done than anyone else. To be good working moms, we must take on the herculean task of...
Sep 25, 2022•21 min
Most accountants are familiar with the term S.A.L.Y. (same as last year). It’s an indicator that this item doesn’t necessarily need to be looked at because, at a minimum, it’s the same as the previous year, if not for numerous prior years. For example, the cost basis of the common stock of an S Corporation would be marked as S.A.L.Y. after the year of inception forward unless there was some change. With a simple compilation, there would be no need to show the backup for the stock basis since tha...
Sep 18, 2022•21 min
In the competitive field of accounting, we have a lot of intelligent people doing very smart things. It’s no surprise that the accounting profession often attracts the brightest and the best. The issue with all that intelligence is that it can be difficult to tell the difference between confidence and arrogance, whether within ourselves or others. While arrogance and confidence share similar characteristics, including assertiveness and a willingness to speak one’s mind, confidence can also be mi...
Sep 11, 2022•24 min
As a mother, you’ve probably had to deal with your children’s issues with transitions; I know I certainly did as my two children were growing up. It’s actually quite common to see young children having meltdowns due to the fact that their day is filled with one transition after another, especially as a new school year starts. Think about it - they transition from sleeping to waking up, from wearing pajamas to having to put on clothes, from being home to school and back home again, from playtime ...
Sep 04, 2022•21 min
When was the last time you were frustrated with someone or something? Last week, yesterday, 10 minutes ago? Can you remember the last time you were disappointed or angry about something someone did or didn’t do? At work, at home, or out in the world? When were you last hurt by something someone said? How often do you wish other people would behave differently so that you could feel better? I’m going to guess it’s pretty often. The truth is that we all have a list of the people and things we wish...
Aug 28, 2022•20 min
Whether you’re aware of it or not, a sense of urgency is just hard-wired in us. As humans, our brain is programmed to act on a sense of urgency making it super uncomfortable to fight an urge to buy that infomercial product or eat those cookies that are sitting in the cabinet. The truth is that we will choose what our brain considers urgent even though it’s low-value, and complete important tasks later. All because of the Mere Urgency Effect. This is important to understand, especially for accoun...
Aug 21, 2022•23 min
As accountants, we obviously know that meetings are necessary amongst ourselves, other professionals, and our clients, but if we’re being completely honest, they aren’t always as necessary as we make them out to be. With technology making it easier to have meetings with anyone, anywhere, we have become “meeting crazy,” but unfortunately, this creates a lot of productivity and time management issues. This week on The CPA MOMS Podcast we discuss the reasons why we schedule and attend too many meet...
Aug 14, 2022•26 min
John C. Maxwell, the #1 New York Times bestselling author, coach, and speaker, has sold more than thirty million books and has been identified as the #1 leader in business by the American Management Association and the world’s most influential leadership expert by Business Insider and Inc. magazines. His message for leaders is as important for working mothers as it is for world leaders. If you think about it, we are all leaders in some capacity or another; whether you’re an accounting employee a...
Aug 07, 2022•25 min
