A Few of My Favorite New Things

As we approach the new year, I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite new technologies. I geeked out when I saw them and knew you’d want to hear about them, too. So whether you’re at work today, busy with all those year-end things, or relaxing and enjoying some time off before the new year, take some time to learn what some fellow accountants are up to when it comes to technology innovation.?

Sometimes, since selling my CPA firm and working in the VC-back tech space, I feel a bit disconnected from my CPA roots. But then I remember that CPAs can do so many things. It’s our multiple perspectives that create value for a community of knowledge workers like ours.??

Today, let’s celebrate two tools built by accounting professionals who saw a problem and built the technology to solve it.

They are “local business technologies,” meaning they are self-funded and the founders are using lots of sweat equity to get the businesses off the ground. Supporting them is kind of like shopping locally - they are right here in our own accounting backyard run by people just like you and me.

FlowCog Canvas

You know how business owners struggle to understand their company’s current and future financial health, right? Well, that’s what fueled Adam Tzagournis, CPA , to start FlowCog .?

For more than 10 years he worked with various companies in financial analyst roles to help them raise money and, more importantly, to ensure they did not run out of it. Regardless of the company size, from startups to SMBs to large enterprises, he found that people relied on a tool that required them to be finance experts when they were not. That tool – the spreadsheet.?

“Don't get me wrong,” Adam said. “I still love spreadsheets. They're flexible and powerful. But they're also time-consuming, clunky and error-prone.”

That sounds about right, and we are the financially savvy professionals who feel that way!?

FlowCog Canvas is intuitive for people to use. Anyone, regardless of their finance mastery, can use it to understand their company’s financial health at a glance. It gives them actionable insight to make better decisions.?

The cool part is that it doesn’t just analyze the past. It also makes projections for the future. That’s what clients tell us they want and what we should be helping them with.?

Check out how easy the drag-and-drop features are too by watching this demo . And the graphs are pretty cool too. Then take it for a test drive by signing up . It’s free to get an account to play with some data to see how it works. And let me know what you think below!

STRMS

Growth Lab Financial founders Daniel Gertrudes and ?? Korey Cournoyer have moved into the world of workflow automation for accounting professionals with Korey's founding of STRMS . This isn’t another piece of software you have to buy. STRMS automates what you have now, streamlining workflows with your current tech stack. Oh, the efficiency you’ll gain!

I recorded a short video with them where we talked about the WHY and HOW of this tool. Be sure to watch (or click play below and give it three seconds). And share your thoughts in the comments below:

The best part is that pricing includes process optimization and ongoing support!

Ready to learn more? Get a free process documentation , and because you subscribe to this newsletter, you get a free month of automations and free onboarding, too.?

You and Our Community

I truly LOVE the CPA and accounting professional community. We are a great group of people who do what we can to help one another. That’s why this issue is about giving back and going local. I hope you enjoy checking out these tools as much as I did.

Most importantly though, I want to thank you.

My newsletter is new this year and it wouldn’t be possible without you and all my subscribers. I enjoy putting it together as a way to share what I have learned to help you make smarter business decisions yourself. I really appreciate you being part of my Radical CPA community.?

Thank you for your support this year and let’s look forward to an amazing 2024!

Happy New Year!

- Jody