Are you living the life of a successful, balanced and happy accountant?

Back in 2018, I wrote a blog with a question that still makes people pause mid-scroll:
Are you living the life of a successful, balanced and happy accountant?

At the time, I was speaking to practice owners who were doing “fine” on paper… but were quietly carrying relentless deadlines, growing team pressures, client expectations that never stopped, and that familiar feeling of working all the time… yet never quite getting on top of the practice itself.

Eight years later, I want to ask the same question again - because even though the tools have changed, the pressure hasn’t magically disappeared.

In fact, for many small and solo practice owners, it’s become more complex.

What I said then still matters now
In that 2018 piece, I made a point that I still stand by: Success isn’t just money.

Yes, as accountants, money matters (and it should - profitability is a form of sustainability). But success also includes health, relationships, time, and peace of mind.

So let’s start there.

How are those four going for you right now?

Not in theory. Not in the future.

Right now.

Because one of the biggest traps I see is this: We’re brilliant at helping clients build their “nest egg”… yet we postpone our own wellbeing and lifestyle until some imaginary day when the practice finally calms down.

Eight years later: what’s changed in practice ownership?
This was written pre-COVID, and wow… the landscape has shifted.

What’s changed:

• The pace is faster (communication is instant and constant - and clients often expect instant too)

• Expectations are higher (clients have more information, more opinions, and less patience for “we’ll get to it next week”)

• There’s more legislation and compliance complexity (more rules, more updates, more obligations to keep across - and it all lands on the desk of the “trusted advisor”)

• More red tape (from regulatory obligations to admin-heavy processes - and it rarely feels like it reduces effort)

• Greater fee resistance (even from good clients- cost pressures, “AI can do it”, and the assumption that compliance is a commodity)

• The options are broader (remote teams, offshoring, automation, AI tools, new pricing models- more ways to build a great practice, but also more decisions to make)

And the honest truth?

These things aren’t going away.

So the goal isn’t to wait for things to “settle down”. The goal is to build a practice that can withstand the pressure and still feel good to run.

We need to find a way to be agile - and innovative - so we can adapt without losing our passion, our profitability, our happiness, or our mental health.

Because if the practice is profitable but you’re burnt out, it’s not success… it’s just a different kind of cost.

And here’s something I gently challenge you with…
Do you think these waves of change are only happening now?

Because yes - today the pace is intense and the red tape is real.

But if you were in practice during the years I was (1999 to 2017), you’ll remember: incredible change was happening then too.

Just a few that come to mind:

• The introduction of GST - reshaping systems, reporting, client education, and workload patterns

• The shift from desktop to online accounting and cloud software - changing how we worked, how we collaborated, and what clients expected

• The move into electronic lodgement and digital client communication becoming the norm

• The early waves of automation and data feeds changing bookkeeping and compliance workflows

• And later, changes like Single Touch Payroll (STP) - another major shift requiring education, systems changes, and plenty of client hand-holding

So no - change isn’t new.

What’s new is the speed, the volume, and the way it can feel like it’s coming from every direction at once.

Which is why the answer isn’t to “hang on” and hope it slows down.

We’ve adapted before. We can adapt again - but we need to do it by design, not by exhaustion.

The real question: would you want to buy your own practice?

One of the most useful (and confronting) questions from that original blog was this:

If you were ready to sell or step back right now, would buyers be lining up?

Eight years later, it’s still a brilliant litmus test - because it forces you to look at your practice as an asset, not just a job you’ve built for yourself.

So here’s the updated version:
If you stepped away for 4 weeks, what would happen?

• Would clients be cared for - without you?

• Would work still flow - without chaos?

• Would the team know what “good” looks like - without you checking everything?

• Would cash flow stay steady - without you pushing it along?

If the honest answer is “not really”… you haven’t failed.

You’ve simply outgrown the version of the practice you built.

And that’s a very fixable problem.

The “old-fashioned practice” approach still costs too much

In 2018, I wrote that if you keep running an old-fashioned practice, you’ll keep getting the same results - the same income (or less), and the same satisfaction levels.

That’s even more true now.

Because what used to be “normal practice ownership” is now often a shortcut to burnout, resentment, underpricing, and a business that depends entirely on you.

The answer isn’t “work harder”.

It’s to embrace a contemporary way of running your practice - with better design, better boundaries, better systems, better pricing, better clients, and better leadership.

The part I want you to hear most: you can change this

I still see practice owners every week who are quietly thinking:

• “I can’t keep doing 60-hour weeks.”

• “I’m booked out, but somehow still not making the money I should be.”

• “My team needs me for everything.”

• “I’m exhausted and snappy and I don’t like who I’m becoming.”

• “I built this for freedom… and it’s starting to feel like a cage.”

If any of that hits a nerve, here’s the reframe:
You don’t need more willpower. You need a better practice structure.

Eight years on: foundations are still the answer

If I could distil everything I’ve learned (and everything I’ve seen work for practice owners) into one sentence, it would be this:

Foundations first. Always.

Because when you get the foundations right, everything becomes lighter:

• your workflow

• your pricing

• your team leadership

• your client relationships

• your calendar

• and your ability to actually enjoy the life you’re working so hard for

A gentle check-in (for you, right now) 
If you want to make this practical, take two minutes and answer these:

1. What does “success” mean to you in this season - money, health, relationships, time, peace?

2. What’s the biggest thing stealing your peace at the moment?

3. What’s one boundary you’ve been avoiding because it feels “too hard”?

4. If your practice was a client, what advice would you give it this week?

And if you’re sitting there thinking, “I know what needs to change… I just don’t know where to start” - that’s exactly why I do what I do.

Because you shouldn’t have to figure out practice ownership alone.