Winning strategies for a more profitable tax season

Will Hill
Senior Product Manager, Tax Professionals Advisory Thomson Reuters

Currently serving as Senior Product Manager – Tax Professionals Advisory at Thomson Reuters, Will has been with Thomson Reuters since 2001. Presently, he focuses on helping firms make the transition to being advisory focused through the development and growth of Practice Forward. His varied background with firms of all sizes and specialties provides a solid foundation for business process-oriented training and consulting. Will was named to the CPA Practice Advisor 40 under 40 list in 2015 and 20 under 40 in 2018.

Brittany Lanphier
Managing Partner Lanphier LLP

Brittany is Managing Partner of Lanphier LLP, a tax and advisory firm in Denver, Colorado, that she established with her husband, Dennis, in 2009. Over the past 12 years, they have developed their practice around a relationship-based, advisory-focused approach to client service.

Brittany and Dennis established their firm upon exiting Big 4 accounting with a vision for bringing big firm expertise to a boutique environment, serving small businesses and individuals with sophisticated tax needs.  However, in their first six years in practice, they found themselves running up against many of the challenges that so many CPA firms face in their efforts to provide excellent service — tremendous workload, long hours, growing overhead, and difficulty capitalizing on the value they were delivering to their clients.

In 2016, they attended their first Partner Summit and were introduced to the concept of the Breakthrough Firm. The message resonated deeply with the type of firm they wanted to be, while addressing the obstacles that were currently preventing them from achieving it. Using the tools and consulting offered through Practice Forward, they have completely transformed their firm. In the past three years, they have significantly increased top line revenue, bottom line profit, and profitability by client. These changes have allowed them to grow their firm more strategically, increased cash flow for investing in new staff, and dramatically improved their quality of life as firm owners.

Brittany graduated Summa Cum Laude from Texas A&M University with a B.B.A. in Accounting and an M.S. in Finance. She was recruited by Deloitte to join their International Tax team in Denver, where she met her husband, Dennis. They now have three young daughters — Brooklyn, Addison, and Hallie — and make their home in South Denver.

Brittany and Dennis continue to invest in their practice using the Breakthrough Firm principles to create systems that empower staff and allow them to step into a true leadership and growth role within the firm.

Paul Miller
President/Founder Business by Design

Paul has developed a firm that provides high-margin business coaching, tax planning, and asset protection services for small businesses, employing many of the same tax planning strategies that larger firms offer. This creates a trusted advisor relationship with his clients, builds multiple income streams for his firm, and establishes the firm’s unique value proposition.

Paul’s focus on progressive use of technology to drive firm efficiency and better serve clients, coupled with his consultative approach to helping business clients, has positioned Business by Design as a firm of the future.