There’s a version of this letter where I tell you all about Financial Cents: what it does, how it’s different, and why you should care.
You’ll get a little of that. But that’s not really the point of this magazine.
This magazine is about you.
Over the years, I’ve had hundreds of conversations with accounting and bookkeeping firm owners. And after a while, a pattern emerged that I couldn’t stop thinking about.
Here were these remarkable people—people who had built something real, who had left the safety of a larger firm or a steady paycheck to go out on their own, who were doing truly excellent work for their clients. And almost all of them were saying some version of the same thing:
I’m drowning.
Not in the actual accounting work, but in the operational noise that had somehow grown deafening. Spreadsheets that had multiplied into a mess of different tabs and versions. Five different tools that didn’t talk to each other. The endless stream of emails to track down missing documents. An ever-nagging feeling that something had slipped through the cracks.
They had started their firms for freedom, with dreams of building and growing on their own terms. But instead, the firm had become the thing trapping them.
What made it worse was that the software industry had largely stopped paying attention to them. The platforms that were supposed to help them were getting bigger, more complex, more expensive, and more focused on large firms. Small firm owners were left doing what they’d always done: trying to make tools that weren’t built for them work anyway. Paying for features they’d never use. Piecing together workarounds on top of workarounds.
Shahram’s Proudly Small Manifesto:
And it wasn’t just that the technology wasn’t built to meet their needs. It was also the unspoken, implied message that they weren’t worth building for—a message that fed into the misguided notion that “small” was somehow “less than.”
It’s why so many firm owners have avoided using the word “small” to describe their businesses, opting instead for dressed-up descriptions like “boutique,” “lifestyle,” or “niche.” They worry that disclosing their actual size, whether it’s three team members or 30, might make someone think less of them or not take them as seriously.
One firm owner literally told us, “It would be amazing if part of what you guys were doing was giving people the freedom to be small firms.”
That stuck with me, because in reality, there’s nothing “small” about what these firms do. A firm with eight employees and 50 clients is keeping 50 businesses running strong, potentially supporting dozens of livelihoods, families, and communities. The ripple effect of that impact is huge, and it’s something that the owners of these small and growing firms should be proud of.
The truth is, “small” is not a limitation. It’s a superpower—an identity worth owning, honoring, and building for. This is exactly the reason Financial Cents exists: to give small firm owners a platform built specifically to support and grow with them, not a watered-down version of something designed for someone else.
This magazine is an extension of that mission, but with a slightly different twist. And it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time.
Because the other thing I noticed in all those conversations I had with small firm owners, is that the people doing the most interesting, most impactful work in this profession are almost never the ones in the spotlight. The woman who left a large firm to build and grow something of her own from the ground up. The firm owner who figured out how to take a real vacation, and came back two weeks later to find that everything had run just fine without him. The partners who expanded their team slowly and thoughtfully, growing it into something they’re deeply proud of.
Those are the stories we want to tell in this magazine. To kick things off with this inaugural issue, we found 13 of them. We sat down with each of these firm owners, listened to their stories, and did our best to capture who they are and what they’ve built.
Not because they’re the biggest. Not because they have the flashiest client roster or the highest annual revenue. Because they’re good. Because they’re doing it their way. Because being intentionally, proudly, and unapologetically small is something worth celebrating.
If you’re a firm owner reading this: we see you. This issue is for you.
And if you’re new to the Financial Cents community, welcome. Championing small firms like these is exactly what we’re here to do—inside and outside of our product. The best way for you to understand what we believe in, and what we stand for, is to read the stories in these pages.
They’ll say it better than I ever could.
Shahram Zarshenas Co-Founder & CEO, Financial Cents
