Fav Five For 2025: Communities
“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African Proverb
Engaging in communities and events are two of the surest ways to feel a part of something bigger than you.
They are places to grow, to share, to learn and to lean on those going through (or have come out the other side of) the same glories and gories as you. Being a part of organizations and communities changed my business life, and I will be forever grateful to the folks who built them.
Below are my fav five for 2025 communities that I feel most solo, small or mid-size firm owners would benefit from. I am in all of these, so this is real-life advice, folks.
As this is a quick overview, and there are so many wonderful communities to join, check out this great article for a comprehensive list, The Best 20 Accounting Communities and Forums to Join, by Financial Cents.
They are in alpha order, not order of importance.
Automation Town, by Chad Davis
An automation and AI community for accountants and bookkeepers.
There’s one rule in this community: No sales pitches. This is a genuine, app-free zone where you can connect with peers, learn, and grow without the noise of marketing. With over 250+ members, it’s packed with accountants solving real-world problems using automation and AI—people just like you.
Fav Five Features
Exclusive event recordings
Free tech support
Video library
Bi-weekly challenges
Inspiration & real-world use cases
My take: if Chad Davis is doing something, you should join in, especially if it relates to automation!
Future firm, by Ryan Lazanis
Firm owners looking to scale (and possibly sell) a cloud accounting firm that doesn’t require them to work nights or weekends.
A proven 6-step system to an “autopilot” firm that can run without you.
Fav Five Features
Step-by-step video lessons, scripts, frameworks, and templates Live monthly AMA calls with Ryan
Community forums with 750+ members & new posts daily
Mini lessons to help you save time, boost revenue, and get more leads
Benchmarking tool to compare your firm’s metrics to your peers
Quarterly expert workshops
FF members also have access to discounts, including my templates 👌
My take: if you follow Ryan’s Playbook and engage in this community, you will successfully scale a profitable firm.
Realize, by Jason Staats
Accounting leaders, firm owners, and advisors who want to build confidence, improve their practices, and connect with like-minded professionals in a high-effort, vendor-independent community.
Realize focuses on personal and professional growth through high-context mastermind groups, direct access to advisors (including me), and exclusive workshops (including a monthly one by me)—all without the influence of software vendors. It’s built for professionals who want a genuine, vendor-free space to share, learn, and grow.
Fav Five Features
Mastermind groups
AMAs (ask me anything) with special guests
Workshops & live events
Live coaching with specialty Advisors in Residence
App Show & Tells by power members who are users, not by the apps
My take: if you participate in all the offerings in Jason’s group (it’s packed with experts and masterminds), you will expand your knowledge vastly and feel infinitely more confident as an accounting professional.
Roundtable Labs, by Richard Roppa-Roberts
A community for every accountant business owner who knows there is a better way to run their business but gets stuck on where to start or what to do next.
Discussions on everything about running a business for accounting professionals—from hiring and firing, streamlining your processes, charging your worth, and so much more. Get advice from others who have been there, solved that problem, and learn from their experiences. Take it from us. You are definitely NOT the only one!
Fav Five Features
Three 90-minute Roundtable sessions per month
Access to all Roundtable Labs community events, including guest speakers and informal social gatherings
Private members-only Roundtable Labs online community for accounting professionals only (no vendors or apps allowed!)
Exclusive Roundtable discounts on software and events, including my templates 😎
Co-working spaces - the Quiet Room and the Not-So-Quiet-Room
My take: this is the warmest, most personally engaged group. If you love noodling through your glories and gories with others, this is the place for you.
The Workflow Wateringhole, run by lil ole me 😀
Workflows?! You know you need them. You know they are the key to efficiency, consistency, transparency and accountability.
But where to start? Which App to use? And exactly what the heck is a workflow?
This group is based around workflows & apps, systems & processes and best practices for Accounting Professionals but welcomes members of all industry types to our Wateringhole.
Fav Five Features
Discussions on best practices, processes, systems, workflow & automation and the tech that powers them
Collaborative peer and app-partner problem-solving
All industries are welcome, but it is accounting-focused
App partners are active in the group, with live demos and answers to questions, but no selling is permitted
Free :-}
TWWH members also have access to discounts on my templates.
My take (which is weird since it’s my group): if you are struggling with how to get things done efficiently and overwhelmed by the technology choices, you will love it here - TWWH is dedicated to processes and cloud apps.
Five other fav communities get honourable mentions as they have specialized audiences. Let’s be all cool and call that “niched”, shall we.
Ask a CPA, by Nancy McClelland (aka: the Dancing Accountant)
For bookkeepers who want to level-up their accounting game and increase collaboration with their clients’ CPAs and tax preparers.
Bookkeeping Buds, by Cindy Schroeder
Empowering women bookkeepers to build thriving businesses through a vibrant, supportive community where we share insights, celebrate wins, and inspire one another. Together, we turn challenges into triumphs and dreams into reality!
Bookkeeping Side Hustle, by Kate Johnson
For people interested in learning more about bookkeeping as a side hustle (or main hustle) to earn more income!
Counter, by Logan Graf
We are accounting firm owners who want to create firms that look counter to the traditional accounting firms. We provide relationships, support, and upskilling to accounting firm owners so they can change their lives and change the public accounting industry.
This organization is the certifying body for Canadian bookkeepers (and accountants; we have many of those whose firms are deep into client accounting services), but it has a deep sense of community.
As I mentioned, there are many communities that help accounting professions not only survive but also thrive. It’s a fabulous era of collaboration. As your involvement grows in these communities, you will also find yourself making smaller group and individual connections that really hone what you need to grow. And I can tell you that I have made so many treasured friendships in our industry over the last ten years of immersing myself in communities.
Kellie :-}
