Earmark CPE

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Blake Oliver

Building a Successful International Tax Practice: Lessons from Japan

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Nearing his 30th birthday, California CPA and former English teacher Eric Azevedo found himself at a career crossroads. Having spent years in rural Japan teaching English, he longed for a profession with greater stability and higher earning potential. Rather than pursuing law school as he once planned—or even a career in software—Eric ultimately chose accounting. Little did he know that studying at California community colleges for the CPA Exam would pave the way for a thriving international tax practice serving American expatriates across Japan.

In a recent interview on the Earmark Podcast, Eric opened up about his unique journey from philosophy major to accounting professional, revealing the practical realities of working in a different culture and navigating complex dual-tax systems.

From Santa Monica College to Tokyo: A Career-Changer’s Leap

Eric’s decision to become a CPA began when he returned to California after several years in Japan. Enrolling at Santa Monica College and Irvine Valley College, he completed the accounting courses required to sit for the CPA Exam—often taking advantage of online classes to balance work and study. Within about four years of taking his very first accounting class, Eric earned his license.

Opportunity knocked almost immediately: a single Skype interview led to a job offer at a Tokyo-based firm. Eric moved back to Japan on short notice, eager to gain experience in both U.S. and Japanese tax systems.

Bridging Two Tax Systems—And Two Cultures

Once in Tokyo, Eric encountered very different tax structures. 

The United States is one of only two countries in the world—alongside Eritrea—with a citizenship-based tax system. Americans living in Japan must still file U.S. tax returns, including complex forms like 5471 (for owners of foreign companies) and FBAR (for foreign bank accounts over $10,000). Meanwhile, most Japanese rarely file returns at all—employers handle year-end payroll adjustments. 

Understanding these differences—and guiding clients through them—is now Eric’s specialty.

Cultivating Cultural Fluency

Eric says that in Japan, communication styles tend to be less direct. Understanding when and how to speak up can determine whether a meeting proceeds smoothly or grinds to a halt.

Audits tend to be less adversarial. Eric says, “If you push too hard, you risk prolonging the process. It’s about staying polite and finding a solution.” This contrasts with the more confrontational style some CPAs experience in U.S. audits.

“I’m basically the only American in the office,” Eric says. “We have staff from Korea, China, the Philippines—all with a focus on serving foreign residents. It’s important to adapt culturally to make clients comfortable.” (Since our interview, Eric’s firm has added another US accountant to the team.)

Regarding the work culture, Eric’s firm’s founder intentionally avoided “salaryman” traditions of endless overtime and obligatory after-work gatherings, making the environment more appealing to foreign hires. 

Life in Rural Japan: Remote Work, Bullet Trains, and Big Windows

After eight years in Tokyo, Eric relocated to the countryside. He now works as a contract employee for his old firm while also handling his own U.S. tax clients. Living among forests and mountains, he’s built a home office full of natural light—complete with high-speed internet that makes remote work seamless.

  • Commute: Eric travels to Tokyo twice a month, taking a 70-minute ride on the bullet train.
  • Daily Routine: A self-described “not super early riser,” Eric starts his workday around 9 or 10 a.m., relying on video calls and remote access to firm software.
  • Nature & Wildlife: Bears and wild boars roam nearby—quite a change from Eric’s Tokyo apartment.
  • Cultural Hobbies: Weekends are reserved for hobbies and relaxation; onsens (hot springs) are among Eric’s favorite escapes.

Fees, Growth, and Training the Next Generation

Eric’s firm charges fixed fees aligned with client revenue, reflecting typical local practice. For his U.S. expat services, he charges per form but keeps fees moderate—aware that many expats must file only because of America’s unique rules.

Word of mouth has fueled steady growth. He’s now training a colleague—a Chinese national finishing her U.S. CPA credentials—to handle returns for more straightforward clients. This arrangement frees Eric for higher-complexity cases while positioning the practice for further expansion.

“I don’t advertise,” Eric explains. “Clients tend to find me through referrals. My challenge is managing time and figuring out how to scale.”

Advice for Prospective Expat CPAs

For aspiring accountants who are interested in working abroad, Eric’s journey serves as a valuable guide:

  1. Focus on Fundamentals First: Attaining a U.S. CPA license can be done flexibly through community college coursework and exam prep—even if you’re overseas.
  2. Leverage Your Language Skills: Fluency in the local language is invaluable. Eric’s Japanese helped him land work in Tokyo more easily.
  3. Adapt to Local Norms: Understand that professional etiquette, social expectations, and communication styles vary greatly. Listen first, then speak.
  4. Stay Open to Opportunity: Eric’s entire career launched from one Skype call and a willingness to move back to Japan on short notice.

Making the Most of Japan: Travel Tips

Whether you plan to work in Japan or just visit, Eric recommends:

  • Tokyo: An endless array of districts, restaurants, and cultural sites.
  • Historic Towns: Kurashiki in Okayama Prefecture offers a glimpse into samurai-era architecture.
  • Onsen Retreats: For a restorative experience, explore hot spring destinations off the beaten path.
  • Autumn Visits: Fall foliage in rural Japan rivals any scenic backdrop, and cooler weather makes the onsen even more inviting.

Conclusion: Merging Cultures, Mastering Tax

Eric Azevedo’s journey proves that building a successful international tax practice requires more than technical knowledge. Cultural competence, flexible communication, and a willingness to adapt to new ways of doing business are critical. In navigating both U.S. expat tax complexities and Japan’s distinct work culture, Eric shows how melding two worlds can create a uniquely rewarding career path.

To hear Eric’s full story listen to his interview on the Earmark Podcast.

Automation in Payment Management: A Game Changer for Accountants

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For decades, accountants have had to schedule payments days in advance, juggle multiple bank logins, and painstakingly track every invoice and bill to ensure vendors get paid on time. That outdated process is rapidly changing, thanks to new platforms that leverage real-time payment rails like FedNow and RTP (Real-Time Payments). These innovations promise to streamline payments, reduce risk, and free accounting professionals to focus on strategic advisory services.

During a recent Earmark Expo, Forwardly CEO Nick Chandi joined hosts Blake Oliver and David Leary to showcase how accountants can tap into these instant payment rails. Below are the highlights from the conversation, illustrating how a platform like Forwardly can upgrade your payment processes—without requiring a drastic overhaul of your accounting systems.

FedNow and RTP: The Dawn of Real-Time Payments

The U.S. payment infrastructure is evolving. FedNow is the Federal Reserve’s new service enabling near-instant settlement—often in under a minute—while RTP (offered by The Clearing House) also provides real-time capabilities. According to Nick, about 77% of bank accounts are already covered by one or both of these rails, making real-time payments more accessible than ever.

But what if a payer’s bank doesn’t support instant payments yet? Forwardly’s fallback is same-day ACH—at no charge—ensuring no disruption in payment flows. This approach guarantees the fastest possible route for every transaction without complexity on the user’s end.

A Single Dashboard for All Clients

One of the biggest challenges for accountants is managing payments across multiple clients, each with their own bank accounts and approval chains. Forwardly consolidates all this data into a single dashboard, showing:

  • Real-Time Bank Balances: Aggregated balances across each client’s accounts, updated continuously (via Plaid, when available).
  • Outstanding Bills and Invoices: Pulled from integrated accounting systems such as QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks, and Zoho.
  • Approvals at a Glance: Quickly see which bills need sign-off and where each payment stands in the workflow.

No more guessing whether there’s enough cash on hand—Forwardly’s system checks and balances before processing bills. The platform sends a warning if a payment is scheduled but funds are insufficient. For accountants, this level of visibility is a huge step toward proactive cash flow management and strategic advisory.

Four-Way Sync and Flexible Integrations

For those who already maintain invoices and bills in QuickBooks Online or Xero, Forwardly automatically pulls those records into its dashboard. Conversely, if you create an invoice directly in Forwardly, it syncs to your ledger. Nick described a “four-way sync” feature that can even pass invoices from a QuickBooks user to a Xero user, bridging two different accounting systems.

What about clients on QuickBooks Desktop or those without a formal accounting system? Forwardly allows you to accept or send payments by connecting directly to a bank account. This flexibility means you can standardize real-time payment processes for all your clients, regardless of their tech stack.

Auto-Payments and Approvals

Recurring invoices can be an accountant’s headache—especially if payment amounts vary. Forwardly addresses this with “auto-payments.” After requesting client authorization via a white-labeled form, the platform automatically collects any invoice that appears. You can also schedule future payments or pay right at the due date, minimizing the float time and optimizing cash flow.

The system enforces proper controls via robust approvals. You can set multi-step thresholds (e.g., payments over $5,000 require two sign-offs). Only when the last designated approver clicks “okay” does the money move. In a nonprofit or multi-partner environment, this ensures checks and balances without bogging you down in manual processes.

Simple, Transparent Pricing

Forwardly’s pricing reflects its focus on instant payments:

  • Instant Payments (FedNow or RTP): 1% of the transaction, capped at $10 per payment.
  • Fallback Same-Day ACH: Free when instant rails are not available.
  • Credit Cards: 2.99% + $0.25 per transaction to get paid on invoices. You can choose to pass through the credit card fee to your customer.

Because same-day ACH is free, you only pay a fee when an instant transaction goes through. This keeps costs low while delivering the speed your clients want—no monthly fees or subscription costs are required. Also, another added benefit is that paying bills with Forwardly is free and it takes only 60 seconds. 

Enhanced Role Permissions for Accounting Firms

Firms often need to assign different levels of responsibility to staff. In Forwardly, an Admin or Advisor role carries “superpowers,” meaning they can bypass approval workflows if necessary. A Payment Manager can schedule or initiate payments but cannot override set thresholds. A Reviewer can view details without being able to approve or send money. Each user can be assigned different permissions for different client files, making it easy to stay compliant and maintain sound internal controls. You also get an unlimited number of users at no additional cost.

Transforming Accountants into Payment Strategists

In the demo, Blake and David underscored how real-time payments free accountants to offer more proactive advice to clients. Instead of guessing when to cut checks or dealing with delayed receipts, you can precisely time cash outflows and inflows. You’ll know within seconds whether a transaction succeeded, and you can immediately confirm the date and time in the ledger.

With manual drudgery reduced, accountants can shift their focus to cash flow forecasting, budgeting, and even advisory on optimal payment timing—turning what used to be a cost center into a high-value service offering. By adopting real-time payments, you enable your clients to pay (and get paid) at the speed of modern business.

Looking Ahead

Currently, Forwardly caters exclusively to B2B transactions. Nick explained that personal (consumer) payments are not yet part of the platform. However, expansions to other ERP systems like NetSuite and Sage Intacct and potential consumer capabilities are on the roadmap.

Ready to Upgrade Your Payment Process?

Payment automation isn’t just about moving money faster; it’s about transforming how accountants serve their clients. From centralized dashboards to auto-payments and real-time visibility, modern tools like Forwardly make handling everything from daily bills to large, time-sensitive transactions easier.

To learn more and earn Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit, watch the full Earmark Expo session. Once you see how effortless real-time payment management can be, you’ll never go back to five-day lead times and manual checks.

The Bitcoin Debate: CPA Skeptic vs. CPA Believer

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When Bitcoin hit $100,000 in December, I knew it was time to explore this controversial asset further. So, I invited Noah Buxton, co-founder and CEO of The Network Firm LLP, onto the Earmark Podcast for a fascinating discussion about Bitcoin’s true value.

As a CPA who first learned about Bitcoin when it was worth just $1, I’ve always approached it with healthy skepticism. Call it a professional habit—we accountants are trained to question everything.

Why Should Bitcoin Be Worth Anything? 

Here’s what keeps nagging: Bitcoin produces no earnings, pays no dividends, and seems mainly useful for speculation (and sometimes less-than-legal activities). So why should it be worth $100,000, or $1,000, or even $1?

Noah acknowledged my concerns about speculation driving prices. But he made an interesting case for Bitcoin as “digital gold,” arguing that its fixed supply and independence from central control make it appealing in our inflation-prone world.

The Network Effect Is Real

One question I often hear is: “Why Bitcoin? Can’t anyone create a cryptocurrency?”

Noah pointed out something I hadn’t fully appreciated – the massive infrastructure built around Bitcoin. We’re talking thousands of businesses facilitating payments and billions invested in mining equipment. That’s not easily replicated.

But here’s the thing: being first doesn’t guarantee staying first. (Remember Myspace?) While Bitcoin has a strong lead, its dominance isn’t guaranteed forever.

The Government Bitcoin Play

Here’s where things get interesting. Crypto lobbyists are pushing for the U.S. government to start buying Bitcoin as a national reserve—billions of dollars worth annually.

As a skeptical CPA, this makes me nervous. It’s like early Bitcoin hold are pushing for taxpayers to become their exit liquidity. When you consider that roughly 10,000 wallets control a huge portion of Bitcoin, this starts looking like a massive wealth transfer waiting to happen.

The Real Promise: Blockchain

Despite my Bitcoin skepticism, I’m bullish on blockchain technology. Noah called it “the biggest accounting innovation since double-entry bookkeeping,” and I think he’s onto something there.

His firm, The Network Firm LLP, is doing fascinating work in digital asset auditing. They’ve even built their own software called Ledger Lens to tackle the unique challenges of verifying blockchain transactions.

What This Means for Accountants

As CPAs, we’re in an interesting position. While we need to maintain our professional skepticism about Bitcoin’s value proposition, we can’t ignore the growing importance of blockchain technology in our field.

The skills needed to audit and verify blockchain transactions will only become more valuable. Whether Bitcoin remains the dominant digital asset or not, the underlying technology is here to stay.

My Take

After my conversation with Noah, I’m still skeptical about Bitcoin’s current valuation. But I’m also more appreciative of the complexity of the debate.

As accounting professionals, we need to tread a careful line: maintaining healthy skepticism while remaining open to genuine innovation. The future of our profession might depend on achieving this balance.

Want to hear my complete discussion with Noah? Check out Episode 83 of the Earmark Podcast.

How Sikich Is Transforming the Accounting Firm Model—And Putting Employees First

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Private equity is flowing into CPA firms at a record pace. That’s great for partners, but what does it mean for everyone else?

To find out, I spoke with Ryan Spohn, CFO of Sikich, a professional services firm headquartered in Chicago. Sikich ranks 27th on Accounting Today’s Top 100, employs more than 1,900 people worldwide, and posts $364 million in annual revenue. 

Ryan told me how Sikich departed from the traditional partnership model, opening the door to outside investment, expanding employee ownership, and creating a culture where wellness and flexibility matter as much as the bottom line.

Why the Traditional Partnership Model Is Losing Appeal

Many CPA firms are still structured as partnerships, with all the profits distributed among the partners each year. Unfortunately, this model often leaves little to no funds for investing in new technology, acquiring other companies, or hiring new talent.

“Firms pass the hat around to fund any major initiative,” Ryan told me. “If someone is close to retirement, they may not see a reason to reinvest in the business. That becomes a big obstacle for growth and innovation.”

Alternative Practice Structure: Splitting Assurance from Advisory

Sikich addressed these challenges by implementing an alternative practice structure. This arrangement separates the firm’s attestation work, conducted under Sikich CPA, from its consulting and advisory services offered through Sikich LLC. The CPA side complies with state ownership regulations, while Sikich LLC can secure outside funding.

“An alternative practice structure solves the financing problem for CPA firms,” Ryan said. “It lets us bring in outside capital for our consulting and advisory lines without the usual regulatory hurdles on the assurance side.”

$250 Million from Bain—But Retaining Control

With its new structure, Sikich secured a $250 million minority investment from Bain Capital’s Special Situations Group. Unlike some private equity deals that grant majority control to investors, Sikich maintained control.

“A majority investment was a nonstarter,” Ryan explained. “We want this to be a place where people can build long-term careers, and we need to preserve our culture and client relationships.”

The result? Sikich has the cash to “supercharge” growth, including larger acquisitions, tech investments, and employee development. They’ve averaged 20% annual growth over the past five years and aim to accelerate.

Expanding Equity from 5% to 30%

One of the boldest moves was expanding equity ownership in the firm. Traditionally, only partners who made a sizable buy-in received a share, often waiting decades for any payout. Sikich changed that approach.

“Before, maybe 5% of employees were partners with K-1s,” Ryan said. “We eliminated the complex buy-in, automated the reinvestment of net income into the firm, and now around 30% of our people have units. There’s also a discretionary bucket for rising stars. It’s a big shift in how we reward and retain top talent.”

Since the firm operates outside a strict partnership model, employees don’t struggle with K-1 distributions. They also aren’t required to borrow money to gain ownership—equity is granted based on performance and potential.

Putting People First: Wellness and Work-Life Integration

Sikich’s equity strategy is just one piece of its employee-first philosophy. The firm also invests heavily in mental health, flexible schedules, and a results-driven environment:

  • Mental Health Coverage: Every employee automatically receives coverage for mental health support at no extra cost.
  • No Office Mandates: Sikich embraces “work-life integration.” Employees come into the office only if it makes sense for them or their teams.
  • Trust Over Timesheets: Rather than counting total hours or nonbillable time, Sikich focuses on client satisfaction, deliverables, and meeting deadlines. “Happy employees lead to happy customers,” Ryan said, “and we see that play out again and again.”

Beyond “Book of Business”: Measuring Contribution Margin

Instead of organizing around individual partner “books,” Sikich divides the firm into business units—such as transaction advisory, forensic accounting, marketing services, ERP implementations, and more. Each unit is measured by contribution margin rather than hours:

“We don’t waste time allocating partial overhead or micromanaging nonbillable hours,” Ryan said. “Leaders know who their top performers are based on outcomes, not on how many hours they clock. That fosters collaboration and innovation.”

Internal Mobility and the Emerging Professionals Council

With dozens of specialized service lines, Sikich encourages employees to explore new roles across the firm. Ryan even credits their Emerging Professionals Council for pushing leadership to eliminate strict hour tracking.

“These younger professionals wanted more value-based billing,” he explained. “We want them to move from audit to transaction advisory—or marketing to consulting—if that’s what drives their passion. It keeps our people engaged, and clients get well-rounded expertise.”

Technology and AI as Tools for Growth

Sikich replaced outdated time-and-billing software with a robust, enterprise-level ERP system—one that it also implements for clients. Now, the firm is exploring AI for tasks like summarizing meetings, automating support queries, and analyzing data.

“AI is more evolutionary than revolutionary,” Ryan said. “It speeds up routine work so we can spend more time on strategic thinking and problem-solving. Human judgment remains essential, especially in regulated industries like accounting.”

Ryan Spohn’s Corporate Background

Unlike many firm leaders who rose through the partnership ranks, Ryan built his career in corporate finance—serving as Controller, CFO, and head of shared services in both public and private companies. That perspective helps shape Sikich’s approach today.

“When you’ve been the client, you understand the day-to-day challenges of closing the books or dealing with compliance,” he said. “It influences how we deliver solutions and organize our teams.”

Key Takeaways

1. Reinvesting for the Long Haul – Retaining net income, rather than distributing all profit to partners, ensures funds for talent, technology, and acquisitions.

2. Minority PE Deals Can Preserve Control—Getting outside capital doesn’t have to mean giving up majority ownership if the deal is structured carefully.

3. Broader Ownership Drives Retention – Eliminating massive buy-ins while awarding equity to high performers attracts ambitious talent.

4. Culture and Well-Being Matter – Flexible work, mental health support, and removing excessive time-tracking reduce burnout and raise morale.

5. Technology and AI Enhance—not Replace—Human Expertise. Automating routine tasks frees professionals to focus on complex, value-added services.

By separating assurance from advisory, securing a minority stake from Bain Capital, and making equity more accessible to employees, Sikich exemplifies how professional services firms can modernize without losing sight of people.

If you’d like the whole story, check out my interview with Ryan Spohn on the Earmark Podcast.

How an Engineer’s Approach Is Transforming AP Automation for CPAs

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An accounts payable solution now exists that seamlessly processes complex, multi-page invoices, interprets various formats, and applies intricate accounting rules without human intervention. For decades, this has been a distant dream for accountants. Traditional software often struggles with irregular documents and requires endless manual corrections. However, an unexpected innovator—a manufacturing engineer—has made this dream a reality.

In a recent Earmark Expo webinar, we explore how treating accounts payable automation as an engineering challenge enables CPAs to achieve truly hands-off processing of complex financial documents with confidence in their accuracy.

From the Manufacturing Floor to Back Office Revolution

How does someone who builds glass-dimming technology for Boeing aircraft revolutionize accounts payable automation? The answer lies in a fundamental frustration many manufacturing companies face: despite sophisticated engineering capabilities, they struggle to track and understand their costs accurately.

“Though it sounds kind of trite,” explains Charley Howe of MakersHub, “when he reduced down what the ultimate limitation was, it was back office and finance related.” Charley’s co-founder, Phong Ngo, had built a successful manufacturing company producing advanced equipment for major OEMs yet couldn’t scale the business as expected. The limiting factor wasn’t engineering capability—it was the inability to truly understand cost structures and bid competitively.

This challenge led to a crucial insight: while manufacturing processes were optimized through engineering principles, back-office processes were stuck with traditional accounting software approaches. The engineering mindset—breaking down complex problems into solvable components and building systematic solutions—had never been adequately applied to accounting automation.

Engineering Solutions for Real-world Complexity

The actual test of any AP automation solution comes when it faces the messy reality of real-world documents. Consider processing a 68-page document from Home Depot containing 63 separate bills and credits, many with faded text or handwritten notes. Traditional OCR tools would find this impossible. For MakersHub, it’s a 60-second task.

“Invoices are like snowflakes—they’re all a little different. It’s hard to do it perfectly,” says Charley. MakersHub’s engineering approach has cracked this challenge by building intelligence into the system. Rather than just looking for numbers on a page, the system understands context—distinguishing between list prices, multipliers, and net prices; recognizing when items don’t align with descriptions; and automatically validating that line items sum to totals.

What previously took hours of manual data entry and verification can now be accomplished in minutes. Users report time savings of up to 95% on complex document processing tasks. When line items don’t sum to totals or required fields are missing, the system flags these issues automatically, preventing incorrect entries in the accounting system.

A System That Learns and Adapts

Perhaps MakersHub’s most powerful aspect is how the system learns and improves over time. Unlike traditional OCR tools, which require users to draw boxes around fields and hope future documents maintain the same layout, this system uses artificial intelligence to understand document context and learn from user corrections.

Take the example of processing invoices from a glass company. When the system initially missed a surcharge field, teaching it the correct location took seconds. “That one-time fix took five seconds. And now, for the perpetuity of using MakersHub, that problem is fixed,” Charley explains. The system doesn’t just memorize field locations—it understands what the field means and can find similar information even when documents change.

Users can use an integration mapping tool to capture rules for how different purchases should be coded. Whether routing office supplies to one account and manufacturing materials to another or handling multiple expense categories from the same vendor, the system learns and applies these rules. For accounting firms handling various clients, this means maintaining different rules for each client while ensuring consistent treatment across all transactions. And if an employee leaves or is reassigned, the knowledge of how to categorize transactions stays in the system, making it easier to train their replacement.

The Future of AP Automation Is Here

Applying engineering principles to accounts payable automation represents more than an incremental improvement—it’s a fundamental shift in how we approach accounting automation. By treating AP automation as an engineering challenge rather than just an accounting problem, MakersHub has achieved what traditional software solutions couldn’t: hands-off processing of complex financial documents with confidence in their accuracy.

For accountants, this breakthrough means finally delivering on the promise of automation to clients while shifting focus to higher-value advisory services. The system’s ability to handle complex documents, learn from experience, and maintain consistent accounting treatment creates a competitive advantage in an increasingly automated profession.

See the Revolution in Action

Want to see this revolutionary approach to AP automation in action? Watch the entire Earmark Expo webinar to learn how engineering principles could transform your practice’s approach to document processing and free your team to focus on what matters most: serving clients.