Practice Success Podcast

Scott Scarano talks AI and Creativity in the Accounting Industry

• Canopy • Season 1 • Episode 4

Share episode

Scott Scarano is president of Paget NC and a rapper custodian at Accounting High. This episode highlights Scott's journey from traditional accounting with creative pursuits to offering valuable insights into running a successful accounting firm. He gives his perspective on the evolving role of AI in his creative endeavors within the accounting industry. 

KC Brothers:

Welcome back to the Practice Success Podcast brought to you by Canopy. Today, we explore the intersection of accounting and creativity with Scott Scarano, president of Paget NC and a rapper custodian at Accounting High. Scott's journey blends traditional accounting with creative pursuits, offering valuable insights into running a successful accounting firm while nurturing his creative side. Thanks for joining us, Scott. Welcome to an episode of Canopy Practice Success. I'm here with Scott Scarano. Scott, would you like to introduce yourself? You've got quite a resume. I'm not sure I can capture it in one sentence.

Scott Scarano:

I don't know where to start, so...

KC Brothers:

What brought you to accounting and your blended entrepreneurship right now?

Scott Scarano:

I grew up, my grandfather was a CPA and my dad was a CPA. My grandfather had a CPA firm, so I always knew. I was going to be an accountant, right? Even when I was young, I'd want to be an actor. I wanted to entertain, but I knew I'd probably be an accountant. That was always like

KC Brothers:

family legacy kind of had

Scott Scarano:

to, it was easy for me. It all came easy to me. Um, accounting. The numbers, the analytical stuff was always like, there's a place for everything. It's like a puzzle. Um, and I loved it. I always did well in math and in school, but I've always had an entrepreneurial, like business mindset, sales mindset. I was always a hustler when I was in school, I was selling CDs and I've sold all kinds of things and always kind of in sales too. So, you know, I always, I always liked that aspect of running a business, but the accounting was just something that I fell into and I landed in it. Um, and I liked it. That became very successful. Um, I don't know, I'm like fast forwarding and skipping, but, you know, owning a firm and becoming a firm owner. That's when I really started to understand that this is a business and the business of accounting is different than the actual accounting itself. Yeah. Lots of lessons I've learned along the way, but yeah, I mean, I have an accounting firm and that's kind of how I got into it. Awesome. Through

KC Brothers:

that. Yeah. Well, and then you have another. Project business.

Scott Scarano:

Yeah. Yeah. Um, and that's back to what I originally wanted to do, you know, be an actor entertainer and when I was in college, that's what I thought I was going to do. That's what I thought I was meant to do. And that's what I wanted to do. So I dropped accounting, dropped that as a major, started doing screenplays and screenwriting. And I had a TV show at the school and I had a lot of fun with the entertainment. I wanted to be a rapper. I was doing that kind of stuff in college. That's But it all came crashing down when I got into some trouble too. So I got in some trouble along the way and then accounting was safe. So I pivoted back, went back, got a, did my accounting major, became an accountant. And I've been doing that for the last almost 20 years, 15 to 20 years. I don't know exactly how many years I now I'm doing that again. So back to the question, I am doing entertainment stuff now. Um, my accounting firm is. On autopilot. It's running itself. I've worked myself out of a job there and I needed something to occupy my time. So I started a podcast. Originally, we originally called Sons of CPAs, but it's now elevated. We rebranded. It's called Accounting High now, so it's a high school. It's gets the whole, we're building out an education platform and community around the whole theme of Accounting High as a brand. Um, I've been doing, I've been using it as a form of entertainment. And lately I started doing raps with it too. So I'm also rapping. So as a rapper, I am OKR. Okay. Rapper, that's the, um, nice moniker or the rap name that I use now too.

KC Brothers:

I don't know about you, but if I ever talk to someone who's in like that early college stage of life, one of the biggest things I always tell'em is like, you're not, if you make a decision with a major, you're not saying no to anything else. And I think like, just hearing that, that there's always an opportunity to blend. Your individual passions that like just like going forward with one thing didn't mean that you had to say goodbye To another thing for the rest of your life.

Scott Scarano:

I always thought I did though It was always a zero sum game where it was like all or none for everything. I was doing Yeah, and so I felt like I just gave up all the creative side. So that's like that half of my brain. That's the Analytical. Mm hmm loves the accounting loves doing the work the taxes everything about the firm that my analytical brain ate that up And so I turned off the creative side and I stifled it and I pushed it away for almost 20 years. Um, now that I've let that back in, I've stifled and pushed the analytical side and I don't do that anymore. Now I'm just doing the creative stuff. So I've never found balance. I don't really like balance, but I do like the fact that life is exciting. It's a journey. Now I'm on a different path, but I'm still using the same knowledge base that I've used to become an accountant, to be an accountant. I'm using that and. Talking about the same things in a different way and create more creative way.

KC Brothers:

Yeah, it's so fun. So tell us more about the podcast about accounting high, um, and what you're trying to accomplish with that.

Scott Scarano:

Yeah. So again, I was, I, in the beginning it was just to kind of occupy my time and to learn more and to do, become a better entrepreneur, a better business owner. Cause I still have a lot to learn as a firm owner. Um, I got to the stage where I was able to step away from the firm and it still runs without me. Very well. And I have a great team and I owe it all to them that I'm able to do that. And now that I'm able to talk about running a firm with other firm owners, and that's how it started just, you know, interviewing other firm owners, talking about what they're doing differently at their firm. And it started to become a way to then as a leverage to meet new people. So if I wanted to meet somebody and if there's somebody doing something cool. I have a show. Do you want to come on my show? So that's how I met a lot of the people I know now is I just would ask them, do you want to be on the show? Um, made a lot of connections through there and, and I had the idea. That's when we did the rebrand was maybe we can turn this into something bigger, like a community and teach people some of the new ways of running a practice. So we're writing a book too, as part of the curriculum of accounting high, and we're calling it, uh, how to wrap, how to run a practice. And. teach people how, how I got to from zero to a million plus and I, they don't need me anymore. How do you get. to the stage where you can make that decision and do what you want to do. Um, I think a lot of people are stuck in this middle, you know, no man's land of they're in that hamster wheel and they don't know how to get out because they're growing their firm, but they don't have the systems in place to be able to step away from it. So they're sucked in again by every little thing at the firm. So we're going to try to articulate that with the curriculum of Accounting High.

KC Brothers:

Well, and depending on your experience, your entry point into accounting, I feel like it's One of two things, largely, I'm sure there are many other ways as well, but either going to big four straight to those huge companies where it's so So different than so different anything else Or you maybe get into kind of mom pop boutique kind of firm smaller Or I guess a third you could just start your own be a solo Entrepreneur for a bit build it from there.

Scott Scarano:

And I think that's still mom and pop boutique. That's what you're turning it into

KC Brothers:

Yeah, but the you have those accounting skills, but not the business acumen necessary and that's that's a problem with entrepreneurs in general

Scott Scarano:

Yeah, they know their skill set in their trade But running a business is an entirely different trade.

KC Brothers:

So I'm assuming this is a lot of what you talk about with accounting and what you're planning on doing with the books.

Scott Scarano:

We talk about everything but accounting.

KC Brothers:

There you go, right? Because they already know it. Yeah. So what would be maybe one of your biggest, um, takeaways from your life that you've then incorporated into your content?

Scott Scarano:

Oh, that's a great question. Um, I think in a lot of ways I've learned I've learned a lot more about myself. Well, really, I've learned the most about myself through my kids, but also through other people. So the things that I'm paying attention to are the things that I want to become better at or do better. So some of the most impactful things are conversations that I'm really invested in because of the guests. And, um, you know, like I'm looking at, what are the, how do I become a better person? And so I look at what are other people doing that I admire and how do I learn from them? And hopefully that translates into what can the listener learn and what can they learn? How do they become a better business owner to a lot of curiosity? I'm. I have a lot of curiosity and I've learned that that's actually a skill. That's a good thing to be curious and to not have the answers. I don't have any of the answers. I don't know the best way to run a practice, but I know people who do.

KC Brothers:

And you can help democratize that content, that knowledge, all the information and make it less of an unknown thing for other people in the same position.

Scott Scarano:

Yeah, and the more I learn, the more I know, nobody knows what they're doing. Nobody really has the answers. The more people I talk to, the ones I think know it all, At the end of the day, they know nothing, just like me.

KC Brothers:

Or they've tried one or two things and it's worked out for them.

Scott Scarano:

Exactly, yeah. And they learn through their failures or through their mistakes. I don't really see them as failures, like anytime something doesn't work out, that's just another step along the way to get to the destination. You may hit a dead end, you know, you may have thought this is going to work, but it doesn't. But that's how you ended up finding this other thing that did work.

KC Brothers:

What made you, your firm was running, um, you're making good money. Yeah.

Scott Scarano:

Very profitable. It's great. Yeah. That affords me to do everything else. I wouldn't be able to do this if it wasn't for that.

KC Brothers:

Yeah. So was it just, there was a knock on a metaphorical door that was like, Hey, we got to get back to this creative stuff. You saw a

Scott Scarano:

lot of metaphors. There's a lot. I mean, I dunno, I could go deeper in the metaphors, but it's all about that next generation too. I've always saw that there's. And I don't like to say age because age is definitely a mindset and the way people are, but I think there is a big shift and a big change that's been happening in the industry with the introduction of the new technology, with the cloud and with more connectedness, with people being connected, being able to work with clients. All over the country, all over the world, we have clients all over the world, and it's an entirely different mindset running a practice than it used to be 10 years ago. So, learning that and talking about that, nobody has the answers now. Um, there were, there were good answers when we didn't have the internet, when we weren't all connected, when people were working off a desktop. I mean, maybe we had the internet, but it wasn't like it is now. You weren't able to work with a client. in New York and be in California. Um, so, you know, a lot of it used to be localized or it used to be, there were, there were different ways of doing things.

KC Brothers:

And your opportunity was limited based on your

Scott Scarano:

local geographic area. Now your opportunity is limited by which niche you choose, which vertical you choose, and by choosing the right type of clients and picking the right clients to work with and defining who you're not going to work with. That's the biggest unlock is knowing who you're not going to work with, who to say no to and what to say no to. Um, that's one thing that's a wrap that I'm working on right now is how to say no and what to say no to, because we say yes to every opportunity that comes to us or every client that may come to us, every potential new lead or business. We don't know what we should be saying yes to if we're saying yes to everything.

KC Brothers:

So what would you say has been... One of the most impactful bits of technology that has helped you progress your career and what would you hope to see from technology in the next year?

Scott Scarano:

Oh, Canopy for sure. No, I'm kidding. I've never been to Canopy. Um, I honestly, I could say for the firm, Karbon. Um, I know this is a Canopy interview, but it's, and you guys weren't even around when we found Karbon, but that's what has, that's what has enabled us. To create the processes and to create the systems and to allow us to be able to work from anywhere is a practice management system. So I think the right practice management system is different for everybody, but finding the right one and being able to take, I mean, any firm that's not using a practice management system is probably using spreadsheets and other, you know, homegrown methods to keep up with all the workflow and they have no processes and they have no real systems. So that's the start. I think at least running a successful practice is finding the right. Portable practice management system that's not tied to a server or tied to an office, and that's another unlock because then you're, you know, your potential employee pool opens up to anywhere, you know, you know, you're not geographically limited for that, um, your potential client pool, obviously, you know, with the cloud. So, I think, you know, short, long, short answer is that any, the right practice management system is probably the place to start looking. GL, eh, you know, we, we chose zero, but QuickBooks is just like zero now these days that they're, you know, as far as GL goes, there's only a couple options there. So that's not really that impactful. Um, so I think you...

KC Brothers:

In the next coming years, what do you see as being most impactful?

Scott Scarano:

AI. Generative AI and leveraging that in the creative side. Um, there was a really great session today about that and what Digits is doing. I think, um, incorporating ways to, because we know numbers, we know financials, we are Accountants, like that's, that's our profession and AI doesn't do that well. Like it went in the totally opposite direction that we thought it would. All the science fiction movies, we thought AI was going to be taken over with numbers and analytically. And all it is, is a great creative booster. Now, uh, that's what I've been learning at least in the five months that I've been using it. Like since it's been around, it's been amazing. Um, it's, it's been a huge unlock for me cause I'm doing all the creative stuff. So I think that for ways to leverage that in the. written form and communications forms and ways that we can do more creative things with marketing at our firms and using leveraging that leveraging AI. That's, that's the future right now, but that's the flavor of the week too. I mean, I hope it lasts and I hope everything's going to work out, but you know, talk to somebody a year ago, they would have been talking about crypto and Bitcoin is the next thing.

KC Brothers:

Well, thank you for your time, Scott.

Scott Scarano:

Thank you for having me.