How to Grow an Accounting Firm: The Leadership Blind Spots Even Smart Partners Miss

You run a respected accounting firm.

Your clients rely on your insight.

You’re trusted with numbers, compliance, and strategic financial decisions that can make or break businesses.

But when was the last time you turned that lens inward?

Do you ever find yourself thinking:

  • “We’re doing well, but we’re not growing.”

  • “We’re always busy, but not always productive.”

  • “Our team’s technically strong, but they lack initiative unless I step in.”

Many accounting firm directors, especially those trying to figure out how to grow an accounting firm, struggle with invisible leadership blind spots that quietly cap their potential.

And the kicker? These blind spots often don’t show up in the numbers… until it’s too late.

The Problem With “Functional Leadership”

Let’s be honest: most partners or senior directors in accountancy firms didn’t get into leadership because they wanted to lead people. You likely climbed the ranks because you were excellent at technical delivery: accurate, diligent, and trusted.

But as your firm grows, leadership stops being about doing things right and becomes about doing the right things. And that shift can be deeply uncomfortable.

You’re still the go-to person for problems. You’re pulled into client work more than you’d like. Staff lean on you instead of showing initiative.

You might feel:

  • Frustrated that the team won’t take ownership

  • Stretched across too many priorities

  • Unsure how to delegate without risking quality

It’s not that you’re a bad leader. It’s that you’ve hit a ceiling, and you haven’t been taught how to develop leadership in accounting firms like yours.

That’s your blind spot, and one of the most common accounting firm growth challenges.

How to Grow an Accounting Firm: Leadership Blind Spots first

Here are three of the most common blind spots we see in practices trying to figure out how to grow an accounting firm, and how they silently limit performance:

1. You’re still the technician

Even with a team in place, your firm may still revolve around you.

You’re reviewing every final submission. You’re the escalation point for every client issue. You’re working in the business instead of on it.

Top tip:

If you want to grow an accounting firm, track your time for the next 10 working days. Categorise it as “client work,” “team management,” or “strategy.” Where is most of your time going? If you’re spending less than 10% on strategy, you’re stuck in technician mode.

This time drain is one of the biggest barriers to time management for accountants, and the reason so many firms plateau.

2. You hire staff, but not leaders

Many firms hire for technical skills but forget to develop decision-making and leadership. Your team may be competent, but they defer to you. They don’t think like business owners.

This leaves you stuck in a reactive cycle—constantly supervising instead of building self-sufficient leaders.

How to grow an accounting firm? Try this:

At your next team meeting, ask each manager: “What’s one recurring issue you could solve without bringing it to me?” Help them map out how to take ownership and commit to not stepping in unless truly necessary.

Learning how to lead an accounting team means creating space for others to rise. It’s how you stop managing, and start leading.

3. You plan reactively, not strategically

Most accounting firms are great at helping others plan for the future. But when it comes to your own business, planning is often short-term and operational.

The danger? You’re making incremental improvements… while competitors leapfrog with bold, strategic moves.

Top tip:

Adopt the 1–3–5 framework: 1 vision, 3 key objectives, and 5 action steps for the quarter. Revisit it every month with your team so everyone is aligned and outcomes are clear.

If you want to scale an accountancy practice, you can’t wing it. Growth demands structure and vision.

4. You confuse being busy with being effective

Many partners wear their busyness like a badge of honour. But back-to-back client calls, constant email replies, and endless file reviews don’t always mean progress; they often mean poor prioritisation. The real work of leadership happens in the white space: making decisions, setting direction, and coaching others to step up.

Try this: 

If you’re serious about how to grow an accounting firm, protect at least 2 hours per week as “non-negotiable thinking time.” Use it to reflect, review key metrics, and decide what matters most next. Remember: action without direction is just movement.

5. You avoid the “people problems”

Many technically-minded leaders shy away from difficult conversations or team tension. But culture doesn’t fix itself, and underperformance, poor morale, or lack of accountability quietly erode productivity. Knowing how to handle people challenges is essential if you want to build a high-performing team in accounting.

Top tip:

Set aside time every month for structured one-to-ones with your key team members. Use this time to address roadblocks, clarify expectations, and coach performance. Leadership isn’t just what you do—it’s how you show up for your people.

6. You focus on outputs, not outcomes

It’s easy to fall into the trap of tracking activity over impact—billable hours, number of returns filed, or clients serviced. But if you don’t link that activity to clear, strategic outcomes, you’ll struggle to steer the business forward. Knowing how to grow an accounting firm means moving from volume to value.

Ask yourself and your team weekly:

“What did we achieve that moved the business forward this week?” Tie KPIs not just to workload, but to strategic goals, client retention, team growth, and system efficiency. That’s how you build a firm that scales, not just survives.

So What Do You Want to Achieve?

If any of this resonates, ask yourself this:

  1. Would you like to step back from daily firefighting and become a true strategic leader?
  2. Would you like your team to take initiative and operate with ownership?
  3. Would you like a clear 12-month plan that doesn’t just optimise operations, but drives growth?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then it’s time to stop guessing how to grow an accounting firm and start building the systems that enable it.

And you don’t have to do it alone.

What Happens When Accounting Firms Work With ActionCOACH?

We work with accounting firms across the UK who are technically sound but strategically stuck. Here’s what starts to change:

1) You reclaim time

We help you remove yourself from the day-to-day grind, without the wheels falling off. That means better systems, smarter delegation, and empowering your team to think for themselves.

Have you tried this?

Block out two 90-minute “CEO hours” in your calendar each week. During that time, no client work, just space to think, plan, and work on the business.

2) You lead, rather than manage

We coach you to operate as a business owner and strategic leader. Less reactivity, more foresight. You become someone your team wants to follow, not just rely on.

Here’s a top tip for how to grow an accounting firm:

Create a “decision ladder” in your firm. Level 1: Flag an issue. Level 2: Suggest options. Level 3: Recommend a solution. Level 4: Decide and inform. Train your team to climb the ladder instead of always deferring upwards.

This is how you start building a high-performing team in accounting. By training people to own decisions, not just follow instructions.

3) Your firm gets focused

Together, we develop clear 90-day plans that align your team, drive measurable goals, and re-energise your business culture.

4) You grow without burnout

Whether your goal is higher profits, fewer hours, or succession planning—our frameworks help you scale with structure and confidence.

One partner we worked with shared this:

“I didn’t realise how much I was holding us back. Once I stepped into real leadership, our entire culture shifted. I now work 15 hours less a week, and the team are performing better than ever.”

This is what it looks like when you stop leading by default and start leading by design.

What’s Next?

If you’ve read this far, maybe something struck a chord. Maybe a small voice in the back of your mind is saying:

“I know I’ve been stuck in the same patterns. I just don’t know how to grow an accounting firm successfully.”

The first step isn’t a massive overhaul.

It’s a conversation.

We offer a complimentary strategy session with Steve Gaskell, certified business coach at ActionCOACH. Just 45 minutes to explore what’s holding you back and how to fix it.

Because the truth is: even smart, capable leaders have blind spots.

What matters is whether you choose to stay stuck in them or grow beyond them.

If you’re ready to stop guessing how to grow an accounting firm – and start building one that thrives – reach out.