Acquiring a business the right way with Chris Williams

Accounting Leaders Podcast

Chris Williams is the CEO of System Six, a modern accounting firm focused on providing dream accounting careers to their team members and superior services for their clients. In this episode, Chris explains how to achieve just that, including the criteria for selecting System Six for acquisition and what challenges he faced along the way. Besides Chris' journey with System Six, he and Stuart also discuss life outside work, the best golf spots in the Bay Area, and how his wedding preparation is going.

Together they discuss:

• Chris’ experience at AccountingWeb Live Summit 2022 (01:00)
• Chris’ journey in the accounting industry (4:00)
• What Chris was looking for in a company to acquire (6:00)
• Why Chris didn’t choose a software company to acquire (08:00)
• Why Chris chose to acquire (rather than starting from scratch) (10:30)
• The process of acquiring System Six (11:30)
• The experience for the System Six team during the transition (14:30)
• System Six’s internal mission (16:00)
• Adapting the marketing and go-to-market strategies to increase growth (18:20)
• The clients System Six typically service (20:00)
• Building niches (21:30)
• Managing teams and working remotely (23:40)
• Getting the System Six team together in Denver (25:00)
• What’s next for System Six (26:30)
• The most important systems inherited by System Six (28:30)
• Maximizing the efficiency of using systems and data (30:00)
• Allocating team members with work they like to do (33:00)
• What keeps Chris busy outside of work (34:30)
• Spending time in the Bay Area (37:00)
• Stuart and his family living in Tahoe (39:00)
• The Great Resignation (41:30)
• The importance of helping accountants (43:40)