Karbon Excellence Awards Podcast

The 2025 Karbon Excellence Award for
Breakthrough Firm of the Year recognizes

a firm that achieved standout results in
its first year using Karbon, showcasing

innovation, operations, and impact.

This year's winner was clear line CPA.

Which was founded in 2009 after
acquiring a North Vancouver based firm

that had been in operation since 1989.

Since then, they've acquired
two more firms, growing not

just in size, but in expertise.

Today I'm joined by their

principal, Bridget Noonan,
to learn from their

insights.

Welcome, Bridget.

Thanks, Twyla.

Happy to be here.

Let's dive right in, Bridget,
and talk about implementation.

You've said that you, what you
started as a technology rollout

evolved into an opportunity to slow
down and ask the right questions.

What were those right questions
and what were some of the answers

that help you move forward?

I think the first place, to be really
honest with you is that we actually tried

to launch Karbon the year before and.

We didn't.

We didn't make it.

It was a failed launch.

And when we got into Karbon and we
started looking at the type of ingrained

information we would need to have,
we realized that we didn't have what

we refer to as our SOPs, our standard
operating procedures well designed.

So we went through the process with
the customer service onboarding team.

We just realized that we couldn't
answer the questions we were being

asked in any efficient manner.

We really had to step back and we
had to go back to the drawing board

and standardize all of our processes.

So we took another almost
year to formalize every SOP.

took the time to really think about
where we were gonna assign authorization

and access to people who was gonna be
authorized for various tasks Had to

integrate all of our teams and how of
tho those workflows would've integrated.

So by the time we relaunched, uh,
came to our relaunch in January, 2025,

we had all of those answers, which
those conversations, um, brought a

lot of insight to all departments
and all principles of the firm.

I really appreciate your transparency
and your vulnerability there around

your SOPs because it's a really common
thing that the firms haven't got those

squared up or kept them up to date.

And then when it comes time
to adopt something new that

that comes to the surface.

And I, you know, I really
admire that you paused.

Got your house in order, as one
would say, and, and then took

an, took another step towards it.

So, uh, good for you for, for
sharing that and for doing that.

I know you've also shared that.

As you started to adopt Karbon, your
focus had been on moving forward

together as a team and making
sure that every voice mattered.

So how did you achieve that
in this complicated time when

you're adopting something new?

And were there any stumbles along the
way, and how did you recover if there was.

Taking into account that we have
three offices, uh, three physical

offices, as well as three fundamentally
different departments in the firm.

we really couldn't.

this as just like a top-down rollout.

You know, I'm, and whereas some
of the other IT implementations

that I've put into the firm, you
know, I've just made the decisions.

I've just communicated and, and
we've trained and it's been fine.

But for Karbon, we realized
really quickly that we were

going to have do it in stages.

So we built four implementation teams.

we had o overall implementation
team, which was all the.

Like myself, it, um, a, a few of the
more technical people in the firm, and

our job was to really understand Karbon.

We had to work with our client
service rep, um, a lot to understand

the functionality of Karbon, the
things we wanted to use and things

we didn't want to use and why.

Our second team, we called the Tiger team.

They were our heavy hitters.

Um, so the Tiger Team came in next and
we met with them regularly, where we took

the decisions that the implementation
team had made and Beta tested it on them.

Um, and the, the Tiger team was
essentially a lot of our management team.

So they were the people that were a
little bit closer to the ground to

see how these processes would work.

Um, our, our third team, our SWAT
team, um, was, was kind of the doers.

So every time we felt like we had
a process that was gonna work for

us, we would beta test it on them.

Um, space Rangers is our, is our
pretend client name, and everybody got

space Ranger jobs and, and work their
way through them, we went from there.

So.

Final team and not in any order
of the number of hours that were

put into any of these teams.

Our final team was our
administration team.

Um, one of the big, you know,
advantages for us of Karbon is the

ability to standardize and implement
and change a lot of timely tasks

into administrative procedures.

So our CSAs are our client
service, um, uh, client service.

So they essentially are client facing.

They do the proposals, they reach
out for documents, all of those

types of tasks as well as help
our entire team get jobs done.

that was the four teams
we rolled out into.

It was really important.

Um, there was all kinds of
meetings, individual team

meetings, group team meetings.

Uh, we did it all over Zoom.

And because we had that feedback
looped all built in, by the time

we went to launch, we were pretty
confident that everybody had had a say.

So much thoughtfulness in how you
tiered that with the various teams.

I love the team names that you,
that you came up with and, and I'm

sure it, you know, it had these.

These people on your team, the various
teams really feel like they were

participating and contributing, which
is such a great dovetail into where

I wanna take our conversation next.

Because you've also previously shared
that the most transformative outcome

since implementing Karbon has been
the standardization of workflows.

In fact, I recall you mentioned
that it's not just a productivity

boost, but a deliberate.

Firm wide initiative to listen, reflect,
and rebuild how you work together.

And so this sounds like not just this
digital transformation, but this cultural

impact and transformation as well.

Can you tell us a bit more about
that and how you navigated this

type of change without losing
sight of your initial core values?

I think, I think like you, when you
referred to the implementation teams

and how people felt involved in
contributing was really kind of the

driver of this cultural improvement.

you know, there's, there's how you
think everything is happening in

your firm, and then there's how.

Everything is actually getting done.

And because we had so much time to
spend together and talk about all

the different processes, so in depth
in like a task by task manner, there

was so many inefficiencies identified
that like my SWAT team and my Tiger

team and my CSA team brought to me.

Some of the inefficiencies
were, were surprising.

I was like, why can I
can fix that for you?

And, and, you know, and so they felt
like they were getting some wins.

Um, there was a number of irritants
that were identified and, and those

are the ones that, you know, as much as

Fine.

that friction, uh, on the team member,
the easier the day-to-day job is.

So a lot of those friction
points were able to be resolved.

And then we also had this opportunity
for everybody to just bring suggestions

and, you know, we really tried to listen
instead of talk through this process.

The implementation team, we were
pretty sure we knew everything.

We were the ones that
knew how to use Karbon.

Um, but the other teams would come
in behind us and they would have

great suggestions for, for why or how
that type of integration isn't the

best for our, or our team members.

At

I love that.

And oh.

yeah, no, sorry.

At the back end of that, we spent three
days together on a rollout session.

So we spent three whole days together
from, you know, all the partners in the

room to, to every single staff member,
round tables, all with our laptops,

all with jobs, all doing a lot of beta
testing and sending actual workflows

through as if we were working on them.

So I think it was a lot of
time to listen and learn.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and what I'm hearing inside
of that is a couple things that

are really sticking out to me.

One is that, you know, you just didn't
take the way things have that have

always been done and push that into
your rollout and into your new system.

And that instead you did listen
along the way to say like,

where is there friction here?

Where is, where's their pain points?

Where's the things that we're
doing that are not as if.

Efficient because they are the way
things have always been done or nobody

thought to kind of put up their hand
to, to look for another solution.

And then secondly is the investment
at all tiers and all the way up to

your partner, um, and leadership team.

For the actual rollout in that time of
implementation, which is so, so critical

with any change management, right, is
to really get the entire org behind it

and to have that showcase of investment
of, you know, we are standing behind

this and we're doing it together.

Let's lock arms to go
through this transition.

And it sounds like you really did that.

So at Clear, I know that you have
these values of clarity, strength, and

confidence, and you place emphasis on
delivering individually tailored services.

Yep.

Sorry,

can you hear me?

Yeah.

Sorry, you just froze for a minute.

Can we redo that?

Um, clarity, strategy and complex

Start at, oh, strategy.

yeah.

Oh, thank you.

So the strategy, thank you.

yeah.

So I have clarity,
strategy, and confidence.

Is that right?

perfect.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you for catching
correcting me there.

I had strength.

No.

Perfect.

I'll restart the at clear line.

Excellent.

At clearline, you value clarity,
strategy, and confidence, and you

place this emphasis on delivering
individually tailored services

and customized plans for clients.

How do you maintain those standards,
Bridget, while adopting a new

practice management system?

And how have you been able to even
meet or exceed them since using

Like we've always been about personalized
service, custom delivery, you know,

accessibility and I, I probably,
accessibility is the key for us.

Accessibility to partners, accessibility
to your, to your management team.

Um, and Karbon really had
to be able to support that.

We weren't looking for a system
where we would remove faces.

And just put emails in the middle of them.

So even to date, our focus on
Karbon is very internally directed.

So, and I know I talk to a lot of
firms who are doing transitions

into IT platforms and, and

Karbon

with the portal or they've started
with the client communication

for tasks and those two specific
items we still haven't adopted.

like our focus is making our team
Karbon We have to all be Karboned and

if we have to make sure that we can
communicate internally, move workflows,

design our processes to be seamless on
the inside of the firm, it's only at

the point in time that we would say.

Our team knows how to efficiently
and effectively use this platform.

Would we ever want to
roll it out to a client?

we're hoping over the next
year, like the, the enhanced

client portal looks fantastic.

You know, we're, we're looking to like
the e-signatures, so over the next couple

of years we'll be doing the pieces of the
adoption that are outfacing to the client.

But the very last thing we're
gonna do is this task assignment.

This like actually communicating
with clients through that portal.

And essentially what we're hoping
that does is clients get used to the

portal first before they lose that.

Pick up the phone, jump
on Zoom, have a meeting.

Then what Now That they're used
to the use to the platform itself.

And they will, they will love the
portal, they will love the e-signatures.

Um, the next step will be a gradual
continuation of what we still would define

as very personalized and custom service

Yeah.

I love that.

That's such an interesting
way to look at it.

And what was your term that you used?

That all of your team is to be Karbon?

Is that what you called it?

I agree.

Everybody has to be Karbon.

Because if our team is struggling
with efficiencies of how they're

communicating with each other, I
presume that that struggle is gonna go

into communicating with our clients.

Right.

Yeah.

understanding and, and there's a lot of
functionality in Karbon and you know, the

one thing that we've appreciated about
the platform is it wasn't all or nothing.

We could take, we could take modules
as the team could absorb the change

management, so that's where we're just now
doing these next implementation stages.

Yeah.

Well, and that's such an an excellent
lead into to our next question, which

is about like this culture of continuous
improvement that you have at Clearline

and where you even go so far as to say
that every workflow is a living document.

So how do you continue to
cultivate that kind of culture and.

You've probably already spoke to this
already, but feel free to reiterate like

what are the advantages, whether you're
implementing a new tool or finding other

ways to innovate at your firm by having
this culture that's really adaptable.

I guess.

In essence, there's been nothing
more frustrating to me in my 25

years of public practice as the
lack of change in public practice.

know, up, up until these big changes,
maybe three, four years ago, where we

started getting onto these platforms.

I was essentially doing
what I did as a student.

I was just scanning documents
instead of filing documents.

But nothing else had really changed.

So when we're thinking about the
workflows, the last thing we wanted to

do was to say, this is the way we are
and this is the way we will always do it.

Because I felt like we would just
create that same static scenario.

you know, our, our dream here, you know.

Is, is to be a going concern.

We gotta get the accountant
talk in there somewhere.

Um, you know, to be here in 50
years to build our team into the

partners of this firm in the future.

And there's nothing like being
operating in 2025 to tell you that

you're not gonna, you can't stay
static if you want long longevity.

And I think that starts
at how we do our work.

I lock my workflows, how am I
gonna be creative with automation

and AI and changing standards
and changing needs of my team?

Um, so workflows are
live and they're updated.

They're updated very regularly.

It's not once at a point in time.

It's when we see a problem, a workflow
is updated and it's communicated and,

and there's a much more formal process
we will change complete steps in the

workflow just to try to get some more
efficiencies or something working.

As, as well, I wouldn't recommend
that any firm call their workflows

done until they've had some
practical experience in Karbon.

So, so we never intended that our
first draft was gonna be our final

draft, and sometimes you just have to
get started to get it going instead of

trying to make it perfect on round one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's great.

And Sage advice having, uh,
recently gone through the

implementation earlier this year.

So as I mentioned at the beginning of
our call, you were one of our Karbon

Excellence Award winners this year.

In fact, you're the breakthrough
firm of the year, uh, Bridget, tell

us what it, what does it mean to you
to win a Karbon Excellence Award?

I think it was just pure validation to,
for, you know, for in public practice,

like we don't always know how we compare.

We don't know what other firms are
doing or what they're implementing or

how far they're pushing technology,
how quickly they're getting there.

And you have the sense
of always feeling behind.

I was at, I was at the Karbon conference
and, and I spent most of my days in

awe of all the amazing things all
the other firms around me were doing.

So to then be acknowledged within
that group, like it really was just

validation and I was happy to bring that
back to my team to, to say that all of

their hard work, you know, was noticed.

And it wasn't just me saying thank
you, but it was noticed in regards

to like colleagues and counterparts.

So this is really, really where
I feel like the Karbon customer

success managers are critical.

Like we've provided, um,
we stop for a second.

Can I say Lexi's name?

Yeah, you.

Okay.

So this is where I just think that the
Karbon success managers are absolutely

critical and instrumental in this process.

Um.

Lexi Elson, who is our customer
success manager, provided us with

this window into was possible and
what other firms were doing and what

had worked and what hadn't worked.

And that was a big step up in, in being
able to do some of that beta testing

of what the best approach would be.

Excellent.

Well, I love that you locked arms with,
uh, some of our team here at, at Karbon

and shout out to Lexi for, for being
alongside you as you, you rolled it

out and clearly, uh, you, you broke
some boundaries and did some great.

Things and, and we're well
deserving of the award this year.

So, and, and it was really
special to have you in Napa and

accepting on behalf of your team.

So I love hearing that you went back to
your team and really, you know, gave them

that gratitude that, that you all deserve.

So good for you.

So let's goes off today, Bridget, with
just telling me what Karbon feature

helps you and your team the most?

I.

I think if you had to sum it up with
just one piece of the puzzle, it

would have to be the transparency.

Um, triage absolutely the most difficult
part to implement, and we have not

yet perfected that of triage, but it
really has been bit of a game changer

in regards to customer service.

Um, when no matter who opens up a
client at our firm now, like the

whole team can see what's, what's
happening across the whole team.

Right?

They're.

The client's manager understands,
um, where, where the staff is at.

Um, our tax team understands where it's
at in regards to doing their tax review.

our, our staff will always joke
that Karbon has provided them the

insight until they actually now
know what partners have been talking

to their clients about all year.

Because, you know, all the good
stuff is typically trapped in the

partner's mind and they're finding
out a little too late, uh, to

effectively implement those changes.

So.

Yep.

I mean, transparency can really change the
dynamics inside of your team as well as

how you're able to support your clients.

So love to hear that.

For sure.

Well, thank you so much,
Bridget, for joining today.

It's been such a pleasure to see you again
in this virtual environment and, and, uh,

congratulations once again, uh, to you and
the entire team at Clearline for being.

One of our awards award
winners at Karbon this year.

And for our audience, you've
been listening to the 2025

Karbon Excellence Awards podcast.

Every episode we ask Karbon
Excellence Award winners, a series

of questions on how they raise the
bar for the accounting profession.

For more advice and
strategies on how to grow your

firm, visit Karbon Magazine
at harbonhq.com/resources

.
That's

it for today, folks.

Bye for now.