How an IRS deadline, a phone call, and 20 minutes with AI made us rethink the entire business.
I had a client in deep trouble with the IRS. Appeals officer needed three months of bank statements reconstructed into a P&L — by end of day — or the client was going to get crushed. I'm talking days of work crammed into hours. I panicked.
I called a buddy of mine, a CPA. He said: "Bro, put it in ChatGPT. Guide it. Pop that fucker out."
I thought he was full of it. But I tried it. And in 20 minutes, what would've taken days took minutes. The P&L was clean, accurate, and delivered before the deadline.
That was the holy shit moment.
I knew right then that AI was going to destroy bookkeeping. And tax prep. It's not a question of if — it's a question of when. The work I'd spent 25 years building a practice around was about to become a commodity.
But here's what AI can't do: sit across from a business owner, look them in the eye, and tell them their pricing is wrong. It can't hold someone accountable to a plan they keep dodging. It can't read the room when an owner says "we're fine" but their cash flow says otherwise. It can't build trust over months and years that lets you have the hard conversations that actually change how a business runs.
That's CFO work. And that's what sticks.
For 25 years, we built a tax practice. Over 100,000 returns. More than 1,000 business owners. Good work, good reputation. But after the AI wake-up call, I needed to figure out where the business was actually going.
I signed up for Alex Hormozi's mastermind — $23,000. During that program, he broke down the math that made everything click: customer acquisition cost vs lifetime value, cash flow acceleration, and 2X-ing in 30 days. I ran the numbers on my own business and the picture was brutal:
Customer acquisition cost: ~$2,000. Seasonal grind — four months of hell, eight months of waiting. Revenue per client capped. AI is coming for the core work. Relationship is transactional. LTV? Low. No path to 2X.
The writing was on the wall.
Customer acquisition cost: ~$2,000 — same CAC. But the lifetime value is 10X. Work flows evenly through the year. Cash flow accelerates because clients stay for years, not seasons. The relationship is deep, ongoing, and built on trust. AI can't replace it.
Same CAC. 10X the LTV. That's why I only work with a small roster of high-value contractors and go deep — not wide.
So we shifted our focus from tax prep and bookkeeping to CFO work. The truth is, I'd been doing this work informally for years — clients would call me for advice on pricing, hiring, cash flow, whether to take a big job, whether to fire a customer. I was already their de facto CFO. I just wasn't calling it that, and I wasn't charging for it properly. When I did formal CFO engagements for a handful of clients, I loved it. The problem-solving, the ongoing relationship, watching the numbers actually change quarter over quarter — that was the work I wanted to do every day.
We still do tax strategy and bookkeeping for our CFO clients who want it — and we still run our tax practice — but the future is here. The firms that don't adapt will get eaten.
And honestly? I enjoy this work more. Tax prep is compliance. CFO work is problem-solving. It's sitting with an owner, digging into their numbers, finding the $50K leak they didn't know existed, and watching them fix it. That's the work worth doing.
I picked the trades because I like these people. Straight shooters. Hard workers. They build real things in the real world. They don't need MBA-speak — they need someone who can look at their numbers and tell them what's actually going on.
More importantly, they have a problem I can solve. Trade contractors in the $3M–$8M range are almost always leaking cash — in pricing, collections, job costing, overhead, cash timing — and the fixes are usually quick, easy, and doable. They've outgrown their bookkeeper but can't justify a $250K full-time CFO. Fractional CFO is the perfect fit.
Most of them go from banking single digits to consistent double-digit net within 12–24 months when they do the work.
One niche. One engagement model. Better results. That's the whole thesis.
We're fully virtual. Based in Arcadia, CA, but we work with contractors across all 50 states. Everything — monthly reviews, cash forecasting, team coordination, tax strategy — works over Zoom and phone just as well as in person.
Find the leaks, plug them, install systems to keep them plugged
Clean monthly close, contractor-specific reporting, real job and WIP visibility, 13-week cash forecast, and tax strategy that actually shows up on your return.
Coordinate your entire financial team
We work directly with your bookkeeper, payroll provider, CPA, and banker so you're not the middleman.
Still do tax and bookkeeping for CFO clients who want it
We haven't abandoned our roots. If you're a CFO client and want us handling your taxes too, we do. It just all flows together now.
Legal entity: Libman Tax Strategies LLC, operating as Adam Libman CFO. 150 N Santa Anita Ave, Suite 740, Arcadia, CA 91006.
25+
Years in contractor finance & tax
100K+
Tax returns reviewed
1,000+
Business owners served
50 States
Virtual practice, nationwide
20-minute Clarity Call. No pitch. We'll figure out if you have a $50K+ cash leak we can fix.
Book a Clarity Call