You already know someone who deserves this.
The Small & Mighty Awards recognize accounting and bookkeeping professionals proving you don’t need the biggest firm, the biggest platform, or the longest résumé to make an outsized impact.
Nominations close October 10.
Most recognition measures scale, because scale is measurable. Revenue, headcount, and growth rate are legible from the outside, and the firms that earn those honors have earned them.
But there’s a whole category of excellence that doesn’t show up in those numbers. The practitioner who knows one market so well that clients stop shopping around. The one who fine-tuned their services instead of expanding with abandon. The one whose systems are tight enough, and tailored enough, that nothing falls through. The one delivering a client experience no one else can replicate.
That work is quieter. It’s also the work most of us are actually trying to do.
So we built an award that goes looking for it.
Submit your nomination in whichever category fits best. If you’re torn between two options, pick the one where the story is strongest.
The panel would prefer one specific nomination over two vague ones. Submit your nomination in whichever category fits best. If you’re torn between two options, pick the one where the story is strongest.
The panel would prefer one specific nomination over two vague ones.
For early-career and emerging professionals already making an outsized impact.
Nominate someone who: is early in their career but already changing how people around them work—a newer practitioner whose ideas, teaching, or standards are pulling others forward faster than their years in the profession would predict.
For professionals serving overlooked communities and markets.
Nominate someone who: built their practice around clients other firms turned away, priced out, or never thought to concentrate on—and who’s gone all-in on serving them well.
For the mentors, advocates, and educators who lift up the whole profession.
Nominate someone who: shows up for other practitioners by offering mentorship, organizing communities, answering questions, or championing those who don’t yet have a platform.
For practitioners who rebuilt how their firm works (and made it stick).
Nominate someone who: redesigned their processes or their tech stack in a way that measurably changed the firm: fewer dropped balls, less rework, and a team that runs without the owner in every loop
Step 01
Nominations open August 31 2026 and close October 10 2026. Self-nominations and peer nominations are equally welcome and judged identically. Takes about ten minutesNominations open August 31 2026 and close October 10 2026. Self-nominations and peer nominations are equally welcome and judged identically. Takes about ten minutes
A panel of independent practitioners scores every nomination against the rubric between October 13 and 24.
Step 02
Step 03
Every finalist is contacted the week of October 27, told their status, and asked to confirm they’re okay with being named publicly.
All twelve finalists are announced.
Step 04
Step 04
Four winners (one per category, each selected from the finalists) are announced on stage at WorkflowCon 2026 on November 10, followed by a spotlight series across November.
Twelve finalists—three in each category—are named publicly on October 29, ahead of the November 10 reveal.
Whether or not you win your category, being named a finalist is recognition you can point to.
As a finalist, you get:
Every winner receives $1,000 cash. Or, if you'd rather double & donate, Financial Cents doubles the dollar amount and gives $2,000 to a registered nonprofit of your choice. You decide after the reveal!
Announced live at WorkflowCon 2026 in front of your peers, presented by a member of the judging panel.
Michelle Weinstein is a seasoned entrepreneur, sales strategist, and founder of The Abundant Accountant. She helps accounting, tax, fractional CFO, and bookkeeping firm owners own their value and confidently sell high-level services without pressure or burnout. Her clients have collectively added over $38 million in additional revenue to their firms, all without working more hours, chasing more clients, or doing anything they didn’t want to do.
Richard Roppa-Roberts sits in the cracks (can I not use "cracks?" how about "space") between accounting, apps, and community. Founder of Quasar Cowboy and Roundtable Labs, co-founder of The Retreat Network, an Accounting Today Top 100 "One to Watch." Not an accountant; he's who accountants call.
Winners practicing in the United States receive registration and travel for Scaling New Heights. Winners practicing in Canada can choose registration and travel for CPB Ignite or Accountex.
A physical award plus digital badges sized for your website, email signature, and social profiles.
Financial Cents produces a profile for every winner and shares it across our channels as part of the November recap series.
Winners are listed permanently on this page, year over year.
The panel represents independent practitioners from outside Financial Cents. Every nomination is scored against the same published rubric, and judges recuse themselves from any category where they have a business relationship with a nominee.
Founder & CEO, Little Fish Accounting
Keila built Little Fish Accounting on the conviction that a firm doesn’t have to get big to be good. She works with small businesses and solopreneurs from her Washington, DC-based practice, and has become one of the profession’s clearest voices on defining “enough” and building deliberately toward it rather than pursuing growth simply for the sake of getting bigger.
Founder & Chief Convener, Roundtable Labs
Richard has spent his career connecting accounting and bookkeeping professionals to each other, on the belief that the people in this profession get further together than alone. Through Roundtable Labs he convenes firm owners for the kind of candid peer conversation that’s hard to find anywhere else, and he’s a familiar presence across the community’s events and channels.
CEO & Founder, Cloud Business Services
Tanya leads Cloud Business Services from Ontario, where she’s built a practice known as much for how it treats its people as for the work it delivers. She’s a longtime advocate for bookkeepers — through community-building, training, and frank conversation about sustainability and burnout in the profession — and a recognized voice in the Canadian accounting community.
Three short questions and a few details. About ten minutes. Nominations close October 10 at 11:59pm ET.
Canadian and US practitioners are eligible on identical terms. The conference prize is matched to where the winner practices rather than restricted by it: Scaling New Heights for US winners, CPB Ignite or Accountex for Canadian winners.
Yes, and you should! Self-nominations carry exactly the same weight as peer nominations, and the panel doesn’t see which is which until after scoring.
No. Nominations from non-customers are judged identically, and being a customer earns no advantage in the rubric.
About ten minutes. There are three short written questions. Specific examples matter far more than length; a nomination with one concrete story beats one with three paragraphs of fluff.
We’ll let them know they’ve been nominated and confirm they’re okay with being considered. Nobody appears on stage or in a spotlight without knowing about it first
Yes. Some of the most focused work in this profession is done by one-person organizations. Firm size is not a scoring criterion.
No. You can be nominated in several, but the panel will name you a finalist in only one (likely where you scored highest). Being nominated in multiple categories doesn’t improve your odds of winning, so put the effort into one strong nomination rather than spreading it out.
Winners are notified privately the week of October 27. Everyone else hears at the live reveal on November 10.
$1,000 cash (or a $2,000 donation to a registered nonprofit of your choice, if you’d rather pay it forward), plus four coaching sessions with our partner network, registration to a major industry conference (Scaling New Heights for winners practicing in the US, CPB Ignite for winners in Canada), a physical award and digital badge kit, and a written and video spotlight. Every category winner receives the full package.
You can select any registered charity in the US or Canada if you take the pay-it-forward option. We’ll ask for your selection after the prize reveal and confirm it before the gift is made.
No. The sessions are with independent partners in our network, not with Financial Cents, and there’s no obligation attached to any of them.
Names and firm names are published for finalists and winners only, and only once they’ve confirmed they’re happy to be named. Contact details are never published. Everyone else’s nomination stays private.
