Making Accounting More Human with Erin Pohan

Feeling isolated running your firm, or building a career without the “perfect” path? In this episode of Canopy Practice Success, KC Brothers talks with Erin Pohan, founder of Upkeeping LLC and creator of Wave Seattle (Women in Accounting, Finance, Visionaries, and Entrepreneurs).

Erin shares how moving 10 times as a military spouse shaped her belief that you do not have to build your career, or your firm, alone. You’ll hear practical ways to protect yourself from loneliness, find peers, and grow with community-first leadership.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why leadership feels lonely, and how peer support reduces burnout
• How to find your “accounting people” online and in-person
• Erin’s playbook for community building, from conferences to masterminds
• How Upkeeping grew from a solo start into a team, and what Erin hires next
• Why human connection improves business outcomes, not just feelings

Connect with Erin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinpohan/

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Transcript

KC Brothers (00:05)
Welcome to another episode of Canopy Practice Success. I'm your host, KC Brothers. Today on the show, I'm thrilled to welcome Erin Pohan, a seasoned accounting innovator who has spent over 20 years in public, private, nonprofit, and educational accounting. Erin is the founder of Upkeeping LLC, where she's on a mission to make accounting more human, more usable, and more empowering for entrepreneurs. She's also the creative force behind Wave Seattle.

which stands for Women in Accounting, Finance, Visionaries, and Entrepreneurs, a conference built around community, authentic connection, and celebrating the unique journeys of women in accounting. Thanks for coming on the podcast, Erin.

Erin Pohan (00:44)
Thank you for having me, this is so exciting!

KC Brothers (00:47)
Yeah,

I seriously, this is my favorite part of my job. So I love talking to people in the space. I love seeing all of the unique takes on what everybody's choosing to do to help shape the industry. You have a very unique background relative to anybody else we've had on the podcast. Maybe you have 20 years of experience. Maybe give us a little rundown and why it's taken you to the space that you're in now with both upkeeping.

and wave Seattle.

Erin Pohan (01:14)
So I do, I feel like I've been in a lot of different facets of the industry. And I started originally, I guess I would say, I started in a Walmart accounting office in Virginia and worked to balance a huge Walmart super center to the penny every night. And that was my first taste of what accounting could look like. I was going to school.

at a community college, originally going for marketing. And then as I was working at this Walmart and then took my accounting 101 course, I felt this calling and realized I was the only one in my class who was enjoying what I was doing. And so I switched over to accounting and then happened to get a new job at a local Marine Corps base as an assistant manager.

but helping behind the scenes with the bookkeeping. With a very legacy old school system, we were putting sales receipts in numerical order every single day and matching credit card slips to the sales receipts. It was very, very manual. And naturally, I met a Marine there and got married and we have lived 10 places since...

that day, which was 15 years ago now. And so becoming a military spouse was a challenge to try and continue my career, but it also opened the door for me to go from that private accounting experience to public accounting, where I worked at CPA firms across the country.

KC Brothers (02:50)
which is, I

feel like, the opposite of what most people do.

Erin Pohan (02:53)
Yeah, yeah, I know. I used to feel like there was something wrong with my career experience for not going big four, not being able to have the traditional four-year college experience, go intern somewhere, go big four. And I look back now and everything that I did was exactly what I needed to do. And I was able to use what, you know, experience I did have to build what I have now. So I'm so grateful.

but it is very non-traditional.

KC Brothers (03:22)
Yeah, man, if there are any younger listeners out there, there's no one way to do anything. And I think, especially in this industry, I think accounting is being reshaped every day. even on a recent episode, I was talking to someone and I physically raised my hand when she said something like, nobody wants to start an accounting firm. And I raised like physically, put my hand in the air. was like, I do.

But I also see it from such a different angle. I'm seeing all these wonderful opportunities and innovations in the space. And I mention that because, again, for younger individuals thinking about the space, it's ripe with new paths and abilities to shake it up.

Erin Pohan (04:04)
you know, even my public CPA firm experience that I had, I started as a receptionist while I was still obtaining my bachelor's at that point, and it was still very manual. I mean, we prided ourselves that we were going electronic by scanning things and saving it like onto our computers and you know, they were being backed up onto a server. So even from that time to now, like so much has changed.

in the accounting industry. And there is so much opportunity.

KC Brothers (04:34)
Yeah. Anyway, I interrupted your summary of your life. You went into public accounting. You've been all over the world with being a, how did you say, a Marine wife, a military spouse. you.

Erin Pohan (04:41)
in

Yeah, a military spouse. Yeah.

And yeah, I think being a military spouse comes with a lot of moves. And it was it was discouraging for a long time. I remember we had a duty station in Arizona, in Yuma, Arizona, which like no one goes to people like drive through it. And I was like baking cookies and drinking mimosas at 9am.

because I, in my mind, I was unemployable. Like why would anyone want to hire someone that they know is only gonna be there for a short amount of time? Especially, that was 2012, 2011 maybe.

KC Brothers (05:21)
What year was that?

yeah, lots changed since then in terms of like remote work and yeah, that's yeah.

Erin Pohan (05:31)
Yeah. And then I saw this ad, maybe Craigslist or the newspaper. I think it was like the newspaper. We were like old school and they were looking for a receptionist. And I said, okay, a receptionist at a CPA firm. This is like my foot in the door. I just need to sell them that I will give them my all in the three years that they will have me. And they took me in and they were just lovely. And it was a four partner firm.

And this is the firm that I talked about where we thought we were so progressive with saving and scanning and saving. And it was such a great experience and it really solidified my love for accounting. So I was able to grow within that firm as I was getting more experience and education at school. I got my bachelor's, I left the firm as a staff accountant and then we moved to Japan. And so...

KC Brothers (06:03)
you

Erin Pohan (06:24)
Japan, I knew there wouldn't really be opportunity for that traditional accounting career for the three years we were there. So I ended up volunteering with a nonprofit to do their books just to keep that experience going. And then that's also where I found a really unique opportunity to get into the educational sector.

And so that is where I was able to find an organization that supports military spouses who are educated and ready and willing to work from anywhere in the world. And so I was able to work with publishers and universities to create curriculum, test banks and supplemental information, which was really awesome and really a huge part of upkeeping now in the education piece.

KC Brothers (07:11)
So online courses, essentially, or.

Erin Pohan (07:14)
Yes, yes and no. So I created online courses, upper graduate courses for universities, but we also worked with textbook publishers and world renowned ones to update their textbooks. Yeah.

KC Brothers (07:25)
Okay

Okay, what a varied experience, seriously. And you found a way, you found a way every time. That is amazing, okay, I think leads right into your big focus today, or the thing that you are most passionate about, and I mean, I'm speaking for you right now, is community building. ⁓

Erin Pohan (07:34)
Yes.

Yes.

KC Brothers (07:49)
I'm connecting some dots here, but I have a feeling you're so big on community because you had to leave your communities so often.

Erin Pohan (07:56)
That's exactly right. I learned and it actually started even before I was a military spouse. So I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, actually a town right next to it called Lakewood, Ohio. Go Browns for the two Browns listeners. And I loved where I lived. It was a community where I can walk to school. had my best friends, like Kitty Corner to where I lived and halfway through high school, we moved.

from there to an 800 student graduating class in Northern Virginia. And I had to, it was terrible. It was terrible. I ate lunch in the bathroom for like the first month of junior year. So it was really hard to be uprooted that way. And so when I became a military spouse,

KC Brothers (08:27)
where you felt lost, I'm sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Erin Pohan (08:48)
I knew it was going to be that over and over again, but now I had the choice and I wasn't doing it alone. Like I had the choice to not sit in the bathroom, you know, and hide, but I knew that there were other people in the same boat and I didn't know how long I would have them for in my life because maybe they were there for another two weeks and maybe they were there for another two years at this duty station. And so

I had to make the most of it. And so I think that piece is what I've carried into this solopreneur firm that I had initially started back in 2021. I knew I didn't want to do it alone and I didn't have to do it alone and I just needed to find people to do it with. And then I just last year decided, no, no, no, I need to help others find their people too.

KC Brothers (09:41)
And that's when you did Wave Seattle. What a beautiful story. We don't go through this life alone. And I've seen that a lot in accountants and the way that they love serving their clients and wanting to see them succeed. But I feel like what you've just said and even reading up on you before hopping on camera, felt that...

Erin Pohan (09:43)
Yes.

KC Brothers (10:06)
exponentially more of this drive to put humans first and from there we will also see business opportunities, growth, success, but the human connection continually will elevate those things as well. And I just love that.

Erin Pohan (10:07)
Hmm.

Yeah, I honestly think there's always going to be hard days, especially when you are an entrepreneur and you're running your own firm. And I think if you don't have people to go through those hard days with, you increase your risk exponentially to actually...

fail, like, and like lean into a failure and like give up.

KC Brothers (10:41)
Yeah.

Well, and I want to say too, I've heard things that have talked about how we're, that we, the United States, is experiencing like a loneliness epidemic.

ever since COVID even. Maybe I can't remember if it even started before. But it's so easy to lead a rather insular life. Especially, so here we go from your experience in 2011 where you felt unemployable because there wasn't an online component that made it possible for remote work.

Now I feel like we're on the opposite end of the spectrum of everything is so digital and available online that we don't have to go have a physical human interaction. having an organization like WAVE, you seem very motivated to make sure that

people don't forget that human connection and that you look around and you know you're not alone.

Erin Pohan (11:41)
We had a panel at our first Wave Seattle event this past May, and one of the topics we hit on was loneliness within the firm. And so one of our attendees was so beautiful and brave to just share her story of feeling very alone in running her firm. And every single person in that room resonated with what she was saying.

And that for me was the moment where I knew what we're doing is so important. And it's so much more about, so much more than a one day event. It's really truly about finding our common links and what connects us and then building upon that after that day and then just staying in relation with each other.

KC Brothers (12:31)
Yeah. I've talked to my husband a lot about how leadership is lonely. And it particularly is, right, when you're a multi-hat wearing leader. When you're a business, when you're entrepreneurial, when you're spinning something up, it's harder to ask for help. It's harder to, if you do ask for help and you're delegating, they don't necessarily know still what you're going

Erin Pohan (12:36)
Mm.

KC Brothers (12:53)
through.

KC Brothers (12:53)
we can't talk about loneliness without talking about something to do because it is a problem in general. what do you recommend specific to the industry or is it nothing specific, not like accounting specific, but just like, yeah, what can we do? Because again, we're more remote than ever. We're more online than ever. How do we help solve for this?

Erin Pohan (13:12)
the macro level, would say start showing up to accounting industry conferences, just to be immersed with your people. mean, I can't tell you the amount of times I go to an accounting conference and just hearing the words like balance sheet and reconcile. I'm I'm good. I'm with my people. But on a more like regular basis and daily level, there's, I think three other ways you can

really help to protect yourself around the idea of loneliness. Number one is finding a community that's online of accountants. So there's so many right now. ⁓ I'm a part of several. There's Ask a CPA, there's Aligned Accountants, there's Counter, there's Realize, there's Futurefirm. So there's so many different communities with different goals within the community that you can research. There's also Ask a Bookkeeper.

I forgot that one too. And Ambush's bookkeeper, which is Serena Shoups. So I would recommend finding a community that you can post daily. mean, you don't have to post daily, but you can go on and see the posts that are being made daily and then join the conversations or the virtual events that they're having. And then another, this is, I mean, this is what I do.

I listen to so many accounting industry podcasts because I feel like it's just the coworkers in the other room that I get to sit there and just listen to and have like a conversation with even though they're I'm not really talking to them, but their conversation helps to fill the noise of silence. And it really truly does feel like I'm just

you know, in a busy office with coworkers talking. So that helps me. And then the other piece is finding just a peer group to just do like a weekly check-in mastermind concept call with just to grow together and support one another.

KC Brothers (15:09)
Okay, as someone who does not do that and wants to do that, do you just, does that happen organically? Does that come across as after you've been participating in the community, you find a few people that are just your accounting soulmates? How do you get to that point where you've got a weekly call with a few close peers, advocates?

Erin Pohan (15:32)
I think

as you become more visible, you open yourself up for more opportunities like that. I will say there are different communities, some that I mentioned, like Counter specifically will have, ⁓ we just had like a summer mastermind ⁓ sign up where people who were interested in that, ⁓ there was some facilitation of getting us connected, which has been great. I've been in this mastermind with three other men.

since June, I think, and it's so fun. So I really am encouraged and I feel supported by our conversations.

KC Brothers (16:11)
Okay, awesome.

KC Brothers (16:12)
talk to us too a little bit about how you started Wave Seattle. Maybe if you have a story of someone that came and found you after, and then I have so many other questions too as a working woman that maybe we'll take a minute.

Erin Pohan (16:28)
Wave Seattle started because I went to Bridging the Gap in 2024, which is another incredible conference put on by Randy Crabtree and a bunch of other incredible people in this industry who have a heart for the very thing that I do, which is community and just not working yourself to death and just building the firm that you want to build with the right boundaries in place. And I came back

to Seattle, so I'm in Seattle and I did not want to wait another year to experience anything like that again. And so I thought if I put it out there, maybe people would sign up and come. And so we did this smaller scale event in the evening here and it was three women spoke. We had a panel, I called it like our golf course conversations with the idea that like,

men are having really great conversations and making business deals on the golf course and women are missing out and so women will come to these meetings and even if they're the first one on the meeting call or in the room the meeting starts and they feel like they're joining a conversation that's happened midway through.

KC Brothers (17:35)
I feel

that even as being at the soccer games of my children, where I will sit and I'll eavesdrop and I'm like, KC, don't do that. Maybe it's fine that I'm eavesdropping, but I'll hear two dads of the children on the team talking business or different things. And I'm like, I wanna be a part of that conversation. And I know they're not, and I'm like, why do I want this? Why am I?

Erin Pohan (17:52)
Mm-hmm.

KC Brothers (18:00)
eager to participate, even though we're not in the same industry. But I do. I want to participate in general, whether it's a male or female. I just want to talk about those things. I do feel there's, for me at least, and in my community, a lack of those conversations, the ability to do things. And I don't know if I'd be curious to know, sorry I interrupted your story, but if other women feel the way I'm feeling, and I feel like I

Erin Pohan (18:09)
Right.

KC Brothers (18:24)
it's really hard for me to step out and make time for the golf course, metaphorical golf course or literal golf course. I don't go to meetups. I don't go to things in the evening. I feel like my time is stretched thin enough. I need to work and get work done. And then when I'm done with work, I want to be with my family. And so to make time for a networking event, it's really hard for my brain and heart, honestly.

to think that this is what I should be doing. But then I do have those moments where I'm like, I know I would feel a bit more fed if I could participate in conversations like that with people who I'm not surrounded with at our desks every day.

Erin Pohan (18:50)
Yeah.

I'm so glad you said that because yes, as women it is harder for us on so many levels to make the time and space for the networking events because we are wearing a lot more hats in our traditional roles as women and mothers. But that's why I think Wave Seattle works so well because it's a very intentional choice to get your ticket if you're not in Seattle, which was the

craziest thing to me. I put this on in Seattle thinking, ⁓ people in Seattle will come and women from 10 different states and Canada came last year and like the same trend is happening. We're already almost halfway sold out for our 2026 event and it's mainly women from other states who have signed up already. So thank you. Yeah, it's great, but it just shows like this is our way.

KC Brothers (19:46)
Wow.

in

Erin Pohan (19:56)
of being able to have these golf course conversations, like very intentionally, when it's almost harder to do it like on a Wednesday night at like a bar that's 20 minutes away.

KC Brothers (20:08)
seriously though. Okay, I do have a question though. ⁓ Because I have a very strong opinion here that I'm trying to find a way to say softly because I'd say I'm some level of feminist in a sense. I'm a working woman and you've got to stick, I'm a type A,

Erin Pohan (20:13)
Yes.

good.

to you.

KC Brothers (20:33)
I think this world works, ⁓ I'm getting into line, hopefully I'm not putting my foot in my mouth here. I think the world works better when women support men and men support women. Your event is women in accounting, you have men show up.

Erin Pohan (20:39)
No.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Yes. Yeah. So we have to have some witnesses in the room, which is a joke. But yes, this past year we had our sponsors were men and women and they were wonderful supporters and encouragers. And I if a man wants to attend what we were we are doing, I welcome them to join us. Yeah.

KC Brothers (21:12)
They need to. And that's where I was kind

of going with my opinion. I don't feel like any group, any minority group, mean, women are 50 % of the world, we're not a minority, but we can be in the workspace. Any minority group needs members of the majority or the opposing group to...

be supports, to be allies. We hear that word a lot now. I don't think we can do it alone. If you spearhead things without them, then you're pushing them to the side. you need, I still work next to men, I guess too. It's like, yeah.

Erin Pohan (21:35)
Well, I see.

Yeah, and you're

right allies like some of my greatest encouragers in this industry are men and they're sharing their stories and it's wonderful and one of the men who was at wave this past May after that panel that I just shared about especially the loneliness piece he came to me and he said and I don't know I mean this is his reflection and I don't know if this is true

for all men in the accounting industry, but he said men, or at least the men around him don't share like that. They don't have space to share openly like that about those struggles and that he was very encouraged by that conversation. So that was really special.

KC Brothers (22:17)
Yeah, no.

Yeah, I love that. mean, we need, each of us, male or female, needs some masculine and feminine elements, right? And I think that the things that women have a higher proclivity to doesn't mean that our male coworkers don't need that as well. Anyway, talk to us a little bit more too about upkeeping, because you've built that in a unique way too to serve women in the accounting space.

Erin Pohan (22:53)
I started up keeping in 2021 rather accidentally.

KC Brothers (22:57)
How do you start something accidentally?

Erin Pohan (22:59)
Well, I,

I fell for a paid advertisement on Facebook for actually Serena Shoop, who is a baller. I love her. And she had a like three day business workshop bookkeeping business workshop. And I was like, Oh, $27. I'll do this. And like, as I'm doing it, I'm like, Oh, I'm building a firm. Okay. Okay. I need a name. Okay. I'm now I need a website. Okay.

KC Brothers (23:14)
Okay.

Okay, I

see what you mean, then. Okay.

Erin Pohan (23:27)
Now I throw

myself on Upwork and I got a client and then within three months, I think I had like five clients. So like it just grew really quick. And so that was March 2021, I want to say. And then by December, I think I had like 40K in revenue. And I was like, okay, this is like a growing business. So luckily, I did that course because it taught me, know,

my tech stack that I need, engagement letters, like all the really important things to actually run a business, even if you're good at accounting, because those are two separate things. I talked about like entrepreneurial accounting, like you need to know how to run a business and you also need to be really great at accounting.

KC Brothers (23:59)
Yeah.

my gosh.

Yes, they are. I talk about it all the time. Two very separate things. It's the

Erin Pohan (24:12)
Yes.

KC Brothers (24:14)
the symptom of just being an entrepreneur, exacerbated by the fact that accountants are entrepreneurs in a space where it's a business skill. But there are still all those other business skills that they, so that is awesome. That sounds like a great workshop.

Erin Pohan (24:23)
Yes.

Yes.

Yes, it was great. And I don't I mean, it was so foundational for how I built up keeping. And so it was a solopreneur situation for the first six months. And then I realized pretty early on that I needed some help. And I had a friend who had bookkeeping QuickBooks experience and her kids were in my kids classes at school. And so we had the same schedule and we would

go into a co-working space and little by little I started offloading off my plate and so I was able to grow up keeping with her support and later converted her over to an employee and also took on an intern because I was really encouraged after another accounting conference to support the incoming generation of our accountants. So

I created an internship with a local university and got very lucky with the intern that we hired and then ended up offering a position too. So she's also on board working on her accounting degree and really excited to grow with upkeeping as soon as she has more time to devote to the actual work itself after the degree is complete. And then we also took on another part-time mom.

in the area and ⁓ so now we're a team of four, four, a little over four years, four and a half years later. And I'm fully supported by this team. Our clients are supported and they work 10 hours per week each. So between the three of them, they're almost one full-time employee, but it's working really well for our clients and our needs.

KC Brothers (26:09)
you

And how many clients do you have?

Erin Pohan (26:15)
We support just around 50.

KC Brothers (26:17)
That's impressive with that amount of hours worked.

Erin Pohan (26:21)
Yeah, yeah, I will say I am working on offloading more of my hours. And so we're getting ready to make a strategic hire in the next month, actually. I've been working and this is like the fun part because you asked to share a story about, you know, maybe the women from Wave Seattle afterwards. And so one of the unintentional impacts is

KC Brothers (26:32)
Congratulations.

Yes.

Erin Pohan (26:47)
they're looking to me to figure out how to run their firm. And I'm saying, hey, I love that you're like, I feel very privileged and honored that you asked me, but also same. I'm also trying to figure out what direction I want to take up keeping and how to grow and how to grow responsibly, especially. And so I am very ⁓ open about.

building and growing in public. And so I've been working with an operations specialist to develop this next role, this more strategic hire that's going to happen in the next month to take so much more off my plate so I can focus on that entrepreneurial aspect instead of the in the business accountant aspect. And then I'm going to be sharing that journey, whether it goes great, which I think we're setting ourselves up for success and our future hire up for success.

or whether there's gonna be some ups and downs, I'm going to be sharing all of it.

KC Brothers (27:43)
Where will you be sharing that?

Erin Pohan (27:45)
I share, I post almost every day on LinkedIn. yeah, so that is my space. I've found a really great community of other accounting peers who are sharing and being vulnerable as well.

KC Brothers (27:47)
Okay, okay.

Okay, that is awesome. I look forward to following along. Tell us a little bit about what this hire is going to look like. You said you're working with an operational person, I take it that means that this is not an operational hire. Or maybe I'm wrong.

Erin Pohan (28:12)
Yes, so

the, I worked with the specialist to develop a, basically we looked at our client load, who's doing what, how much Erin is still doing, and developing a position that truly encompasses the fact that someone is going to come in, they're gonna have this more intermediate level position where

KC Brothers (28:21)
Okay.

Erin Pohan (28:36)
Not only are they going to take things off my plate, but they're also going to help be a reviewer for all of the work that's being done by the team and then also be the one to implement any changes because we are tech forward, which means changes are always happening and we just need to have that change management person in place. yeah, so it'll be.

I think the role is like 75 % technical, 25 % leadership.

KC Brothers (29:06)
Okay, that sounds really fun and unique to nail down or like add to the theme of paving your own path in the industry. You're not hiring the way a typical accounting firm would hire. And I think that is so worth highlighting because everything about accounting is shifting because of tech. And I love that you're going with a change management.

Erin Pohan (29:28)
Yeah.

KC Brothers (29:31)
operator of sorts

Erin Pohan (29:33)
Yeah, it's an interesting space to be in because we have always operated in the fact that accounting is historical. Like you should always be able to look back and see how things have been done before you ask any questions and figure out what you need to do. Like you should always have something, a working paper or a journal entry to look back on, right? But with that in mind,

How can we still improve and automate and make things more efficient?

KC Brothers (30:01)
to close us out, I've got a few rapid fire questions for you. What's more important, mentorship or peer support?

Erin Pohan (30:05)
All right, let's go.

Ooh, that's a killer. I would argue peer support because peer support in a way is mentorship. And if we're figuring it out together, I mean, I'm in a weekly mastermind call with two incredible peers, and we have all been through the wringer.

with our ups and downs in our entrepreneurial journeys. And so I would look to them first when I have questions, but there's also amazing mentors too

It's not about me though. Just seeing the industry, just seeing the industry be better for the connections that are being made.

KC Brothers (30:53)
Yeah, yeah, I love that. Last question. What advice would you give to those that are just now entering the accounting industry?

Erin Pohan (31:01)
Show up, we want to know you, we want to hear your voice. And I know it's probably the scariest thing and there's imposter syndrome and all of that. But build authentically as you in public and show up, go on LinkedIn, start following all of the accountants who are sharing their voices. I know it means a lot to me when people post that.

they're trying to share their voice too and they're really encouraged. But just show up and you'll find an amazing community out there.

KC Brothers (31:34)
Yeah, I love it.

KC Brothers (31:35)
Thank you so much for answering those questions, Erin. How can people get involved if they'd like to?

Erin Pohan (31:41)
I am most active on LinkedIn. So if you find Erin Pohan on LinkedIn, you will probably see a daily post from me there and you can reach out. We also have our waveseattle.com website for the event happening next May on May 15th, 2026. And I would just love to connect with anyone who has questions.

KC Brothers (32:03)
Thanks again and I'll be following along on LinkedIn to see how these new changes go.

Erin Pohan (32:10)
Thank you.