The $50,000 Mistake I Didn’t Know I Was Making

Here’s something I had to learn the hard way: From 2020 to 2023, my finances were built on a grenade–and I had absolutely no idea.

For years, I thought I was being responsible. I had an offshore bookkeeper to keep costs down, a “reasonably priced” CPA, an attorney referral backing the CPA, and the comforting belief that everything was handled. 

On paper, it looked fine. But in reality, it was a ticking time bomb.

When Reality Finally Hit

In 2024, that grenade went off.

I was hit with a multi-five-figure IRS fine.

Not because I was hiding income or doing anything sketchy. It was because multiple years of my taxes were filed incorrectly, and no one caught it.

When I finally dug into it (with the help of a CPA friend), the problem became painfully clear:

My books were wrong.

So I called my CPA, expecting urgency… concern… something!

What he said changed how I think about finances forever:

“I don’t check to see if your books are correct. I file what I receive.”

Let that sink in.

He wasn’t verifying accuracy.
He wasn’t sanity-checking numbers.
He wasn’t catching mistakes.

He was overworked, overwhelmed, and mechanically filing returns. And when they were wrong, I was the one left holding the bag.

There was no apology or accountability; Just a massive bill and years of damage control.

The Pattern I Couldn’t Unsee

That experience is the reason I started digging deeper, and eventually, why 8 Figure Finance exists.

And here’s the part that should concern you: Across the companies we’ve reviewed, 33-40% of financials contain material errors.

And I’m not talking edge cases or tiny rounding mistakes. They were real issues that affected:

• P&Ls are inaccurate 

• Books are wrong 

• Companies aren’t tax ready 

• M&A readiness doesn’t exist 

In one case alone, we saved a client over $60,000 in 2024 simply by preventing them from overpaying taxes due to bad financial data.

No aggressive loopholes. No risky strategies. Just clean, accurate, verified numbers.

If your financial stack looks like this:

• Bookkeeper inputs numbers

• CPA files whatever shows up

• You assume “no news is good news”

You are trusting your company to a system that does not catch mistakes by design.

If you want a second set of eyes on your numbers before the IRS becomes the one reviewing them, this is exactly what we do. Book a confidential financial review here →

The Uncomfortable Truth About Any Industry

This isn’t just a finance problem.

It’s a universal rule:

• Most players are mediocre

• Few build systems of real value

• The cost of mediocrity is always paid later (and with interest)

Finance just happens to be one of the areas where the penalty shows up all at once in the form of fines, audits, or seven-figure mistakes.

I don’t want founders learning this lesson the way I did.

Final Thought

Most founders assume their finances are solid because nothing has gone wrong yet.

That’s not confidence, that’s luck.

If you want your numbers to be something you can actually rely on for growth, taxes, or an eventual exit, you need systems that are built to catch mistakes, not ignore them.

If you want help stress-testing your financial foundation, start here.

Three Things You Can Do Today

If you want to reduce your risk immediately, start here:

1. Ask your CPA this exact question: “How do you verify that my books are accurate before filing?” (If the answer is “we don’t,” that’s your signal.)

2. Audit the handoff between bookkeeping and tax filing. Most errors happen in the gap, not in either role individually.

3. Get an independent financial review before something forces it. Waiting until the IRS points out mistakes is the most expensive option.

Want us to run a diagnostics on which of the following systems you need the most help with and put together an easy-to-implement action plan to improve them? So you can finally escape agency prison and build your dream agency? Book a demo here!

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