Here's the lowdown
Whitman Advisory launched Conventus for independent CPA firms with up to $8 million in annual revenue.
Membership includes monthly learning days, peer roundtables, office hours, quarterly benchmarking, 90-day focus groups, and an annual in-person summit.
Whitman says the program follows the rhythm of tax season, but it did not disclose pricing, launch membership, cohort size, or promised performance targets.
Small CPA firms have a strange management problem: the person making the biggest decisions is often the same person answering client calls.
Pricing, hiring, technology, and succession can all land on one owner or a tiny leadership team. There may be no internal expert to challenge the plan before money and time are committed.
Whitman Advisory wants to sell a solution to that isolation. Its new Conventus membership program gives firms under $8 million in revenue a mix of expert instruction, peer advice, benchmarking, and follow-through.
Here's the thing: a community is easy to join. The value appears only when the conversations change a firm.
The program is built around a firm's calendar
Whitman says Conventus is a year-round program that follows the flow of tax season. Busy months focus on operational support. Slower periods leave room for planning.
Members get monthly learning and leadership days on growth, profitability, talent, technology, artificial intelligence, and succession. Facilitated roundtables let leaders bring a firm-specific problem to peers and specialists.
The package also includes tools, templates, office hours, and quarterly reviews that compare a firm's performance with peers. Small cohorts spend 90 days on one priority, with accountability built into the schedule. An annual summit brings members together in person.
That is more structured than a chat group or conference badge. It tries to connect an idea, an action, and a later check on whether anything changed.
The $8 million ceiling defines the product
Large firms can hire specialists for pricing, technology, talent, finance, and succession. A smaller firm may need the same expertise, but not enough of each role to put everyone on payroll.
Conventus is a shared bench. Members can borrow expertise and compare decisions without merging, joining a larger network, or handing control to an outside investor.
Whitman says success can look different for each member. One firm may want to double. Another may want better margins, less dependence on one owner, or a better life for the team.
That flexibility fits independent firms. It also makes results harder to compare. If every member chooses a different finish line, the quarterly benchmarks and 90-day goals will need to be specific enough to show progress.
Whitman is building a shelf of firm-owner products
Conventus is not a one-off project.
Whitman has recently launched a 12-month growth advisory program, a 90-day transition program for departing leaders, a leadership coaching company, and an online firm valuation tool. Together, the products cover growth, leadership, succession, valuation, and now peer support.
The strategy is clear. Instead of waiting for a firm to call about a transaction, Whitman can build a longer relationship around the decisions that happen before a sale, merger, or leadership change.
No joke, that relationship could be valuable. It could also become another pile of webinars and templates if owners do not have time to act.
The missing number is the membership price
Whitman did not publish the cost, number of founding members, cohort size, or the benchmarks firms will see. Those details matter because a peer group gets better when members have enough in common to share useful numbers, but enough difference to challenge one another.
The bottom line is simple. Owners should ask what happens after each meeting. Is there one named action, one person responsible, and one number reviewed 90 days later?
If Conventus can turn advice into those decisions, it may give small firms something they struggle to build alone. If not, it is another calendar full of good intentions.
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