The Only Way Is Through

by Mark R. Waller, CPA

In the world of taxes and accounting, meeting strict deadlines requires intentional, timely action. Tax returns don’t file themselves, even in the age of automation. Every year, as much as we want to make filing tax returns easy, there is just no avoiding the reality that getting through this chaotic season requires persistence and movement.

Around the end of December and the beginning of January, the reality that it’s that time again starts dawning on accountants everywhere. Getting through this season requires true mental capacity, something that can feel difficult after hibernating through the holidays.

So, how do we, as accountants, deal with this? There’s no way over or under without going through. For me, the looming tax deadlines force intentional movement — the calculated planning, meticulous record-keeping, and a drive to organize information. While some feel the urge to stall or delay, the deadlines give me an actionable target. If not for the nastygrams from the various Federal and State tax agencies, to start the year organized. What makes it even easier is the support from my colleagues – keeping each other accountable for our various deadlines helps build momentum.

Moving Ourselves

In 2025, my business partner Betsy and I had many discussions about what it would take to serve the Minnesota market. We knew that there were two options: 1) Scale Morem & Waller, CPAs ourselves, or 2) Join a team that has scaled already and go along for the ride.

As we thought about our choices, a few things came to mind. We knew that to scale our firm, we would need to take on significant personal risk. With our own families to think about and the joys and challenges of business ownership, this path seemed increasingly untenable for us personally.

Joining a team that was scaled and doing the work felt like a much better path, but the question then became how to find the right fit. Through sheer happenstance, we bumped into our friend, Allison Kirchhofer, at an industry event in September 2025.

“Instead of trying to force a conversion with people we might not know as well, we followed our intuition and forged a partnership from an existing relationship built on trust.”

Allison is also an accountant in the cannabis space; someone Betsy and I trust implicitly. We got to discussing the Minnesota market and how we could help this amazing industry succeed. The conversation of joining forces came up naturally. Instead of trying to force a conversion with people we might not know as well, we followed our intuition and forged a partnership from an existing relationship built on trust. After meeting with Allison’s new colleagues at Sax and discussing the possibilities, it seemed the only natural next step for Betsy and me was to join the Sax team and continue the movement we’d built over years of industry work.
In the first few days of working together, it became abundantly clear that our movement had grown even swifter and stronger than ever, and that the collaboration among all of us would create positive momentum — movement — for the cannabis industry now, and in the future.

Movement As Self Care

The year has only just begun, yet it's already a deeply challenging time for Minneapolis residents. There is, understandably, tons of uncertainty, and the future feels scary.

Yet, what has kept my hope alive is seeing how various communities have come together. Posting ways to help each other on all our various social networking platforms, including even the usually apolitical LinkedIn, has felt deeply moving. It’s a reminder that no matter what challenges come our way, connecting with those in our community has a huge impact.

We must move intentionally to take care of ourselves and each other, in the cannabis space and beyond. Helping neighbors with grocery runs, sending money to those impacted, and showing up for the movement helps to push the needle toward something a little more positive and hopeful for the future.

Having a period of stillness is important, but movement is key to getting to where we need to go.