There are people in this industry who shape it — and Rachel Fisch is one of them.
In this episode, I caught up with my longtime friend, tech leader, firm owner, and fellow sugar enthusiast, Rachel Fisch. We’ve known each other since the early T-Sheets Council days, back when there were only a handful of cloud apps to build around. Rachel was already running one of Canada’s most progressive remote bookkeeping firms, FischBooks, and pushing the industry forward in a quiet little town called Brandon, Manitoba.
Fast forward a decade and Rachel is now the GM of North America at Dext and also the proud owner of RealtyTax, a niche firm focused on realtors and their advisors. But before we dove into tech and transformation, we started with something sweeter…
Fun Dip, Forts & Fishing Huts
Rachel’s favorite childhood snack? Fun Dip. Not just because of the taste — but because of the memories it unlocked.
“We didn’t have a cabin growing up, but my grandparents bought a house on a frozen lake in the Muskoka region of Ontario. We’d skate, snowshoe, ice fish in huts that smelled like propane and perch… and every summer, we’d walk or bike to Star Lake Lodge for a bag of candy — Fun Dip included.”
Rachel’s technique? Surgical. Rip low, scoop maximum sugar, protect the stick at all costs. It’s not just fun — it’s structured.
“Fun Dip actually used to be called Lik-M-Aid. Then they added a stick and called it Lik-A-Stik. Eventually it became Fun Dip. They kept rebranding but never deprecated the old name. It reminds me of the tech world — constant change, but it’s still the same product underneath.”
Owning the Journey (Even When It Implodes)
Rachel didn’t get here the easy way. Her first firm, FischBooks (originally Fish Financial), was an early cloud trailblazer. That led to an opportunity with Deloitte, but as she shared candidly:
“Everyone thinks it was a win — getting acquired by Deloitte. But the truth? It was an implosion. It didn’t work. And that’s okay.”
After Deloitte, she found herself pulled toward supporting other bookkeepers, joining Sage, leading their Canadian channel, and later becoming a respected voice in tech and accounting education. Along the way, she built and grew her online community and helped shape best practices for cloud firms across North America.
The Full Circle: From Partner to Platform Leader
In 2024, Rachel took on a new role as General Manager of North America at Dext — the same product she first adopted over a decade ago when it was still Receipt Bank.
“I’m here because I love the product — not the other way around. I’ve used Dext since the early days. I’ve seen the highs, the lows, and what it can do when it’s dialed in. Now I get to shape that for the next generation of firm owners.”
Owning a Niche: RealtyTax
Rachel is also the owner of RealtyTax, a niche firm for realtors and their financial advisors. It’s a perfect reflection of her passion for precision, her ability to connect community, and her desire to build something with impact.
She shared that part of her reason for re-entering the tech world was to lessen her financial load on the firm, allowing it to grow and scale without pressure — a lesson more firm owners should consider.
Her Advice to Firm Owners (and Everyone In Between)
“There’s no one right way to build a firm. Start, merge, buy, sell, partner, niche down — whatever works for you, do that. The only wrong path is one that doesn’t align with your values or goals.”
And her closing thought?
“The cloud accounting community is still small, still tight-knit, and still feeding off each other’s wins. That energy — the ecosystem energy — is what makes this all worth it.”
Want to simplify your bookkeeping and say goodbye to manual data entry? Head over to dext.com to see how Dext helps accountants and business owners save time, stay organized, and get more done with smart automation tools.
Want to learn more about how Karbon helps accounting firms streamline their workflow, collaborate seamlessly, and scale with confidence? Head over to karbonhq.com to explore their powerful platform and discover why firms around the world are making the switch.
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