Joshua Lance, Founder of Lance CPA Group, Has Passed Away

In a post on Instagram, Lance CPA Group said its offices will be closed today to “honor our friend.”

“We are deeply saddened to share that we lost our dear friend and fearless leader, Josh, this weekend. Josh was an amazing entrepreneur, but first and foremost was a loving husband to Leesa and father to Nathan and Ella. He was kind, generous, funny, calm, humble, optimistic and always the smartest one in the room,” the post says.

“His dream to start his own business began when he was young. Instead of running the typical lemonade stand, he would sell it door to door. This drive led to him starting Joshua Lance CPA out of the basement of his house almost 9 years ago. Under Josh’s leadership, the firm grew into Lance CPA Group and the business we know today. The loss we feel is tremendous, but the knowledge we gained from him is what we will carry on as we continue to run this firm and proudly carry on his legacy.”

A CPA and a CGMA, Josh began his career in public accounting at Crowe Horwath, now Crowe, in the Chicago area. He then worked as a controller at an ultra-high-net-worth family office. But he always dreamt of one day running his own business, and that opportunity opened up nearly 10 years ago.

“Prior to starting Lance CPA Group I had worked at a family office. The job was wonderful, however, the family decided to move their office from Chicago to San Francisco. With a young family and our support system based here in the Midwest, moving to San Francisco was not an option that made sense for us. It was during that transition time that led to the journey of building Lance CPA Group,” Josh wrote on the firm’s website. “I had always wanted to run my own business someday. As a child, I had numerous lemonade stands and even sold lemonade door to door. In college, I started a ride-sharing business (this in the pre-Uber days) that would take students from our college to the airport during breaks at school. This drive to start something that was my own was always in the back of my mind. The opportunity to start a CPA firm with the transition of my old job made sense. Starting a CPA firm was not necessarily the business I always wanted to start, but I knew the industry and knew that I could take advantage of running a firm that was virtual and remote when very few firms were embracing this concept.”

So, he founded Lance CPA Group, a virtual firm that focuses on providing accounting and consulting services to craft breweries and digital agencies. As a craft beer enthusiast, it made perfect sense for Josh’s firm to provide accounting services to small, up-and-coming breweries in the Chicagoland area.

“We chose to work with craft breweries because I was a home brewer (and even more so a home winemaker) and I knew about and had a passion for the craft beer industry,” he wrote. “Early 2014 was the beginning of the growth in breweries in the greater Chicagoland area, and I knew these brand-new breweries would need someone who understood the accounting, finance, and regulatory aspects of their industry. We now work with breweries across the country by helping them grow strategically to reach the goals of their brewery.

“We also work with digital agencies, which really began when we started to attract agencies by how we branded our firm and positioned ourselves in the marketplace,” he continued. “While not specifically trying to reach these agencies, they saw how we market ourselves, which was different from most CPA firms. The agencies we get to work with are extremely creative and it’s exciting to see what they come up with and how they serve their client base.” 

In addition to running his own CPA firm, Josh was head of accounting at Ignition, a provider of practice management software. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday, Ignition wrote, “We’re heartbroken to share that we lost our Head of Accounting, Josh Lance, to cancer. Josh wasn’t just an amazing accountant; he was an incredible person with a big heart and sharp mind. If you knew Josh, you know he gave his all—to his work, his family, and to the accounting world. We’re going to miss him more than words can say. Our thoughts are with his family and friends right now.”

Ignition CEO Guy Pearson wrote on LinkedIn yesterday, “My thoughts are with [Josh’s wife] Leesa and his two children and the wider Lance family, community, and all those who worked with Josh and had the experience of being in the presence of this human with a huge heart, cheeky smile, and a quick wit.”

Will Lopez, head ambassador to accountant partners and customers at HR and payroll company Gusto, wrote on LinkedIn Sunday that Josh’s passing left him “utterly broken hearted.”

“Josh was so much to so many, including me. For years, we built our firms alongside each other sharing wisdom back and forth,” Lopez wrote. “We celebrated when ‘us accountants made it’ into tech and in our respective roles. And he believed in me when we were creating People Advisory, chatting over the phone so long ago and asking if he would become the first person to help a client through PAS, and he did, we worked daily on it—the partnership with Ignition and the engagement letters in product are living arts of his commitment. And so much more …

“Josh was Josh. And I am so very thankful to have known him and will continue to keep his memory alive,” he continued. “My thoughts are with his family.”

Josh also taught at two universities. He was an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University teaching accounting and entrepreneurship in the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship. The class he taught is designed for undergraduate students to learn about accounting to apply to their future entrepreneurial efforts. 

“I had the privilege of teaching with Josh for over 5 years at Northwestern and got to see firsthand the impact he had on hundreds of students. Throughout that time, I also learned more than I could ever imagine from him,” Curt Mastio, CPA, founder of Founder’s CPA, an accounting firm that offers specialized accounting services to startups and small businesses, and an adjunct professor at Northwestern, wrote in a post on LinkedIn today. “Josh was also an accounting firm owner, so I would regularly reach out to him for advice or just to pick his brain. There was never a single time that Josh said no or wasn’t willing to help. He also never asked for a single thing in return. That’s just the type of person Josh was. Josh, you will be deeply missed but your impact on me and countless others will never be forgotten.”

Josh also taught at the University of Vermont in its Business of Craft Beer program.

In addition, he is the co-founder of Socially Beneficial Investments LLC, a company that helps provide housing and real estate to immigrants with partnerships with nonprofits to lead participants to home ownership.

Josh was a CPA Practice Advisor “40 Under 40” honoree six times—from 2017 through 2022.

“He attended our ‘40 Under 40’ meetings a couple of times and also was a regular speaker at the ICPAS Summit. Josh was a super nice guy,” said Gail Perry, CPA, editor-in-chief of CPA Practice Advisor. “The accounting profession is a better place because of his contributions.”

Josh served on the Illinois CPA Society Board of Directors and was named as an MP Elite in 2022 by Accounting Today.

Those who knew him are invited to a Memorial Service being held on Saturday, October 28th, 2023, 10:30 a.m., at Hinsdale Covenant Church, 412 S. Garfield St. in Hinsdale, IL.

Instead of flowers, the family asks that donations be given to the organizations after Josh’s heart– honoring family and business:

• Foster Progress – Please select “In Honor of Josh Lance”

• National Association of Black Accountants (NABA)– Please select “General Fund”

• https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joshlance