The 2026 Canopy Upsmart Award Winners
Red Alder Accountants earned the 2026 Canopy Upsmart Award for turning a paper-based office into a fully digital, globally distributed firm—and for refining its processes every single season.
Not long ago, the team passed physical folders and routing sheets around the office. That stopped working the moment they hired remote team members. In their first season on Canopy, they went completely paperless.
Since then, they’ve built task workflows, automations, questionnaires, and client SOPs right into Canopy. They track time at every step, review their processes after each filing deadline, and use what they learn to train their team. The result is faster prep, less review time, and higher-quality work.
“It’s changed the way we operate our firm across the board. It’s created huge efficiencies. It’s increased the quality of our work product.”
— Chad Denson, Principal
Profile
Red Alder Accountants started in 1978 in a living room across the street from where the office sits today. Back then, tax returns were carbon copies done by hand. The firm has evolved ever since—from paper to computers, through a few name changes, and in 2026, into Red Alder Accountants.
Today, the 12-person team includes accountants onshore and in the Philippines, two client excellence coordinators, and an administrative team. They serve a mix of business and individual clients, with deep expertise in veterinary, healthcare-adjacent, legal, and professional services firms.
After 18 months with another practice management platform that never quite worked the way they needed, the firm moved to Canopy about three years ago. They’ve been building on it ever since.
Workflows That Get Better Every Season
For Red Alder, workflows aren’t a set-it-and-forget-it project. After April 15 and again after October 15, the team reviews how every process ran, where it caused stress, and what needs to change.
Because those workflows live in Canopy, everyone can see them, use them, and help improve them.
“Once we got the task workflows perfected, it’s changed our practice significantly… because they’re so transparent and because they’re available for everybody, it’s really created a lot of additional efficiency.”
— Chad Denson, Principal
Automations do a lot of the heavy lifting. During bookkeeping, clients get automatic updates as work moves from data entry to reconciliation to follow-up questions. No one has to remember to send them.
The team also builds each client’s quirks directly into their bookkeeping workflow—which accounts to reconcile, which statements arrive in an unusual format, and so on. New team members don’t have to hunt down an SOP. It’s right there in the task.
Time Tracking That Pinpoints Bottlenecks
Before Canopy, Red Alder didn’t track time at all. Now they track it at every step of the workflow. When one step runs long, the firm provides targeted training to the right person instead of guessing.
Tax Resolution & Transcripts That Make a Real Difference
Red Alder does a lot of work alongside tax attorneys, along with historical projects for clients who’ve lost their records. Canopy’s tax resolution tools have been a game changer.
“The resolution section of Canopy has been relatively life-changing. We do a lot of work for tax attorneys, we do historical projects, and so having that resolution section of Canopy is really phenomenal for us.”
— Chad Denson, Principal
Quick access to IRS transcripts has been especially meaningful for senior clients and for clients who’ve lost everything in a move or a disaster, like the California wildfires.
Portal, Requests & E-Signatures = A Seamless Client Experience
Accountants flag missing documents, and client excellence coordinators send requests through the portal with automatic reminders. E-signatures make conflict-of-interest letters easy, even when signers don’t want to be in the same room.
Tags, Connectors & Questionnaires Keep Every Client Organized
Red Alder uses tags to sort clients by return complexity, referral source, and whether they need estimates or have a power of attorney. They also use client groups to track clients from two firms they’ve acquired in the last two years.
Client connectors link related returns, like a trust or estate and all of its beneficiaries.
Questionnaires handle intake for specialized work, including:
- A 990 organizer for nonprofits
- An earned income tax credit due diligence checklist
- A foreign income and FBAR questionnaire that collects account and address details in the right format
Secure, Streamlined Onboarding for a Global Team
With team members in the Philippines, security is a must. Canopy lets Red Alder limit offshore team members’ access to only the clients who’ve signed a 7216 consent.
Onboarding runs through Canopy too. New hires get a time-budgeted onboarding workflow that covers software access, how-to videos, and training. Because everything lives in Canopy, new team members learn the system first—and can complete most of their onboarding on their own.
“Do It.”
When asked what he’d tell other firms considering Canopy, Chad didn’t hesitate: “Do it.”
He’s coached several other firms through their own Canopy setup and shares Red Alder’s processes in an international coaching group. His one regret? Not starting implementation earlier. They began in November and December, and he recommends starting in September or October.
“It’s made our clients who are able to use technology happier. It’s really been a great implementation, even for our most technologically challenged team members.”
— Chad Denson, Principal
From a living room in 1978 to a paperless, global firm today, Red Alder Accountants has never stopped evolving. With Canopy, they’ve built a firm that’s more efficient, more consistent, and ready for whatever comes next.
