CPA Trendlines Podcasts

Context, verified sources, and human review remain essential as teams build AI tools.

Innovation Insights
With Donny Shimamoto and Liz Mason
Center for Accounting Transformation

A tax firm can build an AI agent to organize documents, flag missing information, and track unfinished returns. The harder assignment is deciding what that agent should never do on its own. That question drives this episode of Innovation Insights, a Center for Accounting Transformation podcast conversation between hosts Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, and Liz Mason, CPA.

As smaller...

The 2026 Accounting MOVE Project report examines how caregiving affects women’s careers. A newly released MOVE Like This episode explores another part of that conversation: whether women’s own healthcare needs are being heard.

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

Supporting women’s careers requires understanding the lives they lead beyond work.

That connection comes into focus with the release of the 2026 Accounting MOVE Project report, Caught in the Middle: How Caregiving Pressures Are Reshaping Women's Careers in Public Accoun...

Accounting firms may offer flexibility, but outdated expectations and missed opportunities can still push experienced professionals out the door.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

Accounting firms have spent years worrying about the front end of the talent pipeline. Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk wants them to look at the other end as well. 

Ruszczyk, owner and research lead of the Accounting MOVE Project, led this year's MOVE report, Caught in the Middle: How Caregiving Pressures Are Reshaping Women's Careers in Public Accounting. This new r...

Technical expertise earns credibility, but the ability to delegate, build trust, and guide people through uncertainty determines how far a business can grow. Full show notes here

Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown

An accounting firm’s biggest bottleneck may sit at the top.

The leader who reviews every return, answers every technical question, and makes every consequential decision can appear indispensable. But that dependence raises a difficult question: Who is building the business while its leader is busy checking the work?

MORE Accounting Voices with Rob Brown | MORE CPA Trendlines St...

Overlooked client requests and undocumented know-how can distort pricing, strain teams, and limit advisory growth.

It's Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

Most accounting firm owners could tell you their billable hours down to the decimal. Far fewer could tell you where the other 25% to 30% of their team's time goes.

Jeanne Hardy, CEO and founder of the practice management platform Levvy and the CAS firm Creative Business, joins Damien Greathead and Penny Breslin on It's Not Just the...

Recurring revenue, client boundaries, and an entrepreneurial mindset helps shape a career around family.

Accounting Conversations
With Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation

Caitlynn Eldridge, CPA, is not trying to win a revenue contest. She is building an accounting practice that leaves room for the rest of her life.

The mother of five describes a business with an intentionally manageable workload: 55 tax returns in the season she discusses, an employee handling bookkeeping and sales taxes, and a schedule she puts at 10 to 15 hours a week...

“This isn’t a flash in the pan. This is an actual structural change in the profession.”

Big 4 Transparency
By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
For CPA Trendlines

Private equity in public accounting is often reduced to a caricature - buy, cut, flip.

Tim Brackney, CEO of Springline Advisory, says that framing misses what many accounting investments are actually trying to do: fund a growth thesis built around expanded capabilities, talent development, and modernized service delivery. Springline, backed by Trinity Hunt Partners, is a “buy-and-build” platform that has comple...

Burnout pushed him to rethink growth, rebuild his processes, and make room for a better life.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

 When Nick Boscia joined his father's accounting firm in 2013, it was like stepping back in time.

“When I joined, we were still using like the green ledger sheets,” he recalls. “I started in 2013, and it was like it was 1980.” Today, Boscia is known as the Balanced CPA and is co-owner, with his brother Joe, of Boscia and Boscia PC, the firm their fat...

Leaders reveal a widening gap between adopting new capabilities and building firms that can use them effectively.

Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown

A firm buys powerful technology, announces ambitious growth plans, and asks an already stretched team to deliver more. The tools change. The way the business operates barely moves.

Accounting Voices explores the strain inside that scenario. Drawing on reflections from 48 firm leaders, consultants, media professionals, technology experts, and other industry voices, it examines what their observations reveal about accounting’s direction.

Nontechnical teams can use AI-built scripts to automate repetitive work, reclaim valuable time, and turn an accounting firm’s operational problem into a marketable product.

It's Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

Most accounting firms talk about AI automation in the future tense. They're waiting for the right tool, the right vendor, or the right moment to start using it seriously.

Trent Yesberg didn't wait. As director of Regional Business Services in Townsville, Australia, he started asking Claude an...

Building an accounting tool with AI is only the beginning of making it useful, secure, and sustainable.

Innovation Insights
With Donny Shimamoto and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

An accountant builds a dashboard that pulls information from several systems. A proposal generator turns service selections into a polished PDF. A homemade utility eliminates a tedious step in the monthly close.

Then comes the question that changes everything: How do I let my team use it?

In this episode of...

Leaders must align everyday decisions with the flexibility, innovation, and growth they promise employees.

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk sits down with Kassi Rushing, strategist and speaker with Kassi Rushing Consulting, to explore what future-ready accounting firms need from their people strategies, and why culture, caregiving, leadership development, and business performance are increasingly difficult to separate.

Rushing, who has spent 20 years working in and with the accounting profession...

A five-layer “AI trust stack” helps auditors put AI to work while keeping professional judgment at the center.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

As AI takes on more audit work, David Marquis sees professional judgment becoming more valuable.

The Caseware CEO argues that the opportunity extends beyond faster document reviews and automated analysis. Firms can rethink how audits work while strengthening the consistency, accountability, and trust that clients and capital markets depend on.

Leaders face growing questions about influence, identity, and professional relevance.

Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown

An accounting firm can keep its clients, meet its deadlines, and remain profitable while the people inside it quietly wonder whether they still belong in its future.

As technology, ownership models, and expectations reshape the profession, Accounting Voices examines the questions that software demonstrations and strategic plans often leave unanswered: Who gets to make decisions? Whose expertise still carries weight? And what happens when the career someone works toward becomes a...

An AI engineer can help accounting teams tackle bottlenecks, streamline workflows, and build capacity.

It's Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

For years, accounting firm owners have treated the "next hire" question as a simple one: bring on another accountant. However, that assumption is starting to cost firms real time and money.

In this recent case study, MoneyPenny, LLC shares what happened  when their newest hire wasn't an accountant at all. She was a recent graduate with a d...

Practical experience, thoughtful questions, and strong communication help students build careers that reach beyond the classroom.

Accounting Conversations
With Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation

A perfect GPA can open a door. It cannot explain a client’s financial story, replace practical experience, or demonstrate how someone responds when there is no answer key.

For accounting students eager to distinguish themselves, that difference matters.

On Accounting Conversations, host Chayton Farlee welcomes Hannah Hood and Joey Kinney, co-hosts of The Young CPA Su...

Employees lose stability and firms lose money through churn

Big 4 Transparency
By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
For CPA Trendlines

A growing body of compensation data suggests that accounting firms may be unintentionally penalizing their most loyal employees.

In a recent solo episode of the Big 4 Transparency, founder Dominic Piscopo unpacks what he calls the “loyalty tax” — the pay gap between internally promoted employees and externally hired peers performing the same role. Drawing on 2024–2025 compensation data from thousands of U.S. and Canadian professionals, Piscopo outlines how this str...

Curiosity, problem-solving, and creative habits help strengthen marketing, improve client experiences, and bring more humanity to an AI-driven profession.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

Karen Reyburn, managing director of We Are PF and author of the new book Accountants, You Are Creative, wants accountants to embrace their innate creativity.

Reyburn's first book, The Accountant Marketer, laid out the building blocks of marketing for accounting firms based on what worked for the firms that she and PF worked with. She noticed that just...

Technology, consolidation, and changing expectations expose weaknesses in business strategies.

Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown

Accountants help clients plan for growth, manage risk, and prepare for uncertainty. But what happens when they turn that same scrutiny on their own firms?

The answers may be uncomfortable.

In this episode of Accounting Voices, reflections from 48 interviews conducted in late 2025 reveal a recurring concern: The profession’s ability to solve other people’s business problems does not always translate into a willingness to confront its own...

The expectation that tax preparation can happen instantly is creating real pressure.

It's Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

Tax season is supposed to be predictable. The work comes in, the work goes out, the deadlines hold. But this year, something broke for accounting firms across the board — and it wasn't the tax code.

The culprit wasn't client volume or staffing shortages. It was prioritization and communication, specifically, the gap between where priorities were being set and where th...

ARC hosts debate credentials, accountability, and the risks of advice that exceeds a provider’s expertise.

Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason, Donny Shimamoto, and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

A business owner asks for financial reports. A bookkeeper delivers them. For years, the arrangement appears to work — until another accountant examines the numbers and discovers that the reports do not add up.

The owner receives exactly what he requests. What he misses is someone qualified to question the request.

That stor...

When leaders admit they don’t have all the answers, they create room for others to contribute.

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

Randy Crabtree founded an accounting firm, then came to a difficult realization: Being its founder didn’t make him the right person to lead it. His decision to step aside as managing partner of Tri-Merit opens a bigger conversation about what happens when leaders admit they don’t have all the answers.

On MOVE Like This, Crabtree joins...

"People don't want to work themselves to death for a third of the year."

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

Logan Graf, owner of The Graf Tax Co and founder of the Counter community, is proof that there’s a better way to run a tax firm. Last tax season, after restructuring, hiring a manager, and implementing a tax scheduling system, neither he nor his manager worked more than 40 hours a week. He believes accounting firms should operate like modern businesses. “We don't have to look at what...

"I make more money now, but more importantly, I'm not miserable."

Big 4 Transparency
By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
For CPA Trendlines

Jaimie Nichols expected her accounting practice to grow faster. Two years after leaving firm life, she is glad it didn’t.

Nichols started the practice around the time she learned she was going to become a mother. Now, she tells host Dominic Piscopo on The Big 4 Transparency that she has earned more than she did at her former job while spending far more time wi...

Accounting teams must ensure their people can recognize anomalies, challenge outputs, and apply sound judgment.

It's Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

AI is everywhere in accounting right now.

It's in your inbox, on the Super Bowl, and probably inside at least one tool your firm uses for tax prep. But there's a conversation happening inside serious accounting firms, the ones processing thousands of returns, managing global teams, and serving clients who expect more than a spreadsheet...

The profession isn't slowing down, but accountants can build clarity, visibility, and career capital to move forward with greater control.

Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown

Accountants have spent years preparing for demanding work. Far fewer are prepared for what happens when the nature of that work changes almost overnight.

Artificial intelligence, private equity, mergers, leadership changes, shifting client expectations, regulatory pressures, and persistent talent shortages are reshaping accounting at the same time. The result is not simply a busier profession. It is a profession in which...

AI, talent development, pricing, and advisory services demand action now — even when leaders do not have all the answers.

Gear Up for Growth
with Jean Caragher
for CPA Trendlines

The accounting profession has no shortage of predictions about its future. But RISE2040 is designed to be something different: a future shaped by the profession itself and a practical framework for deciding what to do next.

In this episode of Gear Up for Growth, host Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing, welcomes back Kassi Rushing, CEO an...

Even a small volunteer commitment can deliver lasting professional and personal returns.

Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

A single meeting changed the trajectory of Byron Patrick’s career.

Early in his career, the owner of Patrick’s firm, who was serving as chair of the Maryland Association of CPAs, invited him to come along to a meeting. Patrick found himself in a room with established leaders discussing the future of the profession.

“I was like...

Proper entity structure, timing, and compliance are critical to maximizing the next phase of Opportunity Zone benefits.

The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management
With Rory Henry, CFP®, BFA™

A decade ago, federal Opportunity Zones (OZ) were introduced as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs act to encourage long-term investment into economically distressed communities through tax incentives. The first phase of the OZ program expires at the end of 2026, but Blake Christian, CPA, says the program is entering a new phase (OZ 2.0) that could dramatically expand its impact across operating businesses, inf...

Replace informal succession practices with trained mentors and measurable opportunities for growth.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

For decades, accounting teams have assumed future leaders would emerge through the normal progression of the ranks. The best seniors would become managers, and the best managers would become partners, ready to step into the shoes of retiring leaders.

According to Rachel Anevski, that approach is no longer sustainable.

Anevski, president and CEO of Matters of Management and managing director...

Disciplined choices, talent investment, and cultural alignment matter more than chasing every opportunity.

Big 4 Transparency
By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
For CPA Trendlines

As private equity reshapes the accounting profession, Bennett Thrasher is making a different kind of bet. The top 100 firm intends to remain independent.

Michael Hoover, Bennett Thrasher’s chief growth and strategy officer, joins host Dominic Piscopo on The Big 4 Transparency Podcast to explain why the firm considers independence central to its growth strategy—and why saying no may be one of the most...

Protect your credibility and career options by responding with calm, connection, and purpose.

Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown

An email arrives. A town hall appears on the calendar. Leaders begin using words such as “merger,” “sale,” “new ownership,” “restructuring,” or “strategic reset.”

Suddenly, the change that once felt theoretical becomes personal.For accounting professionals, these announcements can trigger immediate questions about job security, leadership, culture, client relationships, and the future of the organization. Some people freeze. Others panic, withdraw, overshare, or rush to update their LinkedIn profiles.

Accounting teams should be intentionally designed around technology, outsourcing, and evolving organizational structures 

Gear Up for Growth
with Jean Caragher
for CPA Trendlines

“We're at a time where we have multiple generational changes happening all at the same time," says Calvin Harris Jr., CEO of the New York State Society of CPAs, during a recent episode of Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher, president, Capstone Marketing, and powered by CPA Trendlines.

According to Harris, technology, alternative practice structures, outsourcing and changing workforce expectations are...

Extraordinary opportunities lie ahead for those who combine accounting knowledge with curiosity, judgment, and business insight.

Accounting Conversations
With Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation

Accounting students often feel pressure to choose the perfect career path before they have taken their first professional step. Tony Wilson, CPA, CMA, offers a more forgiving — and practical — approach: Choose a direction, start moving, and learn along the way.

“Sometimes, just choose the thing,” Wilson says. “Just go after it.”

In this episode of the Accounting C...

Flexible systems help accounting professionals remain, contribute, and advance when life’s responsibilities change.

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

When caregiving responsibilities collide with work, even the most committed professionals can find themselves questioning whether their careers are still sustainable.

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies and inspiration architect at the Center for Accounting Transformation, joins Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk to discuss what accounting firms can do to better support em...

Intelligent agents will reshape accounting workflows, pricing models, employee development, and the value firms deliver to clients.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

Kenji Kuramoto says accounting firms will be changing how they work — and even who does the work.

“The future of accounting firms,” Kuramoto says, “is going to be made up of a workforce that has two components. It’ll have people and agents.”

His current company, Basis, where he serves as managing partner in residence, is building...

The strategy may be simple, but the execution is not.

The Concierge CPA
With Jackie Meyer

In this episode, Dr. Jackie Meyer, CPA, welcomes Jason Ackerman, CPA, CFP, CGMA, chief financial officer and co-founder of WealthRabbit, to separate practical Roth IRA guidance from the oversimplified advice circulating online.

Roth IRAs can provide tax-free growth and qualified withdrawals, but eligibility rules, reporting requirements, and conversion mechanics leave plenty of room for costly mistakes. Meyer and Ackerman examine direct contributions, b...

K1x Is Betting $175 Million on It.

Full show notes here

By Seth Fineberg
For CPA Trendlines

K1x is putting $175 million in new investment behind an expansion of its K-1 technology platform, with plans to accelerate product development, broaden its offerings and build a more standardized system for managing partnership tax data.

MORE K1x: K1x Secures $175 Million for Private Markets AI Tax Tech | Private Market Tax Is Heading for a Collision | The 3-Part Framework Firms Are Using to Fix K-1 Chaos | Why the Future of Tax Isn’t...

Accountants should demand systems that reveal the work, respect boundaries, and produce results humans can verify.

Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto, Liz Mason, and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

Agentic AI does not have to replace an accountant to transform accounting. Its more practical role may be far less dramatic — and far more useful.

In this episode of the Accounting ARC podcast, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Liz Mason, CPA; and Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, explore how narrowly focused AI agents can help professionals re...

Firms must build new pathways that develop reviewers, judgment and client-facing skills.

Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto, Liz Mason, and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

Artificial intelligence may not eliminate the entry-level tax professional. But it is dismantling the job that many firms still use to train one.

That's the conversation driving a new episode of the Accounting ARC podcast featuring Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation...