Future-Proof

This week, we’re focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Crystal Cooke, Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the American Institute of CPAs, helps us shed light on these important topics. We talk about where our profession stands today, what changes are happening already, and what else needs to be done going forward. Crystal took her current role in February of 2020, just before the summe...

We are a remote work world now. Which means, for all of you leaders and managers out there, that we have to figure out how to best manage remote workers. That means finding new ways to manage technology, engagement, wellness, culture, and trust. Jennifer Wilson is co-founder and partner of ConvergenceCoaching, a national consulting firm dedicated to developing leaders and transforming teams. She i...

Let’s talk about comedy and how it relates to business. In this episode, Peter Margaritis joins the podcast to talk about just that, and his new book, “Off-Script: Mastering the Art of Business Improv.”  Improv, at its core, is about building a conversation out of what another person says instead of relying on our own agendas. In our business settings, most of us want to control the narrative...

We’re going to take a closer look at augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality. Augmented reality combines our real world with virtual information, images, sounds, or other media that augments our experiences in the real world. There are some really interesting case studies of how AR is being used in innovative and productive ways. Here to help us understand AR better are Dina Broydo and...

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski is the president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and he recently announced his retirement after three decades at the helm of UMBC. He will officially step down in June 2022. He's a leader in every sense of the word, particularly when it comes to educating and graduating an incredibly diverse and inclusive student body. Joining him is Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, a...

We are 20 years out from 9/11, the tragic event that changed everything in the US. We all have our 9/11 stories – the things we remember most when we think back to that fateful day. To mark the occasion, we’re going to hear from some of the leaders in the accounting and finance profession, their stories, where they were when it happened, and how the event has impacted the profession. Those leaders...

We’ve dissected this pandemic in every way possible so far – its impact on our world, our health, our businesses, our employees, and the future of work – as well as its impact on leadership, innovation, technology, and the pace of change in general. It’s all speeding up, right? But let’s take a closer look at how COVID-19 has impacted the world of financial planning – not only for clients and the...

Lee Frederiksen is a business strategist, a behavioral psychologist, and the managing partner of a marketing firm called Hinge which caters to the professional services industry. Lee makes the case that more professional service firms have been positively impacted by the pandemic than negatively impacted. This crisis has been difficult for people in many ways: jobs, businesses, and even lives lost...

Bill Pirolli is the new chair of the American Institute of CPAs and a partner with DiSanto Priest & Co., in Warwick, Rhode Island. He gives us his take on the future of the profession, some of the things he has his eye on, and his priorities for the coming year – all of which will impact everyone in the profession. Bill has been thinking about pipeline issues, engaging the next generation of C...

Anirban Basu is chairman and CEO of Sage Policy Group, an economic and policy consulting firm headquartered in the great city of Baltimore, Maryland. He is one of the most popular speakers on the MACPA educational circuit, chair of the Maryland Economic Development Commission, and of the Baltimore County Economic Advisory Committee. He was named one of Maryland’s 50 most influential people. When i...

We’ve discussed the .cpa domain before – a new domain that’s available exclusively to CPAs. There are many benefits involved with this domain (for both you and your clients). The domain has been out there since earlier this year, so we thought now would be a good time to take stock of where things are for people. How’s this domain working for everyone? How many people have used it? What about it h...

Lexy Kessler is the partner in charge of Aronson’s Government Contract Services Group and chair of the AICPA’s PCPS Executive Committee. As of July 1st, she is the new chair of the Maryland Association of CPAs Board of Directors. We’re going to look at her priorities this year and the trends impacting CPAs in Maryland and beyond. Of course, diversity and inclusion in the pipeline are always a focu...

You would be hard-pressed to think of an area that has a greater impact on the working world than where we work. The pandemic has taken the cat out of the bag – so to speak – and there’s no putting it back. Working from home is here to stay. Now it’s up to us to keep it productive. Kassi Rushing is a communication and people strategist who works with organizations to bring their cultural visions t...

It seems as if everyone wants to offer client accounting services, but not many know where to start. Hitendra Patil is the Head of Customer Success at AccountantsWorld. He is a fixture in Accounting Today’s list of The 100 Most Influential People in Accounting. And he’s one of the biggest fans – and, certainly, one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject – of client accounting services. He...

David Nour is CEO of The Nour Group, where they're all about building strategic relationships to help leaders reimagine the future. He's an advisor to Fortune 500 execs, a professor at Emory University, and the author of 11 books. His latest is “ Curve Benders: How Strategic Relationships Can Power Your Non-Linear Growth in the Future of Work .” What are curve benders? How do you define "strategic...

Donny Shimamoto is the founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies, an advisory-focused CPA firm in Honolulu. He’s also an incredibly active volunteer and thought leader for the American Institute of CPAs, doing work in information management, IT, and assurance services. His latest project is leading the launch of the new Center for Accounting Transformation. Its mission statement re...

Kelly Phillips Erb runs a very popular Twitter account under the handle, TaxGirl. She has written a regular Forbes column for years under the moniker, and now she’s doing the same for Bloomberg. She’s been interviewed by every big-name media company in the business about all things tax: CNN, Reuters, Time, NPR, ABC, CBS, MarketWatch, and more. She is also a managing attorney with ErbLaw, based in...

Andrew Codd is the host of Strength in the Numbers Show , a top-rated podcast aiming to help solve significant problems in the finance industry. He’s also an author, speaker, coach, trainer, and a senior member of After-Sales Finance Operations for Dell. Based in Ireland, Andrew brings an international perspective to the profession's issues and offers a fresh opinion on potential solutions. Andrew...

Jacquelyn Tracy is chair of the AICPA's Women's Initiatives Executive Committee . Jessica McClain is a member of the board of directors of the MACPA Foundation , which works to build a diverse talent pipeline to ensure the strength of the CPA profession for years to come. We talk about the excellent work being done by both of these organizations, the role of women in the profession, and why it's c...

Dr. Amy Zalman is the former CEO and president of the World Future Society. While she was there, she repositioned the World Future Society for renewed future global impact — helping a transformational organization transform itself. She’s also the founder of Oryx Communications and chair of information integration at the National War College, where she’s introduced new ways of understanding informa...

Tom Peters is the co-author of “In Search Of Excellence” and author of seventeen other best-selling books. He’s a legend in the business and consulting world, devoted to studying what makes leaders great and how to achieve business excellence. Tom’s latest book, “Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism,” may also be his last. In the afterword to the book, he says, “This book, in effect, IS my memoir. It...

As we near the end of Women’s History Month, and with Black History Month still firmly in our memory, it’s essential to take a look at diversity and inclusion in the CPA profession — both how far we’ve come and how much further we have to go. Kimberly Ellison-Taylor is a former Maryland Association of CPAs chair, a former AICPA Chair, and the executive director of finance thought leadership for Or...

As the world evolves, the concept of leadership is evolving as well. And the leaders of today are finding they need new skills to succeed. Jennifer Elder is a thought leader, trainer, and business coach dedicated to the concept of business transformation. She offers programs through the Business Learning Institute about strategic leadership, and she’s going to share about it from a corporate finan...

If you’re feeling a serious lack of energy in your life right now, know that you’re not alone. People around the world are starting to face this as we move past year one of the pandemic. But there are strategies for moving past this energy drain, and Greg Conderacci is here to share some of them with us. Greg is a senior fellow with the Business Learning Institute, a consultant, and a faculty memb...

If there’s one word that describes the past year with a fair amount of accuracy, it would have to be “change.” It’s been a year of unprecedented change, in a lot of ways, and that change impacts each of us — often in ways that are very personal. Karl Ahlrichs is going to help us explore how change impacts us and what we can do to adapt. Karl is a bestselling author and an acclaimed national speake...