CPA Trendlines Podcasts

How accounting teams use the time AI frees up could shape their advice and and prepare the next generation of leaders. Accounting Voices With Rob Brown If AI cuts the time it takes to prepare a tax return from five hours to three, an accounting firm has two hours to work with. It could use them to take on another return, talk with the client about a decision they’ve been putting off, or coach a ju...

Building an advisory practice takes more than freeing up staff time. It requires a deliberate approach to client relationships, training, scope and technology. It's Not Just the Numbers With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead For CPA Trendlines Accounting firm owners have heard the message for years: move beyond transactional work and build higher-value advisory relationships. Yet the distance bet...

Entrepreneurship, community, and a candid look at firm ownership reveal possibilities many never dream of. Accounting Conversations With Chayton Farlee Center for Accounting Transformation Scotty Scarano knows how to get accountants talking about something besides deadlines. Give them a bracket, put their favorite software up against an industry personality, and let the campaigning begin. The foun...

Accounting firms may offer flexibility, but outdated expectations and missed opportunities can still push experienced professionals out the door.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 Anne Napolitano used to give advisory-level guidance without charging for it. “I was doing those advisory-type services without really getting compensated for it because I just felt it was what you were sup...

Look at pricing, services, and client relationships to assess whether AI investments are reshaping the business. Accounting Voices With Rob Brown A tax return completed in three hours instead of five gives an accounting firm something valuable: time. What happens to those two hours may reveal more about the firm’s AI strategy than the technology that saved them. Does the firm take on more work? Gi...

State-based plans and a newly available AI platform put software costs and accountants' oversight role in focus. By Seth Fineberg For CPA Trendlines Avalara is making its sales tax pricing easier to see while expanding the work it says artificial intelligence can perform for accounting firms. Its published Avalara Select plans cover businesses with annual revenue below $50 million. Its Aviator AI...

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 episod...

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...

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...

Technical expertise earns credibility, but the ability to delegate, build trust, and guide people through uncertainty determines how far a businesses can grow. 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 de...

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...

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 manag...

“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 ex...

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 B...

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 r...

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...

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 mon...

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, an...

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 wh...

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...

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 st...

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 s...

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...

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 M...

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...