Future-Proof

This episode, we're talking about saving for retirement, specifically how we can help our employees save more money for retirement. The general story we keep hearing is, as Americans, we aren't saving enough. The economy is playing a role, with 54% of Americans either reducing the amount they are saving or stopping all savings due to inflation, based on a survey by Allianz. The survey also showed...

Culture - one of those slightly misunderstood topics. A lot of ideas about culture are different from person to person. My goal with speaking to Stacey Rodgers, Executive Director of People & Culture at Cohen & Co., is to get a little closer to a mutual understanding of how to define "culture" in an organization. In my personal view, culture within an organization is based on a shared set...

Today, we dive into ESG: Environmental, Social & Governance. Investors are increasingly applying these non-financial factors as they investigate which public companies they will invest in and regulators are increasingly requiring that companies include these types of factors in their financial statements. There are plenty opportunities for accounting and finance professionals in this new area....

Are you physically, mentally, physically well? That seems to be the key question these days. There's more of a focus on individual wellness in the workplace today, especially in the wake of the COVID pandemic. People who are happy and well are more productive than those who are unwell. It all boils down to the fact that we've only got one body, one mind, one life to live, so we better make it coun...

Talking all things metaverse with Glenn Friedman, CEO of Prager Metis, a global CPA firm that made headlines this year as one of the first accounting firms to set up shop in the metaverse. The metaverse is loosely defined as a new iteration of the internet - a virtual world running in parallel to the real, physical world. You can create a virtual avatar of yourself and interact with other avatars...

Anoop Mehta, long time CPA, MACPA member, and just the second Marylander to chair the AICPA, is one of the sharpest, smartest people I know. He is a proponent of greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in the accounting and finance world. As an Indian-American who immigrated to the United States with his parents at just 12 years old, Anoop followed a path to a more diverse, inclusive profession....

When I initially sat down with Michelle Golden River, Growth & Profitability Strategist and Founder of Fore, LLC, we planned to discuss advanced pricing and where the profession stands today. We began by talking about how CPA firms can switch from a time based billing model to pricing work in advance. However, the discussion evolved into a conversation about relationships. Advanced pricing com...

Time to dive into the “purpose” conversation. That’s the idea that we, as leaders, have an obligation, a responsibility, to help our employees find the purpose behind their jobs — the “why” behind their work. My guest on the podcast this week is Dr. Alan Patterson. He’s a Business Learning Institute thought leader who has guided hundreds of clients in professional and leadership development,...

Whether you like the phrase or not, “The Great Resignation” is real. People are leaving work in droves. That’s presenting challenges for employers. How do we find the right people? How do we keep them? How do we understand what they want? Gabrielle Bosche is a bestselling author, two-time TEDx speaker, and is frequently called upon to speak and consult on millennial motivation and engagements for...

In this episode, we look at recent tax changes through a regulatory and compliance lens with Sona Akmakjian. Sona is Avalara’s Senior Director of Global Accounting Strategic Partnerships. She’s also a CPA with 29 years of transactional tax services and automation experience.  Sona talks about the impact the pandemic has had on business and taxes, including things like e-commerce, the supply c...

Mike Manspeaker is an Assurance Services Partner with Smith, Elliott, Kearns & Company in Maryland and has over 40 years of experience working with private companies and employee benefit plans. He is also very active in the peer review process, performing them as the CPA on Staff for Coastal Peer Review, an organization that administers reviews for North Carolina and Maryland firms. Mike is al...

What you’re about to hear is an incredible true story about resilience, perseverance, and strength while creating and growing a business from scratch – all while dealing with some of the most devastating news a person could face.  Kelly Mann is a CPA and the co-founder and CEO of AuditMiner, a tool that is used by CPAs to save time and increase quality in their 401(k) audits. There’s no bette...

The pipeline into the CPA profession is always an important topic for the future of our industry. How do we make the profession more appealing to young people deciding where to place their future? Jerry Maginnis recently released a new book titled "Advice for a Successful Career in the Accounting Profession: How to Make Your Assets Greatly Exceed Your Liabilities." He is a former managing partner...

Pascal Finette is co-founder and "chief heretic" with be radical, which researches, develops, and teaches tools and frameworks designed to transform their clients into practical futurists and successful disruptors. He recently gave a talk as the keynote speaker at the Digital CPA Conference, where he spoke about the correlation between disruption and "state changes" – moving from one state to anot...

It pays to be curious. The role that curiosity plays in wellness and well-being, emotional intelligence, and the benefits it offers to leaders are vastly underrated. Todd Kashdan literally wrote the book on curiosity. He is a professor of psychology at George Mason University and he founded George Mason’s Well-Being Lab. Winner of the 2013 Distinguished Early Career Researcher Award by the America...

As we’re wrapping up Black History Month and recognizing the contributions of Black Americans, we are closing down the month with a bit of a look ahead. We’re still taking stock of achievements from our past, but this time we’re doing it with an eye toward the future as well. Joining that conversation, today, is Dalton Tong. He’s a CPA and a CGMA with a career that’s steeped in health care and hea...

Cybersecurity is more important than ever before. This is not just something that business leaders have to worry about. Everyone, from the top to the bottom of your organization, is responsible for cybersecurity. Clar Rosso is the CEO of (ISC)^2, or ISC squared, as it’s written. They bill themselves as the world’s leading cybersecurity professional organization. They have more than 160,000 certifi...

In celebration of Black History Month, we’re giving flowers where they’re due, to Benjamin King Senior, Maryland's first black certified public accountant, the 47th in the country, who went on to become chairman of the Maryland state board. To best understand Mr. King and his impact, we’re joined by his children who’ve kept his minority firm and wide influence on the profession going strong: Pamel...

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are all the rage in accounting and finance circles. ESG criteria are a set of non-financial factors that socially conscious investors can use to assess their potential investments, such as how the company manages relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and the community, the company’s impact on nature, and executive pay, internal contr...

It’s legislative season here in Maryland, and getting involved in the process is more important than ever for the CPA profession. With more changes coming that promise to directly impact the accounting and financing profession than we’ve ever seen, our world is on high alert. We need to stay on top of those changes – which is why it’s nice to have a little help from CPA societies. We take a close...

It has been a stressful couple of years for everyone. People are working longer and harder with fewer breaks, fewer vacations, and fewer days off, which is bleeding into our personal lives, especially those of us still working from home. Dr. Britt Andreatta is an internationally recognized thought leader who uses her background in leadership, neuroscience, psychology, and education to create brain...

Today, we’re talking about jobs: Job hunting, searching for employees, filling the pipeline, The Great Resignation, and more. Our guest is Lauren Welkie. She manages strategic partnerships at ZipRecruiter, which is feeling the effects of The Great Resignation in a different way than most organizations. As Yahoo News said recently, “ZipRecruiter is finding itself in a sweet spot right now, as the d...

Usually, when we talk about AI in this profession, the conversation is all about automation, the things that artificial intelligence takes off our plate so we can create more value for our clients, face to face. But today, we look at AI’s potential for impact on big global issues like poverty, hunger, climate change, sustainability, and inequity. Of course, we bring the conversation back to what r...

As we round out the year, tax professionals have more than just the holidays to look forward to. Tax season is upon us and there’s a lot to talk about this year. Edward Karl is the Vice President of Taxation for the American Institute of CPAs. He’s also a member of the Maryland Association of CPAs. He has his finger on the pulse of our nation more than almost anyone in the field. He joins us today...

Barrett Young is a partner at Garbelman Winslow CPAs, a firm in Southern Maryland, and a Strongman competitor. You recognize the Strongman brand from those mind-blowing competitions on TV where people lift massive rocks and logs, or pull trucks, or flip huge tires. Those are the kinds of challenges that Barrett thrives on. We talk about how he got into such a heavy passion and how his work in the...