The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast

What is AI actually changing inside CPA firms? Chelsea Summers welcomes Donny Shimamoto of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies, who helped design the AI questions for IPA’s 2026 Information Technology Survey. Together, they examine what participating firms report about adoption, investment and results. Only 3.2% describe AI as fully integrated into their operations, while 42.9% report no measurable impact ye...

Firms are investing in offshore capacity to expand their teams and technology to improve efficiency. But the value of those investments depends on what happens to the workflow around them, including how work is staffed, handed off, reviewed and delivered. Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown examine the gap between adopting new resources and redesigning the workflow around them. About half of participati...

Recorded live for the first time, this special Q&A episode of the INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast has a slightly different feel as Rob Brown and Chelsea Summers tackle questions from firm leaders and advisors about some of the biggest issues shaping the profession. Drawing on IPA data and conversations happening across the profession, Rob and Chelsea discuss where independent firms should pla...

Stable turnover does not necessarily mean a firm’s talent strategy is working. Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown examine what sits beneath the profession’s 11.8% staff turnover rate. Nearly 70% of turnover is voluntary, yet firms remain almost twice as likely to conduct exit interviews as stay interviews. Chelsea explains why leaders should ask their strongest mid-level people what could make them lea...

What can derail a succession plan even when a firm has people who could eventually lead it? In part two of Rob Brown’s conversation with Ira Rosenbloom of Optimum Strategies, they dig into two places succession often gets stuck: the expectations current partners place on their successors and the way partners are compensated. Ira explains why future leaders need room to learn on the job, why partne...

What would make the next generation say yes to ownership? In part one of this conversation, Rob Brown talks with CPA firm succession adviser Ira Rosenbloom about why leadership transitions should begin earlier. Ira explains his view that “55 is the new 65”: a time to shift responsibilities, mentor future leaders and begin transferring equity gradually. They also discuss flexibility, investment in...

Accounting firms are changing how they staff, price and structure their partnerships. But are those changes working together? In the second episode of Running the Modern Firm, Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown use IPA’s 2026 Practice Management data to examine the operating model behind firm performance. They explore how leverage changes as firms scale, why adding capacity without adjusting pricing ca...

The 2026 IPA Practice Management Report captures a profession facing slower growth but responding with sharper operations. Drawing on responses from 605 North American accounting firms, Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown open Running the Modern Firm, the third series of the season, with a look at the profession’s performance and the strategies shaping it. They discuss why organic and total growth slowe...

This episode is brought to you by Bill.com. Learn how Bill can help your firm automate financial operations at Bill.com/IPA , where IPA listeners can access an exclusive offer. Global staffing, private equity and advisory expansion are becoming part of the operating model at many of the profession’s largest firms. In the final episode of our series, INSIDE the IPA 500 , Chelsea Summers and Rob Bro...

Wolf & Company didn’t become the fastest-growing IPA 100 firm by organic growth because of one big move. The firm reported 16.1% organic growth in the 2026 INSIDE Public Accounting Practice Management Survey, increasing net revenue from $90.7 million to $105.3 million without completing a merger during the reporting year. But MP Jerry Gagne says that growth was really the result of several yea...

This episode is brought to you by Bill.com. Learn how Bill can help your firm automate financial operations at Bill.com/IPA , where IPA listeners can access an exclusive offer. In the third episode of INSIDE the IPA 500 , Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown compare the fastest-growing firms through two lenses: organic growth and all growth. The 10 firms leading the organic-growth ranking averaged 15.6%,...

This episode is brought to you by Poe Group Advisors . Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE . The IPA 100 gets most of the attention, but th...

This episode is brought to you by Bill.com. Learn how Bill can help your firm automate financial operations at Bill.com/IPA , where IPA listeners can access an exclusive offer. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on t...

This episode is brought to you by Poe Group Advisors . Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE . Welcome to INSIDE the IPA 500 , our new series...

This episode is brought to you by Bill.com . Learn how Bill can help your firm automate financial operations at Bill.com/ipa , where IPA listeners can access an exclusive offer. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on...

This episode is brought to you by Bill.com . Learn how Bill can help your firm automate financial operations at Bill.com/IPA , where IPA listeners can access an exclusive offer. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on...

Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE . Busy season. Burnout. Unclear career paths. For many accountants, these realities defined the profess...

Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE . Doing great work has always been the foundation of a successful accounting career. But in today's pro...

Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast . Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE . The accounting profession has spent years talking about the talent pipeline challenge. But what if t...

Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast . Simply listen, take a short quiz, and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE One year ago, we hit record and hoped someone would listen. In this special episode, Rob Brown and Ch...

Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast . Simply listen, take a short quiz, and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE Advisory continues to dominate conversations about the future of public accounting, but what does it...

Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast . Simply listen, take a short quiz, and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE Chelsea Summers joins Rob Brown's Accounting Voices podcast for a practical conversation about how AI...

Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast . Simply listen, take a short quiz, and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE For decades, hourly billing has been the foundation of the accounting profession. But as AI accelerat...

Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast . Simply listen, take a short quiz, and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE In this episode of the INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast, Rob Brown and Chelsea Summers unpack key fin...

Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast . Simply listen, take a short quiz, and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE Advisory services continue to be one of the biggest growth opportunities for firms, but many firms ar...