CPA Trendlines Podcasts

Sponsored by The True Adviser: Buy now | Learn moreBig 4 TransparencyWith Dominic Piscopo, CPAFull show notes hereDecimal CEO Matt Tait joins Dominic Piscopo to explain why his CAS firm is franchising its playbook, how it drives 50%-plus margins with queue-based delivery and daily book maintenance, and why private equity may accelerate – not kill – entrepreneurship in accounting.MORE Dominic Piscopo | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming NetworkTait says the biggest accounting story right now isn’t just AI, it’s the industry’s next operating model.On the Big 4 Transparency, Tait says Decimal started as a “different” CAS and bookkeeping firm while simultaneously building an internal operating system for running a modern accounting shop. In under six years,

Accounting VoicesWith Rob BrownSponsored by The True Adviser: Buy now | Learn moreIf you feel like your accounting firm has become unpredictable, you are not imagining it. The ground is moving under your feet. People who spent years feeling stable and secure are suddenly unsettled. Partners are leaving. New leaders appear from nowhere. Titles change. Policies change. Strategies change. And no one explains why.MORE Accounting Voices with Rob BrownMORE CPA Trendlines Streaming NetworkRight now, the accounting profession feels like someone picked up the entire industry, shook it hard and said, "Good luck." Private equity is buying firms. National groups are rolling up mid tiers. Regional firms are merging into larger firms. Advisory practices are being carved out. Tax teams are being shifted. Audit is being restructured. And firms everywhere are rewriting their business models in real time.

And why culture matters more than ever.Full show notes here Gear Up for GrowthWith Jean CaragherFor CPA TrendlinesSponsored by The True Advisor:  Buy now | Learn moreAlan Whitman isn’t trying to build a better CPA firm. He’s trying to replace it.At Nichols Cauley, the former Baker Tilly CEO is recasting the traditional accounting practice as a “financial services company”—a structure that blends tax, insurance, risk, and transaction advisory into a single, continuous client relationship.MORE ALAN WHITMAN: PE Deal Tracker Update: Alan Whitman Plants a Flag in the Private Equity Landscape | Breaking the Mold with PE Backing | Build Culture on ‘Progress,’ Not Change | Moss Adams-Baker Tilly Merger: Bigger Isn’t Better. Better Is Better.| Unlocking the Secrets to Smart Growth MORE Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | MORE Gear Up for Growth | MORE CPA Trendlines streaming videos and podcasts hereThe goal, he tells Jean Caragher in this episode of Gear Up for Growth, is not to expand services around the edges, but to collapse them into one integrated model designed to “manage, protect, and grow” client wealth in a recurring loop.The shift reflects a broader rethinking across the profession, in which private equity capital, client demand for one-stop advisory services, and advances in AI are pushing firms beyond the partnership model that has defined accounting for decades.Having previously led transformational growth at Baker Tilly, Whitman rejects the notion that rapid growth damages culture.“That’s hogwash,” he says. “Culture comes down to one word: trust.”

A near-tragedy sparks a critical conversation on business continuity, risk, and responsibility in accounting firms.Accounting ARCWith Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny ShimamotoCenter for Accounting TransformationBusiness continuity planning often lives in the realm of “someday.”Until it doesn’t.In the latest episode of Accounting ARC, hosts Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP; and Liz Mason, CPA, tackle a topic many professionals avoid: what happens when the unexpected actually happens.The conversation opens not with theory, but with a moment that makes the stakes unmistakably real. MORE Accounting ARC: Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn Out | Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet | Accounting’s “Untalked-About” Frontier | Why Happiness is Hard-Fought for High Achievers | The Fastest Way to Lose Talent Is “Dick Leadership” | Post-Holiday Fatigue Isn’t a Failure; It’s a Signal | OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps Now | Return Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting | Savage: Using Your License as a Megaphone |  Baker: Interpreting Pricing Psychology | Don’t Get Fired by Your Own Automation | What Amazon Doesn't Tell You | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC  Mason, CEO of High Rock Accounting, recounts a recent skiing accident in which she fell roughly 200 yards and collided with a tree at high speed. She survived with a broken leg—but the incident forced a sobering question: What would have happened to her firm if she hadn’t?

Success breeds complacency – and obsolescence.Full show notesThe DisruptorsWith Liz FarrSuccess, long the defining strength of U.S. accounting firms, is fast becoming their most dangerous liability, according to Oz Demirdovan, a PKF executive with a global portfolio.Flush with steady profits, deep client rosters, and decades of compliance-driven demand, many firms see little reason to change—just as the ground beneath them shifts, Demirdovan tells Liz Farr in this episode of The Disruptors.MORE DISRUPTORS: Candy Bellau: The $350 Pricing Mistake that Nearly Broke this Boutique Firm | The Disruptors | Poe: What P.E. Really Wants from Firms | The Disruptors  | Blake Oliver: Build a Biz that Runs Without You | Daiber: Use Succession as a Growth Strategy | Cannon: Busy Season is Self-InflictedMORE CPA Trendlines Streaming NetworkThe paradox is stark: the very stability that built the profession now insulates it from the urgency to adapt, leaving some of its most successful players at greatest risk of falling behind.Ozgur Demirdoven has worked in accounting worldwide, spending more than five years at Allinial Global. From his perspective, the most striking difference between accounting in the U.S. and the rest of the world isn't just our complex regulatory environment. 

How To Decide If Public Accounting Is Still Right For You.Full show notesAccounting VoicesWith Rob BrownYou know a profession is under pressure when strangers online ask the same question every week. And in accounting, right now, that question is this. Should I leave public accounting?MORE Accounting Voices with Rob Brown | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming NetworkIt shows up constantly on our YouTube channel. People write things like. I cannot survive another busy season. Is it normal to feel like this job is crushing me? I love accounting, but I hate public accounting. Does it ever get better, or do I need to escape?

Too many potential clients, not enough staff or capacity.Full show notes hereGear Up for GrowthWith Jean CaragherFor CPA Trendlines“CAS is kicking CASS right now,” says Kane Polakoff, principal and CAS practice leader at CohnReznick, in the new episode of Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing. “It’s on fire, especially over the last five or six years. The demand is incredible, but the key is having a strong delivery mechanism and the right capacity to provide real value to clients.” MORE Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | MORE Gear Up for Growth | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

Educators explore ethics, creativity, critical thinking and the future of learning in an AI-powered world.Student-Led ConversationsWith Harshita MultaniCenter for Accounting TransformationArtificial intelligence is no longer a future issue in education. It is already shaping how students study, how teachers prepare lessons, how universities think about access and admissions, and how employers evaluate readiness for the workforce. MORE SLC: Why the Next Generation May Be Accounting's Greatest Competitive Advantage | Students Redefine Career Readiness | Savage: Using Your License as a Megaphone |  Baker: Interpreting Pricing Psychology | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC  In this episode, host Harshita Multani, a Center for Accounting Transformation intern and Indiana high school business student, leads a thoughtful discussion on AI in education with Markus Ahrens, Ph.D., CPA, CGMA, FMAA, of the American Accounting Association, and David Wood of Brigham Young University.What makes this conversation stand out is not just the topic. It is the perspective.

Paying attention to personal stress signals can help professionals recharge before fatigue turns into burnout. Accounting ARCWith Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny ShimamotoCenter for Accounting TransformationIn accounting, exhaustion does not always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like irritability. Sometimes it looks like staring at a spreadsheet that suddenly makes no sense. Sometimes it looks like mental fog, poor focus, a mild headache, or the sense that even small decisions take too much effort.  MORE Accounting ARC: Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet | Accounting’s “Untalked-About” Frontier | Why Happiness is Hard-Fought for High Achievers | The Fastest Way to Lose Talent Is “Dick Leadership” | Post-Holiday Fatigue Isn’t a Failure; It’s a Signal | OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps Now | Return Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting | Savage: Using Your License as a Megaphone |  Baker: Interpreting Pricing Psychology | Don’t Get Fired by Your Own Automation | What Amazon Doesn't Tell You | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC  In the latest episode of Accounting ARC, hosts Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP; and Liz Mason, CPA, take on a subject that lands close to home for many professionals, especially during demanding stretches of work: how to recharge when the pace is relentless and the pressure does not let up.

Understanding a company’s history, leadership, and future matters as much as financial statements.Accounting ARCWith Donny ShimamotoCenter for Accounting TransformationDonny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, opens a recent episode of Accounting ARC with a simple question: How do you value a business when the numbers tell only part of the story?His guest, Baria Jaroudi, a Houston-based director in BDO’s business valuation and advisory practice, says valuation work requires more than reviewing financial statements. It requires understanding how owners built the business, where cash flow comes from, and what risks and assumptions shape a credible and defensible value — especially in family law and divorce matters, where the stakes can run high. MORE Accounting ARC: Accounting’s “Untalked-About” Frontier | Why Happiness is Hard-Fought for High Achievers | The Fastest Way to Lose Talent Is “Dick Leadership” | Post-Holiday Fatigue Isn’t a Failure; It’s a Signal | OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps Now | Return Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting | Savage: Using Your License as a Megaphone |  Baker: Interpreting Pricing Psychology | Don’t Get Fired by Your Own Automation | What Amazon Doesn't Tell You | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC  “I like to think of myself as someone who brings clarity and calm in moments that can otherwise feel overwhelming,” Jaroudi says.Shimamoto, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, says that role reflects a core purpose of the profession: accountants deliver peace of mind. In Jaroudi’s work, that means translating complex analysis into conclusions clients can understand — and conclusions that can withstand scrutiny.