CPA Trendlines Podcasts

“If you don’t have accountability, you can never reach your ambition.” It's Not Just the NumbersWith Penny Breslin and Damien GreatheadFor CPA TrendlinesIf there’s one topic that never gets old in accounting, it’s technology. New apps promise smoother workflows, faster reconciliations, and smarter insights every year. Yet, despite all the innovation, many firms still struggle with the same problem: too many tools, too little strategy.  MORE Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead MORE Advisory & Consulting BUY "It's Not Just the Numbers" In the latest episode of It’s Not Just the Numbers, hosts Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead revisit a metaphor that’s as timeless as it is practical, the “little black dress” of technology. The conversation digs into what every firm owner should understand about building a tech stack that actually fits their ambition, not just their app wish list. 

Turn networking, sessions, and follow-up into measurable outcomes—not just time out of the office.Accounting InfluencersWith Rob BrownSeventy-six percent of professionals believe in-person conferences offer better networking opportunities than virtual events. But while accountants spend millions each year on registration fees, hotel rooms, and travel, only a fraction walk away with meaningful ROI. According to Rob Brown on Accounting Influencers, the problem isn’t the events—it’s the strategy. MORE Accounting Influencers with Rob Brown “People go to conferences and just float,” Brown says. “They wander the expo hall, catch a few sessions, grab the swag—and then wonder why nothing changes.” With conferences back at full strength and offering multi-sensory experiences, deeper technical sessions, and richer networking formats, Brown says firms should treat them as strategic business opportunities, not passive learning days.

Stop “playing small ball,” and reimagine client experiences.Gear Up for GrowthWith Jean CaragherFor CPA Trendlines“A business model describes how you earn revenue when services are given away for free,” said Ron Baker, co-founder of THRESHOLD: A Revelation for the Transformation Economy, during his appearance on Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher of Capstone Marketing. “That terrifies people, but it’s where the economy is going.”  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 videos and podcasts here Sponsored by Tax Season Readiness: Practical Steps for a Smoother Busy Season  | Is your firm truly ready for tax season—or just hoping to survive it? Join this 90-minute webinar featuring an Accounting ARC Live panel with thought leaders who know what it takes to optimize performance under pressure. | Dec. 10, 2 p.m. ET | 1.5 CPE Baker discusses the profession’s next major evolution: the transformation economy, where firms no longer compete on services, scope, or efficiency, but on their ability to change lives.He argues that CPAs are uniquely positioned to guide clients through lasting financial and personal transformation. CPA value will shift from work performed to life and business outcomes: healthier, wealthier, wiser clients living with meaning.  

A CPA credential amplifies your ability to question systems and push for fairness.Accounting ARC - Student-Led ConversationsWith Arpan GrewalCenter for Accounting TransformationAdvocacy often appears on television as protest marches, campaign rallies, or contentious debates. But in a recent Accounting ARC – Student-Led Conversations episode, host Arpan Grewal and guest ZeNai Savage, CPA, recast advocacy as something more grounded and accessible: a series of everyday decisions about when to speak up, who to invite in, and how to use professional skills for public good. Sponsored by Tax Season Readiness: Practical Steps for a Smoother Busy Season | Dec. 10, 2 pm ET  | Is your firm truly ready for tax season—or just hoping to survive it? Join this 90-minute webinar featuring an Accounting ARC Live panel with thought leaders who know what it takes to optimize performance under pressure. See Today’s Special Offer MORE Accounting ARC: 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 | Free Speech Is a Right; Respect Is a Responsibility | Cash Bags, Casinos & Audits: How First Jobs Shape Us | Gen Z Redefines Careers | Bootleggers, Baptitsts & CPAs: Rethinking Licensure | CPA Firm Ownership Under Fire | Walking Violation: When Showing Your CPA Gets You in Trouble | Savage is not a typical accountant. She is the founder of The Savage Advantage, a consulting firm that provides outsourced controller work, budget development, governance support, and board training to nonprofits and civic organizations. She also writes and speaks through Blurred Lines, a personal platform built on the belief that people do not have to separate their faith, professional life, and community service into neat compartments.For Grewal, a Gen Z student leader, Savage’s path offers a concrete example of how young professionals can blend technical careers with civic engagement.

The OBBBA just reset the rules.Quick Tax TipWith Art WernerCPE TodayFor the last several years, tax professionals, small businesses, and even casual online sellers have been living through what Quick Tax Tip host Art Werner calls “a fun roller coaster ride”—if you think tax compliance roller coasters are fun.In this episode, Werner breaks down the whiplash-inducing changes to Form 1099-K and the brand-new thresholds for 1099 reporting, and explains how Congress, the IRS, and a long list of confused taxpayers all contributed to the mess.Click here for more Art WernerIf you accept payment cards or use third-party payment processors such as PayPal, Venmo, Square, or Stripe, you may already know this story.

Analytics, automation, and AI will reshape audit roles—and that should excite CPAs.The DisruptorsWith Liz FarrAudit is notorious for long hours, terrible work-life balance, reliance on endless checklists, and repeating the same mind-numbingly tedious procedures year after year. But some, like Kathryn Horton, are creating a different path for success as an auditor.   At her solo firm, Kathryn K. Horton CPA, she provides outsourced audit and analytics consulting services to firms nationwide. As “auditor on call,” she steps into manager and senior manager roles for local, regional, and national firms, helping them increase capacity while reducing staff burnout.  MORE STREAMING: Chang: Killing SALY, One Agent at a Time | Vanover: 5-Star Firms Don't Bill by the Hour | Kless: Profit Is a Result. Flourishing Is the Purpose | Whitman: Build Culture on 'Progress,' Not Change | Shein: No PE? No M&A? No Problem | Hood and Weber: Time to RISE | Proctor: Turn Dumb Ideas into Brilliant Solutions | Carter-Gray: How 1 Poor Review Strengthened the Firm | Hartman: Upwork to “40 Under 40” in 3 Years | Telka: Transform Fear into Fuel | During her eight years in public accounting, Horton says, “I did struggle with burnout at various times, where the work-life balance really wasn't a balance anymore.” A significant factor was the hyper-connectedness of today’s technology, where “we're essentially on call 24/7” responding to emails and calls, which made it “really hard to unplug and just recharge the batteries.” Another factor was demanding clients. “I realized that 80% of my stress was coming from 20% of my clients,” Horton recalls.  In her desire “to find an environment where I was happy,” where she could continue the work she enjoyed and “where I would be able to establish that work-life balance,” she realized she was the best one to create that for herself.  

Firms that translate AI-driven data into clear insight will lead the next era of advisory. By Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™For CPA TrendlinesFew people have been able to bridge the gap between emerging technology and the accounting profession the way Dr. Sean Stein Smith does. A CPA, researcher, Forbes contributor, and professor at Lehman College, Stein Smith serves on the advisory board of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance and has spent more than a decade helping practitioners make sense of blockchain, crypto, and artificial intelligence.  MORE Rory Henry and The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management BUY the Holistic Guide to Wealth Management MORE Dr. Sean Stein Smith | Crypto Tax Planning – Beyond the Basics & What Practitioners Need to Know Going Forward | Dec. 11, 12:30 p.m. ET | On-Demand “The whole blockchain conversation has moved from the back burner to the front [burner],” he says. “Every major financial institution is entering the on-chain space.”And CPAs can no longer afford to ignore it.  

Poor onboarding frustrates clients, burns out staff, and kills profitability.It's Not Just the NumbersWith Penny Breslin and Damien GreatheadFor CPA TrendlinesWinning the client is exciting—but in Client Accounting Services (CAS), that’s just the opening act. The real work, and the real success, depends on what happens immediately after a prospect says “yes.” MORE Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead MORE Advisory & Consulting BUY "It's Not Just the Numbers" In this episode of It’s Not Just the Numbers, hosts Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead make the case that onboarding is one of the most overlooked, underdeveloped, and business-critical functions in CAS firms today.“Too many firms have no clue what actually happens when a client walks in the door,” Breslin says. “You sold the work, but what happens next? What experience does the client have? And what does your team do first?”

Two-thirds of current firm leaders risk being obsolete within three years.Accounting InfluencersWith Rob BrownA stark warning is shaking the accounting profession: 65% of current firm partners will be considered “digitally obsolete” within three years. The unsettling part? Private equity (PE) investors are not planning to retrain them—they are preparing to replace them. MORE Accounting Influencers with Rob Brown On the latest episode of the Accounting Influencers Podcast, host Rob Brown uncovers how private equity–backed firms are redrawing the profession’s leadership map. The digital divide is no longer theoretical. It is already defining who will lead the future of accounting and who will be pushed aside.

Partners who cap their own comp can solve staffing, retention, and motivation in one bold move.Gear Up for GrowthWith Jean CaragherFor CPA TrendlinesWhen public accounting firms talk about “leadership challenges,” the conversation often turns into a soft focus on communication styles or vague culture issues.Michael Meihaus goes straight for the hard truths.On Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Capstone Marketing president Jean Caragher, Meihaus—owner of Meihaus CPA in Escondido, California—lays out the structural leadership failings he sees across the profession: outdated ownership models, harmful work expectations, broken incentives, and leaders who resist change because the current system works for them, even as it burns everyone else out. More Gear Up for Growth here. | More Jean Caragher here |  Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here |  More CPA Trendlines videos and podcasts here “It’s simply that we don’t change unless we have to,” he tells Caragher. In a profession that’s been “stable, profitable, successful” for decades, too many people at the top have little incentive to transform how firms actually operate.  One of Meihaus’s most provocative arguments is that many “partners” aren’t really owners in any meaningful sense.