CPA Trendlines Podcasts

One firm brought bookkeeping back in-house to get closer to clients...then outsourced it again three months later.It's Not Just the NumbersWith Penny Breslin and Damien GreatheadFor CPA TrendlinesFor years, accounting firm owners have cited the same obstacle to growing their advisory services: they simply don't have the time.Between bookkeeping, tax returns, compliance deadlines, and day-to-day client demands, there's been little room to develop new services, build deeper client relationships, or have more strategic conversations. MORE Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead | MORE Advisory & Consulting | BUY "It's Not Just the Numbers" That's changing. AI, automation, and outsourcing are making it easier than ever to create capacity within accounting firms. Work that once consumed hours can now be automated, delegated, or completed more efficiently. But that creates an interesting question: Once you've freed up the time, what are you actually going to do with it?Creating capacity doesn't automatically create an advisory practice. Having more time doesn't mean your team knows how to use it differently, or that your clients are ready to engage with you in a different way. And without a deliberate plan for what comes next, the capacity you've created can quickly disappear into more of the same work.

Its greatest value to accounting may be as a carefully controlled specialist working behind the scenes.Accounting ARCWith Donny Shimamoto, Liz Mason, and Byron PatrickCenter for Accounting TransformationAgentic AI does not have to replace an accountant to transform accounting. Its more practical role may be far less dramatic — and far more useful.In this episode of the Accounting ARC podcast, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Liz Mason, CPA; and Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, explore how narrowly focused AI agents can help professionals retrieve information, analyze data, navigate systems, and make better-informed decisions. MORE Accounting ARC: AI Isn't Erasing Tax Careers. It's Rewriting Them. | Accounting Internships Need an Upgrade | The CPA Career Nobody Talks About | Conference Season Exposes Accounting's Knowledge Gap | The Feedback Mistake That Costs You Your Best People | Is Your Boss Really the Problem? | Most Accountants Are Missing This AI Shift | AI Can Fix Your Workflow—or Break It in Seconds | Efficiency Is the Wrong Goal for AI | Accounting’s Hidden Talent Risk: The Sandwich Generation | Built Fast. Sold Faster. Broken Later? The Truth About Accounting Tech | Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn Out | Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet Their conversation challenges one of the dominant narratives surrounding agentic AI: that firms should build autonomous digital employees capable of handling everything a staff accountant does. Instead, the hosts envision specialized agents that operate within structured systems, perform clearly defined tasks, and show users how they reach their conclusions.“If you have agentic AI that’s built into an architecture that already exists, there’s a whole lot more that has to happen from a training perspective,” says Mason, CEO of High Rock Accounting.That architecture, she explains, can include multiple agents working together rather than one agent attempting to handle an entire assignment.Published Sept. 10, 2026.

Leaders should examine workplace conditions that determine who gets ahead and who gets left behind.MOVE Like ThisWith Bonnie Buol RuszczykFor CPA Trendlines ResearchIn this episode of MOVE Like This, Shane Lloyd, chief inclusion officer at Baker Tilly, joins Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk to talk about what it really takes to build a workplace where people have the opportunity to contribute, advance, and succeed.For Lloyd, inclusion isn’t an extracurricular activity or a collection of programs. It should be embedded throughout the talent lifecycle and understood as part of how leaders run the business.  MORE MOVE Like This | MORE Caregiving Research | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network Lloyd’s background in behavioral neuroscience and public health shapes how he approaches that work. Rather than focusing only on changing individual behavior, he looks at the environment in which people are working and asks what conditions allow some people to thrive while creating barriers for others.In the workplace, he says, some employees may advance as though they have a rocket propelling their careers, while others are climbing “invisible hills and mountains” to reach the same place. 

Clear ownership, an inspiring vision, and quick wins help accounting teams turn plans into progress. Here are 4 steps to leading change...The DisruptorsWith Liz FarrFor CPA TrendlinesAccounting firms are facing extraordinary changes today: private equity, AI, the shift to advisory, and a continuing wave of partner retirements, all at the same time. Matt Rampe, a partner at Rosenberg Associates, says the volume of change is only part of the problem. As he puts it, “we have all these changes happening at once, and nobody taught us how to do change well.” MORE Disruptors with Liz Farr | CPA Trendlines Streaming Network The complexity of change is also increasing. While firms largely know how to do things like grow tax revenue by 5%, they don’t always have the skill sets or mindsets needed to develop an AI governance plan, become strategic advisors, or prepare the next generation to lead.Rampe sees the same failure points in the firms he works with.

How accounting teams use the time AI frees up could shape their advice and and prepare the next generation of leaders.Accounting VoicesWith Rob BrownIf 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 junior accountant through a tricky review.The software can free up the time. What happens next depends on the firm. MORE Accounting Voices with Rob Brown | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network That distinction runs through this episode of Accounting Voices, part of AI Reality Inside Firms. The episode offers a timely question as firms set their 2027 priorities. Where did the time they saved this year actually go?Host Rob Brown traces the answer to four decisions firm leaders can easily put off while a rollout is going well. The consequences can surface years later, when a firm is trying to grow its advisory practice, explain its value to a potential investor, or find someone ready to take over a retiring partner’s client relationships.

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 NumbersWith Penny Breslin and Damien GreatheadFor CPA TrendlinesAccounting firm owners have heard the message for years: move beyond transactional work and build higher-value advisory relationships.Yet the distance between wanting an advisory practice and developing a team capable of delivering one can be considerable. Outsourcing and automation may free up time, but that capacity only becomes valuable when firms have a clear system for putting it to work. MORE Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead | MORE Advisory & Consulting JOIN From Scorekeeper to Strategist CAS Workshop | BUY "It's Not Just the Numbers" Rebecca Burnick, owner and CEO of Office Heads, has taken a process-led approach to that challenge. After 15 years working in strategic management consulting, she founded Office Heads and has spent 18 years developing a structured model for serving clients and helping team members grow into advisory roles. Her experience offers a practical lesson: advisory capability is built through intentional processes, repeated practice and clear client expectations, not simply a change in job title.

Entrepreneurship, community, and a candid look at firm ownership reveal possibilities many never dream of.Accounting ConversationsWith Chayton FarleeCenter for Accounting TransformationScotty 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 founder of Accounting High turns professional education and networking into something resembling a school community, complete with friendly rivalries. But beneath the jokes is a question with consequences for the profession: How many potential accountants lose interest before they discover what the work can become? MORE Center for Accounting Transformation | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network On Accounting Conversations, host Chayton Farlee joins Scarano to explore the distance between the accounting industry students encounter in class and the careers they can build. Their discussion connects the appeal of entrepreneurship with the harder decisions behind a growing practice, including when an owner’s enthusiasm becomes a bottleneck.

Accounting firms may offer flexibility, but outdated expectations and missed opportunities can still push experienced professionals out the door.The DisruptorsWith Liz FarrFor CPA TrendlinesAnne 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 supposed to offer to your clients,” she says.  But after learning about value pricing from various resources, including Ron Baker and Ed Kless, her thinking changed. “The better we got at something, the quicker we were, the less money we were making because we could do things faster,” she says.    MORE Disruptors with Liz Farr | CPA Trendlines Streaming Network That realization helped her understand that clients weren’t buying time; rather, they were buying the decades of experience she and her team had as accountants and the value that comes from that experience. And today, she charges a premium for that expertise.  “We need to value ourselves correctly and appreciate the fact that we’re really doing some great work for our clients, and we should be compensated for that,” she explains.  Her firm, Anne Napolitano Consulting, landed on its niche specialty ofrestaurants, bars, breweries, distilleries, and wineries, partly because of Napolitano’s love of cooking. 

AI can finish a tax return faster, but speed alone does not transform an accounting firm. This discussion explores how to measure real change through pricing, margins, capacity, staffing, client relationships, and the shift from compliance toward advisory work. It also examines the leadership decisions needed to turn AI tools into a deliberate redesign of the business.

Evan Wright, Avalara’s global returns general manager with more than a decade at the company, discusses the fast-changing world of tax compliance. He covers e-invoicing, fiscalization, information overload across 13,000 U.S. tax jurisdictions, and Avalara’s transparent Select pricing. Wright also explores Aviator AI, trusted tax data, automated filings, and how accountants’ roles are evolving.