CPA Trendlines Podcasts

Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business.The DisruptorsWith Liz FarrKaren Reyburn wants accountants to stop thinking “about marketing as this one-off thing where you tick little boxes,” but instead about how to use your marketing to connect to the human experience. 17 MORE TAKEAWAYS: Karen Reyburn show notes here MORE: Disruptors MORE CPA TRENDLINES PODCASTS and VIDEOS:  Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Jason Deshayes: What We're Doing Isn't Working | Heather Satterley: You've Got To Meet People Where They Are | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture |  In her new book, The Accountant Marketer: The Structured Approach Any Accountant Can Follow to Attract Clients They Love, Reyburn provides a step-by-step process for understanding the unique characteristics of their firm and how to connect that uniqueness with their best clients. “If you have a marketing problem, you have a business problem" she says, "If you have a business problem, there’s often a marketing solution that can help with it.”

The DisruptorsWith Liz FarrGetting the word out about client accounting services could help solve the staffing shortage, says Giles Pearson, CEO and co-founder of Accountests, an online knowledge-testing company that focuses on recruitment, selection and development assessments for chartered accountants, accounting graduates and candidates. EIGHT MORE TAKEAWAYS: Giles Pearson show notes here MORE: Disruptors MORE CPA TRENDLINES PODCASTS and VIDEOS:  Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Jason Deshayes: What We're Doing Isn't Working | Heather Satterley: You've Got To Meet People Where They Are | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | CAS, Pearson says, appeals to those with an entrepreneurial bent, which could make the accounting profession more interesting and appealing to the next generation.

Twyla Verhelst explains 'collaborative accounting.'With Seth FinebergAt Large for CPA TrendlinesFreshBooks is taking another step to evolve from being a cloud-based invoicing solution for gig workers to being more strongly considered a true accounting solution that accountants could use to collaborate with clients as their business needs evolve. MORE FINEBERG: Your Classic Business Model Won’t Allow Growth |  Accounting Tech Decisions You Need to Make Today | You’re Doing Email Wrong | When Live Events Fail | Who’s in Control? You? Or Your Clients? | Time Management Rule #1 for Accountants MORE TECH: Major Websites Blocking Content from AI Crawlers | AI and the Future of Advisory | How Much a Data Breach Will Cost You – Directly and Indirectly | Strengthen Client Ties with Workflow Tools | The Art of Prompt Engineering for A.I. Accountants MORE VERHELST: Twyla Verhelst on How Firms Are Getting Creative to Compete  “We are definitely in this flow of evolving the platform to support accountants better," Twyla Verhelst, head of FreshBooks’ accountant channel, tells CPA Trendlines' Seth Fineberg. "We now have an accountant hub, which we will continue to add to and a robust roadmap, one in which we’re building from a place of [asking] accounting partners what do you need?” More show notes here: https://cpatrendlines.com/2023/10/18/twyla-verhelst-freshbooks-collaborative-accounting-will-freshbooks-finally-be-embraced-by-more-accountants/

Transformation TalksWith Donny ShimamotoCenter for Accounting Transformation Glen Harper, CPA, says businesses should be willing to reinvent themselves and that diverse perspectives can be a valuable asset. The owner of Harper & Company CPAs should know: He's had to embrace both philosophies to become successful. MORE: Harper & Company CPAs show notes here MORE CPA TRENDLINES PODCASTS and VIDEOS:  Jason Deshayes: What We're Doing Isn't Working | Heather Satterley: You've Got To Meet People Where They Are | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa | Ira Rosenbloom: With M&A, Nobody Wants a Fixer-Upper | Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right Prices | Marie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining You | Megan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance | Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for Life | Randy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees Happy | Erik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift  In a recent episode of Transformation Talks, Harper tells host Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA, who is also the founder and managing director of Intraprise TechKnowlogies LLC, that a good advisor can help you see your business from a different perspective and identify opportunities that you may have missed. He said after some self-reflection, he needed what his successful clients already had--a CEO.Enter Julie Smith. 

The DisruptorsWith Liz FarrJina Etienne wants accountants to stop hiding behind our green eyeshades and all the stereotypes we share as CPAs. She practices “fearless inclusion,” which is the freedom to be yourself and to create the space for others to do the same.     MORE: Jina Etienne show notes here MORE: Disruptors MORE CPA TRENDLINES PODCASTS and VIDEOS:  Heather Satterley: You've Got To Meet People Where They Are | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa | Ira Rosenbloom: With M&A, Nobody Wants a Fixer-Upper | Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right Prices | Marie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining You | Megan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance | Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for Life | Randy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees Happy | Erik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift | Jennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone Loves | Mike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training Practices  “Inclusion happens because of how I show up and the space I make for others,” Etienne said. She added that the fearless part means we must be brave and bold while interacting with others thoughtfully. When we show our personalities and our humanity, “That fixes a lot of things, actually,” she explained. 

The DisruptorsWith Liz FarrBy age 35, Jason Deshayes, CPA/PFS, CFP, CKA, was already co-owner of a CPA firm in Albuquerque. He “hit the magic Shangri La that we’re all working for.” But it wasn’t right for him. He was bored with the long hours and felt he wasn’t growing. He wasn’t able to think about his firm the way he wanted to. So he and his partner sold their firm.   MORE: Jason Deshayes show notes here MORE: Disruptors MORE CPA TRENDLINES PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Heather Satterley: You've Got to Meet People Where They Are | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa | Ira Rosenbloom: With M&A, Nobody Wants a Fixer-Upper | Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right Prices | Marie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining You | Megan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance | Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for Life | Randy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees Happy | Erik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift | Jennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone Loves | Mike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training Practices  Today, he’s COO at Cook Wealth, a hybrid wealth management and tax firm. Providing both types of services means that they don’t deal with “this weird thing, where the client’s in the middle, and they have to be the conduit for information going both ways.” He says that getting his CFP has “been so enriching. I love what I do, and it’s because I was willing to drop stuff so other people could learn the stuff I learned and so I could do fun stuff.”  

Heather Satterley, accounting tech expert, discusses the importance of not only having great technology skills but also people skills and softer skills. Problem-solving is highlighted as a key skill for the future, along with the changing business models for accounting firms and the need for teaching soft skills and collaboration in universities.

Innovation InsightsWith Donny ShimamotoAdrian Hong's journey into the realm of environmental, social, and governmental (ESG) reporting has been nothing short of inspiring. As the founder of Hong Consulting, LLC, his dedication to assisting companies with ESG reporting stems from a rich tapestry of experiences, all pointing to one common thread – the desire to help. MORE Adrian Hong's conversation with Donny Shimamoto here MORE DONNY SHIMAMOTO: Cybersecurity Exemptions for Orgs with Less than 5,000 Clients | Safe Harbor Compliance Reduces Risk of Fines and Penalties | Unleashing the Power of Technology: Transforming Accountants into Trusted Advisors | Overcoming the Five Hurdles to Advisory Services | How Tax Practitioners Became Cybersecurity Risks | Why Compliance Still Matters. But It’s Not Enough. | How Hacker-Proof Is Your Firm? | It Takes a Village to Stop Cybercrime   After building a formidable reputation in auditing within public accounting and lending his skills to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) for refining external taxonomy, life had other plans. Hong returned to his roots in Hawaii to steer the helm of his family's venture, Island Plastic Bags.

The DisruptorsWith Liz FarrToo many accounting firms have “smart people doing stupid work,” according to Bill Penczak, a veteran sales and marketing professional. Think about the effort it takes to get an accounting degree and get your CPA, and contrast that with the years of mindless work that many new hires are required to do, especially if they go into audit, he said.  MORE: Bill Penczak here MORE CPA TRENDLINES PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa | Ira Rosenbloom: With M&A, Nobody Wants a Fixer-Upper | Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right Prices | Marie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining You | Megan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance | Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for Life | Randy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees Happy | Erik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift | Jennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone Loves | Mike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training Practices | Hector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar |  “One of the reasons why there’s such a talent shortage is because the market has figured this out,” and no one wants to do that stupid work, Penczak says.

The DisruptorsWith Liz FarrSandra Wiley has been speaking with firm owners and leaders for nearly three decades and clearly sees the need for change in the profession. MORE: Sandra Wiley here MORE CPA TRENDLINES PODCASTS and VIDEOS:  Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right Prices | Marie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining You | Megan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance | Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for Life | Randy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees Happy | Erik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift | Jennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone Loves | Mike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training Practices | Hector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be Free| Private Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt Wilkinson | When Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey Schmidt | Can Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves? | Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson “The business model that was built before cannot be the business model that you have going forward. It simply doesn't work,” Wiley says. “Now, we're still living in the old business model,” and we have to get out of it.