Journal of Accountancy Podcast

For Anoop Natwar Mehta, CPA, CGMA, the path to becoming chair of the AICPA board of directors might not seem traditional. First, he hasn’t worked for a public accounting firm. Second, he’s been with one company for just about all of his professional life. Mehta joined profession leaders for a discussion at AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE 2022, and this episode is a rebroadcast of that conversation from the Town Hall Series.

AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE 22 emcee Jill Schlesinger, a CBS News business analyst, reviews some of the top moments from the event last week in Las Vegas. Schlesinger had conversations with keynote speakers and CPA profession leaders and has memories and knowledge to share from several of those conversations. Journal of Accountancy content mentioned in this episode: A previous JofA podcast episode with ENGAGE keynote Carla Harris. Coverage of the keynote session with Schlesinger and former Duke University men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. A survey showing a rise in spending on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. The IRS announcement about a midyear increase to the standard mileage rate. Small business owners discuss post-Wayfair burdens with the Senate Finance Committee.

Fellow tax podcaster Damien R. Martin, CPA, (Simply Tax) perhaps put it best on Twitter: “No one can rap 1202 like Master Nitti.” Martin was referring, of course, to IRC Sec. 1202, the exclusion for gain from certain small business stock, and one of its foremost interpreters, Tony Nitti, CPA, as Nitti spoke about Sec. 1202 and other selected business tax topics at AICPA & CIMA’s ENGAGE 22 conference in Las Vegas. We were extremely fortunate that Nitti generously shared a bit of his mastery on Sec. 1202, S corporations, and state passthrough entity (PTE) tax elections, in this podcast recorded June 8, a day before his ENGAGE presentation.

Carla Harris is an author, speaker, and executive with Morgan Stanley, and she was one of the keynote speakers at AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE 2022. In this episode, she explains the terms “powerful presence” and “performance currency” and gives advice for those seeking a career shakeup. Also, several news articles are referenced, including the ongoing release of the IRS’s “Dirty Dozen” tax scams: part 1 on abusive CRATs and Maltese IRAs and part 2 on tax refund theft and fake charity appeals. Coverage of those scams continues on journalofaccountancy.com/news. The episode also mentions JofA coverage of a keynote session featuring former Duke University men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and the release of the PCPS Top Issues Survey.

The AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB) voted in May to approve new quality management standards. In this episode, Sara Lord, CPA, the chair of the ASB, explains more about what those standards will mean for firms going forward and what changes they will need to consider.   To learn more, visit the AICPA’s resource page on quality management. The AICPA has also developed a four-part webinar series to guide practitioners on the changes.

On May 24 in New York, the AICPA and CPA.com hosted the inaugural ESG Symposium, bringing together a group of accounting leaders, investors, standard setters, and others to exchange ideas and perspectives on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. One presenter and a leader in the ESG field is Ami Beers, CPA, CGMA, senior director–Assurance and Advisory Innovation at the AICPA. In the episode, Beers explains the reasons for increased focus on ESG, what she took away from the symposium, and what’s coming next. She mentions several resources that can be found online. One good place to start is the AICPA’s ESG-focused resource page.

J’Maine Chubb, CPA, CGMA, studied avionics in high school and also took an interest in a law career. He followed a familial career path, however, becoming an accountant, and he discusses some of that journey in this episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast. Chubb, now the CFO at TravelWifi, was previously CFO of the Houston Airport System, where he worked for almost six years. Read more about Chubb in the JofA’s Last Word feature from the May issue.

About three years ago on the Journal of Accountancy podcast, Lindsay Stevenson, CPA, CGMA, spoke about how to get over fearful moments in our careers. That topic is revisited in this episode, a follow-up conversation with Stevenson, now the chair of the AICPA Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee. Stevenson talks about CPAs and their comfort zones and discusses some of the key points in her career journey. Also, get a summary of recent Journal of Accountancy coverage of a report on the IRS’s calculation of recovery rebate credit eligibility.

Amy Radin, the author of The Change Maker’s Playbook: How to Seek, Seed and Scale Innovation in Any Company, serves on the board of directors for the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. She wrote for FM magazine on how CFOs can enable innovation in late 2020. And, in early 2021, Radin was a guest on the FM podcast to discuss establishing innovation metrics. Innovation and metrics are the topic for this episode, in which Radin talks about how innovation principles can play a role in an organization’s financial planning and analysis (FP&A) functions. In two weeks at AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE 22, Radin is co-presenting with Tom Hood, CPA/CITP, CGMA, executive vice president–Business Engagement and Growth for the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.

Burnout at work was a concern even before the COVID-19 pandemic quickly left so many people isolated. The components of burnout are heightened now, according to author Britt Andreatta, Ph.D., in a December interview. In this episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast, you can hear more about burnout and how it can affect overall mental health. Stefan van Duyvendijk, Accounting Operations Evangelist with FloQast, shares data about burnout among accountants, explains why some of us struggle to see the signs of burnout, and offers advice for managers.