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CPA Trendlines is the world’s only research and advisory service focused solely on the tax, accounting, and finance professions.
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Here you'll find the data and analysis you can use for your practice and your career, plus exclusive research, insights, and commentary on the most pressing issues and fastest-changing trends.
We are dedicated to delivering the actionable intelligence that tax, accounting, and finance professionals need in order to identify and act on emerging issues and opportunities.
We specialize in high-quality, concise executive briefings designed to help busy professionals improve their organizations, advance their careers, and enhance their lives.
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87episodes
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AI Can Fix Your Workflow—or Break It in Seconds | ARC
Apr 3000:34:35Tap to summarizeDeliberate experimentation can unlock value—without creating costly mistakes. Accounting ARCWith Liz Mason and Byron PatrickCenter for Accounting TransformationArtificial intelligence is moving fast—fast enough that even the people experimenting with it daily admit they’re still figuring it out in real time. On the latest episode of Accounting ARC, Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, and Liz Mason, CPA, take listeners inside that reality: a profession eager to unlock AI-driven efficiency, but still learning how to manage the risks that come with it.The conversation centers on a deceptively simple idea—just because AI can do something doesn’t mean it should. And in accounting, the consequences of getting that wrong can be immediate. MORE Accounting ARC: 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 | 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 | The discussion begins with a practical example: integrating AI tools like Claude into everyday workflows, particularly in systems such as QuickBooks or Excel. What makes these tools powerful is also what makes them risky.
Transcribe →Trisha Daho: Building Growth Cultures, Rethinking Leadership, and What Firms Are Missing on Talent | MOVE Like This
Apr 2900:36:17Tap to summarize“They are requiring us to be the leaders that we deserved and didn’t get.”MOVE Like ThisWith Bonnie Buol RuszczykFor CPA Trendlines ResearchIn this episode of MOVE Like This, Trisha Daho joins Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk to talk about what’s really happening inside accounting firms when it comes to talent, leadership, and growth. Drawing on her experience as a former Big Four partner turned fractional chief people officer, Daho offers a clear-eyed view of where firms are getting it right, and where they’re falling short. MORE MOVE Like This | MORE Benchmarks: Register for MOVE 2026 | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network At the core of the conversation is a simple but often overlooked point: the firms that are succeeding aren’t just focused on growth, they’re intentional about how they grow. That starts with having a defined talent strategy. Firms that prioritize development, align values with their people, and create consistent leadership experiences tend to see stronger retention, better performance, and more engaged teams. In contrast, firms that treat talent as secondary or assume people will simply “figure it out” often struggle to keep their best performers.
Transcribe →Seven Signs Your Firm Is About to Change | Accounting Voices
Apr 2600:12:27Tap to summarizeThe smart move is learning which signals matter and how to prepare.Accounting VoicesWith Rob BrownFull show notes here.If you work in an accounting firm today, you can feel the tension in the air. Something is shifting. You sense it before anyone tells you. Leaders start speaking in strange new phrases. Workloads rise without explanation. New people appear in meetings while familiar faces quietly disappear. Rumors travel faster than email. And you begin wondering what everyone else is wondering, is something happening here?MORE Accounting Voices with Rob Brown | Why Accounting Firms Feel So Unstable Right Now | Should I Leave Public Accounting? | Visibility Is the New Accounting Authority | How to Outsmart the Big Four on AI | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming NetworkToday, accounting firms feel unstable. The private equity wave. The mergers. The leadership turnover. The technology pressure. The partner exits. The new business models. Today we look at the next step. How to read the signals inside your own firm before anything becomes official.
Transcribe →Lexy Kessler: Choose Wisely – Your Future Depends on These Three Questions | Gear Up for Growth
Apr 2500:35:46Tap to summarizeAt stake: Growth, relevance and survival.Full show notes here.Gear Up for GrowthWith Jean CaragherSponsored by The True Adviser: Buy now | Learn moreCPA firm leaders must act decisively on technology, talent strategy and long-term identity or risk falling behind in a rapidly evolving marketplace, Lexy Kessler, Chair of the AICPA and a partner at Aprio, tells Jean Caragher in a new episode of Gear Up for 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 Network hereIn a wide-ranging discussion, Kessler focuses on three urgent priorities for firm leaders.
Transcribe →Stewart Spiers: What SMBs Have that the Big 4 Don't | Big 4 Transparency
Apr 2300:36:29Tap to summarizeFaster, Leaner, Closer to the Client, and Two Hours to an Engagement Letter. Full show notes here. Sponsored by The True Adviser: Buy now | Learn more Big 4 TransparencyWith Dominic Piscopo, CPAFormer Deloitte colleague Stewart Spiers tells Dominic Piscopo about leaving the Big 4 partner path to help build a tax planning practice at TAAG – why SMB clients pulled him back, what changes in speed and autonomy, and how partner economics differ between large and small firms.MORE Dominic Piscopo | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming NetworkSpiers spent roughly 15 years at Deloitte, starting as a co-op and rising through Private Company Services, before making a move many Big 4 professionals debate but rarely execute: stepping off the partner track to double down on the SMB clients he’s always gravitated toward. In this new episode of the Big 4 Transparency show, Spiers tells host Dominic Piscopo that his decision wasn’t driven by a bad experience at Deloitte, but by a career crossroads and a clearer answer to one question: What kind of work does he want to be doing in the future?
Transcribe →Efficiency Is the Wrong Goal for AI | ARC
Apr 2300:36:54Tap to summarizeValue, quality, and effectiveness—not cost savings—should define success.Accounting ARCWith Liz Mason, Donny Shimamoto, and Byron PatrickCenter for Accounting TransformationDoes meaningful AI adoption require scale, budget, and the dedicated innovation teams embedded in large accounting groups? In this episode of Accounting ARC, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP; and Liz Mason, CPA, take on a familiar—but increasingly flawed—narrative in the accounting profession: that large accounting teams will define AI successThe reality, they argue, looks very different on the ground. MORE Accounting ARC: 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 | 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 | What starts as a reaction to a “big firm” innovation discussion quickly turns into a broader reframing of how small and mid-sized organizations should think about artificial intelligence—not as a race for efficiency, but as an opportunity to increase value, improve quality, and deepen client relationships.
Transcribe →Sarah Petrone: Responsible Growth Starts with People | MOVE Like This
Apr 2200:33:22Tap to summarize"We’re growing in a way that is strategic, and that we’re preparing our people to meet the demands of that growth.”MOVE Like ThisWith Bonnie Buol RuszczykFor CPA Trendlines ResearchIn this episode of MOVE Like This, Bonnie Ruszczyk sits down with Sarah Petrone, chief human resources officer at Clark Nuber, for a conversation about responsible growth, leadership pipelines, belonging, and what it truly means to build a firm where people want to stay for the long haul. MORE MOVE Like This | MORE Benchmarks: Register for MOVE 2026 | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network With more than 20 years in human resources across eight industries, Petrone joined Clark Nuber after leading HR in a startup environment, intentionally seeking a stable yet innovative professional services firm. What she found was an organization that understands a fundamental truth of accounting: in professional services, people are the product. That reality shapes everything from growth strategy to succession planning.
Transcribe →Joe Pine: Navigating the New Transformation Economy | Holistic Guide
Apr 2200:47:00Tap to summarizeFrom Experiences to Transformations: The Future of Value Creation. Full show notes here With Rory HenryThe Holistic Guide to Wealth ManagementWhen advisors talk about differentiating themselves from the pack, the conversation often centers on providing better service models, improved technology, or more personalized experiences. But according to Fortune 500 management advisor Joe Pine, those levers are no longer enough. The real opportunity lies one level deeper: helping clients change.MORE Rory Henry | MORE The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming NetworkCofounder of Strategic Horizons LLP, Pine is the co-author of The Experience Economy and author of the newly released The Transformation Economy. He argues that the U.S. economy has continued its long arc first from commodities, then to goods, services and experiences, and now to transformations. In this next transformation phase, the customer is no longer buying a product, activity or even a memorable event. They are investing in who they want to become.
Transcribe →Michelle River: The Hidden Data Behind CPA Firm Burnout and Profit Pressure | Gear Up for Growth
Apr 1700:42:31Tap to summarizeHow savvy CPAs are unlocking powerful insights buried in their practice management systems. Plus: Download the slide deck. See all the show notes hereGear Up for GrowthWith Jean CaragherFor CPA Trendlines“What surprised me most isn’t what the data says,” says Michelle Golden River, CEO of Fore LLC, in a new episode of Gear Up for Growth, powered by CPA Trendlines. “It’s that almost every CPA already has it, and it rarely makes it into leadership conversations.” 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 hereRiver tells host Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing, that firms are overlooking powerful insights buried in their own practice management data. River challenges CPA firm leaders to rethink long-held assumptions about growth and sustainability. “There is no reason we should be taking a high volume of low spenders when it’s killing us. It’s ruining our sustainability chances,” she says.River leaves three big takeaways for CPA firms.
Transcribe →Accounting’s Hidden Talent Risk: The Sandwich Generation | ARC
Apr 1600:50:48Tap to summarizeThe 2026 MOVE Project aims to turn caregiving challenges into actionable insights for firms.Accounting ARCWith Liz Mason, Donny Shimamoto, and Byron PatrickCenter for Accounting TransformationAs accounting firms continue to grapple with talent shortages, retention challenges, and evolving workforce expectations, a growing segment of professionals is quietly carrying an additional burden — one that rarely shows up on a balance sheet. MORE Accounting ARC: 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 | 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 They are caregivers.In the latest episode of Accounting ARC, Donny Shimamoto, Byron Patrick, and Liz Mason turn their attention to the 2026 Accounting MOVE Project — and the professionals it aims to better understand and support. This year’s emphasis: the “sandwich generation” and others balancing careers with caregiving responsibilities. The topic reflects a broader shift in how the profession defines talent, productivity, and success — and raises questions about whether traditional firm structures are keeping pace with reality.
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