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CPA Trendlines Podcasts
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CPA Trendlines is the world’s only research and advisory service focused solely on the tax, accounting, and finance professions.
We use a time-tested, quality-proven, proprietary blend of data, analysis, community, experience, and imagination to produce extraordinary value for our clients.
Elite decision-makers from all over the world look to CPA Trendlines for trusted advice, bold insights, and confidential access to exclusive intelligence and decision support.
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Facts. Figures. Insights. Implications.
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.
Our reports are relevant, timely, and to-the-point, providing the most essential information, and are digestible often in under an hour.
87episodes
Episodes
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When "What If" Becomes Reality | ARC
Mar 2600:38:37Tap to summarizeA near-tragedy sparks a critical conversation on business continuity, risk, and responsibility in accounting firms.Accounting ARCWith Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny ShimamotoCenter for Accounting TransformationBusiness continuity planning often lives in the realm of “someday.”Until it doesn’t.In the latest episode of Accounting ARC, hosts Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP; and Liz Mason, CPA, tackle a topic many professionals avoid: what happens when the unexpected actually happens.The conversation opens not with theory, but with a moment that makes the stakes unmistakably real. MORE Accounting ARC: 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 Mason, CEO of High Rock Accounting, recounts a recent skiing accident in which she fell roughly 200 yards and collided with a tree at high speed. She survived with a broken leg—but the incident forced a sobering question: What would have happened to her firm if she hadn’t?
Transcribe →Oz Demirdoven: Why U.S. Firms Lag the World in Advisory | The Disruptors
Mar 2600:55:09Tap to summarizeSuccess breeds complacency – and obsolescence.Full show notesThe DisruptorsWith Liz FarrSuccess, long the defining strength of U.S. accounting firms, is fast becoming their most dangerous liability, according to Oz Demirdovan, a PKF executive with a global portfolio.Flush with steady profits, deep client rosters, and decades of compliance-driven demand, many firms see little reason to change—just as the ground beneath them shifts, Demirdovan tells Liz Farr in this episode of The Disruptors.MORE DISRUPTORS: Candy Bellau: The $350 Pricing Mistake that Nearly Broke this Boutique Firm | The Disruptors | Poe: What P.E. Really Wants from Firms | The Disruptors | Blake Oliver: Build a Biz that Runs Without You | Daiber: Use Succession as a Growth Strategy | Cannon: Busy Season is Self-InflictedMORE CPA Trendlines Streaming NetworkThe paradox is stark: the very stability that built the profession now insulates it from the urgency to adapt, leaving some of its most successful players at greatest risk of falling behind.Ozgur Demirdoven has worked in accounting worldwide, spending more than five years at Allinial Global. From his perspective, the most striking difference between accounting in the U.S. and the rest of the world isn't just our complex regulatory environment.
Transcribe →Should I Leave Public Accounting? | Accounting Voices
Mar 2400:17:41Tap to summarizeHow To Decide If Public Accounting Is Still Right For You.Full show notesAccounting VoicesWith Rob BrownYou know a profession is under pressure when strangers online ask the same question every week. And in accounting, right now, that question is this. Should I leave public accounting?MORE Accounting Voices with Rob Brown | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming NetworkIt shows up constantly on our YouTube channel. People write things like. I cannot survive another busy season. Is it normal to feel like this job is crushing me? I love accounting, but I hate public accounting. Does it ever get better, or do I need to escape?
Transcribe →Kane Polakoff: What You’re Still Getting Wrong About CAS | Gear Up for Growth
Mar 2300:32:42Tap to summarizeToo many potential clients, not enough staff or capacity.Full show notes hereGear Up for GrowthWith Jean CaragherFor CPA Trendlines“CAS is kicking CASS right now,” says Kane Polakoff, principal and CAS practice leader at CohnReznick, in the new episode of Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing. “It’s on fire, especially over the last five or six years. The demand is incredible, but the key is having a strong delivery mechanism and the right capacity to provide real value to clients.” 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
Transcribe →Will AI Make Students Better Learners — or Just Faster Workers? | SLC
Mar 1900:47:19Tap to summarizeEducators explore ethics, creativity, critical thinking and the future of learning in an AI-powered world.Student-Led ConversationsWith Harshita MultaniCenter for Accounting TransformationArtificial intelligence is no longer a future issue in education. It is already shaping how students study, how teachers prepare lessons, how universities think about access and admissions, and how employers evaluate readiness for the workforce. MORE SLC: Why the Next Generation May Be Accounting's Greatest Competitive Advantage | Students Redefine Career Readiness | Savage: Using Your License as a Megaphone | Baker: Interpreting Pricing Psychology | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC In this episode, host Harshita Multani, a Center for Accounting Transformation intern and Indiana high school business student, leads a thoughtful discussion on AI in education with Markus Ahrens, Ph.D., CPA, CGMA, FMAA, of the American Accounting Association, and David Wood of Brigham Young University.What makes this conversation stand out is not just the topic. It is the perspective.
Transcribe →Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn Out | ARC
Mar 1200:34:29Tap to summarizePaying attention to personal stress signals can help professionals recharge before fatigue turns into burnout. Accounting ARCWith Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny ShimamotoCenter for Accounting TransformationIn accounting, exhaustion does not always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like irritability. Sometimes it looks like staring at a spreadsheet that suddenly makes no sense. Sometimes it looks like mental fog, poor focus, a mild headache, or the sense that even small decisions take too much effort. MORE Accounting ARC: 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 In the latest episode of Accounting ARC, hosts Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP; and Liz Mason, CPA, take on a subject that lands close to home for many professionals, especially during demanding stretches of work: how to recharge when the pace is relentless and the pressure does not let up.
Transcribe →Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet | ARC
Mar 500:29:52Tap to summarizeUnderstanding a company’s history, leadership, and future matters as much as financial statements.Accounting ARCWith Donny ShimamotoCenter for Accounting TransformationDonny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, opens a recent episode of Accounting ARC with a simple question: How do you value a business when the numbers tell only part of the story?His guest, Baria Jaroudi, a Houston-based director in BDO’s business valuation and advisory practice, says valuation work requires more than reviewing financial statements. It requires understanding how owners built the business, where cash flow comes from, and what risks and assumptions shape a credible and defensible value — especially in family law and divorce matters, where the stakes can run high. MORE Accounting ARC: 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 “I like to think of myself as someone who brings clarity and calm in moments that can otherwise feel overwhelming,” Jaroudi says.Shimamoto, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, says that role reflects a core purpose of the profession: accountants deliver peace of mind. In Jaroudi’s work, that means translating complex analysis into conclusions clients can understand — and conclusions that can withstand scrutiny.
Transcribe →Stephanie Otero: How to Build a Small Firm That Works for You | Gear Up for Growth
Mar 400:30:20Tap to summarizeSmall Firm Success Requires Intention, Focus, and CommunityFull show notes hereGear Up for GrowthWith Jean CaragherFor CPA Trendlines“Small firm practitioners need to remember that they are in the driver’s seat,” says Stephanie Otero, vice president, Small Firm Advocate at the AICPA, in this episode of Gear Up for Growth with Jean Caragher.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 videos and podcasts here“They have the power to intentionally design a practice they enjoy, and that truly works for them,” Otero says.Intentional practice design emerges as a central theme, with Otero emphasizing that burnout often stems from trying to serve too many clients and offer too many services. By clearly defining ideal clients and focusing on work they enjoy, small firm owners can create more sustainable and rewarding practices.
Transcribe →Carrie Steffen: The Staffing Problem Nobody Talks About | MOVE Like This
Mar 400:32:48Tap to summarizeThe profession talks too much about deadlines and not enough about impact. Students are listening.FULL show notes hereMOVE Like ThisWith Bonnie Buol RuszczykFor CPA Trendlines ResearchThe CPA profession has only itself to blame for a talent shortage.Firms have spent years talking about the grind of deadlines and busy season, instead of selling the career’s impact, stability, and range of opportunities, according to Carrie Steffen, CEO of the Iowa Society of CPAs.MORE MOVE Like This | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming NetworkIn the new episode of MOVE Like This, Steffen tells Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk the profession must rethink its narrative, strengthen cultures of belonging, and bring younger professionals into leadership conversations if it hopes to rebuild the CPA pipeline.
Transcribe →Jody Padar: The New Playbook Is AI-Powered and Human-Centered | Big 4 Transparency
Mar 200:43:17Tap to summarizeAI Won’t Replace Accountants. Instead, It Will Rewire the Business Model.FULL show notes hereBig 4 TransparencyWith Dominic Piscopo, CPAJody Padar, widely known as “The Radical CPA” and author of Radical Pricing, argues the future of accounting won’t be won by automation alone, but by a business model shift that elevates human judgment, advisory, and client relationships.MORE Dominic Piscopo | AI | Pay & Compensation | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming NetworkIn the new episode of the Big 4 Transparency Podcast, Padar joins host Dominic Piscopo to trace her path from early cloud-firm pioneer to venture-backed operator and to explain why her newest venture, Xcel Labs, is focused on training CPAs to think and lead differently in an AI-first world. Xcel Labs’ Navi aims to build empathy and leadership at scale.
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