The path to influence in accounting starts with finding your voice—and sharing it on stage.

Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason and Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

Forget the clichés of accountants buried in spreadsheets. Today’s most innovative CPAs are more likely to be found keynoting tech conferences, moderating panels on firm transformation, or networking at rooftop receptions in Toronto, Tokyo, or Denver.

In this episode of Accounting ARC, hosts Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, and Liz Mason, CPA, peel back the curtain on how speaking and travel are helping redefine the accounting profession.

• MORE Accounting ARC: Students Challenge Accounting's Traditional Career Path | True Grit: Recognizing Struggles That Shape Our Successes | More Admins, Fewer Students, No Plan | What Career Advice Gets Wrong for Gen Z - And How to Fix It |Your Identity is Not a Liability | What Happens in Vegas… Gets Reported on a Tax Return | Burnout, Be Gone: Accounting Needs a Boundary Breakthrough | The Ultimate Business Hack You’re Probably Ignoring | Resilience, Real Talk, and the Road to Mental Wellness | Blockchain Could Still Reshape Accounting | What Gen Z Wants from Business | Firm Differentiation Depends Upon Client Service

“I used to think the only reason CPAs traveled was for audits,” says Shimamoto, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation. “Now, speaking has taken me to 35 states and across the globe.”

New tax proposal offers four years of relief for qualified workers, starting retroactively in 2025.

Quick Tax Tip
With Art Werner
CPE Today

During his campaign rallies, Donald Trump made repeated promises to eliminate taxes on overtime pay, and that promise has now been incorporated into legislative language. According to tax expert Art Werner, the proposed tax break is indeed included in the new tax bill, and it’s one of the few provisions that start early and end early.

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“This is one of the parts of the bill that actually sunsets,” said Werner in a recent episode of Quick Tax Tip. “It goes from 2025 to 2028, unlike the rest of the bill, which largely begins in 2026.”

The provision eliminates federal tax on qualified overtime compensation, but don’t get too excited just yet. The deduction only applies under very specific conditions.

"I had to learn to be a political animal."

Big 4 Transparency

By Dominic Piscopo, CPA

For CPA Trendlines

In a candid conversation on the Big 4 Transparency show, former CohnReznick CEO Frank Longobardi offers a sweeping view of the accounting industry's transformation, advocating for private equity investment as a necessary catalyst for modernization. Speaking with host Dominic Piscopo, Longobardi explains how traditional partnership structures have often hindered strategic decision-making, especially in large firms where a board of ten or more can slow progress. “You’ve got people on the board at different ages, different objectives, and different disciplines,” he says. “A smaller circle with clear strategic goals allows partners to do what they do best: serve clients and lead people.”

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Longobardi also highlights how the profession’s talent model is out of step with the expectations of today’s workforce.

“You hire a top student and tell them they’ll make partner in 16 years,” he notes. “Meanwhile, their friends in finance are seeing returns now—when they’re raising kids and buying houses.”

Private equity, Longobardi argues, can address this by offering earlier equity opportunities and aligning incentives across generations. “We need to make accounting a profession of choice again,” he says, pointing to declining enrollment in accounting programs and the deterrent of the fifth-year requirement for CPA licensure.

Even small improvements to internal controls can reduce the average $700,000 loss from financial statement fraud.

Quick Tech Talk

With Steve Yoss

CPE Today

Fraud isn’t just a nuisance—it’s a multimillion-dollar drain on businesses every year. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), organizations lose an estimated 5% of their annual revenue to fraud. That amounts to a staggering $4.7 trillion globally, based on the 2022 Report to the Nations.

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In the latest episode of Quick Tech Talk, technology educator and CPA Steve Yoss breaks down why fraud persists—and what financial professionals can do to stop it. From asset misappropriation to corruption to financial statement fraud, Yoss explains the common red flags, the steep costs, and how improving your organization’s internal controls can yield major savings and a more ethical workplace culture.

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Legacy firms may value tenure, but firms of the future prioritize impact, innovation, and client fit.

The Disruptors

With Liz Farr

For most CPAs, the road to partner is long and narrow—often paved with decades of grueling hours and delayed ownership. But Aaron Dickerson, founder of Dickerson CPA in Austin, Texas, had no interest in waiting 20 years to earn a seat at the table.

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“I saw partners who had been there for two decades and were still paying for their equity,” Dickerson recalls of his time at a legacy firm in Ohio. “It just didn’t make sense.”

Only firms embracing culture, collaboration, and client impact will survive the next era.

By Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™

For CPA Trendlines

The traditional CPA firm model is at a major crossroads. With an aging leadership base, evolving client expectations, and growing private equity interest, firms must rethink how they operate—or risk falling behind.

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“Many firms are still stuck in outdated models centered around hours and billables,” observes Randy Crabtree, CPA, founder of Tri-Merit Specialty Tax Professionals, during a recent panel discussion for contributors to my new book Holistic Guide to Wealth Management. Crabtree says he’s avoided time tracking for most of his career because he believes it distracts from real value delivery.

“We can do things better and more efficiently,” says Crabtree. He argues that if working more efficiently means it takes less time to get the work done, then we shouldn’t be paid less money.

Like Crabtree, fellow panelist, Susan Bryant, CPA, CTC, founder of Unboxed Advisors, stresses that compliance work — while still important— can no longer be the centerpiece of a thriving firm.

Private equity is redefining influence, and only agile, change-ready professionals will survive.

Accounting Influencers
With Rob Brown

In the next 36 months or so, nearly half of accounting leaders could find themselves labeled as legacy problems. That’s the stark prediction in the latest episode of Accounting Influencers, where host Rob Brown unpacks how private equity is fundamentally reshaping the rules of leadership, authority, and influence in the profession.

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As private equity (PE) firms continue to invest heavily in accounting, they're accelerating transformation—and not everyone is keeping up. “This is not just about writing big checks,” says Brown. “It’s a power shift that rewards adaptability, speed, and strategic boldness over patience and technical seniority.”