We all want to grow our businesses, but when is it enough?

On this episode, David is joined by Dan Grech, Founder and Lead Instructor of BizHack, which provides AI-powered fractional marketing services to purpose-driven small businesses.

Episode Highlights:

• Growing Cousin's Dance Studio (4:55)
• Parable of the Mexican Fisherman (7:17)
• Shareholder Capitalism (10:46)
• Journalism to Expose Crime (15:33)
• Ikigai (19:02)
• Unlocking Moment (20:52) 
• Recurring Revenue (32:47)
• Feeling Trapped (44:33)

Links:
For Continuing Professional Education Courses:
https://www.petersprofessionaleducation.com/

More David Peters Content:
www.youtube.com/@DavidPetersFinancial

Dan Grech and Bizhack:
https://bizhack.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dangrech/

With heavy workloads, looming deadlines and the daunting task of trying to appease bosses, peers, staff and clients, it may seem impossible to maintain a positive work environment. 

Not so, says Gretchen Pisano -- a positive leadership expert, speaker, CEO, Master Coach, and co-founder of pLink Leadership -- who has worked with a wide range of clients, from Amazon executives to the U.S. Air Force. This week, she joins Dave with a host of strategies to serve as an antidote to toxic work environments. 

Episode Highlights

• Overcoming our hard-wired negativity bias (03:19)
• Leading with hope, drive — and rest (05:00)
• Balancing your life —  and the science behind positivity’s benefits (18:50)
• Being intentional about self-care and making that a part of workplace culture (24:34)
• The importance of an Adaptive Mindsets (28:03)
• ‘Healthy Skepticism’ and vulnerability: The CPAs’ dilemma (31:01)
• Momentum v. Achievement (35:11)
• Gretchen’s three nuggets of wisdom for CPAs entering busy season (40:00)

Buckle up: It’s tax season. So what better time to explore all things tax? 

On this episode, David is joined by Bill Harden, Associate Professor at the Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. With over 30 years of experience, he’s become an expert on individual and corporate tax — and so much more.

Episode Highlights

• Is 2023 really what some people are calling a ‘light tax season’? (06:30)
• Secure 2 and confusing start dates (09:20)
• The 4-1-1 on Green Energy and Green Vehicle Credits (11:28)
• Required Minimum Distributions (23:17)
• Virtual currency (33:10)
• Employee Retention Credit (42:00)
• Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting (54:50)

Are innovations threatening accounting, finance and business — or shoring them up?  Samantha Bowling, CPA, CFE, CGMA, joins host David Peters to offer her perspective. She tells the story of how she harnessed the power of technology and general innovative thinking to ascend from a public accounting staff person to a managing partner, all the while collecting a host of other accolades including chairing her state’s CPA society, winning the Innovative Practices Award and being named among Maryland’s Top 100 Women in Business.  Now, she is overseeing a series of tech and procedural innovations that stand to propel her firm far ahead of the competition.

Episode Highlights

• Why do CPA firms generally fear innovation? (08:18)
• How do you go about implementing value-based billing? (12:06)
• Bringing clients along on business transformation journeys (17:01)
• ‘Fast Food’ tax prep (22:00)
• How do we address the fear of innovation failure?(29:56)
• Artificial Intelligence (35:35)

Whether you're a financial services professional or one of the business owners they serve, you may have some outdated processes and procedures to revisit -- especially given the hyperspeed at which technologies like ChatGPT are transforming business automation. But where should you start?

In this episode of Accountable, entrepreneur, CEO, CFO and founder of JCG CPA Firm Cory Gayman joins David to discuss simple ways you can improve workplace efficiencies -- not only by leveraging technology but also through challenging your assumptions and shifting your mindset. 

Episode Highlights

• Compartmentalizing your calendar and getting clear on REAL priorities (05:00) 
• Technology (a double-edged sword) and implementing AI  (11:50)
• How small businesses can stay on top of tech (21:23) 
• Change management (24:57)
• Improving efficiencies: Where to begin? (28:30)
• Tips before starting a business (31:10)

Unfortunately, it's not a question of whether  cyber criminals will impact our lives but when. Are you and those you serve prepared?

As CEO of  ISC2, the world's leading membership association for cybersecurity professionals, Clar Rosso is eager to share ways we can all improve our cyber literacy and posture. Clar also has thoughts about the intersection between accounting and cybersecurity — and how CPAs may reinforce the integral roles they play for small business by growing and flexing their cybersecurity advisory muscles.

Episode Highlights

• What do we really mean when we say ‘cybersecurity’ and what's the 'C.I.A. Triangle'? (03:00)
• Why Security & Privacy should have a voice in crafting business strategy  (05:51)
• The risks for small-to-medium-sized businesses  and getting them up-to-speed and certified in cybersecurity risk management (10:31)
• Cybersecurity: An issue for our entire society  -- and forging a national cybersecurity strategy to address it  (15:40)
• Free cybersecurity certifications and other launching points for improving cyber literacy, posture and security  (19:00)
• New research exposes how 95% of businesses with 100 or fewer employees  have NO information security professionals on staff -- and how CPAs can help (30:30)

You and your business clients can find additional free cybersecurity resources at CISA.org. 

When it comes to unclogging the CPA pipeline, Karl Ahlrichs (an HR professional and thought leader who's also bilingual in accounting) doesn't believe you  should emulate tried-and-true best practices. In a world that's seemingly evolving at the speed of light, you should instead point your attention to what's next -- from hiring practices to upskilling the staff you have.

Episode Highlights

• Defining 'Best' vs. 'Next' practices (03:33)
• 'Next' practices as they relate to hiring (15:03)
• Halting high-performer turnover (22:47)
• How hiring the wrong people harms morale (32:02)
• Given recent Great Recession data, does organizational loyalty still exist? (37:20)

To learn more about Karl and his work, visit ExpertSpeaks. 

Studies have shown that most people fear public speaking more than death. As Jerry Seinfeld once put it, “…that means the average person at a funeral would rather be in the casket than delivering the eulogy."

But  it doesn't have to be that way says  Eileen Smith, a diplomat-turned-public-speaking-coach and the creator of the POWER Your Public Speaking QAS self-study course.

Eileen joins David to discuss tried-and-true practical steps you can take to overcome your public speaking anxieties while also elevating your executive presence.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• How public speaking fits into the lives and careers of finance professionals (06:25)
• Defining executive presence (11:44)
• The biology of public speaking (21:28)
• Developing a 'pre-game' ritual to calm one's nerves (27:50) 
• Establishing credibility (30:00)

Interested in learning more? Consider taking Eileen's public speaking course — with or without CPE credits. Need more information? You may contact Eileen at [email protected].

The forecast is in: Be on the lookout for doom 'n' gloom.  At least, that's how the media are painting the future -- as a bleak world, upended by technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI). Now, all of the uneasiness and uncertainty has spilled over into the accounting and finance profession where those who've worked diligently to earn their credentials fear that automation may nullify their efforts.

But Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA sees things differently.

As founder of The Center for Accounting Transformation, founder and Managing Director of Intraprise Techknowlogies,  and Co-Chair of the National Conference of Lawyers & CPAs for the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, Donny has looked at the profession through a variety of lenses, and in each lens, he foresees incredible potential.

Listen in to discover Donny's vision of a brighter future for entrepreneurs and those in accounting and finance fields.

Episode Highlights

• Most get into profession to help people and businesses achieve their goals, and the demand for these skills aren't going anywhere (04:45)
• How to find and deliver the services your clients actually need (12:20)
• The main thing we need to improve on as a profession* (16:58)
  • (*Our episode with Amy Vetter touches on this specifically)
• The power of personal resilience in unlocking transformation (28:15)
• Shifting from traditional firm structures and ideologies (31:07)

To learn more about Donny and his services, find him on LinkedIn.

For more information about Dave , visit www.davidpetersfinancial.com.

Accounting and finance professionals are notorious for burning the candle at both ends. In fact, is finding balance between work and life even possible? "It is," says Amy Vetter, CPA, and CEO of the B³ Method Institute. She supports firms and businesses across the country in working smarter -- not harder -- so that ultimately NO ONE in the organization exceeds 45 hours of work per week.

Want to learn how to pull this off for your business? Listen in to learn more...

Episode Highlights

• Beating the belief system that this will never work (11:26) 
• Aligning personal and financial goals while leveraging your organization's purpose (18:02)
• Developing a purpose and mission aren't nice-to-haves; they're essential -- from CEOs and entrepreneurs to everyday workers (25:00)
• Scrutinizing your actual vs. perceived productivity (32:04)
• Optimizing technologies such as AI -- and establishing standard operating procedures (34:35)
• Becoming a connected leader (40:36)

Read Amy's books to learn even more.

***Please note: David's audio echoes toward the beginning of this episode but eventually normalizes.

Visit us at www.davidpetersfinancial.com.