The next generation is blending entrepreneurship, AI, and advisory into careers that barely existed a few years ago.

Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

For decades, the accounting profession has followed a familiar script: earn a CPA license, join a firm, climb the ladder and perhaps become a partner.

Rachel Farris, CPA, MBA, is proving there is another way.

After building a highly specialized tax advisory practice serving U.S. citizens relocating to Puerto Rico, Farris launches Tax Stack AI, a company that helps accounting firms implement artificial intelligence securely and strategically.

She has since sold her CPA practice to focus on AI consulting and education, demonstrating that today's accounting professionals can create careers far beyond traditional public accounting.

In this episode of Accounting ARC, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, sits down with Farris to explore entrepreneurship, AI, networking and the expanding possibilities available to CPAs willing to embrace change.

Their conversation becomes less about one accountant's journey and more about the profession's future.

“Flexibility should be used as a tool for success. It shouldn't be the exception.”

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Mandy Gallagher, lead manager of Women’s Initiatives at the AICPA, joins Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk to discuss why caregiving has become such an important conversation in accounting, what firms may misunderstand about caregivers, and how greater flexibility and support could influence retention and leadership pipelines across the profession. Gallagher’s work focuses on advancing women’s initiatives, supporting professional development, and amplifying women’s perspectives throughout the profession. 

One reason caregiving is getting more attention now is that it is both more visible and much broader than many people have traditionally assumed. Demographic shifts mean multiple generations are simultaneously balancing careers with responsibilities for children, aging parents, siblings, partners, friends, and others who rely on them. COVID also changed expectations around where and how work can happen. Employees experienced firsthand that they could remain productive while having enough flexibility to pick up a child or take a parent to a medical appointment. As more organizations return to traditional office expectations, those competing demands have become harder to reconcile.

The conversation challenges another long-standing assumption: that caregiving is primarily a women-with-young-children issue.

From vendor demonstrations to hallway conversations, this year's conference season highlights both excitement and uncertainty across the profession.

Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

Every summer, accounting professionals pack conference centers looking for the next big idea. They attend breakout sessions, visit vendor booths, compare notes with peers and return to their firms with pages of ideas.

This year, however, the conversations feel different.

Artificial intelligence still dominates the agenda, but the Accounting ARC hosts notice a subtle shift beneath the excitement. The biggest takeaway isn't simply that AI is everywhere. It's that many accountants are struggling to separate innovation from marketing, capability from hype, and opportunity from risk.

In this episode of Accounting ARC, hosts Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, senior product manager for Karbon and co-founder and educator for TB Academy; Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation; and Liz Mason, CPA, CEO of High Rock Accounting, reflect on what they observe during this year's conference season—and what those observations reveal about the profession's next challenge.

Technology changes quickly, but critical thinking remains the most valuable skill accountants can develop.

Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

Artificial intelligence is changing accounting faster than almost anyone predicted. But according to William LeFew, Ph.D., the professionals who benefit most from AI are not necessarily the ones with the strongest technical skills—they are the ones who know how to think.

In this episode of Accounting ARC, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, welcomes LeFew, chief technology officer at FirmPro, for a conversation that goes beyond software features and into the mindset required to succeed in an AI-enabled profession.

LeFew approaches accounting from an unusual perspective. Trained as an applied mathematician with experience at NASA and multiple technology startups, he intentionally looks for industries where technology can remove friction instead of creating it. Accounting, he says, stands out because of the people.

AI changes how professionals gain experience, forcing teams to reinvent leadership development.

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

Artificial intelligence has dominated conversations throughout the accounting profession, but much of the discussion remains focused on efficiency. In this episode of MOVE Like This, Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk sits down with Peter McCarroll, founder of The AI Accountant and partner at Fuel Accountants, to explore a much bigger question: How will AI reshape careers, leadership, and the future of accounting firms?

McCarroll argues that many firms are looking at AI through too narrow a lens. While automating routine work will certainly improve productivity, efficiency alone will not be enough to remain competitive. Firms that thrive will use AI to strengthen strategic thinking, develop new services, deepen client relationships, and create additional value rather than simply reducing costs. Waiting for technology to stabilize or treating AI as just another software implementation may leave firms behind as change accelerates over the next few years.

 Build the firm you want by hiring only the best.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
Show notes here

When David Cristello launched Jetpack Workflow in 2016, the market already had plenty of solutions. “Are we too late?” he wondered. But he launched anyway, “and the only reason we launched is because we interviewed so many firms.” These firms told him about the problems with other solutions, and with his founders’ group, he was able to co-create a product that worked.

MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

Back then, firms were tracking work on spreadsheets, as many firms today still do, and things were falling through the cracks. However, today’s users have more sophisticated demands. “What used to be just checklists and task lists is now about: what’s the operating system for the firm?” says Cristello.

READ MORE →

Intent, tone and delivery matter just as much as the message itself. 

Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

One poorly handled conversation can undo months—or years—of trust. In this episode of Accounting ARC, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, and Liz Mason, CPA, unpack why difficult feedback often fails, how leaders can communicate with greater intention, and what separates constructive coaching from conversations that send employees looking for another job.

The conversation starts with a story familiar to anyone who has ever hovered over the “Send” button on a difficult message.

Mason, founder and CEO of High Rock Accounting, recalls proposing a conference talk with a deliberately provocative title — a reminder that most professionals feel the tension between holding the line and keeping the peace. The point, she says, is not to sanitize reality. It is to learn how to hold people accountable without turning it into a personal attack.

Originally published Feb. 5, 2026

It’s not just growth.
Full show notes here.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

Scaling a business successfully usually doesn’t happen automatically when top-line revenue grows, as Jason Blumer and Ian Vacin explain in their new book, “Scale with Purpose: The Service Entrepreneur’s Guide to Intentional Growth.”

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Vacin, co-founder of Karbon, had seen a peculiar pattern across Karbon’s Practice Excellence survey over the last eight years. Instead of smooth growth curves, firm data showed distinct scaling plateaus at specific headcounts. “Ninety-five percent of firms had this going up motion. Generally, we get to 12 to 16 employees, and then go backward, and they would tell us, ‘Yeah, it grew too fast. It didn’t feel like the company that I wanted,’ ” he explains.

READ MORE > > > 

The profession's fastest-growing opportunities help business owners make decisions—not just balance the books.

Accounting Conversations
With Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation

For many accounting students, the profession appears to offer two primary destinations: tax or audit.

But what if that's only part of the story?

In the latest episode of Accounting Conversations, host Chayton Farlee, an assurance associate at CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), welcomes Kaden Cook, CPA, CMA, a virtual CFO with Anders, for a conversation that challenges many of the assumptions students have about accounting careers.

Cook's own career follows a path that many students may not realize exists. He begins with bookkeeping, gains experience in accounts receivable and accounts payable, discovers outsourced accounting and eventually finds his way into advisory services, where he helps business owners make financial decisions rather than simply report financial results.

That distinction becomes one of the central themes of the conversation.

It may create costly leadership gaps that affect engagement, retention, and firm performance.

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

Promotions are meant to strengthen an organization. But when firms elevate top performers without preparing them to lead, those promotions can become some of the most expensive decisions they make. The result is often disengaged employees, overwhelmed managers, and avoidable turnover. 

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk talks with Megan Robinson, founder and CEO of E Leader Experience, about why leadership isn't a natural next step for every high performer—and what firms can do to build leaders intentionally instead of hoping they'll figure it out.

Originally published May 13, 2026