During this early morning conversation over coffee, Kim and Kalil start with a light hearted chat about Kim’s evolution from public accounting in both small and large firms to eventually becoming a Client Advisory Services (CAS) practice mentor and coach. It soon becomes clear from their conversation that Kim’s extensive experience in CAS, and personal evolution over the decades, actually closely mirrors the evolution of CAS practices and the profession itself. Some could say Kim is the face of the CAS profession. Grounded in wisdom and deep experience Kim provides us with a unique peak into what’s coming next for CAS practices.  

Grab a cup of coffee and join Kim and Kalil in their discussion about:

•   Understanding the evolution of CAS over the decades to bring us where we are today
•   The growing sophistication of CAS practices and how their performance and results are accelerating
•   The importance of aligning vision, mission, strategy and goals to a successful CAS practice
•   Technology as an essential component and enabler of your strategy but should not be the strategy itself
• Considerations for customer facing vs internally facing tech stacks
• The importance of using frameworks, cycles and tested methodologies for building and transforming a CAS practice
• Accelerating the transformation of new and mature CAS practices using the CAS 2.0™ framework

Ø  Learn more about CAS Professional Services, Coaching and Consulting: CAS Professional Services | CPA.com

A little bit about Kim Blascoe

As Sr Director of CAS Professional Services, Kim leads CAS2.0 Practice Transformation Programs, focusing on helping firms establish and grow optimized CAS practices through consulting, practice development, and training offerings.  Prior to joining CPA.com, Kim spent over 30 years in public accounting, the last 13 years at Wipfli, LLP.   For most of her time at Wipfli, Kim led their CAS practice providing a value-driven client experience utilizing an industry focused US and offshore team delivered through an innovative digital platform. Most recently Kim had turned her focus specifically to the Wealth & Asset Management industry where she led the Broker Dealer & Advisor Network segment of the vertical.

The Digital CPA podcast is a production of CPA.com. All rights reserved. 

Listen and find out more at digitalcpa.com/podcast.

Pascal Finette is a heretic, a futurist, a visionary, an author, a disruptor and also co-founder and CEO of be radical. While not an accountant himself he is well known in the profession for helping firms discover today what matters tomorrow and transform for a future that is already unfolding before us. Join Kalil, Kacee and Pascal discussing what it means to be a leader during times of exponential change and disruption.

·       Determining the edge and core of your business and how much risk is necessary to survive and grow in an environment that is continually being disrupted.

·       What is the right mix of edge and core in your business.

·       Why it is important to get comfortable with uncertainty and identify the windows of opportunity they create.

·       Identify your north star and be intentional about where you want to go but be adaptable enough to shift in different directions on your way there.

·       The importance of designing systems to allow your firm to operate in an environment of exponential change and disruption.

·       How the product and service lifecycle has changed and the considerations you need to make for new and existing offerings.

·       The new leaderships traits and skills required in an environment of increasing pace of change and disruption.

·       The importance of shifting to a customer focused mindset vs a product and service focus to business survival.

·       Several technology trends Pascal expects to see in 2024 including new ways GenAI will be used.

Ø  CPA.com’s Generative AI toolkit for the accounting and finance profession is available now at no cost  Generative AI | CPA.com

A little bit about Pascal Finette

Pascal is the co-founder of be radical, EY’s wavespace Advisory Board Chair, and Jury Chair for Science and Innovation Management at Falling Walls Foundation. Previously he held leadership positions at Google.org, Mozilla, and eBay, built technology startups, and launched a Venture Capital firm. He is the posse leader at TheHeretic.org, and the cofounder of the Women’s Impact Alliance.

He is also the author of: Disrupt Disruption - The Book | be radical. (rdcl.is)

Listen and find out more at digitalcpa.com/podcast.

"Holy Cats" it's exciting to be launching the Digital CPA Podcast with Lindsay Stevenson, Chair of the Advisory Board for the DCPA conference and Chief Transformation Officer for BPM LLP, '...not the biggest and not the smallest accounting and advisory firm in the world.'

During this fast paced and upbeat discussion between Kalil, Kacee and Lindsay discuss:

• Why firms of all sizes need someone focused on what's next and championing continual transformation in today's environment

• How to be strategic about the innovative ideas your firm selects to pursue, and intentional about the choices you makes

• What a successful transformation really looks like in reality within a firm and as a journey

• How to make transformation, calculated risk taking and failures part of your culture

• Using the ADKAR framework to guide change management in accounting and advisory firms

• Why focusing on adoption and acceptance from the majority moves the change management needle more than anything else

• What makes the Digital CPA community unique in the accounting and advisory services profession and why it is important for the community to address the intersectionality of human creativity and digital transformation

• How the annual Digital CPA conference seeks to bring more forward-thinking and innovative accounting professionals and firms together to discuss the topics and issues that don't get discussed elsewhere

• Be a part of the DCPA community by signing up for reports, research, newsletters, white papers, webinars and more at Research Innovation | CPA.com

A little about Lindsay Stevenson

As BPM's Chief Transformation Officer, Lindsay Stevenson drives innovation at the Firm. A Certified Public Accountant, she has spent the last 15+ years serving as a change agent in the accounting profession. As a consultant, she has overseen diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, cultural alignment frameworks, coaching programs, and organizational alignment plans. Her past projects range from developing and executing implicit bias discovery and transformation programs, leading teams through business combination strategies and procedures, and overseeing enterprise software selection and implementation processes. Her passion is discovering organizational purpose and developing strategies to transform today's firm into the Firm of the Future. Before joining BPM, Lindsay served as Vice President of Finance and Tax for 1st Financial Bank of USA, and was Founder and CEO of consulting firm Origin Evolution. Interesting Tidbit, Lindsay is a huge Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball fan and has been known to yell at the TV during games even though she knows full well (as her husband reminds her) that the team cannot hear her. She is also an avid reader of mystery novels and a total fan-girl of Simon Sinek.

The Digital CPA podcast is a production of CPA.com. All rights reserved.

Listen and find out more at digitalcpa.com/podcast.

CPA.com is delighted to have Okorie Ramsey, Chair of the AICPA join Kalil and Kacee to discuss the big picture of what is happening in the accounting profession today and in the future. Get a unique insight into the perspectives and what drives Okorie Ramsey as he discusses:

·       What should we be thinking about as the impact of tech continues to accelerate and our agility becomes more important than ever.

·       The importance of upskilling and reskilling for the next era of the accounting profession – skills we need now and will need soon.

·       What the next generation is looking for from their employers and workplace and the cultural shifts that are reshaping public accounting.

·       In the digital intelligence age, how do we build innovation and transformation into the fabric of our culture.

·       Maintaining innovation momentum and viewing it as a journey and not a box to check.

·       Why firms need a Chief Innovation Officer – someone in charge of innovation and what’s next.

·       The importance of the art of story telling to break down and explain complex and nuanced concepts.

·       Ways we can make the profession more intentionally accessible to a wider variety of people of make DEIB a differentiator.

Let us know what you think about this and future podcasts by writing to [email protected]

A little bit about Okorie Ramsey, CPA, CGMA, PMP, NACD.DC

Okorie L. Ramsey, CPA, CGMA, PMP, NADC.CD, is the Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (Association).

Throughout his career, Ramsey has served in several AICPA volunteer roles: the AICPA Board of Directors, the Association Board of Directors, the AICPA and Association Audit and Finance Committee Chair, the AICPA Investments Committee and AICPA Council.

In his current role at Kaiser Permanente, he oversees SOX and Model Audit Rule compliance, which includes strategy, testing and evaluating internal controls and assessing business risk to help ensure effective internal controls over financial reporting for the integrated health care enterprise.

Prior to this role, Ramsey served in various roles throughout his 14 years with Kaiser Permanente. Most recently, as Vice President, Finance Compliance Officer, he was responsible for establishing a finance compliance program to support compliance with regulatory and enforcement agencies as well as leading compliance investigations and co-developing remediation activities to address issues identified. He has also served as Interim Vice President of Tax and Interim Vice President of Operational Risk Management while also executing core Finance Compliance responsibilities.

He is a Lifetime member of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) and won NABA’s Inaugural Core Values award in 2022. He also previously held roles as Past President of the California Society of CPAs Education Foundation Board of Trustees and Past Chairman of the Accounting Career Awareness Program, San Francisco Bay Area and is also a former adjunct professor for San Francisco State University’s Master of Business Administration program.

Ramsey has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from San Francisco State University, and a Kaiser Permanente Executive Leadership Program Certificate from Harvard Business School.

Listen and find out more at digitalcpa.com/podcast.

Hear what's in store for you from the new "Digital CPA" Podcast which launches soon. Brought to you by CPA.com. the first episode will be available at the start of December 2023 to coincide with this year's Digital CPA Conference in Las Vegas. Soon afterwards, you'll be able to find it wherever you already get your podcasts. Listen and find out more at digitalcpa.com/podcast.