Amber Setter: Coaching Helps Resolve the Tension Between Safety and Purpose

Safety’s knowing you can pay the bills. Purpose is knowing there’s something more.

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, Gaana (India), and Boomplay (Africa).

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Amber Setter, the chief enlightenment officer for Conscious Public Accountants, started out as a Type A overachiever CPA, but after a few busy seasons, she realized that she “didn’t want to be an accountant anymore.”

 

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Blumer CPAs: Move Leaders Out of Client ServiceJames Graham: Drop the Billable Hour and You’ll Bill MoreKaren Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business | Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless InclusionBill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid WorkSandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa | Ira Rosenbloom: With M&A, Nobody Wants a Fixer-Upper | Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right PricesMarie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining YouMegan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance |

GoProCPA.com Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Today she’s an executive leadership coach for accountants, helping them transform their lives and careers.

READ MORE →

Heather Satterley: You’ve Got to Meet People Where They Are

Stop saying yes to everything and start saying yes to yourself.

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, Gaana (India), and Boomplay (Africa).

See The Disruptors

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Heather Satterley is well-known for being an accounting tech expert. But tech isn’t the only skill accountants need today and for the future. “You can have great technology skills, but if you don’t have people skills and those softer skills, that’s going to be a problem,” she said.   

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid WorkSandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa | Ira Rosenbloom: With M&A, Nobody Wants a Fixer-Upper | Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right PricesMarie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining YouMegan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than ComplianceClayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for LifeRandy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees HappyErik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a MindshiftJennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone LovesMike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training PracticesHector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be FreePrivate Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt WilkinsonWhen Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey SchmidtCan Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves?Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson

GoProCPA.com Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

One of those softer skills that will be a key skill for the future is problem-solving, which requires keeping an open mind to “look at not just facts and figures, but look at tools, resources, people and pull them all together,” she explained. No one can be an expert at everything, so having “a wide network of really awesome professionals” is vital for filling in any gaps “to get the job done.”  

READ MORE →

Four Tips for Tough Times

Calm balanced businessman sitting outdoors on bench in Yoga lotus pose meditating, with office building and blue sky in backgroundChange your thinking to prevail over the most difficult circumstances.

By Sandi Leyva
The Complete Guide to Marketing for Tax & Accounting Firms

Perseverance is a skill that anyone can learn to not only survive, but thrive through life’s curves. When adversity strikes, it’s not what happens to you but how you respond to what happens to you that has the greatest impact on your life.

MORE: Now’s the Time to Clean Up Your Email List | Transform Your Marketing with CRM | Five Kinds of Small Thinking | Five Tests: How Open Are You to Change? | Maybe Price Isn’t the Problem | Three Thoughts for a Quiet Morning | The Seven-Step Plan for Marketing by Spreadsheet | Beyond QuickBooks: Wowing Your Clients | 11 Ways to Boost Billings and Impress Clients
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Here are four specific ways you can change your thinking to persevere in the toughest of circumstances.
READ MORE →

Headcounts Grow 5%; Pay Rates Surge at 7% Pace

The only down spots? Tax prep and payroll.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

We like to see a month or two of increases when we’re talking about jobs, but how about six or seven? That’s the rosy picture seen across several sectors in accounting, according to the latest available data.

MORE: CPA Staff Wages Hit New High and Keep Climbing | Firms Battle Staff Shortages with Pay Hikes | Tax & Accounting Firms Beef Up Wages and Headcounts | Employee Counts, Earnings Rise
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Oh, you’re an employee looking at potential earnings? They just hit new highs at CPA firms and for staff overall.

We report here on the accounting profession as a whole as well as:

  • CPA firms
  • Tax preparation services
  • Payroll services
  • Bookkeeping
  • Women

READ MORE →

Comeback Stalls as Layoffs Hit 1,500 in Accounting

CPA firms cut average staff pay.

“The Tax Season from Hell?”
Join the survey. Get the results

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

The accounting profession sector by sector generally looks slightly brighter, with most reporting headcount growth for the month – but losses for the year.

Exceptions include the profession overall, which is taking a 0.2 percent dip, tax preparation services up for the year 3.3 percent, and bookkeeping, up 1 percent.

MORE ON JOBS: Tax & Accounting Regains 3,800 Jobs | Accounting Jobs Recovery Slows | Tax & Accounting Firms Rehire Two-Thirds of Pre-COVID Workforce | Tax & Accounting Firms Rehire Two-Thirds of Pre-COVID Workforce | New Job Cuts at CPA Firms | COVID Job Toll: Tax & Accounting Cuts 17,500 Employees | Firms Recall Half of Furloughed Staffers
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

In this report, CPA Trendlines highlights:

  • Current and long-term hiring trends in each of the bookkeeping, payroll, tax, and CPA segments of the industry (all data seasonally adjusted)
  • Average hourly wages for key segments
  • Typical hours worked per week
  • Trends concerning women in the accounting workforce

READ MORE →

Six Ways to Make Your Own History During Women’s History Month

Most of them are easier than you might think.

Add your voice to Comments: What’s working for women in the profession? And what needs more attention (especially this year when issues like this get pushed to the lowest priority)?

By Sandi Leyva

Did International Women’s Day come and go again in your firm without much fanfare? That’s OK because you have the entire month of March to not only celebrate Women’s History Month but also to make some history of your own.

MORE ON SMALL-FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: Clubhouse: Hottest New Social Platform or Just More Noise? | Who’s Offering Your Clients PPP Services? | PPP Client Fraud: How Much Risk Is Too Much? | Survey: Who’s Not Billing for PPP Services? | Add These Money-Making Rituals to Your Work Day | 3 Ways to Opt Out of Any Downturn | 5 ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’ Ways to Raise Your Revenues Right Now | How to Lead in a Crisis
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Here are several ideas you can implement immediately that will each take one small step toward advancing women.
READ MORE →

Tax & Accounting Regains 3,800 Jobs

Tax prep down, payroll sees big swings.

By Beth Bellor

Some of those heady new highs the accounting profession was seeing a year ago are seeing reversals now. We’re looking squarely at you, COVID-19. Feel free to move along anytime.

MORE ON JOBS: Accounting Jobs Recovery Slows | Tax & Accounting Firms Rehire Two-Thirds of Pre-COVID Workforce | Tax & Accounting Firms Rehire Two-Thirds of Pre-COVID Workforce | New Job Cuts at CPA Firms | More Jobs Trends and Staffing
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

In this report, CPA Trendlines highlights:

  • Current and long-term hiring trends in each of the bookkeeping, payroll, tax, and CPA segments of the industry (all data seasonally adjusted)
  • Average hourly wages for key segments
  • Typical hours worked per week
  • Trends concerning women in the accounting workforce

READ MORE →