Pay

Bradley Burnett: ERC Trap Threatens Thousands of Taxpayers

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Bradley Burnett

While cases stall, the right to sue could expire.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Thousands of business taxpayers still battling Employee Retention Credit disallowances could lose their right to sue the IRS in 2026 because the two-year refund-suit deadline keeps running while cases sit in IRS examination or Appeals, a risk tax attorney Bradley Burnett calls part of a “colossal mess” of statute traps, litigation risks and unresolved audits.

The National Taxpayer Advocate estimates roughly 28,000 taxpayers may be affected, prompting the IRS to roll out a special Form 907 extension process for certain ERC claimants approaching the deadline.

CPE WEBINAR

Covid ERC in 2026: Picking Up the Pieces: Which Are Ticking Time Bombs?

With Bradley Burnett, J.D., LL.M.

Thursday, June 18, 1-4 p.m. ET

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“What is left … a colossal mess,” Burnett tells CPA Trendlines Academy attendees. “Some of those broken pieces out there may be time bombs.”

The filing window has closed. The refund fights have not.

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Dominic Piscopo: Crowdsourced Salary Data Sparks Accounting Change | Accounting Conversations

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Unpack how market gaps and transparency revise the recruiting game.

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The step-by-step operating guide for firms building, pricing, and scaling advisory services that clients value—and pay for.

Accounting Conversations
With Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation

In the latest episode of Accounting Conversations, host Chayton Farlee sits down with Dominic Piscopo, CPA, founder of The Big Four Transparency, to unpack compensation transparency and the accounting pipeline — two stubborn bottlenecks many firms still struggle to fix. The conversation centers on how accessible salary data and real-world experiences can illuminate a path toward fairer pay and clearer career ladders for accountants at all levels.

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Piscopo, a Canadian CPA now leading The Big Four Transparency, describes a career that reveals both the promise and the pain points of the industry. He starts in a Big Four firm in tax and quickly encounters a supportive leadership dynamic and a stellar coach, experiences that underscore what’s possible in a healthy culture. Yet even with that backdrop, he confronts a truth many early-career professionals feel but few talk about openly: compensation does not always align with effort or market realities, especially for younger staff trying to break in and prove their value.

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Jeff Seibert: Digits Software Moves Toward Real-Time Accounting | The Disruptors

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Dovetailing finance and product engineering can transform accounting.
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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines 

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When Jeff Seibert, CEO and founder of Digits, was at Twitter, he was astonished by the difference in data quality and timeliness between the product engineering and the finance sides of the business.

On the product engineering side, testing tools, dashboards, and analytic tools provided real-time data on “exactly what your users are clicking on, what your servers are doing every second.” At the same time, “I was waiting two to three weeks for our accountant to give me a black and white P&L,” he recalls, even with “100 people in corporate finance.”

MORE DISRUPTORS: Candy Bellau: The $350 Pricing Mistake that Nearly Broke this Boutique Firm | The Disruptors | Poe: What P.E. Really Wants from Firms | The Disruptors  | Blake Oliver: Build a Biz that Runs Without You | Daiber: Use Succession as a Growth Strategy | Cannon: Busy Season is Self-Inflicted | Carroll: When One Person Can Break the Firm | Rampe: Build a Roadmap Even When the Road’s Not There | Chang: Killing SALY, One Agent at a Time |

MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

That experience led him to start Digits in 2018, an AI-native accounting platform, which is going “head to head with QuickBooks and Xero.”

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The Fastest-Growing Jobs in Accounting Are Not Accounting Jobs

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CPAs Not Wanted: Firms Build a New Workforce – without Accountants

CPA firms have added just 3,930 accountants and auditors in the last five years, far fewer than the expansions in sales, finance, technology, project management and data science.

By CPA Trendlines
Cornerstone Report

CPA firms are building a new workforce, and they’re doing it without CPAs.

Firms are hiring thousands of new staffers in jobs that look less like traditional accounting and more like sales, systems and management, according to new data parsed by CPA Trendlines.

MORE Private Equity’s Accounting Playbook Is Shifting from Dealmaking to Operating Systems | Why CPAs Quit Public Accounting | Inside Tax Season’s Hidden Shift: Same Work, Fewer People, Higher Cost | MORE Cornerstone Reports | Outlook & Analysis | Staffing & Recruiting | Surveys & Research | Tax | Pay & Compensation |

The public accounting profession has added 3,930 accountant and auditor positions since 2021, which pales in comparison to the 12,250 new sales representatives, 11,140 new financial managers, or 8,130 new computer and information systems managers. Firms added 4,370 new software developers and 4,190 new project management specialists. They also added 2,210 new data scientists. Even the number of chief executives has grown faster.

The pattern shows firms are not simply replacing missing CPAs and CPA candidates. They are building a different kind of firm, with more people assigned to sell services, manage clients, run systems, build software and coordinate projects. CPAs need not apply. READ MORE →

Retention Isn’t About Perks or Paychecks Anymore | MOVE Like This

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Adapt to changing workforce expectations without losing performance or accountability.

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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Build a 7-figure firm in just 4 hours a week!

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

In this episode of MOVE Like This, host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk talks with Kristi Epp, tax partner, and Amber Schrock, advisory partner and Las Vegas market leader at Frazier & Deeter, about one of the profession’s most urgent challenges: retention. Their message is clear — firms that still believe compensation alone drives loyalty may already be falling behind.

MORE MOVE

The conversation explores how accounting has changed dramatically over the last several years. Remote work, automation, talent shortages, mergers, acquisitions, and increasing regulatory complexity have reshaped both firm operations and employee expectations. Epp and Schrock explain that younger professionals are not rejecting hard work; they are rejecting environments that fail to provide meaning, transparency, mentorship, and sustainability.
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