Today's Features
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Is AI Contributing to Burnout?

About 71% are feeling overwhelmed by A.I. (via Brainstorm Group, HB Publishing & Marketing Co.)

How you can cope and thrive

By Randy Crabtree

A new Cal Berkeley study of a 200-employee U.S. technology company found that AI didn’t free up workers’ time as promised. Instead, it expanded what workers felt capable of and willing to take on.

MORE Bridging the Gap, July 28-30, Charlotte, N.C.

I suspect we’re seeing the same thing in the accounting profession and other areas of professional services.

My firm’s annual CPA Career Satisfaction survey found that accountants overwhelmingly agreed that AI would benefit their firms long-term. However, most also felt AI would contribute to personal stress and burnout in the short run.

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ABOUT US

CPA Trendlines Mourns the Loss of a Friend and Colleague

Bellor

Beth Bellor, the long-time managing editor for CPA Trendlines Research, has died at age 62.

“Beth was an extraordinary journalist and an extraordinary person. She made us all better people and better professionals,” says Rick Telberg, publisher and editor. “She will be missed.”

MORE Beth Bellor at CPA Trendlines

Bellor served CPA Trendlines as a senior editor, researcher and production director since 2013, managing all aspects of content development and distribution. Her background included a distinguished career in journalism, ranging from newspapers and magazines to books and new media.

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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

The Unsexy Grind Behind the Advisory Transition

three people in office looking at laptop screen

The myth vs. the reality.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

Let’s get one thing out of the way: Becoming an advisory firm is not a mindset shift. It’s not about “finding your why.” And no, it’s definitely not as simple as bundling your services and slapping a higher fee on them.

MORE by Frank Stitely

We’ve spent the last three years transitioning to an advisory model, and the most accurate description I can offer is this: It’s a three-year construction project that you start without blueprints, building permits or working plumbing – and halfway through, someone hands you a violin and says, “Now you’re a musician.”

Still want to go advisory? Good. You should. But pack lunch, wear boots and bring a violin.
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LEADERSHIP

Blumer, Vacin: What Only 5% of Firms Get Right | Disruptors

It’s not just growth.

 

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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.”

MORE Streaming Network

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.

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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Michelle River: The Hidden Data Behind CPA Firm Burnout and Profit Pressure | Gear Up for Growth

How savvy CPAs are unlocking powerful insights buried in their practice management systems. Plus: Download the slide deck.

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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

“What surprised me most isn’t what the data says,” says Michelle Golden River, CEO of Fore LLC, in a new episode of Gear Up for Growth, powered by CPA Trendlines. “It’s that almost every CPA already has it, and it rarely makes it into leadership conversations.” 

Download Michelle River’s slide deck here

MORE Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here MORE Gear Up for Growth | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network here

River tells host Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing, that firms are overlooking powerful insights buried in their own practice management data. 

River challenges CPA firm leaders to rethink long-held assumptions about growth and sustainability. “There is no reason we should be taking a high volume of low spenders when it’s killing us. It’s ruining our sustainability chances,” she says

River leaves three top takeaways for CPA firms:

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