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Today's Features
The CPA PE Playbook: Private Equity 2026 Outlook & Strategy Guide
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The Definitive Guide to Private Equity’s Transformation of the CPA Profession
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By CPA Trendlines Research
The accounting profession is changing faster than at any time in its modern history—and private equity is driving the shift. More than $30 billion in new capital has entered CPA firms since 2020, igniting a powerful wave of consolidation, modernization, and strategic reinvention. Firms that once relied on incremental growth and traditional partnership structures are now operating as high-performance platforms built for scale, technology adoption, and national reach.
The CPA PE Playbook is the most comprehensive analysis available today on this historic transformation.
If you want to know where the profession is heading, how PE-backed firms are competing, and what it will take to thrive in the next decade, this is the report you need.
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Maybe You Need a Marketing Audit
The good news? You can do this yourself.
By August Aquila
MAX: Maximize Productivity, Profitability and Client Retention
Great marketing tactics can take time, money and a great deal of sweat to plan and execute. CPAs who appreciate the power of marketing are frequently anxious to jump right into the implementation process without doing any planning. But do they really know what the marketplace wants from them? Sometimes gut feelings are right, but few firms can afford to act on intuition alone.
MORE by August J. Aquila
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Investing marketing dollars with confidence requires a thorough understanding of your practice, its people, the marketplace and your competitors. An audit-based marketing plan lets you do just that. This article provides both the theoretical and practical knowledge needed to perform a marketing audit, then develop marketing objectives.
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Five Steps to Your Balanced Millionaire Journey
You can start right now.
By Jackie Meyer
The Balanced Millionaire: Advisor Edition
This is is the beginning of your revolution. You’ve journeyed with me through the trenches of hourly billing, felt the weight of burnout, and witnessed the exhilarating transformation to a seven-figure advisory firm built on my terms.
MORE by Jackie Meyer
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But this story, this blueprint, it was never truly about me. It was always about you, about the spark within you waiting to ignite. You’ve seen me go from an exhausted CPA, trading time for dollars, to an empowered entrepreneur, crafting a life where work supports my dreams, not suffocates them. And now, it’s your turn to step into that power.
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Lessons Learned from a Small Firm
Some growing pains never change.
By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting
“CPA Firm Grows Prosperous by Heeding Its Own Advice.” The Wall Street Journal published an article with that title in their May 18, 1981 issue about my firm, and this column describes some of what we did.
MORE by Ed Mendlowitz
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The article began by stating there were about 28,000 CPA firms in the U.S., with about 19,000 being sole practitioners and many others with just two or three CPAs. These numbers are lower than now, so the profession and small firms have grown significantly in the last 40-plus years.
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Six Disruptors in the Accounting Profession
They have big ideas and deep pockets.
By Jody Padar
The Radical CPA
Change isn’t just knocking at your door; it’s kicking it down. We’re in the middle of a major transformation because of new players, cutting-edge technologies and a financial surge. The rules are being rewritten before our very eyes.
MORE by Jody Padar
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If you consider accounting a giant chessboard, many players are making strategic moves. You have the old-school firms on one side who are navigating a rapidly changing landscape. On the other side, you have the new-school disruptors. These innovative entities are reshaping the industry with cutting-edge technologies and fresh approaches.
Five Can’t-Skip Steps for Due Diligence
Don’t let deal fatigue lead you to shortcuts.
By R. Peter Fontaine
NewGate Law
Few CPAs enjoy the due diligence part of a merger. It’s like proofreading legal agreements or checking the answers to a test before handing it into the teacher. It’s not very exciting.
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By the time due diligence begins, the parties have usually decided they want to come together and due diligence is viewed as a process to confirm a decision which, for the most part, has already been made.
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