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“Set It and Forget It” Is Not an AI Strategy | It’s Not Just the Numbers
Accounting teams must ensure their people can recognize anomalies, challenge outputs, and apply sound judgment.
This is a preview. The complete video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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It’s Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines
AI is everywhere in accounting right now.
It’s in your inbox, on the Super Bowl, and probably inside at least one tool your firm uses for tax prep. But there’s a conversation happening inside serious accounting firms, the ones processing thousands of returns, managing global teams, and serving clients who expect more than a spreadsheet, that the vendor demos don’t cover.
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That conversation is about critical thinking.
It may be the most important skill your firm could be developing right now, precisely because AI is making it easier to stop using it.
When Accounting Changes Faster Than Your Career Plan | Accounting Voices
The profession isn’t slowing down, but accountants can build clarity, visibility, and career capital to move forward with greater control.
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Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown
Accountants have spent years preparing for demanding work. Far fewer are prepared for what happens when the nature of that work changes almost overnight.
Artificial intelligence, private equity, mergers, leadership changes, shifting client expectations, regulatory pressures, and persistent talent shortages are reshaping accounting at the same time. The result is not simply a busier profession. It is a profession in which many people are quietly asking a much bigger question: Is this still the career I signed up for?
In this reflective episode of Accounting Voices, listeners are encouraged to pause before charging into another year of goals, deadlines, and transformation projects. The conversation acknowledges something professionals do not always feel permitted to say: An extraordinary level of change takes a personal toll.
Feeling tired, cautious, unsettled, or less fulfilled is not necessarily evidence that someone is failing. It may be a normal response to an abnormal pace of disruption.
Five Common Pitfalls and How to Overcome Them
Transitioning isn’t always smooth sailing.
By Jackie Meyer
When I made the decision to shift from a compliance-heavy firm to an advisory-first firm focused on delivering measurable ROI, I wish I could say it was seamless. It wasn’t. This kind of transformation brings new opportunities, but it also brings challenges – some that you can anticipate, and others that take you by surprise. The key to success isn’t avoiding challenges altogether (that’s impossible); it’s learning to navigate them when they arise.
MORE: Will Your Success be Incremental or Exceptional? | Your Balanced Millionaire Journey Begins Now | How to Cultivate Holistic Wealth | Five Hard-Earned Lessons from Exiting an Accounting Firm | It’s Never Too Early to Plan Your Exit Strategy | Beyond Blocking: More Time Management Strategies | Reclaim Your Hours with Time Management and Productivity Hacks | How to Bring Core Values into Your Accounting Firm | Ten Key Guidelines for Accounting Staff | Hiring Strategies for Your Dream Team | The AI Revolution: Embracing Artificial Intelligence in Your Practice
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In this article, I want to help you understand the common pitfalls that can derail your progress and the practical steps you can take to overcome them. Whether it’s dealing with clients who are stuck in the old model, learning to price confidently or avoiding burnout, there are solutions to keep you moving forward.
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Kassi Rushing: Firms that Move First Will Shape Accounting’s Future | Gear Up for Growth
AI, talent development, pricing, and advisory services demand action now — even if leaders don’t have all the answers.
Sponsored by Radical Pricing by the Radical CPA, Jody Padar | See Today’s Special Offer
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Gear Up for Growth
with Jean Caragher
for CPA Trendlines
The accounting profession has no shortage of predictions about its future. But RISE2040 is designed to be something different: a future shaped by the profession itself and a practical framework for deciding what to do next.
In this episode of Gear Up for Growth, host Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing, welcomes back Kassi Rushing, CEO and owner of Kassi Rushing Consulting and a member of the RISE2040 project team. Their conversation explores what the initiative reveals about the profession’s direction — and why accounting leaders cannot afford to wait for certainty before acting.
MORE Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | MORE Gear Up for Growth here
Unlike earlier vision projects built primarily through surveys, focus groups, or the perspectives of a select group of thought leaders, RISE2040 draws from conversations with thousands of professionals across 25 countries. Artificial intelligence makes it possible to synthesize that volume of input while preserving the themes, opportunities, and barriers identified by participants.
Rushing describes the initiative as “written by the profession for the profession.”
That distinction matters. As advisory groups reviewed the findings, the project team remained committed to what professionals actually said, even when reviewers wanted to introduce additional ideas.
“We had to protect the voice of the profession,” Rushing says. “We talked about being defenders of the data.”
Rule #1 of Scoping for Alignment
Plus three more basic steps.
By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA
How often have you heard the old saying about having two ears and one mouth because listening is twice as important as talking? Hopefully, often, because it is as true as anything I’ve ever heard. Scoping is all about listening, so when you make a presentation, you’ll know what you’re talking about, and the client will know you know.
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Here are four basic steps you can follow to make sure you and the client are in alignment when the time comes to start a new project or present to a potential new client: