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.

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start">?</span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start">?</span>True Advisor: Buy now | Learn more

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:

Posted on April 17, 2026

Jean Marie Caragher

About the Author

Jean Caragher gets things done.

She is the creator and author of the best-selling 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms and the host of two major CPA Trendlines Research podcasts:

Gear Up for Growth spotlights the profession's most powerful trendmakers and reveals the new rules for success in the accounting business.
Capstone Conversations feature informed and informal discussions with leading growth strategists from the nation’s most dynamic CPA firms.

For CPA firms seeking to improve their marketing, Jean at Capstone Marketing is the go-to resource for strategy and implementation. With 30 years of experience working solely with CPAs, Jean knows the challenges and opportunities firms face today. Her experience and knowledge, combined with her practical approach, help growth-focused CPA firms attract the best clients and talent.

Click here for more by Jean Marie Caragher

Check out her free resources, including:
the event-driven marketing method,
the members-only Capstone Community, and
the "13 Ways to Waste Your Accounting Firm Marketing Budget" ebook.

Free Instant Download:
"Top 12 Questions to Ask at Your Next Networking Event"

A well-respected industry specialist, Jean is an inaugural AAM Hall of Fame inductee, a multiple AAM-MAA award winner, and a CPA Practice Advisor Thought Leader. Before launching Capstone Marketing in 1998, Jean served as a CPA firm marketing director and association executive director. She has been named one of Accounting Today’s 100 Most Influential People in Accounting twice. Jean’s experience: Moore Stephens North America Inc., Executive Director; BDO Seidman, Regional Marketing Director; and Israeloff, Trattner & Company, Marketing Director.

She holds an MBA from Hofstra University and a BA from State University College at Oswego, N.Y. Her published works include "Bull’s-Eye! The Ultimate How-To Marketing and Sales Guide for CPAs;" "Double Digit Growth: Tools From Top Firms;" "How to Hire a Marketing Director and Make It Work;" "The Marketing Advantage II: New Ideas on Getting and Keeping Clients." Professional recognition: Inaugural member, Association for Accounting Marketing Hall of Fame; Association for Accounting Marketing-Marketing Achievement Award; Member, Editorial Advisory Board, CPA Marketing Report; Member, Practice Management Editorial Advisory Board, Accounting Today; “100 Most Influential People in Accounting,” Accounting Today; and Top 25 Thought Leader in Public Accounting, CPA Practice Advisor.

She belongs to the Association for Accounting Marketing, where she has served as president, board director and conference chair; the National Speakers Association; and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

For more information, contact her at 727.210.7306 or jcaragher@capstonemarketing.com. Follow Jean on Twitter.com/JeanCaragher; Linkedin.com/in/jeancaragher; facebook.com/capstonemarketing

Click here for more by Jean Marie Caragher

Sponsored by True Advisor: Buy now | Learn more

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Continue reading your article with a CPA Trendlines Pro membership.