Built Fast. Sold Faster. Broken Later? The Truth About Accounting Tech | ARC

MVP culture, investor pressure, and marketing—not product quality—often decide winners. 

Sponsored by True Advisor: The Definitive Success Guide for Client Advisory Services by Hitendra Patil |
See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: AppleGoogle/YouTubeSpotifyiHeartDeezer, Amazon Music, AudiblePlayer FMAudacy, RSS.
The step-by-step operating guide for firms building, pricing, and scaling advisory services that clients value—and pay for.

Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

The accounting technology market looks crowded from the outside. New tools launch every month. Conference expo halls overflow with promise. And artificial intelligence is accelerating everything. 

But beneath that surface, the economics of building accounting technology tell a more complicated story—one shaped as much by venture capital and sales pressure as by innovation itself. 

MORE Accounting ARC: Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn OutValuing More Than the Balance Sheet | Accounting’s “Untalked-About” FrontierWhy Happiness is Hard-Fought for High Achievers | The Fastest Way to Lose Talent Is “Dick Leadership” | Post-Holiday Fatigue Isn’t a Failure; It’s a Signal | OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps NowReturn Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting | Savage: Using Your License as a MegaphoneBaker: Interpreting Pricing PsychologyDon’t Get Fired by Your Own Automation | What Amazon Doesn’t Tell You | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC 

In the latest episode of Accounting ARC, Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, and Liz Mason, CPA, step back to examine how the industry got here—and where it is likely headed next. 

READ MORE →

When “What If” Becomes Reality | ARC

A near-tragedy sparks a critical conversation on business continuity, risk, and responsibility in accounting firms.

Sponsored by True Advisor: The Definitive Success Guide for Client Advisory Services by Hitendra Patil |
See Today’s Special Offer
Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: AppleGoogle/YouTubeSpotifyiHeartDeezer, Amazon Music, AudiblePlayer FMAudacy, RSS.
The step-by-step operating guide for firms building, pricing, and scaling advisory services that clients value—and pay for.

Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

Business continuity planning often lives in the realm of “someday.”

Until it doesn’t.

In the latest episode of Accounting ARC, hosts Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP; and Liz Mason, CPA, tackle a topic many professionals avoid: what happens when the unexpected actually happens.

The conversation opens not with theory, but with a moment that makes the stakes unmistakably real.

MORE Accounting ARC: Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn Out | Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet | Accounting’s “Untalked-About” FrontierWhy Happiness is Hard-Fought for High Achievers | The Fastest Way to Lose Talent Is “Dick Leadership” | Post-Holiday Fatigue Isn’t a Failure; It’s a Signal | OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps NowReturn Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting | Savage: Using Your License as a MegaphoneBaker: Interpreting Pricing PsychologyDon’t Get Fired by Your Own Automation | What Amazon Doesn’t Tell You | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC 

Mason, CEO of High Rock Accounting, recounts a recent skiing accident in which she fell roughly 200 yards and collided with a tree at high speed. She survived with a broken leg—but the incident forced a sobering question: What would have happened to her firm if she hadn’t?

READ MORE →

Will AI Make Students Better Learners — or Just Faster Workers? | SLC

Educators explore ethics, creativity, critical thinking and the future of learning in an AI-powered world.

Sponsored by True Advisor: The Definitive Success Guide for Client Advisory Services by Hitendra Patil |
See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: AppleGoogle/YouTubeSpotifyiHeartDeezer, Amazon Music, AudiblePlayer FMAudacy, RSS.
The step-by-step operating guide for firms building, pricing, and scaling advisory services that clients value—and pay for.

Student-Led Conversations
With Harshita Multani
Center for Accounting Transformation

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future issue in education. It is already shaping how students study, how teachers prepare lessons, how universities think about access and admissions, and how employers evaluate readiness for the workforce.

MORE SLC: Why the Next Generation May Be Accounting’s Greatest Competitive Advantage | Students Redefine Career Readiness | Savage: Using Your License as a MegaphoneBaker: Interpreting Pricing PsychologyRoyalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC 

In this episode, host Harshita Multani, a Center for Accounting Transformation intern and Indiana high school business student, leads a thoughtful discussion on AI in education with Markus Ahrens, Ph.D., CPA, CGMA, FMAA, of the American Accounting Association, and David Wood of Brigham Young University.

What makes this conversation stand out is not just the topic. It is the perspective.

READ MORE →

Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn Out | ARC

Paying attention to personal stress signals can help professionals recharge before fatigue turns into burnout.

Sponsored by True Advisor: The Definitive Success Guide for Client Advisory Services by Hitendra Patil |
See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: AppleGoogle/YouTubeSpotifyiHeartDeezer, Amazon Music, AudiblePlayer FMAudacy, RSS.
The step-by-step operating guide for firms building, pricing, and scaling advisory services that clients value—and pay for.

Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

In accounting, exhaustion does not always look dramatic. 

Sometimes it looks like irritability. Sometimes it looks like staring at a spreadsheet that suddenly makes no sense. Sometimes it looks like mental fog, poor focus, a mild headache, or the sense that even small decisions take too much effort. 

MORE Accounting ARC: Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet | Accounting’s “Untalked-About” FrontierWhy Happiness is Hard-Fought for High Achievers | The Fastest Way to Lose Talent Is “Dick Leadership” | Post-Holiday Fatigue Isn’t a Failure; It’s a Signal | OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps NowReturn Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting | Savage: Using Your License as a MegaphoneBaker: Interpreting Pricing PsychologyDon’t Get Fired by Your Own Automation | What Amazon Doesn’t Tell You | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC 

In the latest episode of Accounting ARC, hosts Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP; and Liz Mason, CPA, take on a subject that lands close to home for many professionals, especially during demanding stretches of work: how to recharge when the pace is relentless and the pressure does not let up.

READ MORE →

Leadership Starts Earlier: Students Help Shape Accounting’s Future

Center for Accounting Transformation expands Student Ambassador Program nationwide with nonprofit fiscal sponsorship. 

Support future accounting leaders! Make tax-deductible contributions through FSA, with funds restricted to support the Center’s student initiatives

By Center for Accounting Transformation

The Center for Accounting Transformation announced today that its student initiatives are now fiscally sponsored by Fiscal Sponsorship Allies (FSA), a 501(c)(3) public charity. The milestone provides the nonprofit governance, financial stewardship, and fundraising infrastructure needed to expand the Center’s student-led programs nationwide. 

The Center is currently inviting educators, firms, professional organizations, and individuals to participate through partnership, mentorship, and philanthropic support.
Organizations and individuals can now make tax-deductible contributions through FSA, with funds restricted to support the Center’s student initiatives.
To learn more and hear directly from one of the student leaders, visit https://www.fundraisegenius.com/ca3677.
 

While the fiscal sponsorship establishes operational support, the announcement represents something larger: an investment in a new, student-driven model for professional engagement and career readiness.  READ MORE →