Here’s what you’re looking for: Liz Farr

INNOVATION & CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Ditching Corporate America: The Bold Story Behind PBS Accounting’s Rapid Rise | The Disruptors

After years in corporate roles, Samantha Hallburn created a firm where people come before profits—and business thrives because of it.

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by CPA Trendlines Pro Membership  – See Today’s Special Offer

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

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Samantha Hallburn, founder of PBS Accounting and Tax, didn’t set out to be an accountant. After a progression through sales, marketing, HR, PR, and a stint as ops manager for a telecom company, she was working in banking. Her business owner clients needed loans, but when she asked for financials, “they had no idea what I was even talking about,” she recalls.  

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Jean Zick: Happy Team = Happy Clients | Breslin & Greathead: Be a Client Advocate | Dominic Piscopo: Clear Pay=Bargaining Power | Debbie Kilsheimer: Stop Thinking Small | Dave Kersting: Collaborate with Co-Firming | Ashley Francis: AI’s a Partner, Not a Replacement | Richard Roppa-Roberts: Collaboration Over Competition | Ira Rosenbloom: M&A Numbers Are Easy – Culture Fit Is Hard | Roman Villard: Ditch the Suit & Shine | Monique Swansen: Align Firm Values with Services | Tina McGill: How to Create Lasting Client Impact | Stefan van Duyvendijk: Develop Operational Mindset | Steve Evans: Why Traditional Hiring Methods Fail | Roger Knecht: Can You Be an Accountrepreneur? | Beth Whitworth: Focus on Outcomes Not Hours |Mike Sylvester: Learn to Say No | Salim Omar: Identify Your Client’s $100,000 Problem | Jackie Meyer: Earn More with Fewer Clients

GoProCPA.com Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Instead of turning them away, she offered to help. “I started helping my banking clients by going to their offices on my lunch break, after work, before work, on the weekends, days off to help them be able to get me what I needed.” After one particularly bad day in the corporate world, she decided to “roll the dice” and create a full-time venture. 

“I absolutely had no idea what I was really getting into, and that it was just going to be this snowball. And we grew so fast because there was such a need and such a demand,” Hallburn says.  

READ MORE →

MANAGEMENT

Jean Zick: Happy Team = Happy Clients | The Disruptors

Flexible schedules, remote culture, and ‘durable skills’ are reshaping the accounting profession.

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by CPA Trendlines Pro Membership  – See Today’s Special Offer

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

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

The traditional accounting firm model is under pressure—and The Disruptors podcast is highlighting the pioneers who are rewriting the rules. In this episode, host Liz Farr talks with Jean Zick, CEO and co-founder of Juna Financial, about how she’s building a different kind of accounting firm: remote, people-first, and future-ready.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Breslin & Greathead: Be a Client Advocate | Dominic Piscopo: Clear Pay=Bargaining Power | Debbie Kilsheimer: Stop Thinking Small | Dave Kersting: Collaborate with Co-Firming | Ashley Francis: AI’s a Partner, Not a Replacement | Richard Roppa-Roberts: Collaboration Over Competition | Ira Rosenbloom: M&A Numbers Are Easy – Culture Fit Is Hard | Roman Villard: Ditch the Suit & Shine | Monique Swansen: Align Firm Values with Services | Tina McGill: How to Create Lasting Client Impact | Stefan van Duyvendijk: Develop Operational Mindset | Steve Evans: Why Traditional Hiring Methods Fail | Roger Knecht: Can You Be an Accountrepreneur? | Beth Whitworth: Focus on Outcomes Not Hours |Mike Sylvester: Learn to Say No | Salim Omar: Identify Your Client’s $100,000 Problem | Jackie Meyer: Earn More with Fewer Clients | Jack Fleherty: Don’t Be a ‘Yes’ Person |

GoProCPA.com Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

“We wanted to create a company we would have wanted to work for earlier in our careers,” says Zick, who launched Juna in 2016 to fill what she saw as a gap in the market: companies paying CFO-level fees for basic bookkeeping tasks. “Every company deserves great accounting, no matter their size.”

READ MORE →

CLIENT ACCOUNTING SERVICES

Breslin & Greathead: Be a Client Advocate | The Disruptors

Help customers catapult their businesses forward.

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by CPA Trendlines Pro Membership  – See Today’s Special Offer

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

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Back in 2013, before CAS became part of the accounting vernacular, Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead taught roomfuls of accountants how to do what Breslin called bookkeeping and back office support, or BOS.

“We had 200 accountants sitting in the room wanting to know how to grow this part of their business,” Greathead recalls.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Dominic Piscopo: Clear Pay=Bargaining Power | Debbie Kilsheimer: Stop Thinking Small | Dave Kersting: Collaborate with Co-Firming | Ashley Francis: AI’s a Partner, Not a Replacement | Richard Roppa-Roberts: Collaboration Over Competition | Ira Rosenbloom: M&A Numbers Are Easy – Culture Fit Is Hard | Roman Villard: Ditch the Suit & Shine | Monique Swansen: Align Firm Values with Services | Tina McGill: How to Create Lasting Client Impact | Stefan van Duyvendijk: Develop Operational Mindset | Steve Evans: Why Traditional Hiring Methods Fail | Roger Knecht: Can You Be an Accountrepreneur? | Beth Whitworth: Focus on Outcomes Not Hours |Mike Sylvester: Learn to Say No | Salim Omar: Identify Your Client’s $100,000 Problem | Jackie Meyer: Earn More with Fewer Clients | Jack Fleherty: Don’t Be a ‘Yes’ Person | Greg Adams: From Finance to Storytelling  | Jody Padar: Make Radical Changes Now If You Want to Be Relevant in 2030 | Rebecca Driscoll: Amplify Reach By Helping Other Firm Owners | Rory Henry: Create the Return on Relationships

GoProCPA.com Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Cloud-based accounting tools like Xero and QuickBooks Online were just entering the U.S. market, and the two recognized an opportunity for firms.

READ MORE →

PAY & COMPENSATION

Dominic Piscopo: Clear Pay=Bargaining Power | The Disruptors

“If you can’t afford fair salaries, it’s time to fix your machine—not squeeze your people.”

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by CPA Trendlines Pro Membership, Where Accounting Pros Go Pro  – See Today’s Special Offer

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

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Like many accountants, Dominic Piscopo, the founder of Big4Transparency.com, was frustrated by the lack of transparency in salary data. “I’d found it really, really frustrating trying to get good quality data on what to expect, looking ahead for my salary,” Piscopo explains. Before creating the platform, Piscopo discovered his firm offered the lowest starting salaries in his city. By gathering compensation data from peers and presenting it to leadership, he secured “a little bit under a 10% pay bump” for his entire cohort.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Debbie Kilsheimer: Stop Thinking Small | Dave Kersting: Collaborate with Co-Firming | Ashley Francis: AI’s a Partner, Not a Replacement | Richard Roppa-Roberts: Collaboration Over Competition | Ira Rosenbloom: M&A Numbers Are Easy – Culture Fit Is Hard | Roman Villard: Ditch the Suit & Shine | Monique Swansen: Align Firm Values with Services | Tina McGill: How to Create Lasting Client Impact | Stefan van Duyvendijk: Develop Operational Mindset | Steve Evans: Why Traditional Hiring Methods Fail | Roger Knecht: Can You Be an Accountrepreneur? | Beth Whitworth: Focus on Outcomes Not Hours |Mike Sylvester: Learn to Say No | Salim Omar: Identify Your Client’s $100,000 Problem | Jackie Meyer: Earn More with Fewer Clients | Jack Fleherty: Don’t Be a ‘Yes’ Person | Greg Adams: From Finance to Storytelling | The Disruptors | Jody Padar: Make Radical Changes Now If You Want to Be Relevant in 2030 | Rebecca Driscoll: Amplify Reach By Helping Other Firm Owners | Rory Henry: Create the Return on Relationships | Mike Maksymiw: Be the Leader You Wish You Had |

GoProCPA.com Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

“Data is so powerful,” he says. “If you can advocate for yourself and show real objective numbers, then it becomes a real conversation, versus just like, ‘Oh, my employee is throwing a fit.’”

What began as a simple spreadsheet shared on Reddit “went really, really viral, kind of right away,” confirming a significant need in the accounting community.

READ MORE →

GROWTH STRATEGIES

Debbie Kilsheimer: Stop Thinking Small | The Disruptors

“Too often, we’re stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.”

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by CPA Trendlines Pro Membership, Where Accounting Pros Go Pro  – See Today’s Special Offer

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

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

By age 25, Debbie Kilsheimer was already disrupting the traditional accounting mindset. At her first job, she questioned why clients were billed by the hour when speed and efficiency weren’t rewarded.

“The smarter I get, the more efficient I become, the less you make,” she told her boss. “I don’t understand that. Plus, the clients don’t know what anything will cost—so they’re afraid to call.”

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Dave Kersting: Collaborate with Co-Firming | Ashley Francis: AI’s a Partner, Not a Replacement | Richard Roppa-Roberts: Collaboration Over Competition | Ira Rosenbloom: M&A Numbers Are Easy – Culture Fit Is Hard | Roman Villard: Ditch the Suit & Shine | Monique Swansen: Align Firm Values with Services | Tina McGill: How to Create Lasting Client Impact | Stefan van Duyvendijk: Develop Operational Mindset | Steve Evans: Why Traditional Hiring Methods Fail | Roger Knecht: Can You Be an Accountrepreneur? | Beth Whitworth: Focus on Outcomes Not Hours |Mike Sylvester: Learn to Say No | Salim Omar: Identify Your Client’s $100,000 Problem | Jackie Meyer: Earn More with Fewer Clients | Jack Fleherty: Don’t Be a ‘Yes’ Person | Greg Adams: From Finance to Storytelling | The Disruptors | Jody Padar: Make Radical Changes Now If You Want to Be Relevant in 2030 | Rebecca Driscoll: Amplify Reach By Helping Other Firm Owners | Rory Henry: Create the Return on Relationships | Mike Maksymiw: Be the Leader You Wish You Had |

GoProCPA.com Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Her suggestion to switch to flat-rate pricing was met with disbelief, but she knew she was onto something. Two decades later, Kilsheimer and her husband, Hal, run a million-dollar firm built on premium service, not time sheets.

“I’m going to be Starbucks. I’m going to be Louis Vuitton,” she says. “I’m going to be the most expensive accountant they talk to—and I’m going to deliver on that promise.”

READ MORE →