AUDIT & ASSURANCE

Horton: Burnout Isn’t Inevitable in Audit | The Disruptors

By

Analytics, automation, and AI will reshape audit roles—and that should excite CPAs.

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 Tax Season Readiness: Practical Steps for a Smoother Busy Season, Dec. 10, 2 p.m., 1.5 CPE  | See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS
Is your firm truly ready for tax season—or just hoping to survive it? Join this 90-minute webinar featuring an Accounting ARC Live panel with thought leaders who know what it takes to optimize performance under pressure.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Audit is notorious for long hours, terrible work-life balance, reliance on endless checklists, and repeating the same mind-numbingly tedious procedures year after year. But some, like Kathryn Horton, are creating a different path for success as an auditor.  

 At her solo firm, Kathryn K. Horton CPA, she provides outsourced audit and analytics consulting services to firms nationwide. As “auditor on call,” she steps into manager and senior manager roles for local, regional, and national firms, helping them increase capacity while reducing staff burnout. 

MORE STREAMING: Chang: Killing SALY, One Agent at a Time | Vanover: 5-Star Firms Don’t Bill by the Hour | Kless: Profit Is a Result. Flourishing Is the Purpose | Whitman: Build Culture on ‘Progress,’ Not Change | Shein: No PE? No M&A? No Problem | Hood and Weber: Time to RISE | Proctor: Turn Dumb Ideas into Brilliant Solutions | Carter-Gray: How 1 Poor Review Strengthened the Firm | Hartman: Upwork to “40 Under 40” in 3 Years | Telka: Transform Fear into Fuel | Woodard: Move Past Reports; Deliver Results | Baker: Find True Purpose to End Burnout | Brolin: The W.I.N. Leadership Formula | Gertrudes: How EOS & “Unreasonable Hospitality” Reshaped GrowthLab | Vilms: The Power of People in a Tech-Driven World | Dickerson: From Diagnosis to Disruption | Kapilovich: Treat People Like People | Martha Yasso: From Wall Street to Main Street | Jackie Meyer: Tax Plans in 90 Seconds? Believe It  | Erica Goode: Build a $200K Firm in 15hrs/Week |

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

During her eight years in public accounting, Horton says, “I did struggle with burnout at various times, where the work–life balance really wasn’t a balance anymore.” A significant factor was the hyper-connectedness of today’s technology, where “we’re essentially on call 24/7” responding to emails and calls, which made it “really hard to unplug and just recharge the batteries.” 

Another factor was demanding clients. “I realized that 80% of my stress was coming from 20% of my clients,” Horton recalls.  

READ MORE →

Vanover: 5-Star Firms Don’t Bill by the Hour | The Disruptors

By

Measuring impact—not hours—creates happier teams, better clients, and a stronger 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 Tax Season Readiness: Practical Steps for a Smoother Busy Season  | See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS
Is your firm truly ready for tax season—or just hoping to survive it? Join this 90-minute webinar featuring an Accounting ARC Live panel with thought leaders who know what it takes to optimize performance under pressure.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

What will it take to kill the billable hour? Chris Vanover, founder of CPAClub, believes it’s not only “outdated and archaic,” but that today’s age of AI and automation “is a recipe for the death of the billable hour.”    

MORE STREAMING: Kless: Profit Is a Result. Flourishing Is the Purpose | Whitman: Build Culture on ‘Progress,’ Not Change | Shein: No PE? No M&A? No Problem | Hood and Weber: Time to RISE | Proctor: Turn Dumb Ideas into Brilliant Solutions | Carter-Gray: How 1 Poor Review Strengthened the Firm | Hartman: Upwork to “40 Under 40” in 3 Years | Telka: Transform Fear into Fuel | Woodard: Move Past Reports; Deliver Results | Baker: Find True Purpose to End Burnout | Brolin: The W.I.N. Leadership Formula | Gertrudes: How EOS & “Unreasonable Hospitality” Reshaped GrowthLab | Vilms: The Power of People in a Tech-Driven World | Dickerson: From Diagnosis to Disruption | Kapilovich: Treat People Like People | Martha Yasso: From Wall Street to Main Street | Jackie Meyer: Tax Plans in 90 Seconds? Believe It  | Erica Goode: Build a $200K Firm in 15hrs/Week |

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

CPAClub, formerly AuditClub, operates under a different model. As Hervochon explained in his first appearance on The Disruptors, CPAClub operates as a subscription service, where pass holders have access on a monthly or annual basis to a team of highly skilled auditors and accountants. This innovative business model undoubtedly contributed to the firm’s recognition as CalCPA’s Firm of the Year for 2025.  

READ MORE →

Six Ways an Internal Audit Helps

By

The six principal tasks required.

By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!

Every business has a system of internal controls. Very small businesses likely rely on luck and the honesty of their one or two office staff. Small businesses rely on their independent auditors to check their system once a year and large companies employ one or more internal auditors on their staff.

MORE by Ed Mendlowitz
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

This post explains the internal audit process that applies to every size business. Businesses have voluminous transactions; multiple people involved, companywide; and assets that need protection.
READ MORE →

Client Explains How Financial Statement Helps Him

By

Two businessmen talking at office

Also: Audits vs. reviews vs. compilations.

By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!

One of my clients generously gave me his take on the benefits he received from the audited financial statements we issued for him. I was appreciative of this and want to share his views with you.

MORE by Ed Mendlowitz
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

 

He began with an introduction explaining how he started his business and shepherded its growth by concentrating on developing his services and delivering them quickly and on time to his clients. The business grew rapidly, and little time was spent on the recordkeeping except for getting invoices to the clients or making payroll, while keeping the back office as lean as he could. At the same time there were legal, regulatory, HR, occupancy and tax issues from operating in multiple states and countries and he was spending quite a lot of time and fees on these activities, because he had to, while pushing aside and neglecting the accounting work.
READ MORE →

From Zero to Auditor in 3 Days | Gear Up For Growth

By

The immersive experience transforms recruiting from a guessing game into a hands-on, culture-rich audition.

This is a preview. The complete episode is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by “It’s Not Just the Numbers: How to Move Beyond the Numbers and Deliver Real Value for Your Clients”
by Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead – See Today’s Special Offer

Click to subscribe anywhere: Apple, Google/Youtube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, Gaana (India), Boomplay (Africa), or RSS.

Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

In the latest episode of Gear Up for Growth, powered by CPA Trendlines, Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing, spoke with co-creators of JLK Rosenberger LLP’s innovative student recruitment program, Audit 500, which combines real-world experience with relationship-building to deliver extraordinary results – and some unexpected emotional impact. 

More Gear Up for Growth 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 videos and podcasts here

Originally created to address a gap between academic theory and audit practice, the Audit 500 is a fast-paced, three-day simulation that gives accounting students a hands-on experience of what it’s like to be an auditor. From testing cash and fixed assets to engaging with a mock CFO, participants work side-by-side with the firm’s staff, simulating the dynamics of a true engagement team. 

“We get to evaluate students in a much more meaningful way than a traditional interview ever could,” said Ani Zadorian, partner at JLK Rosenberger and co-creator of the program. “At the same time, they get to see our culture and decide if they see themselves growing here.”

READ MORE →