Carl Richards: The Lie of “Enough” | Holistic Guide
Why chasing a number won’t solve clients’ financial anxiety—and what advisors should focus on instead.
With Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™
For CPA Trendlines
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management
STREAMING NETWORK
Matt Tait: Why Franchising Is the Next Big Thing for CAS | Big 4 Transparency
Why private equity may accelerate – not kill – entrepreneurship in accounting.
Big 4 Transparency
With Dominic Piscopo, CPA
Why Accounting Firms Feel So Unstable Right Now | Accounting Voices
The truth about PE takeovers, mergers, consolidations and shifting partner models.
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Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown
If you feel like your accounting firm has become unpredictable, you are not imagining it. The ground is moving under your feet. People who spent years feeling stable and secure are suddenly unsettled. Partners are leaving. New leaders appear from nowhere. Titles change. Policies change. Strategies change. And no one explains why.
MORE Accounting Voices with Rob Brown | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network
Right now, the accounting profession feels like someone picked up the entire industry, shook it hard and said, “Good luck.” Private equity is buying firms. National groups are rolling up mid tiers. Regional firms are merging into larger firms. Advisory practices are being carved out. Tax teams are being shifted. Audit is being restructured. And firms everywhere are rewriting their business models in real time. READ MORE →
Alan Whitman: Why the Next Big CPA Firms Won’t Look Like CPA Firms | Gear Up for Growth
And why culture matters more than ever.
Sponsored by True Advisor: The Definitive Success Guide for Client Advisory Services by Hitendra Patil
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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines
Alan Whitman isn’t trying to build a better CPA firm. He’s trying to replace it.
At Nichols Cauley, the former Baker Tilly CEO is recasting the traditional accounting practice as a “financial services company”—a structure that blends tax, insurance, risk, and transaction advisory into a single, continuous client relationship.
MORE ALAN WHITMAN: PE Deal Tracker Update: Alan Whitman Plants a Flag in the Private Equity Landscape | Breaking the Mold with PE Backing | Build Culture on ‘Progress,’ Not Change | Moss Adams-Baker Tilly Merger: Bigger Isn’t Better. Better Is Better.| Unlocking the Secrets to Smart Growth
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 videos and podcasts here
The goal, he tells Jean Caragher in this episode of Gear Up for Growth, is not to expand services around the edges, but to collapse them into one integrated model designed to “manage, protect, and grow” client wealth in a recurring loop.
The shift reflects a broader rethinking across the profession, in which private equity capital, client demand for one-stop advisory services, and advances in AI are pushing firms beyond the partnership model that has defined accounting for decades.
Having previously led transformational growth at Baker Tilly, Whitman rejects the notion that rapid growth damages culture.
“That’s hogwash,” he says. “Culture comes down to one word: trust.” 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 |
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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” Frontier | Why 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 Now | Return 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 Megaphone | Baker: Interpreting Pricing Psychology | Don’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?