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Kassi Rushing: Firms that Move First Will Shape Accounting’s Future | Gear Up for Growth

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AI, talent development, pricing, and advisory services demand action now — even if leaders don’t have all the answers.

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Gear Up for Growth
with Jean Caragher
for CPA Trendlines

The accounting profession has no shortage of predictions about its future. But RISE2040 is designed to be something different: a future shaped by the profession itself and a practical framework for deciding what to do next.

In this episode of Gear Up for Growth, host Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing, welcomes back Kassi Rushing, CEO and owner of Kassi Rushing Consulting and a member of the RISE2040 project team. Their conversation explores what the initiative reveals about the profession’s direction — and why accounting leaders cannot afford to wait for certainty before acting.

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Unlike earlier vision projects built primarily through surveys, focus groups, or the perspectives of a select group of thought leaders, RISE2040 draws from conversations with thousands of professionals across 25 countries. Artificial intelligence makes it possible to synthesize that volume of input while preserving the themes, opportunities, and barriers identified by participants.

Rushing describes the initiative as “written by the profession for the profession.”

That distinction matters. As advisory groups reviewed the findings, the project team remained committed to what professionals actually said, even when reviewers wanted to introduce additional ideas.

“We had to protect the voice of the profession,” Rushing says. “We talked about being defenders of the data.”

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Stop Waiting for the Perfect Time to Get Involved | ARC

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Even a small volunteer commitment can deliver lasting professional and personal returns.

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Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

A single meeting changed the trajectory of Byron Patrick’s career.

Early in his career, the owner of Patrick’s firm, who was serving as chair of the Maryland Association of CPAs, invited him to come along to a meeting. Patrick found himself in a room with established leaders discussing the future of the profession.

“I was like, ‘Is it this easy? Can I just show up to this meeting every week and be in this room?’” Patrick recalls. “Because if so, y’all aren’t going to get rid of me.”

Twenty-six years later, Patrick, CPA.CITP, senior product manager for Karbon and founder and part-time educator for TB Academy, can trace much of his professional growth to that invitation.

MORE Accounting ARC: Your AI Agent Should Show Its Work | AI Isn’t Erasing Tax Careers. It’s Rewriting Them. | Accounting Internships Need an Upgrade | The CPA Career Nobody Talks About | Conference Season Exposes Accounting’s Knowledge Gap | The Feedback Mistake That Costs You Your Best People | Is Your Boss Really the Problem? | Most Accountants Are Missing This AI Shift | AI Can Fix Your Workflow—or Break It in Seconds | Efficiency Is the Wrong Goal for AI | Accounting’s Hidden Talent Risk: The Sandwich Generation | Built Fast. Sold Faster. Broken Later? The Truth About Accounting Tech | Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn Out | Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet

MORE Accounting Opportunities Experience 

In this episode of Accounting ARC, Patrick and co-host Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and the founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, make the case that involvement in state CPA societies and other professional organizations is not an extracurricular activity. It is an investment in a career, a professional network, and the future of accounting.

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Blake Christian: Why CPAs, Family Offices, & Investors Are Paying Attention to OZ 2.0 | Holistic Guide

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Proper entity structure, timing, and compliance are critical to maximizing the next phase of Opportunity Zone benefits.

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The Break-Through Blueprint for Revolutionizing the CPA Firm Business Model

The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management
With Rory Henry, CFP®, BFA™

A decade ago, federal Opportunity Zones (OZ) were introduced as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act to encourage long-term investment into economically distressed communities through tax incentives. The first phase of the OZ program expires at the end of 2026, but Blake Christian, CPA, says the program is entering a new phase (OZ 2.0) that could dramatically expand its impact across operating businesses, infrastructure, AI data centers, and rural America.

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While many investors initially focus on the tax deferral aspects of Opportunity Zones, Christian explains that the program delivers three separate benefits.

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Rachel Anevski: Your Next Leader Will Not Develop by Accident | The Disruptors

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Replace informal succession practices with trained mentors and measurable opportunities for growth.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

The Break-Through Blueprint for Revolutionizing the CPA Firm Business Model

For decades, accounting teams have assumed future leaders would emerge through the normal progression of the ranks. The best seniors would become managers, and the best managers would become partners, ready to step into the shoes of retiring leaders.

According to Rachel Anevski, that approach is no longer sustainable.

Anevski, president and CEO of Matters of Management and managing director of leadership and people at Winding River Consulting, says we must become far more intentional about training, mentoring, and retaining their next generation of leaders.

MORE Disruptors with Liz Farr | CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

As she describes in her book, Train Your Successor, the greatest weakness in the traditional model is its lack of deliberate preparation. The book’s title, inspired by her doctoral research on training and retention, comes from advice given by her first mentor, Ted Dudek.

“His talk to everyone was that retention and the future perpetuity of the firm were solely reliant on whether or not you could successfully train your successor,” Anevski tells The Disruptors host Liz Farr.

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Michael Hoover: Growth Without Discipline Comes at a Cost | Big 4 Transparency

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Disciplined choices, talent investment, and cultural alignment matter more than chasing every opportunity.

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Big 4 Transparency
By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
For CPA Trendlines

As private equity reshapes the accounting profession, Bennett Thrasher is making a different kind of bet. The top 100 firm intends to remain independent.

Michael Hoover, Bennett Thrasher’s chief growth and strategy officer, joins host Dominic Piscopo on The Big 4 Transparency Podcast to explain why the firm considers independence central to its growth strategy—and why saying no may be one of the most important disciplines a growing firm can develop.

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“The biggest bet,” Hoover says, “is just remaining fiercely independent.”

That commitment shapes how Bennett Thrasher approaches everything from new service lines and acquisitions to recruiting and compensation. Rather than pursuing growth for its own sake, Hoover says the firm is working toward a long-term strategy for 2030 and scrutinizing whether each opportunity advances that vision.

In a market where firms are searching for new revenue streams, the temptation to pursue the latest “shiny object” can be powerful. But every new initiative consumes capital, leadership attention, and talent. Hoover argues that firms must examine not only an opportunity’s potential revenue, but also what they may have to postpone or abandon to pursue it.

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