CHARTS & GRAPHS

How Accountability Drives Firm Success

By

senior businessman with five colleagues

Four challenges to address.

By Anthony Zecca
Leading From the Edge

I’ve been focusing on the leadership accounting firms need to succeed in a future driven by seismic disruptors. We began with strategy, then empowerment. This post will address the critical element that makes empowerment work – accountability.

MORE by Anthony Zecca
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

 

A characteristic of a great “Edge” leader is the ability to empower everyone and understanding that as a leader, your responsibility is to lead and not manage. If you are the type of leader that manages, you own accountability since you can’t manage and empower at the same time. As I defined it in my previous post, a simple definition for empowerment that applies to all organizations is, “Authority or power given to someone to do something.” 
READ MORE →

Elliott: Embrace the ‘Dimension of Possible’ | MOVE Like This

By

The profession’s newest partners may be the most vulnerable.

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 Poe Group Advisors: Helping accountants buy, build, and sell exceptional firms. See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS
Poe Group Advisors consistently excels in helping our clients find the right accounting practice sales opportunity.

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

MOVE Like This host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk sits down with Sarah Elliott, CPA, co-founder of Intend2Lead, to unpack what conscious leadership looks like in accounting—and why the profession’s newest partners may be the most vulnerable leaders in the firm.

Elliott, a former audit partner who left public accounting in 2014 to become an executive coach, argues that real change happens in a precise order: mindset, then skill set, then habits. Her “conscious leader” model centers on leaders who share power, elevate others, and stay curious, even when uncertainty invites fear.

“Our best leaders are human-centric first,” Elliott says. “In a world of accelerating tech and change, we have to start with people—always.”

MORE MOVE

Intend2Lead recently surveyed 110 newly promoted partners (2023–2024). The results spotlight avoidable gaps that push rising leaders toward burnout—or out of public accounting altogether.
READ MORE →

Accounting Evolves to Include Holistic Financial Planning

By

Vintage pocket watch lying on hundred dollar bills

A one-two punch of value.

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

The accounting profession is evolving rapidly. New business models are emerging, and firms are uncoupling themselves from the constraints of a partnership structure, from outdated service offerings, and from time-based pricing practices.

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

 

You may be asking yourself: “What business am I truly in?” or perhaps, “What business should I be in?” Before answering these questions, consider that you may ultimately be in the relationship business more than you’re in the tax, accounting or bookkeeping business. It doesn’t matter which training, certifications or acronyms you have following your name. If you’re moving into financial planning – or thinking about doing so – you might want to ask yourself: “Am I really in the human business?”
READ MORE →

Clients Need Empathy

By

Henry
 Rory Henry, a Behavioral Financial Advisor, is the director at Arrowroot Family Office and co-founder of AFO Wealth Management Forward. He has created a program to help accounting professionals incorporate holistic wealth management and proactive planning services into their practice.

Think about a return on relationships.

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

In his iconic work, “Meditationes Sacrae” (1597), Sir Francis Bacon wrote that “knowledge itself is power.” Many scholars believe Bacon wanted to further the idea that having and sharing knowledge is the cornerstone of reputation and influence – and therefore power. All achievements emanate from this philosophy.

MORE: Advisory Includes More Than You Might Think | Wealth Management: Can You Afford Not to Provide It?
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

 

But in many areas such as business, finance, sports and the military, knowledge can be a competitive advantage. Therefore, many are reluctant to share their knowledge with others.
READ MORE →

Rosenberg MAP: Staff Turnover Falls to Record Low

By

Are CPA firm retention tactics finally paying off?

By CPA Trendlines Research
The Rosenberg Survey

Staff turnover at CPA firms has fallen to its lowest level in years, signaling that the profession’s investments in culture, compensation and flexibility are paying dividends.

MORE: The 2025 Rosenberg MAP Survey is available from CPA Trendlines here.

The 2025 Rosenberg MAP Survey reports average professional staff turnover at 11.1 percent, down sharply from 18.8 percent in 2022 and the lowest since before the pandemic, marking a major shift after years of talent turbulence.

Firms that struggled to recruit and retain staff during the labor shortages of 2021 and 2022 now report greater stability and stronger pipelines.

“This trend may reflect firms’ stronger retention strategies,” the survey notes. “Lower turnover not only reduces recruitment and training costs, but also helps preserve institutional knowledge and maintain stronger client relationships.” READ MORE →

Rosenberg Survey: Efficiency Slips as Staffing Expands

By

Now available from CPA Trendlines here

Productivity drives profitability as never before.

By CPA Trendlines Research
The Rosenberg Survey

After several years of steady gains in productivity, CPA firms are seeing a slight decline in revenue per person, suggesting firms are adding staff faster than they are growing revenue, even as hiring rebounds and turnover drops.

MORE: The 2025 Rosenberg MAP Survey is available from CPA Trendlines here.

According to the new 2025 Rosenberg Survey, the erosion in average revenue per full-time equivalent employee comes after consistent increases from 2020 through 2024. Larger firms are still posting the highest efficiency levels. But the overall trend points to a mild dilution of productivity as practices rebuild teams and expand support infrastructure following years of lean staffing. READ MORE →