OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk: Caregivers Caught in the Middle | The Disruptors

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Accounting firms may offer flexibility, but outdated expectations and missed opportunities can still push experienced professionals out the door.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

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

Accounting firms have spent years worrying about the front end of the talent pipeline. Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk wants them to look at the other end as well. 

Ruszczyk, owner and research lead of the Accounting MOVE Project, led this year’s MOVE report, Caught in the Middle: How Caregiving Pressures Are Reshaping Women’s Careers in Public Accounting. This new report examines what happens when experienced professionals take on care for children, aging parents, spouses and partners, and whether their firms keep them on the path to leadership. 

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That question matters because of the disparity in women’s representation in leadership at accounting firms.

Firms “tend to be pretty much 50:50 gender parity up until you get to the senior director, almost going to go into partnership,” Ruszczyk says. At MOVE firms, women hold about 42% of partner roles. Across all U.S. firms, that ratio drops to around 34%. For women of color, the drop is even sharper. According to Ruszczyk, about 20% of associates are women of color while only 5% of partners are.   

Caregiving isn’t the only cause for the disparity, but it is “one of the areas where we’re seeing some leaks spring up,” Ruszczyk explains. While caregiving has always been a part of the lives of accountants – men and women – several converging trends are making this a bigger issue today.

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National Study Asks Accounting Professionals How Life Outside of Work Impacts Their Careers

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Survey now open.

By CPA Trendlines

How does life outside of work impact your career? That question is at the heart of Beyond the Ledger: The Caregiving & Life Events Study (officially, The Impact of Caregiving & Life Events on the Accounting and Allied Professions). Many professionals are caring for a child, a parent, a spouse, or someone else while they work, and many are also coping with major life events such as illness, loss, or financial strain. This study will examine how common these experiences are across the profession and how they affect careers and the pipeline.

The study is led by Stephani Mason, PhD, CPA, associate professor of accounting and MIS at DePaul University’s Driehaus College of Business, Claire Costin, PhD, CPA, associate professor at the University of Portland’s School of Business, and Dereck Barr-Pulliam, PhD, CPA, CIA, associate professor at the University of Louisville’s College of Business. The research team also includes assistant professors Grisel Lopez-Alvarez, PhD, at North Central College; Matthew Evans, PhD, CMA, at Florida State University; and Amy Mathews, PhD, CPA, at Auburn University.

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“At a time when the accounting and finance profession is navigating evolving talent challenges and changing workforce expectations, caregiving and major life events are among the least understood reasons people step back or leave. It’s crucial that employers understand their impact on the workforce. We are asking now, after the tax deadline, because the profession is making decisions about its future right now and needs evidence, not guesses,” Mason explained.

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Staying Isn’t Advancing: 2026 Accounting MOVE Project Finds Caregiving Is Quietly Stalling Accounting Careers

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MOVE’s new research examines caregiving’s impact on careers and leadership pipelines and recognizes the 2026 Best Firms for Women and Equity Leadership.


By CPA Trendlines

Every firm in the 2026 Accounting MOVE Project has watched employees cut back hours or change schedules to manage caregiving. Nearly half have seen people slow their path to partnership or turn down leadership roles. Not one has calculated what that is costing them.

The 2026 Accounting MOVE Project found that 65% of firms surveyed have seen caregiving influence career progression during the past year, with mid-career professionals most often affected. Forty-seven percent have seen employees defer or slow promotion or partnership, and 47% have seen employees decline leadership opportunities. Forty-one percent have experienced resignations related to caregiving.

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Yet firms are only beginning to understand the broader business implications. Fifty-nine percent say caregiving has definitely or possibly contributed to turnover during the past two years, and 53% believe it is affecting their partner and leadership pipelines. None of the firms surveyed has quantified the cost of caregiving-related turnover.

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Holistic Financial Planning: A One-Two Punch of Value

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Vintage pocket watch lying on hundred dollar bills

Accounting continues to evolve in increasingly personal ways.

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.

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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?”
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How Your Skills as an Accountant May be Undermining Your Firm’s Future | Accounting Voices

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Technical expertise earns credibility, but the ability to delegate, build trust, and guide people through uncertainty determines how far a businesses can grow.

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The step-by-step operating guide for CPA firms building, pricing, and scaling advisory services that clients value—and pay for.

Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown

An accounting firm’s biggest bottleneck may sit at the top.

The leader who reviews every return, answers every technical question, and makes every consequential decision can appear indispensable. But that dependence raises a difficult question: Who is building the business while its leader is busy checking the work?

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In this episode of Accounting Voices, insights from conversations with nearly 50 influential voices in the profession highlight a pressing leadership challenge: Technical excellence is the starting point. Leading an enterprise requires a broader set of skills.

The episode calls this tension the “Competency Collision.” The expertise that helps accountants advance does not, by itself, prepare them to build adaptable organizations, develop future leaders, or make difficult decisions about what comes next. READ MORE →

What’s Your Return on Relationships?

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Clients need empathy.

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?

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.
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