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Jaimie Nichols: She Left Firm Life. Two Years Later, She Works Less Than 20 Hours a Week. | Big 4 Transparency

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“I make more money now, but more importantly, I’m not miserable.”

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Big 4 Transparency
By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
For CPA Trendlines

Jaimie Nichols expected her accounting practice to grow faster. Two years after leaving firm life, she is glad it didn’t.

Nichols started the practice around the time she learned she was going to become a mother. Now, she tells host Dominic Piscopo on The Big 4 Transparency, she has earned more than she did at her former job while spending far more time with her young son.

“It was the best decision ever,” she says.

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Nichols reports $120,000 in revenue and roughly $10,000 in expenses for 2025. She says she worked fewer than 20 hours a week, even during tax season, and fewer than 10 hours a week outside it. Family members helped with childcare for several weeks during tax season, but she had no paid childcare that year. She estimates that saved her at least $35,000 in infant care costs.

The numbers are striking. Nichols is just as interested in what they leave room for. READ MORE →

“Set It and Forget It” Is Not an AI Strategy | It’s Not Just the Numbers

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Accounting teams must ensure their people can recognize anomalies, challenge outputs, and apply sound judgment.

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

It’s Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

AI is everywhere in accounting right now.

It’s in your inbox, on the Super Bowl, and probably inside at least one tool your firm uses for tax prep. But there’s a conversation happening inside serious accounting firms, the ones processing thousands of returns, managing global teams, and serving clients who expect more than a spreadsheet, that the vendor demos don’t cover.

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That conversation is about critical thinking.

It may be the most important skill your firm could be developing right now, precisely because AI is making it easier to stop using it.

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When the Profession Changes Faster than Your Plan | Accounting Voices

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The profession isn’t slowing down, but accountants can build clarity, visibility, and career capital to move forward with greater control.

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Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown

Accountants have spent years preparing for demanding work. Far fewer are prepared for what happens when the nature of that work changes almost overnight.

Artificial intelligence, private equity, mergers, leadership changes, shifting client expectations, regulatory pressures, and persistent talent shortages are reshaping accounting at the same time. The result is not simply a busier profession. It is a profession in which many people are quietly asking a much bigger question: Is this still the career I signed up for?

In this reflective episode of Accounting Voices, listeners are encouraged to pause before charging into another year of goals, deadlines, and transformation projects. The conversation acknowledges something professionals do not always feel permitted to say: An extraordinary level of change takes a personal toll.

Feeling tired, cautious, unsettled, or less fulfilled is not necessarily evidence that someone is failing. It may be a normal response to an abnormal pace of disruption.

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Kassi Rushing: Firms that Move First Shape the 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

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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 You Should Pay 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.

READ MORE →

Rachel Anevski: Next Leaders Won’t 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.

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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.

READ MORE →

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.

READ MORE →

Major Changes Are Coming. Now What? | Accounting Voices

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Protect your credibility and career options by responding with calm, connection, and purpose.


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Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown

An email arrives. A town hall appears on the calendar. Leaders begin using words such as “merger,” “sale,” “new ownership,” “restructuring,” or “strategic reset.”

Suddenly, the change that once felt theoretical becomes personal.For accounting professionals, these announcements can trigger immediate questions about job security, leadership, culture, client relationships, and the future of the organization. Some people freeze. Others panic, withdraw, overshare, or rush to update their LinkedIn profiles.

But this episode of Accounting Voices argues that change itself does not necessarily damage careers. How people respond to it often matters more.

As private equity investment, mergers, leadership turnover, technology pressures, and evolving business models reshape the profession, the ability to cope with uncertainty is becoming a career-defining skill. Professionals who remain composed, connected, and useful during periods of disruption can strengthen their reputations and create new opportunities.

The episode outlines four practical moves for navigating the days and weeks after a significant announcement.

READ MORE →

Calvin Harris: The Future of Accounting Belongs to Those Willing to Rethink Everything | Gear Up for Growth

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Intentionally design teams around technology, outsourcing, and evolving organizational structures.

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Gear Up for Growth
with Jean Caragher
for CPA Trendlines

“We’re at a time where we have multiple generational changes happening all at the same time,” says Calvin Harris Jr., CEO of the New York State Society of CPAs, during a recent episode of Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher, president, Capstone Marketing, and powered by CPA Trendlines.

According to Harris, technology, alternative practice structures, outsourcing and changing workforce expectations are converging to reshape the future of public accounting. Firm leaders must look beyond today’s headlines and begin rethinking how their firms operate, develop talent and deliver value to clients.

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Although artificial intelligence dominates much of today’s discussion, Harris believes technology is just one piece of a much larger transformation. “You can’t be effective in this work anymore without also being effective in technology,” he says. “You will get lapped in terms of how efficient people can be.”

Rather than viewing AI as a standalone initiative, Harris encourages firms to think strategically about how technology supports new business models, enhances advisory services and improves the client experience.

READ MORE →