Today's Features
ACCOUNTING ARC

The Hidden Reason You’re Exhausted | ARC

Discover the link between triggers, burnout, and the power of saying “not right now.”

Originally published May 29, 2025.
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Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

More ARC: Analysis, Reaction, Comedy

Let’s be honest: the accounting profession isn’t exactly known for work-life balance. Long hours, tax season sprints, and “just one more thing” emails can leave even the most seasoned pros teetering on the edge of burnout.

In this episode of ARC, hosts Liz Mason, CPA; Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA; and Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, CGMA, confront that edge—and explain why healthy boundaries are more than just trendy jargon. They’re essential tools for staying sane, productive, and professionally respected.

MORE Accounting ARC: Your Identity is Not a Liability | What Happens in Vegas… Gets Reported on a Tax Return | Burnout, Be Gone: Accounting Needs a Boundary Breakthrough | The Ultimate Business Hack You’re Probably Ignoring | Resilience, Real Talk, and the Road to Mental Wellness | Blockchain Could Still Reshape Accounting | What Gen Z Wants from Business | Firm Differentiation Depends Upon Client Service |

“Burnout is basically professional depression,” says Mason, CEO of High Rock Accounting. “If you find yourself triggered, angry, or exhausted at work all the time, there’s a good chance your boundaries are being violated—and you might not even realize it.”

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CHARTS & GRAPHS

IRS Phone Stats Improve—Unless You’re a Tax Pro

What “Priority Service”? Only 61 percent of practitioner calls get through.

IRS Phone Line
Level of Service
Accounts Management
87%
Practitioner Priority Service
61%
Installment Agreement / Balance Due
35%
Identity Theft
29%
Critical support lines remain overwhelmed.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Internal Revenue Service reports significant improvements in its phone service, but the gains mask critical shortfalls in other high-demand lines, frustrating taxpayers and practitioners alike.

MORE IRS | Brace Yourself: IRS 25% Staff Cuts Mean Big Trouble for Tax Pros and Clients | What to Watch in the One Big Beautiful Bill |IRS’s Big Annual Report: Already Out of Date as Agency Grapples with Chaos and Cuts | Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos

Despite improvements in certain areas, such as the Accounts Management lines achieving an 87 percent Level of Service with average wait times dropping to 3 minutes, other critical lines experienced significantly lower service levels. For instance, the Identity Theft line had an LOS of just 29 percent, and the Installment Agreement/Balance Due line stood at 35 percent.

However, performance plummets for other phone lines. The Level of Service on the Identity Theft line was just 29 percent, and on the Installment Agreement/Balance Due line, it was 35 percent.

The Practitioner Priority Service line, heavily used by professionals, managed just 61 percent, well below the standard for acceptable support.

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PRICING, FEES & BILLING RATES

How to Create Client Personas

They’ll help you build service packages.

By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA

One drawback of the hourly pricing model is its one-size-fits-all nature. Every client is charged the same rates per hour, with the only difference being the number of hours each uses.

But the world isn’t made up of identical people working in identical businesses and driving identical cars to and from their identical homes. Thank goodness!

MORE by Jody Padar
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Clients are as different as you or me, but we can group them into buckets called personas based on shared values or traits. In a client-centric firm, it helps to understand these basic personas so you can more efficiently meet each client’s needs. You probably have a handful of personas in your firm right now. You just haven’t seen them as a grouping because, in your bill-by-the-hour model, it doesn’t matter who they are.
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ACCOUNTING VOICES

Hannah Munro: Real Reasons Change Fails | Accounting Influencers

From unclear goals to digital missteps, this episode outlines what it takes to transform with confidence.

This was originally published April 19, 2025.
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Accounting Influencers
With Rob Brown

Change isn’t slowing down. It’s speeding up. And according to Hannah Munro, that’s precisely why finance professionals can’t afford to treat transformation as a one-time event.

In this episode of Accounting Influencers, Munro—managing director of ITAS Solutions and host of the CFO 4.0 podcast—discusses driving successful change in accounting and finance. She dives into why so many transformation initiatives fail and outlines a smarter path forward for firms looking to adapt, evolve, and thrive.

“The pace of change is accelerating,” Munro explains. “That volatility and uncertainty are forcing finance professionals to elevate their role.”

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PRO Member Exclusive

Ten Ways to Hold Partners Accountable

man, woman, man having serious discussion around conference table

Making partner doesn’t mean it’s time to kick back.

By Marc Rosenberg
The Rosenberg Practice Management Library

Partner accountability addresses what is expected of each partner, how partners will be managed so that expectations are met and what the consequences will be for failure to meet these expectations.

MORE by Marc Rosenberg
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We have interviewed hundreds of partners on partner accountability. We frequently ask them if they would like the firm to have partner accountability. A response we often get is a derivation of: “Yes, I’m all for partner accountability (long pause …) as long as it doesn’t affect me!”

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