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Lexy Kessler: Your Future Depends on These Three Questions | Gear Up for Growth

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At stake: Growth, relevance and survival.

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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher

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CPA firm leaders must act decisively on technology, talent strategy and long-term identity or risk falling behind in a rapidly evolving marketplace, Lexy Kessler, Chair of the AICPA and a partner at Aprio, tells JJean Caragher in a new episode of Gear Up for Growth.

MORE Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here MORE Gear Up for Growth | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network here

In a wide-ranging discussion, Kessler focuses on three urgent priorities for firm leaders.  

    • AI Adoption Is No Longer Optional 
    • The Talent Pipeline Is Showing Real Progress, and 
    • Firm Leaders Must Recalibrate Who They Want to Be 

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Michelle River: The Hidden Data Behind CPA Firm Burnout and Profit Pressure | Gear Up for Growth

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How savvy CPAs are unlocking powerful insights buried in their practice management systems. Plus: Download the slide deck.

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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

“What surprised me most isn’t what the data says,” says Michelle Golden River, CEO of Fore LLC, in a new episode of Gear Up for Growth, powered by CPA Trendlines. “It’s that almost every CPA already has it, and it rarely makes it into leadership conversations.” 

Download Michelle River’s slide deck here

MORE Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here MORE Gear Up for Growth | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network here

River tells host Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing, that firms are overlooking powerful insights buried in their own practice management data. 

River challenges CPA firm leaders to rethink long-held assumptions about growth and sustainability. “There is no reason we should be taking a high volume of low spenders when it’s killing us. It’s ruining our sustainability chances,” she says

River leaves three top takeaways for CPA firms:

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Are You Overlooking These 36 Consulting Services?

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business meeting of a woman and two men

Watch for the 38 events that trigger those needs.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

In today’s business world, the greatest growth and margin opportunities for a CPA firm are in the consulting area, as clients outsource specialized skills to deal with business challenges that they cannot handle internally.

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Presented below is a summary of the most typical CPA firm service offerings, together with opportunity triggers and market trends.
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Why Advisory Is Broken. And What Comes Next

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It starts with a conversation. 

By Eric Eager
10X Advisory

For years, advisory services have been positioned as the future of the CPA profession. Conferences are filled with “moving up the value chain” sessions, and firm leaders are under growing pressure to make the shift. But here’s the hard truth: most firms are still trying to deliver tomorrow’s services using yesterday’s methods.

MORE Client Accounting Services here | MORE Tech and Fintech here | MORE:  Steven Ladd: Start Advisory with Empathy | Woodard: Move Past Reports; Deliver Results | Advisory-CAS Ascending: What Research Reveals About the Future

Long discovery meetings. Manual analysis. Generic PowerPoint decks. Pricing models built on billable hours instead of business outcomes. These are the hallmarks of the old world of advisory—time-intensive, inconsistent, and hard to scale.

And they simply don’t hold up anymore. Today’s business owners are moving faster, expecting more, and looking to their advisors for real-time, relevant, and actionable guidance. But most firms are still operating with a rearview mirror—offering valuable insights that often arrive too late to act.

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Clients Demand Niche Know-How, and They’re Willing to Pay for It

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Expertise is the new table stakes.
Brands matter: Clients rely on business or personal referrals to find their accountants.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines Research

U.S. business clients are willing to pay up to 25 percent more for specialized accounting services — and many are making niche expertise a non-negotiable.

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A TaxDome-commissioned survey of 353 small- and mid-sized business executives and owners across industries finds that as companies grow, they leave generalists behind in favor of firms that understand their vertical, speak their language and solve the high-stakes problems that come with scale.

Once they go niche, they rarely return.

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