private equity

Steffen: Leadership Is About Energy, Not Tenure | Gear Up For Growth

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When you’re too tired to lead, step aside.

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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

“Leaders who realize they’re too tired to keep managing change should recognize that it might be time to transition to somebody who has that energy,” says Carrie Steffen, CEO of the Iowa Society of CPAs, during her appearance on Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher of Capstone Marketing. “The longer you hang on when you don’t have the energy for change, the more of a disservice you’re doing, not only to your firm, but to the profession as a whole.”   

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In addition to highlighting self-awareness as a key leadership skill, Steffen offered valuable insights for CPA firm leaders navigating today’s dynamic environment. 

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Pinkus: Scaling a Remote Powerhouse | Big 4 Transparency

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“We didn’t plan to build a 100-person firm. We just wanted to work for ourselves.” 

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Is your firm truly ready for tax season—or just hoping to survive it? Join this 90-minute webinar featuring an Accounting ARC Live panel with thought leaders who know what it takes to optimize performance under pressure. 

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Big 4 Transparency
By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
For CPA Trendlines

What does it take to build one of Canada’s fastest-growing cloud accounting firms? In this episode of the Big 4 Transparency, host Dominic Piscopo sits down with Mike Pinkus, co-founder of ConnectCPA and host of the Growth Tales podcast, to unpack the bootstrapped, contrarian story behind ConnectCPA’s rise to over 100 staff and a fully remote, recurring revenue model long before it was trendy. 

MORE Dominic Piscopo | MORE Private Equity | MORE Pay & Compensation

Founded in 2014 by Pinkus and co-founder Lior Zehtser, ConnectCPA was born from a desire for more autonomy – both personally and professionally. “We just wanted to work for ourselves,” Pinkus says. “Everything else was a byproduct.” Yet within a few years, they found themselves leading a national, cloud-native firm with a deep bench of accounting, tax, and finance professionals serving scaling businesses across North America. READ MORE →

Private Equity, Mergers Transforming the Accounting Profession

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cresting ocean wave made of $20 bills

Focus on return on relationship, not just ROI.

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management.

There’s no question the pandemic accelerated the accounting profession’s transformation and the entry of private equity (PE) into the marketplace. In many ways the pandemic years were an inflection point. The old way of doing things – meeting clients face to face and providing tax and accounting services – is essentially over. The pandemic and private equity are propelling the profession forward as firms adopt new service offerings, change how they operate, and find innovative ways to recruit, retain and compensate talent.

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PE is considered “smart money” because it has a track record of building better business models, increasing efficiencies and then selling the companies and firms they invest in for a profit. Smart money sees enormous potential by investing in accounting firms thanks to technology that makes it easier than ever to integrate professional services on a much larger scale.
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Barnes: Redefine Your Career from Within | Gear Up For Growth

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Growth doesn’t always mean moving on—it can mean moving deeper.

This is a preview. The complete episode is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored byTax Season Readiness: Practical Steps for a Smoother Busy Season  | See Today’s Special Offer

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Is your firm truly ready for tax season—or just hoping to survive it? Join this 90-minute webinar featuring an Accounting ARC Live panel with thought leaders who know what it takes to optimize performance under pressure. 
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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

“I love Smith + Howard, and I loved marketing, but I didn’t think I was the person for that role anymore,” says Julie Barnes, chief of staff of Smith + Howard, during her appearance on Gear Up for Growth, powered by CPA Trendlines, and hosted by Jean Caragher of Capstone Marketing. “I didn’t want to leave; I wanted to do something different. I wanted to be valuable to the firm and create value in whatever role I landed in.” 

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Barnes shares how her 30-year journey at the firm has evolved through initiative, transparency, and a culture that supports growth from within. 

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Kless: Profit Is a Result. Flourishing Is the Purpose | The Disruptors

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In the age of AI, conversations, not calculations, will define the future of the profession.

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Unlock site-wide, 24/7 access to more than 7,000 articles and millions of tips, tricks, news, trends, commentary, checklists, and how-to guides. Plus: Daily news, research, analysis, and commentary. Bonus: Free gifts, great discounts, and special reports.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Ed Kless believes accountants can do much more than monitor the numbers. Together with Ron Baker, their latest venture, Threshold, is a community that aims to support professionals in facilitating transformations in their customers. As Kless explains, transformations occur when someone makes lasting changes in one or more of the domains of human flourishing.  

MORE STREAMING: Whitman: Build Culture on ‘Progress,’ Not Change | Shein: No PE? No M&A? No Problem | Hood and Weber: Time to RISE | Proctor: Turn Dumb Ideas into Brilliant Solutions | Carter-Gray: How 1 Poor Review Strengthened the Firm | Hartman: Upwork to “40 Under 40” in 3 Years | Telka: Transform Fear into Fuel | Woodard: Move Past Reports; Deliver Results | Baker: Find True Purpose to End Burnout | Brolin: The W.I.N. Leadership Formula | Gertrudes: How EOS & “Unreasonable Hospitality” Reshaped GrowthLab | Vilms: The Power of People in a Tech-Driven World | Dickerson: From Diagnosis to Disruption | Kapilovich: Treat People Like People | Martha Yasso: From Wall Street to Main Street | Jackie Meyer: Tax Plans in 90 Seconds? Believe It  | Erica Goode: Build a $200K Firm in 15hrs/Week |

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“The purpose of business is to promote human flourishing. Profit is the result of a business. And there’s nothing wrong with that,” Kless says. “I think profit is good, but it’s the result. It’s not the purpose.” Drawing from Benjamin Franklin and economist Russ Roberts, Kless explains that human flourishing has four domains: making people healthier, wealthier, wiser, or helping them live with more purpose.  

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