Even a small volunteer commitment can deliver lasting professional and personal returns.

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.

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Proper entity structure, timing, and compliance are critical to maximizing the next phase of Opportunity Zone benefits.

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.

• MORE Rory Henry | THE HANDBOOK Holistic Guide to Wealth Management | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

While many investors initially focus on the tax deferral aspects of Opportunity Zones, Christian explains that the program delivers three separate benefits.

Replace informal succession practices with trained mentors and measurable opportunities for growth.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

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.

• MORE Disruptors with Liz Farr | CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

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.

Disciplined choices, talent investment, and cultural alignment matter more than chasing every opportunity.

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.

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

“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.

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

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.

• MORE Accounting Voices with Rob Brown

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.

Accounting teams should be intentionally designed around technology, outsourcing, and evolving organizational structures

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.

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

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.

Extraordinary opportunities lie ahead for those who combine accounting knowledge with curiosity, judgment, and business insight.

Accounting Conversations
With Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation

Accounting students often feel pressure to choose the perfect career path before they have taken their first professional step. Tony Wilson, CPA, CMA, offers a more forgiving — and practical — approach: Choose a direction, start moving, and learn along the way.

“Sometimes, just choose the thing,” Wilson says. “Just go after it.”

In this episode of the Accounting Conversations Podcast, host Chayton Farlee, an assurance associate at CliftonLarsonAllen, talks with Wilson, founder of Accquip, about building a career that stretches from public accounting and corporate finance to entrepreneurship and fractional CFO services.

• MORE Center for Accounting Transformation | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

Along the way, Wilson shares candid advice for students and early-career accountants who want to gain meaningful experience, prepare for firm ownership, and understand where they can create value in a profession transformed by technology.

Flexible systems help accounting professionals remain, contribute, and advance when life’s responsibilities change.

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

When caregiving responsibilities collide with work, even the most committed professionals can find themselves questioning whether their careers are still sustainable.

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies and inspiration architect at the Center for Accounting Transformation, joins Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk to discuss what accounting firms can do to better support employees with caregiving responsibilities. Drawing from his own experience as a caregiver and his firm's long-standing flexible work model, Shimamoto explains why supporting caregivers isn't about creating complicated new policies. Instead, it's about building thoughtful systems, training managers, and planning work in ways that recognize employees have lives outside the office.

• MORE MOVE Like This | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

Shimamoto shares how becoming a caregiver for his great-aunt changed his own perspective on the issue. While many people associate caregiving with raising young children, his experience highlighted how responsibilities for aging parents, relatives, and others often arrive unexpectedly and affect employees across every stage of their careers. Rather than viewing caregiving as a temporary accommodation for a small group of employees, he believes firms should recognize it as a reality that will affect nearly everyone at some point in their lives.

That shift in thinking changes how organizations design policies, manage workloads, and retain experienced professionals.