Koziel Calls for a New CPA Firm Model.
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Gear Up for Growth
with Jean Caragher
for CPA Trendlines

Mark Koziel is putting the accounting profession on notice: The business model that sustained CPA firms for generations is running out of time.

“The hours-times-rate model is a death knell for the profession,” says Koziel, CPA, CGMA, president and CEO of the AICPA and the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, on Gear Up for Growth, powered by CPA Trendlines and hosted by Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing.

• MORE Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here
• Gear Up for Growth is tailored specifically for public accounting firms with up to 100 team members looking to expand their practices intelligently and efficiently.
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As artificial intelligence accelerates the automation of tax preparation and compliance work, Koziel says CPA firms must fundamentally rethink how they create—and price—value for clients.

“There’s still value to that tax return,” Koziel says. “It’s just not based on our inputs.”

Rather than charging for the time it takes to complete compliance work, Koziel encourages firms to focus on the insight, judgment and peace of mind they provide through planning, advisory services and proactive client relationships.

One of his strongest messages centers on repositioning the profession beyond its traditional identity.

“If you ask anybody on the street what a CPA does, they’re going to tell you tax,” Koziel says. “But advisory and planning are the two that we really need to start nailing down.”

Throughout the discussion, Koziel emphasizes that while AI continues to reshape workflows, it does not diminish the importance of the CPA. Instead, it elevates the profession’s responsibility to help clients interpret information, make better decisions and navigate increasing complexity.

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As AI handles more routine work, how do young accountants develop judgment, communication and leadership?

Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto and Liz Mason
Center for Accounting Transformation

The accounting internship is due for an upgrade.

For decades, internships often give aspiring accountants their first real taste of the profession by dropping them into the work: Learn the process, complete the assignment, survive busy season and figure out the unwritten rules along the way.

But as artificial intelligence takes over more of the entry-level work traditionally assigned to new accountants, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, and Liz Mason, CPA, argue the profession needs to reconsider what an internship is actually supposed to teach.

• MORE Accounting ARC: 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

In this episode of the Accounting ARC podcast, Shimamoto, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, and Mason, CEO of High Rock Accounting, explore why tomorrow's accountants need more than technical proficiency.

They need what Shimamoto calls "power skills."

The next generation is blending entrepreneurship, AI, and advisory into careers that barely existed a few years ago.

Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

For decades, the accounting profession has followed a familiar script: earn a CPA license, join a firm, climb the ladder and perhaps become a partner.

Rachel Farris, CPA, MBA, is proving there is another way.

After building a highly specialized tax advisory practice serving U.S. citizens relocating to Puerto Rico, Farris launches Tax Stack AI, a company that helps accounting firms implement artificial intelligence securely and strategically.

• MORE Accounting ARC: 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

She has since sold her CPA practice to focus on AI consulting and education, demonstrating that today's accounting professionals can create careers far beyond traditional public accounting.

In this episode of Accounting ARC, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, sits down with Farris to explore entrepreneurship, AI, networking and the expanding possibilities available to CPAs willing to embrace change.

Their conversation becomes less about one accountant's journey and more about the profession's future.

“Flexibility should be used as a tool for success. It shouldn't be the exception.”

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Mandy Gallagher, lead manager of Women’s Initiatives at the AICPA, joins Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk to discuss why caregiving has become such an important conversation in accounting, what firms may misunderstand about caregivers, and how greater flexibility and support could influence retention and leadership pipelines across the profession. Gallagher’s work focuses on advancing women’s initiatives, supporting professional development, and amplifying women’s perspectives throughout the profession.

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One reason caregiving is getting more attention now is that it is both more visible and much broader than many people have traditionally assumed. Demographic shifts mean multiple generations are simultaneously balancing careers with responsibilities for children, aging parents, siblings, partners, friends, and others who rely on them. COVID also changed expectations around where and how work can happen. Employees experienced firsthand that they could remain productive while having enough flexibility to pick up a child or take a parent to a medical appointment. As more organizations return to traditional office expectations, those competing demands have become harder to reconcile.

The conversation challenges another long-standing assumption: that caregiving is primarily a women-with-young-children issue.

From vendor demonstrations to hallway conversations, this year's conference season highlights both excitement and uncertainty across the profession.

Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

Every summer, accounting professionals pack conference centers looking for the next big idea. They attend breakout sessions, visit vendor booths, compare notes with peers and return to their firms with pages of ideas.

This year, however, the conversations feel different.

Artificial intelligence still dominates the agenda, but the Accounting ARC hosts notice a subtle shift beneath the excitement. The biggest takeaway isn't simply that AI is everywhere. It's that many accountants are struggling to separate innovation from marketing, capability from hype, and opportunity from risk.

• MORE Accounting ARC: 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

In this episode of Accounting ARC, hosts Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, senior product manager for Karbon and co-founder and educator for TB Academy; Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation; and Liz Mason, CPA, CEO of High Rock Accounting, reflect on what they observe during this year's conference season—and what those observations reveal about the profession's next challenge.

Technology changes quickly, but critical thinking remains the most valuable skill accountants can develop.

Accounting ARC
With Donny Shimamoto
Center for Accounting Transformation

Artificial intelligence is changing accounting faster than almost anyone predicted. But according to William LeFew, Ph.D., the professionals who benefit most from AI are not necessarily the ones with the strongest technical skills—they are the ones who know how to think.

In this episode of Accounting ARC, Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation, welcomes LeFew, chief technology officer at FirmPro, for a conversation that goes beyond software features and into the mindset required to succeed in an AI-enabled profession.

• MORE Accounting ARC: 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

LeFew approaches accounting from an unusual perspective. Trained as an applied mathematician with experience at NASA and multiple technology startups, he intentionally looks for industries where technology can remove friction instead of creating it. Accounting, he says, stands out because of the people.

AI changes how professionals gain experience, forcing teams to reinvent leadership development.

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

Artificial intelligence has dominated conversations throughout the accounting profession, but much of the discussion remains focused on efficiency. In this episode of MOVE Like This, Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk sits down with Peter McCarroll, founder of The AI Accountant and partner at Fuel Accountants, to explore a much bigger question: How will AI reshape careers, leadership, and the future of accounting firms?

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McCarroll argues that many firms are looking at AI through too narrow a lens. While automating routine work will certainly improve productivity, efficiency alone will not be enough to remain competitive. Firms that thrive will use AI to strengthen strategic thinking, develop new services, deepen client relationships, and create additional value rather than simply reducing costs. Waiting for technology to stabilize or treating AI as just another software implementation may leave firms behind as change accelerates over the next few years.

Build the firm you want by hiring only the best.

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
Show notes here

When David Cristello launched Jetpack Workflow in 2016, the market already had plenty of solutions. “Are we too late?” he wondered. But he launched anyway, “and the only reason we launched is because we interviewed so many firms.” These firms told him about the problems with other solutions, and with his founders’ group, he was able to co-create a product that worked.

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Back then, firms were tracking work on spreadsheets, as many firms today still do, and things were falling through the cracks. However, today’s users have more sophisticated demands. “What used to be just checklists and task lists is now about: what’s the operating system for the firm?” says Cristello.

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