Gen Z won't fix your firm culture problem - they'll leave it.

Accounting Influencers
With Rob Brown

When the youngest professionals in accounting start saying “no,” leaders should start listening.

In this episode of Accounting Influencers, the conversation turns to the one thing that could make or break your firm’s future: how you treat your people, specifically, how you treat Gen Z.

They’re qualified. They’re confident. And they’ve watched what the generations before them endured—burnout, long hours, micromanagement, and “be grateful you’ve got a job” culture. Their conclusion? “No thanks.”

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This isn’t softness. It’s a strategy.

Gen Z values mental health over martyrdom, meaning over money, and culture over compensation. They’ve seen the toll that toxic leadership takes, and they’re unwilling to sacrifice well-being for tradition.

Here, Rob Brown outlines five toxic traits that send young accountants running for the exits.

Poe Group Advisors; Helping accountants buy, build, and sell exceptional firms.

Our clients love working with us, and we know you will too! Don’t just take our word for it. Learn more about our client success stories and how we’ve guided buyers and sellers through a smooth transition with their bookkeeping, accounting, and CPA firms. Learn More

Poe Group Advisors is the premier accounting practice intermediary firm in the industry with over 20 years of M&A experience. PGA was founded by Brannon Poe, a CPA with a Big 4 background. Buying or selling a CPA firm is one of life’s most significant ventures for business owners. Qualified buyers looking to buy an accounting firm want to find the right CPA practice for sale and accounting practice sellers want to find the right buyer. This is where Poe Group Advisors excels time and time again in helping our clients find the right accounting practice sales opportunity. Learn More

Poe Group Advisors; Helping accountants buy, build, and sell exceptional firms.

Our clients love working with us, and we know you will too! Don’t just take our word for it. Learn more about our client success stories and how we’ve guided buyers and sellers through a smooth transition with their bookkeeping, accounting, and CPA firms. Learn More

Poe Group Advisors is the premier accounting practice intermediary firm in the industry with over 20 years of M&A experience. PGA was founded by Brannon Poe, a CPA with a Big 4 background. Buying or selling a CPA firm is one of life’s most significant ventures for business owners. Qualified buyers looking to buy an accounting firm want to find the right CPA practice for sale and accounting practice sellers want to find the right buyer. This is where Poe Group Advisors excels time and time again in helping our clients find the right accounting practice sales opportunity. Learn More

Reserves, credit lines, and leadership pipelines fuel expansion

Gear Up for Growth

With Jean Caragher

For CPA Trendlines

“Fiercely independent isn’t a strategy, it’s a stance,” says John Geraci, managing partner of LGA CPAs & Advisors. “To truly remain independent, firms must be strategic about how they differentiate themselves, understand the threats posed by private equity, and have the conviction to invest in their people and future leaders.”

• 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 videos and podcasts here

Geraci and Jeff Call, managing partner of Bennett Thrasher, were guests on Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher of Capstone Marketing.

As private equity continues to reshape the accounting profession, both leaders agree on two critical factors for firms choosing to remain self-owned: independence must be intentional, and culture is the ultimate differentiator.

Poe Group Advisors; Helping accountants buy, build, and sell exceptional firms.

Our clients love working with us, and we know you will too! Don’t just take our word for it. Learn more about our client success stories and how we’ve guided buyers and sellers through a smooth transition with their bookkeeping, accounting, and CPA firms. Learn More

Poe Group Advisors is the premier accounting practice intermediary firm in the industry with over 20 years of M&A experience. PGA was founded by Brannon Poe, a CPA with a Big 4 background. Buying or selling a CPA firm is one of life’s most significant ventures for business owners. Qualified buyers looking to buy an accounting firm want to find the right CPA practice for sale, and accounting practice sellers want to find the right buyer. This is where Poe Group Advisors excels time and time again in helping our clients find the right accounting practice sales opportunity. Learn More

Returns ripple through revenue recognition, inventory, and environmental reporting.

Accounting ARC

With Liz Mason, Byron Patrick, and Donny Shimamoto

Center for Accounting Transformation

Accounting ARC hosts Liz Mason, CPA; Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, CGMA; and Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, use a YouTube investigation into Amazon’s return ecosystem as a springboard to examine the financial realities behind frictionless refunds. They agree that returns are a strategic cost center that must be engineered into product pricing, platform choice, and tax compliance from the start.

• MORE Accounting ARC: Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC | Free Speech Is a Right; Respect Is a Responsibility | Cash Bags, Casinos & Audits: How First Jobs Shape Us | Gen Z Redefines Careers | Bootleggers, Baptitsts & CPAs: Rethinking Licensure | CPA Firm Ownership Under Fire | Walking Violation: When Showing Your CPA Gets You in Trouble | Audit Bags to TikTok Tags, Gen Z Talks Success | Students Challenge Accounting's Traditional Career Path | True Grit: Recognizing Struggles That Shape Our Successes |More Admins, Fewer Students, No Plan |

Higher return rates are the rule online. U.S. retailers estimated that 16.9% of 2024 sales—about $890 billion—were returned, according to the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns. The cost of reverse logistics, shrinkage, and fraud compounds the hit to gross margin. “If you want the increased revenue from Amazon sales, it’s going to come with increased returns,” Shimamoto says. “You can’t have the reach without the cost.”

Fees require granular modeling. Amazon’s seller fees are multilayered. Referral fees commonly range from approximately 8% to 15% by category and are typically accompanied by fulfillment, storage, and program charges. “Owners see the top line and assume they’re making money,” Patrick says. “Reconciling marketplace statements to cash is a jigsaw puzzle—even for CPAs.”

Poe Group Advisors; Helping accountants buy, build, and sell exceptional firms.

Our clients love working with us, and we know you will too! Don’t just take our word for it. Learn more about our client success stories and how we’ve guided buyers and sellers through a smooth transition with their bookkeeping, accounting, and CPA firms. Learn More

Poe Group Advisors is the premier accounting practice intermediary firm in the industry with over 20 years of M&A experience. PGA was founded by Brannon Poe, a CPA with a Big 4 background. Buying or selling a CPA firm is one of life’s most significant ventures for business owners. Qualified buyers looking to buy an accounting firm want to find the right CPA practice for sale and accounting practice sellers want to find the right buyer. This is where Poe Group Advisors excels time and time again in helping our clients find the right accounting practice sales opportunity. Learn More

The 199A deduction just got a second life — and a boost.

Quick Tax Tip
With Art Werner
CPE Today

When Section 199A was introduced under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it was hailed as revolutionary. For the first time, owners of pass-through entities — partnerships, S corporations, and sole proprietorships — received a significant tax break meant to level the playing field after the corporate rate dropped dramatically.

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“The idea was simple but powerful,” says tax guru Art Werner in the latest episode of Quick Tax Tip. “You lop off 20% of the income from flow-through businesses, making sure they weren’t left behind when C corporation rates fell.”

But that popular deduction — and many others tied to the individual provisions of the 2017 Act — was scheduled to sunset...Until now.