Effective leaders create connection, recognizing that human-centered leadership is critical.

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Bonnie Ruszczyk is joined by Lisa Fitzgerald, Chief Human Resources Officer at Eide Bailly, for a conversation about talent, leadership, and what it takes to build workplaces where people actually want to stay. With nearly two decades at the firm and a career spanning manufacturing, technology, and professional services, Fitzgerald brings a practical, people-centered lens to some of the profession’s biggest challenges.

• MORE MOVE Like This | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

One issue keeping Fitzgerald up at night is the accelerating impact of AI on the accounting workforce. While Eide Bailly is approaching AI adoption thoughtfully and seeing real productivity gains, Fitzgerald is just as focused on the downstream effects, particularly how the conversation around AI may influence students deciding whether accounting feels like a “safe” career choice. With firms still recovering from talent shortages, she sees a real risk that fear and uncertainty could deter future professionals before they even enter the pipeline.

Freedom comes from systems.

Full show notes here

The Disrupters
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines

Sharrin Fuller isn’t your typical accountant. For one, she’s not a CPA. She doesn’t have an accounting degree. She didn’t even go to college. But despite lacking what most consider the usual credentials and following “the most unconventional and broken path possible,” she managed to build and sell two successful accounting firms. Fuller recounts this story in her new book, Unfollow the Rules: The Messy Truth About Burnout, Bad Decisions, and Building Until It Works.

Fuller wrote the book to help entrepreneurs see behind the social media images of success. “All you see are their wins and their glorified wins, but you don’t know what it took to get them there,” she explains. Her book was originally intended to be a how-to guide, but halfway through the process, she changed her mind. “I don’t want to write this book telling people this is how you should do it,” she explains. “I needed to be vulnerable so people could understand how I got to the point that I got to.”

What It Means for Next Phase of Artificial Intelligence in Accounting.

Full show notes here

By Seth Fineberg
For CPA Trendlines Research

“Managing partner-in-residence” is not a standard role in accounting, and that was the first point of friction when Kenji Kuramoto was asked to explain his new job at Basis, the accounting AI agent company. What does that actually mean?

The answer goes beyond one hire. It points to a shift now underway in accounting: artificial intelligence is moving out of experimentation and into operations, and firms are not yet prepared for what that requires.

MORE Kenji Kuramoto: Behind Sorren’s Roll-Up: $170 Million, 1,000 Employees, 85 Partners | Kenji Kuramoto: Rules? What Rules? | Getting Real: Accounting Tech Decisions You Need to Make Today

Internships, leadership roles, and networking accelerate success for accounting students...Plus 20 Key Takeaways!

Student-Led Conversations
With Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation

What if the difference between a “typical” accounting student and a standout future professional isn’t GPA, but initiative?

That’s the underlying theme of this episode of Student-Led Conversations, where host Chayton Farlee sits down with fellow accounting student Noah Brabble for a candid, high-energy discussion on leadership, internships, and what it actually takes to build a career before graduation.

• MORE SLC: Will AI Make Students Better Learners — or Just Faster Workers? | Why the Next Generation May Be Accounting's Greatest Competitive Advantage | Students Redefine Career Readiness | Savage: Using Your License as a Megaphone | Baker: Interpreting Pricing Psychology | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC

This isn’t a conversation about theory. It’s a real-time look at what today’s students are doing—and what others should be doing—to get ahead.

Whether it’s pursuing internships, stepping into leadership roles, or building a professional presence online, the students who take action early are the ones who create momentum.

As Brabble puts it, success later is often a reflection of what you invest now.

Because the future of the profession isn’t waiting. And neither are the students shaping it.

Illinois CPA Society CEO lays out the three big challenges.

Full show notes here

Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

“What got you to this point is not going to be what gets your firm to its next major milestone,” says Geoffrey Brown, president and CEO of the Illinois CPA Society.

“Be flexible. Be nimble,” he tells Jean Caragher in this episode of Gear Up for Growth. “Surround yourself with the right people and take advantage of opportunities that help you lead into the future.”

Brown outlines the forces reshaping public accounting and the leadership mindset required for the future.

Top Takeaways

1. How Private Equity Is Forcing Firms to Rethink Everything
2. The New Skills Needed for the Advisory Future
3. Why Demographics Are the Profession’s Biggest Challenge

MVP culture, investor pressure, and marketing—not product quality—often decide winners.

Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

The accounting technology market looks crowded from the outside. New tools launch every month. Conference expo halls overflow with promise. And artificial intelligence is accelerating everything.

But beneath that surface, the economics of building accounting technology tell a more complicated story—one shaped as much by venture capital and sales pressure as by innovation itself.

• MORE Accounting ARC: Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn Out | Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet | Accounting’s “Untalked-About” Frontier | Why Happiness is Hard-Fought for High Achievers | The Fastest Way to Lose Talent Is “Dick Leadership” | Post-Holiday Fatigue Isn’t a Failure; It’s a Signal | OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps Now | Return Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting | Savage: Using Your License as a Megaphone | Baker: Interpreting Pricing Psychology | Don’t Get Fired by Your Own Automation | What Amazon Doesn't Tell You | Royalties, Residuals, and Reality Checks | ARC-SLC

In the latest episode of Accounting ARC, Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, and Liz Mason, CPA, step back to examine how the industry got here—and where it is likely headed next.

Why chasing a number won’t solve clients’ financial anxiety—and what advisors should focus on instead.

Full show notes here

With Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™
For CPA Trendlines
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

When advisors think about financial planning, numbers, projections, and optimization strategies are what typically come to mind. But in a recent podcast conversation with me, Carl Richards challenged that assumption, arguing that the real work of planning begins with having a meaningful dialogue about money.

As Richards described his latest book, Your Money: Reimagining Wealth in 101 Simple Sketches, the goal is not to provide answers, but to spark better questions. “The book is just a means to an end,” Richards said. “What I care about is that it starts [better] conversations about money.”

Sponsored by The True Adviser: Buy now | Learn more

Big 4 Transparency
With Dominic Piscopo, CPA
Full show notes here

Decimal CEO Matt Tait joins Dominic Piscopo to explain why his CAS firm is franchising its playbook, how it drives 50%-plus margins with queue-based delivery and daily book maintenance, and why private equity may accelerate – not kill – entrepreneurship in accounting.

MORE Dominic Piscopo | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

Tait says the biggest accounting story right now isn’t just AI, it’s the industry’s next operating model.

On the Big 4 Transparency, Tait says Decimal started as a “different” CAS and bookkeeping firm while simultaneously building an internal operating system for running a modern accounting shop. In under six years,