Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
Capstone Marketing


Investing in learning and development is essential for retaining and attracting staff. Developing a curriculum that includes both technical and success skills can help firms address the current talent shortage and prepare their employees for higher-value roles.

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"We're going to see automation making a big impact on our staff in the near term,” says Tom Hood, CPA, CGMA, CITP, executive vice president of business engagement and growth, AICPA, appearing on Gear Up for Growth, a new show hosted by Jean Caragher, president, Capstone Marketing, and powered by CPA Trendlines.

“Identify the critical competencies you need for each practice area in your firm,” says Hood. “Then, as tax gets automated, for example, your tax people are going to have to move up the value chain into planning. That's a natural progression. Another example is the fastest-growing practice area, client advisory services, or CAS, and that's going to be more automated. So, the emphasis is on those higher-level consulting skills like collaboration, curiosity, strategic and critical thinking.”

“You want to make sure that your CPAs are doing the level of work that's the highest and best use of their capabilities,” adds Hood.

Other highlights include:

• The first step for a CPA firm to create a learning culture.
• How to use your people in the right roles.
• The role learning can play in finding and keeping staff.
• Why storytelling is an increasingly important skill for accountants.
• Who is the best person within a firm to lead a learning initiative?