Journal of Accountancy Podcasts

CPA decision-makers in business and industry weren’t optimistic at the end of last year, but their outlook grew a bit sunnier as 2023 began. Now, as 2023’s midpoint approaches, the outlook of finance executives is again taking on a more pessimistic tone in a quarterly survey. Contraction plans are more common, and projections for revenue and profit have declined. Ken Witt, CPA, CGMA, AICPA & CIMA’s associate director–Management Accounting Research and Development, discusses the results of the Economic Outlook Survey in this podcast episode. What you’ll learn from this episode: ·         An overview of second-quarter survey results. ·         Why Witt now says that the fourth quarter of 2022 may not represent “the bottom” in terms of sentiment. ·         How the high-interest-rate environment is affecting companies. ·         Examples of more stringent lending requirements that businesses are facing. ·         The hiring outlook and projections for the coming 12 months for revenue and profit.

ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence bots have made a big splash this year, with ChatGPT even passing the CPA Exam earlier this month, but there is another kind of bot accountants need to know about. Cybercriminals have started using bots to identify zero-day vulnerabilities in routers, servers, smartphones, Windows, web browsers, and antivirus software. Once the hackers discover a vulnerability, they send out their bots to exploit it in as many places as possible, with CPA firms and finance departments among the potential targets. What can CPAs do to shore up their cyberdefenses? The latest episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast, produced in partnership with the Small Firm Philosophy podcast, addresses that question with Roman Kepczyk, CPA/CITP, CGMA, director of firm technology strategy for Right Networks and author of the AICPA Private Companies Practice Section’s CPA cybersecurity checklist.  What you’ll learn from this episode: ·         What a zero-day vulnerability is and w

Technology experts in the accounting space have plenty to say about the assets that organizations should protect from cybercriminals, what Web 3.0 could mean for the profession, and what skills future CPAs will need. This is part two of a two-part conversation with: n  Amanda Wilkie of Boomer Consulting; n  Wesley Hartman of Kirsch Kohn & Bridge LLP; and n  Donny Shimamoto, CPA/CITP, CGMA, of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies. The conversation also was turned into a JofA article. The podcast episode of the first part of the conversation was posted May 11. The speakers are scheduled to present at AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE in Las Vegas the week of June 5. Resources n  Previous podcast conversation with Hartman about RPA. n  The 2020 podcast episode that featured tech roundtable participants Wilkie and Shimamoto.

Technology experts in the accounting industry have plenty to say about ChatGPT, staffing issues and a push toward more automation, and how organizations can decide which projects are done in house or through outsourcing.  This is part one of a two-part conversation with: n  Amanda Wilkie of Boomer Consulting; n  Wesley Hartman of Kirsch Kohn & Bridge LLP; and n  Donny Shimamoto, CPA/CITP, CGMA, of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies. The conversation also was turned into a JofA article. The second part will be published in podcast form on May 18 on the JofA’s podcast page. Resources n  Previous podcast conversation with Hartman about RPA. n  The 2020 podcast episode that featured tech roundtable participants Wilkie and Shimamoto.

For Dan Griffiths, CPA, CGMA, the president at Lume, a deodorant company headquartered in Utah, taking a rigorous approach to analysis – whether it be marketing spending or performance management – is critical. The human side of running a business is also important. In a conversation more than seven years ago, Griffiths spoke about emotional intelligence, a skill that has served him well in a fully remote company. “We have to be paying much closer attention to what cues we're getting from different members of the team,” he said. In this Journal of Accountancy podcast episode, Griffiths offers leadership tips, reflects on what he did and didn’t know in making a move from a CPA firm to a retail company, and uses a baseball analogy to explain how performance management should work. Griffiths is scheduled to speak at next week’s AICPA & CIMA CFO Conference on the topic of performance management.

Terrell Williams is about to graduate with a master’s degree in accounting. That’s something he never would have considered after dropping out of college nearly 10 years ago. A chance event in his hometown of Louisville, Ky., changed everything for Williams. He nearly died outside a convenience store one March afternoon. “My time was ticking,” he said. In this episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast, Williams explains what happened, how he viewed it as the “start of a new life,” how he found accounting, and why he’s living life with more purpose. What you’ll learn from this episode:          Williams’ recount of the life-changing events of March 29, 2017, in Louisville, Ky.          Why he said his first attempt at attending college didn’t go well.          The volunteer work Williams does in his hometown.          Some of Williams’ mentors, outside of the family that he says “raised me right.”          What’s next for Williams after graduation from the master’s in accounting program at N.C. Stat

Incentivize the behaviors you want. That was the theory behind GRF CPAs & Advisors’ decision to change its partner compensation model several years ago. Firm leaders knew that if they wanted their partners to operate as a cohesive team, they needed to stop paying partners in ways that drove individualistic behaviors. More than five years later, GRF President and Managing Partner Jackie Cardello, CPA, says that while the process was a lot of work, the results “absolutely” have been worth it. What did GRF change, and how have the firm’s fortunes improved? Find out from Cardello and GRF partner Elinor Litwack, CPA, in this episode, produced in partnership with the Small Firm Philosophy podcast.

Nikki Winston, CPA, can recall a time when, for her, it might have been easy to give up on pursuing CPA licensure. Now, she receives messages from CPA candidates and advises them on how to continue to the journey. Winston, a career coach and CPA Exam strategist, shares in this episode the common questions she gets from students and why she believes that the 150-hour educational requirement for CPA licensure should not change.

It’s obvious that change is happening rapidly these days, but is the accounting profession moving quickly enough to adapt to that change? It’s a question Joey Havens, CPA, has pondered often in his career at the firm Horne LLP. Havens joined the Journal of Accountancy podcast to discuss the building of organizational culture, why the word “enduring” has been a strand running through his career, and why he likes to ask the question “Are we moving fast enough?” Havens is a speaker at AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE in June in Las Vegas.

As consumers, the current environment of higher interest rates affects us in several ways. One of the obvious ways is for potential homebuyers, who are keenly aware of 30-year mortgage rates that are far higher now than several years ago. But how do higher rates affect accounting practitioners and their business clients? Bob Durak, CPA, CGMA, has a few answers in the latest episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast. Durak, director–Audit and Accounting Technical Services at AICPA & CIMA, together as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, also explains the role that the Center for Plain English Accounting (CPEA) plays in assisting small to midsize firms with new or less obvious risks related to interest rates. Hear more about why fraud could rise along with interest rates, what high rates might have to do with revenue recognition, and more about a recent CPEA report that details the current rate environment.

Hamza Khan had just spoken at a TEDx event in 2016 when he got a message from his boss: See me in my office, first thing in the morning.  Khan, an author and speaker who will deliver the May 10 keynote address at the AICPA & CIMA CFO Conference in Salt Lake City, recounts the initial reaction to his talk about management of people — it was not all positive. But the content was prescient, a pre-pandemic look at flexible work.

Avani Desai, CPA, doesn’t trace her journey to becoming the CEO of a top firm to her youth — she goes back to before her birth, to the emphasis her grandparents put on education in the 1940s in India. In keeping with the “starting early” theme, Desai believes that, instead of talking to students about accounting in their third year of college, the profession needs to reach out to students in the third grade. And she lived that example recently, visiting her daughter’s elementary school classroom.

Overall, positivity about the U.S. economy remains muted, with just 23% of respondents to a recent survey saying they are optimistic about the domestic outlook for the next 12 months. That’s an improvement from the fourth quarter, when just 12% expressed optimism. Also, 45% of respondents in the first-quarter Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey are optimistic about their own businesses, up from 35% at the end of last year.

Kelly Richmond Pope, CPA, CGMA, is a professor at DePaul University and the author of a book scheduled to be published later this month on fraud. Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets From the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry is designed to help people “see themselves or see their businesses in the stories” so that they can improve their defenses against fraud. Pope details an interactive game related to the book that can help educate business owners about fraud and the motivations of fraudsters.

Uncertainty isn’t going away. And because of that, entrepreneur and consultant Pascal Finette says that organizations and leaders should think differently about how they view the current business environment. Finette, a keynote speaker at the Future of Finance Summit in Austin, Texas, challenges leaders to think of uncertainty as an opportunity, not an obstacle. He asks: “How do you actually show up as a leader in a world of uncertainty and lead into, and then lead, in the unknown?” Also, here’s the late 2021 interview with Finette in which he talked about the accounting profession’s “interesting inflection point.”

A well-defined, vibrant work culture certainly can help employees perform at or above expectations. And a poor culture can absolutely be a performance constraint. But how do leaders change culture, or grow it in the age of remote and dispersed workforces? Kerry Brown has a few thoughts. Brown specializes in workforce transformation, and she spoke recently to finance executives about such issues at the Future of Finance Summit in Austin, Texas.

Robin Thieme, CPA/CITP, CGMA, the founder and CEO of KBS CFO, has gotten all kinds of questions over the years from clients. As an early adopter of offering advisory and fractional CFO services, she’s someone well versed to share the insights that simply getting those questions can unearth.

Making a run to the Super Bowl never gets old. That’s one of the messages that Dan Crumb, CPA, CGMA, the CFO of the Kansas City Chiefs, shares in this episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast.  The team has qualified for the Super Bowl three of the past four seasons, and Crumb encourages the members of his finance team to “step back and soak this moment in” — in between doing extra work in advance of Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.

Steve Ursillo, CPA/CITP, CGMA, is a partner in the Risk & Accounting Advisory Group at Cherry Bekaert and the firm’s national leader of information assurance and cybersecurity. He explains much about digital assets and the threats that digital asset owners must guard against. Cyberattacks are on the rise, including attacks focused on digital assets In this podcast episode, Ursillo explains the threat landscape and offers advice on the safeguards that organizations should have in place to prevent the theft of digital assets.

Jody Grunden, CPA, the co-founder and CEO of Summit CPA Group, isn’t afraid to fail — he says he’s done it many times over the years. The firm, now part of Anders CPAs + Advisors thanks to a 2022 merger, is an innovator in several aspects of client billing and payment, from getting away from paper checks to escaping the “rat race” of hourly billing. Grunden, the author of two books, explains on this episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast some about Summit’s journey, why his co-founder at first was against a move to remote work, and why his approach to risk is more about developing a workaround than deciding to retreat.