New THRIVEcast Series Focuses on Innovation and Disruption in the Accounting Profession

Podcasts created by THRIVEal+CPA Network and CloudSolutions Alliance explore role of CPAs in helping their clients grow, navigate challenges, change and thrive

Greenville, SC – October 31, 2011 – The THRIVEal +CPA Network, an online venue where Cloud-centric accounting professionals build community, collaborate, focus on technology and innovate for the future of the CPA industry, and CloudSolutions Alliance, a CPA-focused educational collaborative comprised of Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., XCM Solutions, SmartVault, FreshBooks and Avalara, today announced a new podcast series for accountants, called THRIVEcasts . The first four THRIVEcasts are available for download now.

The THRIVEcasts are described by THRIVEal +CPA Network founder Jason Blumer, CPA.CITP, CFE as a journey through the rapidly-changing world of accountancy, and a new information source for younger and forward-thinking CPAs that are moving into firm ownership while striving to become more relevant and effective for their clients.      

“The new generation of accountants involved in the THRIVEal+CPA Network are not so much challenging the status quo – they’re inheriting their fathers’ firms, or starting their own, and rapidly changing the way firms function and serve clients,” said Blumer, who is Managing Shareholder, Blumer & Associates, CPAs, in additional to his THRIVEal+CPA Network role. “CPAs are closer than anyone to helping their clients improve business processes to become more profitable. This new generation of CPAs will innovate at every turn in order to change and adapt, and continually challenge their competition by providing better client service and an enhanced client experience. Perhaps more than anything, the THRIVEcasts are documenting and making sense of this rapid evolution of public accounting, which is proving to be highly innovative and constructively disruptive.”

Previous THRIVEcasts have featured Greg LaFollette, Vice President of Product Strategy at CPA2Biz, and Eric Pulaski, CEO at SmartVault, and noted expert on Cloud security.

This month’s THRIVEcast focuses on self-management and coaching, and includes interviews with Marshal Kushniruk, EVP Business Development at Avalara, and Kim Hogan, Business Development Manager at Fujitsu.

About THRIVEal+CPA Network

The THRIVEal +CPA Network, founded by Jason Blumer in 2010, is a community for young (and young at heart) CPAs to support one another. It is a place where "cloud people" build community, collaborate, focus on technology, and innovate for the future of the CPA profession. These goals are accomplished in several ways, including the use of social media, webinars, community calls, the monthly THRIVEcast, conferences, and more. For more information, visit THRIVEal.com. Change is coming...

About CloudSolutions Alliance

CloudSolutions Alliance is a CPA-focused educational collaborative formed in 2010 as a response to the rapid shift toward Cloud, SaaS and Paperless technologies in the accounting profession, and how this shift has impacted the capacity of firms to better meet client needs and expectations, and to grow by becoming more competitive. Just as firms are now reevaluating long-established processes and metrics used to run firms – the move toward Value Billing being a key example – the prospect of continuing to serve clients in a non-automated fashion, moving paper-based tax and other documents through the firm, and utilizing outdated, on-premise software no longer promotes firm growth or keeps pace with the level of client service being offered by fully-automated firms.