Tax and accounting professionals, and the businesses they service, are currently facing intense changes in economic dynamics, trade, regulations, technology, state changes in credentialing, and staffing issues.
With these challenges facing the profession, more than two dozen thought leaders, educators, consultants, advisors, and technology developers gathered in Las Vegas on June 8, 2025, for CPA Practice Advisor‘s Think Tank Symposium.
Attendees included AICPA members, thought leaders, and advisors from around the around the world. The annual event is held just ahead of the AICPA CIMA ENGAGE Conference, held June 9-14, 2025, at the Aria Resort and Casino. It is the largest educational and trade conference for accounting professionals from several disciplines.
The Think Tank Symposium allows free-flowing discussion to help accounting firms and advisors develop strategies to overcome these challenges, and optimize their value to clients, helping them adapt practices and workflows to grow stronger, more efficient, and profitable.
The attendees of the event conducted a day-long series of round-table discussions focused on these and other topics. Individuals were granted general anonymity on their comments unless they chose to speak individually to media, but the group did reach general consensus on the need to:
- provide more outreach out to potential accounting recruits about the many opportunities in the profession;
- reassess starting salaries;
- encourage a careful approach to private equity;
- consider alternative compensation strategies;
- reduce the focus on billable hours;
- and ensure continuing support for existing staff by supporting their well-being, flexibility, and allowing them to blend work and family responsibilities.
Major session topics included:
- The Talent Pipeline: Where have all the accountants gone?
- Private Equity and M&As: How is the profession adapting and what does this mean for our future?
- Artificial Intelligence and Automation in Accounting Practices
- The coming transformation economy
- Workforce, Well-Being, Burnout, and the broader impact of accountants in society
The talent pipeline
“I think there’s a false sense of security in the market, in professional firms, that management is looking at staffing as it is now, as spongy and flexible, with little attrition,” said Jennifer Wilson, partner and co-founder of ConvergenceCoaching. “They don’t see a pipeline problem and are trying to push back to traditions of low annual raises and bringing staff back to the office.”. But she noted that’s not acknowledging the future changes. She then challenged attendees to discuss how they can spread positive messaging about the profession to replace frequent reports of long hours, difficult clients, and horror stories that can dissuade future accountants.
Related discussions included points on how accounting can build generational wealth, the value of working with technology, and options that don’t require 4-year or longer degree requirements.
Sripal Jain, co-founder of Simandhar Education, noted the importance of sharing good client experience stories, and he discussed the value of scholarship contests among students, while others discussed ways in which those entering the accounting profession can be introduced to alternative career paths beyond the Big 4 firms which are often presented to accounting students as the most desirable option.
Aaron Berson, CEO of Fringe Accounting, emphasized the increasing deployment of advanced technologies like AI and machine learning in the profession, and the group discussed ways in which students can be encouraged to consider a multi-disciplinary approach as part of their plan for entering the profession.
Other discussions included current initiatives to diversify the profession at a time when terms like DEI are falling out of favor. The broad group of professionals emphasized the need for greater representation among varying groups of people who can bring unique experiences that can ultimately broaden the evolution of the profession and may be able to more effectively assist diverse business clients.
Emphasizing that 49% of Gen Z is non-white, Wilson led a discussion on ways in which the profession can include younger prospective professionals in their outreach and communication, including those who attend community colleges, those who are pursuing non-traditional professional degree routes, and students from outside the U.S., depending on the availability of educational and highly skilled work visas.
Wilson also suggested visiting AccountingPipeline.org to learn more about the Pipeline Pledge, an effort to transform and grow the accounting talent pool by participating in activities that will positively impact the pipeline.
Private equity and M&As
Private equity (PE) ownership in accounting firms has been a growing phenomenon and often a controversial discussion for firms these days. Participants in the discussion said that while it can offer senior partners an instant influx of capital that can benefit firms, it can also diminish attractiveness to incoming professional staff and longevity of senior staff, since it diminishes their opportunity for equity partnership options. One panelist said that the definition of a partner has changed, as have the compensation and long-term earning security that defined the role in the past.
Regarding private equity, one participant pointed out that, “growth for growth’s sake is the philosophy of a cancer cell.” It was mentioned that some firms aren’t seeing the continued rapid growth that originally made them attractive to PE, despite the hard push that these PE firms drive on the brands they acquire, and there could be a slowdown in this model. “If a firm enters a partnership, they should do it with a bank that gives them breathing room.”
“I wonder about quality, and unrationalized acquisitions,” said one panelist. “There is often a lack of stewardship in these firms. And with PE firms over-paying for these practices, the PE firms won’t see the ROI they expect, and may result to slash and burn and asset stripping.”
Artificial intelligence and automation in accounting practices
Technology has played an increasing role in the practice for the last several decades, but increasingly so with the emergence of various forms of artificial intelligence, agentic AI, machine learning, and other automation tools. While many professionals are expressing concerns over the possibility of younger staff members being replaced by AI, most attendees see the opportunity to use the tools to provide greater growth and value for accounting firms.
But will AI really erase the need for entry level CPAs, and if so, how will mid-level and senior accounting and tax managers be developed, questioned participants? Discussions focused on ways in which accounting professionals can work with AI, keep up with it, and encourage acceptance among firms that traditionally are conservative with technology. Much of the discussion focused on the revolutionary impact AI is expected to have within the next few years and beyond.
The group also considered the negatives of constantly evolving AI and the impact on business and society, from false data, to automation of other professions, to believable deep fakes.
Derek Distin, VP of Community at Rightworks, noted a study that suggested 85 million jobs displaced by 2030 due to AI. but a further 97 million jobs that will emerge that are better suited to this new world.
“You should not trust AI implicitly: it is possible to not trust AI without distrusting AI, meaning you should treat any work AI is doing in firms like you would treat an entry-level employee,” said Distin.
While there was a great deal of discussion around concerns of AI, and particularly the lack of knowledge among professionals as to how various tools work, many attendees saw positive aspects of AI for smaller firms that are now (or will be) able to ramp up more capabilities and perform functions that they otherwise wouldn’t have the staffing or expertise to provide. Whether the AI tools impact the talent pipeline positively or negatively remains to be seen.
Brian Tankersley, director of strategic relationships at K2 enterprises, provided levity when he expressed skepticism about any particular new technology transformation causing the end of the accounting profession. PCs didn’t do it, AutoCalc didn’t, QuickBooks didn’t, OCR, the Cloud and Big Data didn’t, and he doesn’t see AI erasing the need for accounting professionals, but transforming the services they provide their clients, or transforming the way in which they provide existing services.
“This is a profession where, 35 years ago, people smoked at their desks and did most, if not all, of their calculations at adding machines, and recorded it with pencil on 5, 7 and 14 column paper. Change is part of the job description.”
After all, Tankersley said, “This is a profession where, 35 years ago, people smoked at their desks and did most, if not all, of their calculations at adding machines, and recorded it with pencil on 5, 7 and 14 column paper. Change is part of the job description.”
The coming transformation economy
Ed Kless, metaconsultant at Threshold and Tipping Point Advisors, led a session challenging attendees to consider the value of experience versus product. He suggested we are heading toward a transformational economy, as opposed to service economy. He cited the changes from the agrarian era, to the industrial era, to the service economy, and the current experience economy. The transformational economy, which we are just entering, is an era where people aspire to transform, with expectations of health, wealth, wisdom, and purpose.
He and his co-founder of Threshold, Ron Baker, assert that professionals need to act as a guide for their clients in transforming. Most of Kless’ discussion was confidential, as his group is set to publish their findings in the near future.
Workforce, well-being, burnout, and the broader impact of accountants in society
When discussing burnout and well-being among accountants and the ubiquitous long hours that often accompany the jobs, in particular those in public accounting, most can agree that it’s not necessarily the hours people work that can drag them down. A bigger problem is a lack of passion and motivation for the job. Finding enjoyment in the work can help prevent burnout. The group also discussed the importance of mentorship as a tool for helping others get through potential burnout.
The more you disassociate yourself from work, and don’t consider your value in terms of your job, the better you become at that work, said Sripal Jain. It’s not the hours, it’s the contentment with overall quality of life.
A Gen Z member of the group agreed that the hours weren’t solely an issue, as long as the compensation and interest and prestige were equal to the hours. There are long lines to work the lengthy hours at investment banking but not at accounting firms, because they pay much more and create a more dynamic environment.
A senior firm leader emphasized the importance of giving new staff members more time to learn and experience the firm, to discover their skill sets and passions, and find their natural fit, whether within the firm or on another path.
The group generally concurred that workforce issues within the accounting profession are often a result of overly demanding time constraints, tedious processes, lack of advancement, workflows that don’t allow for ingenuity or improvement, and of course, appropriate compensation. Discussions around methods for improvement were lively.
The attendees conclude each year’s meeting with a wrap-up of conclusions, proactive measures that can be taken, and future plans and issues.
The 2025 Accounting Thought Leader Think Tank invitees are comprised of members of CPA Practice Advisor‘s Thought Leader Symposium and members of its 40 Under 40 recognition program. The 2025 Accounting Thought Leader Think Tank was sponsored by Wolters Kluwer and Rightworks.
Photo Gallery:
This year’s invited participants were:
- Lisa Alvarez, Wolters Kluwer
- Rose Araghchy, CPA
- Berson, CPA
- Jim Bourke, CPA, CITP
- David Cieslak, CPA, CITP, CGMA, GDEC
- Derek Distin, Rightworks
- Will Donahue, CPA
- Arna Erazo, CPA
- Rachel Farris, CPA
- John Higgins, CPA
- Kathryn Horton, CPA
- Sripal Jain, CPA, CA
- Caleb Jenkins, EA, CQP
- Randy Johnston
- Roman Kepczyk, CPA, CITP, CGMA
- Ed Kless, CPA
- Mac Lillard, CPA, CITP, CIA
- Mike Manalac, CPA
- Isaac O’Bannon, Managing Editor
- Gail Perry, CPA, Editor-in-Chief
- Barry Strobel, Publisher
- Brian Tankersley, CPA, CITP, CGMA
- Victoria Thayer, CPA
- Alexis Weber, CPA
- Geni Whitehouse, CPA, CITP, CGMA
- Sandra Wiley
- Jennifer Wilson
2025 Accounting Thought Leader Think Tank
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Tags: Accounting, Firm Management, Technology
