Journal of Accountancy Podcasts

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.

Consternation and chaos are two of the words used to describe some of the reactions to IRS updates related to Schedules K-2 and K-3. On this collaboration episode with the Tax Section Odyssey podcast, CPAs Tim Chan of KPMG and David Sites of Grant Thornton talk about the particulars with April Walker, CPA, CGMA, lead manager–Tax Practice & Ethics for AICPA & CIMA, together as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.

Orumé Hays, CPA, CGMA, didn’t follow a traditional path to owning an accounting practice. From Africa to the Big Apple, she blazed a trail all her own. Raised in Nigeria, Hays moved to Miami with a college degree in sociology and anthropology and a budding career in modeling and acting. Her pursuit of Hollywood stardom peaked with appearances in the 1996 movie The Birdcage. She then discovered a new passion. Pursuing education and experience, she built her accounting career and launched her own firm in New York City.

On Wednesday, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins delivered an annual report to Congress, saying that the IRS is in better shape than at this time a year ago. Now, to talk more about those issues and offer advice for taxpayers and tax practitioners, Collins is appearing on the Journal of Accountancy podcast. The interview was recorded Dec. 20.

In November, Paul Young, CPA, CGMA, senior executive vice president and CFO at Liberty Bank, was part of the formal recognition by the Department of Labor of the AICPA’s Registered Apprenticeship for Finance Business Partners program. His company has been an early adopter of the program, and he’s an advocate of its value. On this episode of the Journal of Accountancy podcast, Young speaks about the program, the questions he’s getting from other CFOs, and what he sees as the program’s future in addressing talent concerns.

Lindsay Stevenson, CPA, CGMA, chief transformation officer at the firm BPM, reflects on two recent conferences and shares thoughts on what might be next for remote work. The conversation also touches on her hopes for 2023, including the importance of addressing change fatigue and rebuilding relationships. Here are links to Stevenson’s previous appearances on the JofA podcast: “You Can’t Transform Without Missteps” in May 2022. “How to Keep Fear From Short-Circuiting Your Career” in June 2019.

When Jeannine K. Brown was a Journal of Accountancy podcast guest in September, she talked about the need for organizations to create a sense of psychological safety for employees. A few weeks back, after she had spoken at the Future of Finance Summit in Austin, Texas, Brown said that personal well-being and professional development were two vital activities that at times were neglected by people and organizations the past few years. Brown, the founder and CEO of Everyday Lead, hopes that neglect can be changed in the coming year, with employers taking the lead by showing they care about the lives and development of employees.

With the pace of change accelerating on numerous fronts, finance leaders are aiming to stay ahead on trends such as hybrid work, lack of talent, and other issues. A group shared ideas and hopes for the future at the Future of Finance Summit last week in Austin, Texas, and this podcast episode summarizes the key thoughts that emerged from the event. The speakers in this episode are, in order: Shifra Kolsky, CPA, CGMA, the chief accounting officer and controller at Discover Financial Services; Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, the CEO of AICPA & CIMA, together as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants; Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, CPA/CITP, CGMA, the founder of KET Solutions and a former AICPA chair; and Tom Hood, CPA/CITP, CGMA, AICPA & CIMA’s executive vice president–Business Engagement & Growth.

Few people in the accounting space know more about technology than Inspector Gadget. Inspector Gadget? The cartoon character with the go-go arms from the 1980s? Good guess, but no. The man wearing the trench coat in this case is David Cieslak, CPA/CITP, CGMA, executive vice president and chief cloud officer for RKL eSolutions and a popular speaker whose Inspector Gadget session has been a highlight of accounting conferences for many years.

Julia Lamm is a workforce transformation partner at PwC, and in her role she hears executives’ thoughts on strategies and their concerns related to talent management. Lamm joined the Journal of Accountancy podcast earlier this month to discuss recent PwC data related to talent — developing it, potentially reducing staff numbers, and more.