The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast

Pricing, Pay and Profit: Best of the Best

Best of the Best firms pay more, but their equity partner billing rates are nearly identical to those at IPA 100 firms. How do they make the numbers work? Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown close IPA’s Best of the Best series by following the money: what firms charge, how they assign work and where they spend. Chelsea connects team structure to the profits available for compensation. Together, the hosts explore why hourly billing remains common and how protecting a profit margin can lead firms to postpone a needed hire. The conversation also looks at the different spending patterns of small and large Best of the Best firms, with questions to bring to your next partner meeting about funding raises and planning investments. Explore IPA’s 2026 Practice Management reports: https://insidepublicaccounting.com/about/ipa-practice-management-reports/ Earn free CPE with Earmark! Listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: https://www.earmark.app/channels/c5717392-a994-407c-9f27-7f09a08a4b7c

• Transcript

Sustaining Performance Through Change: Best of the Best with Sean Taylor

What needs to change when a successful accounting firm grows, and what should stay the same? Chelsea Summers speaks with Smith + Howard CEO Sean Taylor about sustaining performance through growth and two private equity partnerships. The firm has appeared on IPA’s Best of the Best list for 17 consecutive years. Sean explains why the firm built its leadership team before pursuing acquisitions, brought a defined strategy to investors and adopted an acquired firm’s process. He also reflects on giving leaders more time to absorb major changes. Listen for lessons on delegating decisions, retaining people and preparing your firm for its next stage of growth. Sean’s podcast, The Worst Advice I Ever Got: https://www.smith-howard.com/worst-advice-podcast/ Earn free CPE with Earmark! Listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: https://www.earmark.app/channels/c5717392-a994-407c-9f27-7f09a08a4b7c

How Top Firms Make Room for Leadership: Best of the Best

Your partners want more time to lead. Is your firm set up to give it to them? Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown continue the Best of the Best series with a look at how these firms organize their work. Partners report fewer chargeable hours, while firm-wide utilization is close to the average across participating firms. They discuss how service mix, delegation and stable teams support the operating model, along with the role of offshore capacity. Chelsea explains why more revenue per equity partner reflects the team’s work and what smaller firms can learn from the comparison. Listen with your partners’ calendars in mind: does their time reflect the firm you want to build? Explore IPA’s 2026 Best of the Best Analysis: https://form.jotform.com/260045789028159. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: https://www.earmark.app/channels/c5717392-a994-407c-9f27-7f09a08a4b7c

• Transcript

Best of the Best: What It Takes to Make the List

What does it take to earn a place among IPA’s Best of the Best? Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown open this new series on the 75 firms recognized in 2026. Chelsea explains how IPA evaluates firms across 35 performance metrics and why strong profitability alone does not guarantee a place on the list. They explore the range of firms represented, from small practices to national organizations, and what decades of repeat recognition suggests about leadership and succession. Chelsea also considers what the survey can measure and where culture and client relationships require a closer look. Listen for a fuller picture of the designation and what your firm can learn from it. Explore IPA’s 2026 Best of the Best Analysis: https://form.jotform.com/260045789028159. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: https://www.earmark.app/channels/c5717392-a994-407c-9f27-7f09a08a4b7c.

Nine Drivers of Partner Income: Running the Modern Firm

If your firm’s partner income falls below a benchmark, where should you look first? Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown end the series Running the Modern Firm with nine measures associated with partner income in IPA’s 2026 Practice Management data. They examine why revenue per partner, leverage, partner billing rates and revenue per full-time employee deserve attention alongside hours and utilization. Chelsea walks through how to prioritize gaps in your firm’s results and recognize whether pricing or staffing needs a closer look. They also discuss how firm size, client mix and ownership affect the comparisons. Choose one meaningful gap for your next partner meeting, with a plan to revisit it. Explore the 2026 IPA Practice Management Report: https://insidepublicaccounting.com/about/ipa-practice-management-reports/ Earn free CPE with Earmark! Listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: https://www.earmark.app/channels/c5717392-a994-407c-9f27-7f09a08a4b7c

Is AI Working for Your Firm? Running the Modern Firm with Donny Shimamoto

What is AI actually changing inside CPA firms? Chelsea Summers welcomes Donny Shimamoto of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies, who helped design the AI questions for IPA’s 2026 Information Technology Survey. Together, they examine what participating firms report about adoption, investment and results. Only 3.2% describe AI as fully integrated into their operations, while 42.9% report no measurable impact yet from their AI tools. They discuss how firms can define success before a pilot, evaluate vendor claims and put governance in place before purchasing software. Donny also explains why better client service and employee experience belong in the assessment of AI’s value, alongside financial returns. For leaders planning their next investment, the conversation offers a practical starting point: establish where the firm stands, what it wants to change and how it will know whether the investment is working. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: https://www.earmark.app/channels/c5717392-a994-407c-9f27-7f09a08a4b7c

Are You Redesigning Work or Just Adding Tools? Running the Modern Firm

Firms are investing in offshore capacity to expand their teams and technology to improve efficiency. But the value of those investments depends on what happens to the workflow around them, including how work is staffed, handed off, reviewed and delivered. Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown examine the gap between adopting new resources and redesigning the workflow around them. About half of participating firms use offshore FTEs, and 56% of firms already offshoring plan to increase that capacity next year. Yet offshore staff still account for only 2.6% of total personnel across all firms. Chelsea explains why firms can add cost and complexity when technology and offshore teams are treated as separate initiatives. The firms positioned to capture more of the margin benefit redesign how work is staffed, handed off and reviewed, with technology and offshore capacity built around the same process. The episode closes with a practical starting point for firm leaders: choose one workflow this quarter, map it from start to finish and identify whether new technology or offshore capacity actually changes the work. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: https://www.earmark.app/channels/c5717392-a994-407c-9f27-7f09a08a4b7c

• Transcript

LIVE Q&A

Recorded live for the first time, this special Q&A episode of the INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast has a slightly different feel as Rob Brown and Chelsea Summers tackle questions from firm leaders and advisors about some of the biggest issues shaping the profession. Drawing on IPA data and conversations happening across the profession, Rob and Chelsea discuss where independent firms should place their biggest strategic bets, what outside capital can (and can’t) buy and when scale becomes an advantage rather than a distraction. They also dig into the evolving firm operating model, including the role of compliance alongside advisory, moving beyond the billable hour and how firms can embrace AI and offshoring without losing the experiences that develop future leaders. Plus, they explore partner visibility, leadership development, transparency with employees and why succession planning may need to offer more than the traditional path to equity partnership. It’s a wide-ranging conversation about the choices firms are making today and what those decisions could mean for the future of the profession.

• Transcript

Is Your Talent Strategy Too Reactive? Running the Modern Firm

Stable turnover does not necessarily mean a firm’s talent strategy is working. Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown examine what sits beneath the profession’s 11.8% staff turnover rate. Nearly 70% of turnover is voluntary, yet firms remain almost twice as likely to conduct exit interviews as stay interviews. Chelsea explains why leaders should ask their strongest mid-level people what could make them leave, what would make them stay and whether the firm’s reward systems recognize the full scope of their work. They also discuss turnover differences by firm size, mentoring programs that work better on paper than in practice, actual PTO use and the limits of using chargeable hours to evaluate performance. A final reminder: Join Chelsea and Rob live on YouTube this Thursday, Sept. 24, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern / 9:30 a.m. Pacific. Click “Notify me,” then leave your question in the comments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFmuXWuOqcA Earn free CPE with Earmark! Listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: https://www.earmark.app/channels/c5717392-a994-407c-9f27-7f09a08a4b7c

• Transcript

Rethinking Succession, Part 2: Running the Modern Firm with Ira Rosenbloom

What can derail a succession plan even when a firm has people who could eventually lead it? In part two of Rob Brown’s conversation with Ira Rosenbloom of Optimum Strategies, they dig into two places succession often gets stuck: the expectations current partners place on their successors and the way partners are compensated. Ira explains why future leaders need room to learn on the job, why partner compensation has to reinforce the firm’s priorities and why staff benefit from understanding the business behind the firm. They also look beyond internal succession. Ira shares when firms should start assessing gaps in their leadership pipeline, why five years of planning is good but 10 is better and how operations and HR professionals can play a larger role in building the next version of the firm. Missed part one? Start there for Ira’s case for beginning the succession process long before retirement. IPA will host a live Q&A on Sept. 24. Rob and Chelsea will answer questions about the 2026 data and the leadership issues explored throughout the series. Set a reminder by clicking “Notify me,” then leave your question in the comments. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE.

• Transcript

Rethinking Succession, Part 1: Running the Modern Firm with Ira Rosenbloom

What would make the next generation say yes to ownership? In part one of this conversation, Rob Brown talks with CPA firm succession adviser Ira Rosenbloom about why leadership transitions should begin earlier. Ira explains his view that “55 is the new 65”: a time to shift responsibilities, mentor future leaders and begin transferring equity gradually. They also discuss flexibility, investment in firm infrastructure and developing entrepreneurial skills before succession becomes urgent. Part two arrives tomorrow with a closer look at partner alignment and external succession options. IPA will host a live Q&A on Sept. 24. Rob and Chelsea will answer questions about the 2026 data and the leadership issues explored throughout the series. Set a reminder by clicking “Notify me,” then leave your question in the comments. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE.

• Transcript

When the Old Firm Model Stops Working: Running the Modern Firm

Accounting firms are changing how they staff, price and structure their partnerships. But are those changes working together? In the second episode of Running the Modern Firm, Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown use IPA’s 2026 Practice Management data to examine the operating model behind firm performance. They explore how leverage changes as firms scale, why adding capacity without adjusting pricing can become a treadmill, how offshoring is reshaping traditional productivity measures and why larger firms are building more layered partnership structures. They also look at why firms are concentrating compensation increases on professionals with three to eight years of experience. The larger question: Are firms redesigning their operating models intentionally or adjusting individual pieces as pressure builds? IPA will host a live Q&A on Sept. 24. Chelsea and Rob will answer questions about the 2026 data and the leadership issues explored throughout the series. Set a reminder by clicking “Notify me,” then leave your question in the comments. Purchase the 2026 IPA Practice Management Report here. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE.

Running the Modern Firm: The 2026 State of the Profession

The 2026 IPA Practice Management Report captures a profession facing slower growth but responding with sharper operations. Drawing on responses from 605 North American accounting firms, Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown open Running the Modern Firm, the third series of the season, with a look at the profession’s performance and the strategies shaping it. They discuss why organic and total growth slowed while net income growth accelerated, where revenue is still expanding, how pricing models are shifting, why M&A remains concentrated among large firms and what the latest partner data says about succession. IPA will also host a live Q&A on Sept. 24. Chelsea and Rob will answer questions about the 2026 data and the leadership issues explored throughout the series. Set a reminder by clicking "Notify me," then leave your question in the comments. Purchase the 2026 IPA Practice Management Report here. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE.

How Capacity, Capital and Advisory Are Changing Firms: INSIDE the IPA 500

This episode is brought to you by Bill.com. Learn how Bill can help your firm automate financial operations at Bill.com/IPA, where IPA listeners can access an exclusive offer. Global staffing, private equity and advisory expansion are becoming part of the operating model at many of the profession’s largest firms. In the final episode of our series, INSIDE the IPA 500, Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown examine how deeply these strategies run through the IPA 100. They explore why offshoring does not produce a simple productivity story, compare PE-backed and independent firms beyond their identical organic growth rates and break down the economics of advisory-dominant firms. The data reveals different choices around partner compensation, reinvestment, pricing, talent and scale. Follow, rate and review the podcast and visit INSIDEPublicAccounting.com for more IPA 500 coverage. View the complete 2026 IPA 500 rankings and learn more about IPA’s benchmarking and analysis at insidepublicaccounting.com. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE.

• Transcript

How Wolf & Company Built 16.1% Organic Growth: INSIDE the IPA 500

Wolf & Company didn’t become the fastest-growing IPA 100 firm by organic growth because of one big move. The firm reported 16.1% organic growth in the 2026 INSIDE Public Accounting Practice Management Survey, increasing net revenue from $90.7 million to $105.3 million without completing a merger during the reporting year. But MP Jerry Gagne says that growth was really the result of several years of investment coming together. In the fourth episode of INSIDE the IPA 500, Chelsea Summers talks with Gagne about where that growth came from, why assurance revenue jumped 39%, how specialization has helped Wolf win work and why the firm is investing in talent before it necessarily needs it. They also dig into Wolf’s growing offshore workforce, the firm’s plans to remain independent and what Gagne believes independent firms can learn from PE-backed competitors. Follow, rate and review the podcast and visit INSIDEPublicAccounting.com for more IPA 500 coverage. View the complete 2026 IPA 500 rankings and learn more about IPA’s benchmarking and analysis at insidepublicaccounting.com. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE.

• Transcript

The Strategies Behind Fast Growth: INSIDE the IPA 500

This episode is brought to you by Bill.com. Learn how Bill can help your firm automate financial operations at Bill.com/IPA, where IPA listeners can access an exclusive offer. In the third episode of INSIDE the IPA 500, Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown compare the fastest-growing firms through two lenses: organic growth and all growth. The 10 firms leading the organic-growth ranking averaged 15.6%, more than double the 7.0% average for the IPA 100. The all-growth ranking tells a different story, with major M&A activity producing much larger jumps and private equity backing 9 of the 10 firms on the list. Chelsea and Rob examine which firms are leading each ranking, what repeat appearances reveal about sustained momentum and why firms do not have to follow one growth strategy forever. They also preview an upcoming bonus conversation with Wolf & Company, this year’s organic growth leader for the second consecutive year. Follow or subscribe, rate and review the podcast and visit INSIDEPublicAccounting.com for more IPA 500 coverage. View the complete 2026 IPA 500 rankings and learn more about IPA’s benchmarking and analysis at insidepublicaccounting.com. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE.

• Transcript

How Firms Outside the IPA 100 Are Adopting Big-Firm Strategies: INSIDE the IPA 500

This episode is brought to you by Poe Group Advisors. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE. The IPA 100 gets most of the attention, but the other 400 firms in the IPA rankings reveal how quickly strategies are spreading across the profession. In this episode, Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown compare the IPA 200, 300, 400 and 500 across growth, profitability, service mix, leverage, pricing and offshore staffing. Compliance remains more dominant among smaller firms, but advisory, alternative pricing and offshore staffing are increasingly part of their strategies. And while fewer smaller firms use offshore FTEs, those that do rely on them at higher concentrations than their larger peers. Chelsea and Rob break down what the numbers mean for firm leaders and why the strategic gap across the rankings may be narrowing. View the complete 2026 IPA 500 rankings and learn more about IPA’s benchmarking and analysis at insidepublicaccounting.com.

• Transcript

How the 2026 IPA 100 Changed the Firm Model: INSIDE the IPA 500

This episode is brought to you by Bill.com. Learn how Bill can help your firm automate financial operations at Bill.com/IPA, where IPA listeners can access an exclusive offer. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE. The 2026 IPA 100 data shows a profession in transition. Many strategies that once looked experimental are becoming standard practice. In the second episode of INSIDE the IPA 500, Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown examine five-year trends shaping IPA’s Top 100 firms, including slower organic growth, accelerating M&A, private equity investment, offshoring and the continued expansion of advisory services. They also explore what separates the IPA 100’s most profitable firms and preview what’s ahead as the series turns to firms ranked No. 101 through No. 500. View the complete 2026 IPA 500 rankings and learn more about IPA’s benchmarking and analysis at insidepublicaccounting.com.

• Transcript

INSIDE the IPA 500: Meet the 2026 Rankings

This episode is brought to you by Poe Group Advisors. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE. Welcome to INSIDE the IPA 500, our new series exploring the data, trends and firms shaping the accounting profession. Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown kick off the series by breaking down the newly released 2026 IPA 500 rankings, highlighting the year's biggest climbers, new IPA 100 entrants, notable acquisitions and the trends reshaping the profession. Among the biggest takeaways: Thirty-five firms from last year's IPA 500 were acquired. Every new IPA 100 entrant is backed by private equity. Nine of the 10 fastest-growing firms are private equity-backed. Organic growth slowed while acquisition-driven growth accelerated. Whether your firm made the rankings, is working toward them or simply wants to understand where the profession is headed, this episode provides the context behind this year's biggest moves. View the complete 2026 IPA 500 rankings and learn more about IPA’s benchmarking and analysis at insidepublicaccounting.com.

• Transcript

From Perception to Action: Rewriting the Story of Accounting

This episode is brought to you by Bill.com. Learn how Bill can help your firm automate financial operations at Bill.com/ipa, where IPA listeners can access an exclusive offer. Earn free CPE with Earmark! Take your learning on the go and earn NASBA-approved CPE just for listening to The INSIDE Public Accounting Podcast. Simply listen, take a short quiz and download your certificate. Start now on the IPA channel in the Earmark app: INSIDE Public Accounting | Earmark CPE. What does it take to move from diagnosing accounting’s talent challenges to actually fixing them? In the finale of IPA’s Rewriting the Story of Accounting series, Chelsea Summers and Rob Brown turn the conversation into a practical action plan for firm leaders. They discuss why firms should improve the employee experience before rewriting their recruiting materials, how AI and offshore capacity can create more meaningful early-career work and why unanswered candidate questions should be treated as strategic feedback. They also explore promotion transparency, internships, earlier student outreach, local pipeline development and the role firms, associations and individuals can play in changing the profession’s story. Learn more about INSIDE Public Accounting: https://insidepublicaccounting.com

• Transcript