The IT Platforms Report delivers a data-driven look at how accounting firms are selecting, using, and optimizing their technology. It highlights adoption trends, firm-level differences, and practical insights to help benchmark and evolve tech strategies.

Using proprietary data from the Illinois CPA Society’s pipeline survey, we explore factors affecting the decision to pursue a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) credential. The survey asked about their intention to pursue a CPA, whether they expected to be a CPA, the value of the CPA, and their intention to pursue credentials other than the CPA. Using 7,780 survey responses from students and young professionals, we find that both intrinsic and external factors affect the decision to pursue a CPA certification. We also find differences in the student and non-student subsamples. We perform textual analysis using responses to open-ended questions and find that participants identify financial concerns, mental health, work-life balance, and perceived value of the credential as factors in their decision. Overall, our results provide insight into why students and young professionals choose to pursue a CPA credential and suggest areas of focus for improving the accounting pipeline.

The 2024 Accounting MOVE Project explores how major structural shifts in public accounting—particularly the rise of private equity investment—are transforming career pathways, firm ownership models, and leadership development. The report examines how these changes affect emerging professionals while reinforcing the essential role of diversity, equity, and inclusion in strengthening talent pipelines, client relationships, and long-term firm sustainability. Building on more than a decade of research, the findings provide practical insights to help firms navigate change while fostering a more inclusive, innovative, and resilient profession.

The 2025 Accounting MOVE Project examines how evolving attitudes toward diversity, equity, and inclusion are influencing the accounting profession at a critical moment marked by severe talent shortages and leadership transitions. The report explores how workplace culture, belonging, and equitable advancement practices directly affect firms’ ability to attract, retain, and develop professionals. It highlights the strategic risks of disengagement, shares insights from participating firms, and reinforces inclusion as a practical business imperative essential to the profession’s long-term resilience, competitiveness, and growth.

In this study, CPA Crossings partnered with five industry subject matter experts to identify the most common challenges to implementing and leveraging technology—and how to overcome them.

What happens when the profession’s most experienced leaders are stretched between peak career demands and growing caregiving responsibilities? The 2026 Accounting MOVE Project survey explores how caregiving is reshaping retention, advancement, and succession in public accounting — and what firms must rethink to protect their future.

Hope isn’t fluff — it’s a strategic advantage.

In this episode of Know-How Korner, host Donny Shimamoto talks with Dr. Katelynn Hopson about how “state hope” influences stress, burnout, retention, and performance in accounting — especially during busy season. You’ll learn how firms can intentionally build a culture of hope to strengthen engagement, reduce turnover, and deepen client loyalty through clearer goals, better alignment, and meaningful leadership practices.

In this Accounting Alchemy Network forum, members joined Stacie Zastrow to rethink budgeting as a living, adaptive practice. Moving beyond rigid annual plans, the discussion explored trust-based decision-making, multi-capital thinking, and how to align financial processes with culture, flexibility, and long-term resilience.

Accounting Meta Influencers explore what it takes to make firms true career destinations. From pipeline challenges to career design, compensation, and culture, this session highlights practical shifts—flexibility, alternative paths, and leadership changes—needed to attract, retain, and engage today’s workforce.

Accounting Meta Influencers examine how firms are transforming business models amid talent, tech, and PE pressures. From ownership and governance to culture and AI, this discussion highlights what must change—beyond surface fixes—to build sustainable, future-ready firms aligned with evolving workforce expectations.

Meta Influencers explores what truly shapes firm culture—daily behaviors, leadership, and accountability. Leaders share real examples of aligning values with action, showing how strong cultures are intentionally built, measured, and sustained through change.

Avalara Advisory Research Reactions unpacks insights from 177 firms, exploring what drives success in balancing compliance and advisory. From tech and culture to AI and specialization, this roundtable highlights how firms can rethink strategy, talent, and growth in a rapidly evolving profession.