The hardest workplace lesson isn't spotting a bad manager—it's recognizing when you're standing in your own way.

Accounting ARC
With Liz Mason and Byron Patrick
Center for Accounting Transformation

In a candid, unfiltered episode of Accounting ARC, Liz Mason, CPA, CEO of High Rock Accounting, and Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, senior product manager at Karbon and co-founder of TB Academy, confront one of the profession’s most relatable—and uncomfortable—topics: bad bosses.

But the conversation goes further than workplace horror stories. Mason and Patrick explore a more nuanced reality: sometimes the boss is the problem—and sometimes it's the employee.

• MORE Accounting ARC: Most Accountants Are Missing This AI Shift | AI Can Fix Your Workflow—or Break It in Seconds | Efficiency Is the Wrong Goal for AI | Accounting’s Hidden Talent Risk: The Sandwich Generation | Built Fast. Sold Faster. Broken Later? The Truth About Accounting Tech | Recognize When You Need to Recharge Before You Burn Out | Valuing More Than the Balance Sheet | Accounting’s “Untalked-About” Frontier | Why Happiness is Hard-Fought for High Achievers | The Fastest Way to Lose Talent Is “Dick Leadership” | Post-Holiday Fatigue Isn’t a Failure; It’s a Signal | OCR, Research Bots & Meeting Assistants: What Actually Helps Now | Return Season is the New Stress Test | Small Firms May Have the Biggest Advantage in 2026 | Downgraded: What the DOE Said About Accounting |

“We wanted to talk about this topic because it’s really important to understand when you’re the problem, when your boss is the problem, and what acceptable boundaries are,” Mason says early in the episode.

Unpack real stories about bad bosses, miscommunication, and the career lessons that come with both. This episode challenges how accountants think about leadership, accountability, and growth.

Originally published May 28, 2026.

Modernizing the Profession Without Losing Its Core.
Full show notes here

The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management
With Rory Henry, CFP®, BFA™

It’s no secret that the accounting profession is undergoing one of the most significant transitions in its history. Firms are more likely to sell to private equity than to other accounting firms. Technology is reshaping workflows. Worker shortages are forcing firms to rethink talent pipelines. But through it all, public trust remains the foundation on which everything rests.

That tension — protecting what makes the profession trusted while adapting to what the market demands — defines the moment.

Few leaders sit closer to that tension than Denise LeDuc Froemming, President and CEO of CalCPA, the nation’s largest state CPA society.

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Every client relationship is now up for renewal—and every partner has to learn how to compete.

Full show notes here

Gear Up for Growth
with Jean Caragher
for CPA Trendlines

“The relationship gets you in the door, but it doesn't get you the work,” says Karen Freeman, chief product officer, DCM Insights, and co-author of Activator Advantage: What Today's Rainmakers Do Differently, in this episode of Gear Up for Growth, powered by CPA Trendlines and hosted by Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing. "Once it's competitive, it's a lot harder to differentiate based on your past relationship."

MORE Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | Gear Up for Growth is tailored specifically for public accounting firms with up to 100 team members looking to expand their practices intelligently and efficiently. | MORE Gear Up for Growth here | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network here

Freeman and co-author Matt Dixon, founding partner of DCM Insights, reflect on what they have learned one year after the release of their bestselling book. They discuss how AI, changing buyer behavior and increasing competition are reshaping growth strategies for accounting and advisory firms. Firms that rely on traditional relationship-based growth models risk falling behind.

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