This week’s podcast guest is Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, CPA/CITP, CGMA, the CEO of KET Solutions and former AICPA and Association of International Certified Professional Accountants chair. Ellison-Taylor joined the show from the National Association of Corporate Directors 2025 Summit earlier this week, where AI was the main topic of conversation.

What else are corporate boards discussing? And how is the accounting profession faring on certain aspects of growing the talent pipeline? Ellison-Taylor has answers, along with a look ahead to AICPA events in November and December.

Resources:

Global Women’s Leadership Summit (Nov. 10–12, Nashville, Tenn.)

Digital CPA Conference (Dec. 7–10, National Harbor, Md.)

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• The priorities and top concerns of corporate boards, starting with AI.
• How the accounting profession and firms in particular are doing when it comes to “looking inward.”
• Why Ellison-Taylor says that ambition can be defined different ways by different people.
• More about her comment that “at some point, we all will be digital CPAs.”

Melanie Lauridsen, the AICPA’s vice president–Tax Policy & Advocacy, joined the JofA podcast on Tuesday to provide context on the government shutdown and its effect on IRS services, along with discussion on other tax advocacy topics. The interview was conducted the day before the IRS announced that most of its operations were closed and that a plan to furlough employees had begun “for everyone except already-identified excepted and exempt employees.”

In the Q&A, Lauridsen also provided background on shutdowns and their effect on filing season. She also explained why the IRS announcement in September that it was phasing out paper checks for tax refunds has generated so much buzz among practitioners.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

A history lesson on government shutdowns, which previously went by a different name.

Why the IRS definition of “filing season” is different than reality for many tax practitioners.

Why the IRS announcement about ending tax refunds by paper check has been a popular topic among practitioners.

An example of the guidance “trickling in” on new tax provisions.

Estimated cost savings for certain businesses as a result of the preservation of the state and local tax deduction for pass-through entities.

The filing-season concerns that “get ramped up” because of the government shutdown.

Jimmy Robinson, CPA, CGMA, the national chair of the AICPA Dealership Conference, and his co-presenter and co-worker Jesse Stopnitzky joined the JofA podcast to preview discussion points of their conference session later this month.

Their expertise is industry-specific, but some of the topics are applicable to a broader audience. Robinson, a former dealership CFO, shared the key traits of strong finance leadership, and Stopnitzky offered advice for better succession planning.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• The aspect of M&A deals that is, to Stopnitzky, more art than science.
• How merger activity has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Robinson’s list of the key traits of strong finance leaders.
• Why succession planning involves far more than naming a successor.
• Disruptive events and key shifts in the automotive industry.

Sarah Ference, CPA, an author of the JofA’s Professional Liability Spotlight column, returns to the JofA podcast to discuss recent column topics and the advice CPAs can gain from them. In particular, Ference details some of the risks for CPA firms engaging in mergers and acquisitions, the subject of a recent two-part series.

The articles discussed in this episode are:

n June: “Form 1065: Pay Attention or Pay Up.”

n July: “Professional Liability Risk Stemming From CPA Firm Acquisitions: Part 1.”

n August: “Professional Liability Risk Stemming From CPA Firm Acquisitions: Part 2.”

n September: “Start Risk Management With Employee Onboarding.”

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• Why CPA firms should pay close attention to recent changes in tax compliance for partnerships.
• A summary of the two-part article on professional liability risk related to CPA firm acquisitions.
• The importance of cultural alignment in firm acquisitions.
• What “tail coverage” is and why it’s essential for post-transaction protection.
• How a strong onboarding process can serve to mitigate some risks for firms — and why that topic is timely this month.

In her professional career, Annette Nellen, Esq., CPA, CGMA, cannot recall a time when there was more misinformation in the realm of taxes than today, as practitioners wade through H.R. 1, P.L. 119-21, commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

She believes an overreliance on artificial intelligence tools in analyzing the budget law is one reason.

“You still have to review it,” said Nellen, a past chair of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee. “These AI tools — they’re tools. We're still the thinkers. We’re the responsible party involved here.”

In this JofA podcast episode, Nellen mentioned several provisions of note in H.R. 1, including those where guidance is still needed. She also mentioned the value of the National Tax Conference in November — where new tax provisions will be a central topic in sessions and individual conversations.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• · Some previously temporary tax provisions that are now permanent.
• · New tax provisions of note to Nellen.
• · A selection of provisions for which guidance or technical corrections may be needed.
• · IRS rulings and tax-related court cases Nellen has been following.
• · The response of one website creator when Nellen told the creator that some dot-gov sites are not properly updated.

Karim Ellis is the keynote speaker at the AICPA Governmental and Not-for-Profit Conference in October in Las Vegas. The early-bird registration deadline for the event is Friday.

For Ellis, the qualities of a strong speaker are similar to the ones needed in a strong leader:

empathy, preparedness, adaptability, and excellent storytelling skills.

In this conversation, Ellis shares how he prepares for speaking, some of the rookie mistakes he made decades ago, and why the experience of taking some foul-tasting cough syrup has stuck with him.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• · The meaning for Ellis of the phrase “iron sharpens iron; rust sharpens rust.”
• · Why a speaker’s preparation is like baking a cake.
• · How Ellis adapts if he senses his message is failing to resonate with an audience.
• · An example from his childhood that illustrates the power of good storytelling.
• · His advice for conference attendees’ choice of seats for his session.

Sentiment about the U.S. economy improved slightly — but not nearly enough to be considered a positive outlook — in the latest quarterly Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey by the AICPA and CIMA.

For a breakdown of the results, the JofA podcast welcomed back Ken Witt, CPA, CGMA, associate director–Management Accounting Research & Development.

He discusses finance decision-makers’ views on tariffs and inflation and the 12-month projections for revenue and profit.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

· The “softening” related to domestic economic conditions — and why that’s not enough to overcome mainly negative sentiment.

· The percentage of executives who foresee a recession this year or next.

· Finance leaders’ approaches in response to tariffs.

· The top challenges beyond inflation facing survey respondents.

· How respondents feel about the state of the global economy.

“Maybe I never will change the whole world. But every day, I can change my world.”

Those are the words of profession leader Lindsay Stevenson, CPA, CGMA. She’s back on the JofA podcast, this time in person from her house in South Dakota. Stevenson discussed technology adoption, how her firm approaches remote work, and why keeping a journal at least for part of the year is important to her.

Stevenson, chief transformation officer at the firm BPM, also addressed how she views fear as it relates to career moves — and how she thought about that differently in a 2019 conversation.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• The reason her firm has geographical regions and a virtual region.
• Why unplugging is difficult but necessary for Stevenson.
• Why she likes an at-home vacation more than a big trip.
• Her approach to overcoming fear and how that approach has changed in the past six years.
• AI: its danger, its potential, and how she is using it.
• The gratitude-based journaling practice she recommends.