Participants came from across the U.S. as well as Taiwan and Australia. They represent a broad spectrum of the accounting profession including small tax-focused firms, general practices, national firms, corporate accountants, accounting educators, accounting technology consultants , and technologists, and all are well-known speakers at tradeshows and CPE events.

Follow the Twitter hashtag #CPATLS (https://twitter.com/hashtag/CPATLS) for the ongoing conversation about the Thought Leader Symposium.

During the symposium, these professionals will meet with core development and executive staff of key accounting technology providers to determine and shape the future of the profession, including both short- and long-term evolutions in technology, workflow methods, and firm management.

2023 Accounting Thought Leader Symposium Agenda

Agenda items are initially kept general, so that dialogues, challenges, disagreements, and new avenues of thought can be explored as they develop organically.

However, some areas of general guidance, as they pertain to accounting and tax pros, were provided to spur thought:

• AI transformation
• New trends in advisory services
• DEI
• ESG
• Higher education
• Staffing issues
• Firm structure
• Data security/privacy
• Technology solutions, best-suite vs. best-of-breed

To further guide potential discussions on these vast topics, the attendees were encouraged to focus the direction on the following perspectives:

• What is changing or what changes do attendees anticipate in the above areas;
• What isn’t changing but needs to change;
• What needs to happen specifically in the accounting profession;
• What will facilitate these changes, and what can we as members of this group do; and,
• How do we see our year ahead unfolding in terms of visibility – speaking/writing/teaching engagements – and,
• How can we shape our output to advance these areas of change?

Attendees included:

• CPA Practice Advisor thanks the following technology companies for helping make the 2023 event a success: Corvee, Avalara, Zoho and Withum.

Additional guests and speakers included:

• Andrew Argue, CPA (Corvee)
• Sarah Schariest (Corvee)
• Sona Akmakjian, CPA (Avalara)
• Brian Austin (Avalara)
• Becky Livingston (Speaker, Penheel Marketing)
• Nathan Rodgerson (Zoho)
• Val Steed, CPA (Zoho)
• Pat Walsh, CPA (Withum)

Photo Gallery:

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CPA Practice Advisor has provided accounting and tax professionals with firm management and technology guidance, reviews, expert commentary, educational opportunities, and a variety of print and digital resources for more than 30 years.