Episode #487: Is the CPA shortage a feature or a bug?

Much digital ink has been "spilled" and podcast conversations had about the dearth of both accounting degree graduates and CPAs. In this episode, Ron and Ed will explore the topic including the "150-hour rule," reciprocity, licensure, and what are the possible ways to avert a crisis.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment one:

• Breaking news from desk of The Soul of Enterprise. We are now seeking sponsorships along with the announcement from Ed at the beginning of today's show.

• Ron just finished reading the new book from Ben Horowitz, “The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers” https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205 

• We’ve done a show before on occupational licensure which is related to today’s topic about the CPA shortage. More information here https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/225 

• You can rate The Soul of Enterprise in less than 15 seconds at this link: RateThisPodcast.com/TSOE

Segment two:

• “Hence, requiring 150 hours instead of 120 acts as a barrier to entry for potential CPAs with no accompanying increase in candidate quality.” More here: https://www.thecgo.org/research/reducing-a-barrier-to-entry-the-120-150-cpa-licensing-rule/ 

• “The average starting salary of graduates with an accounting degree is not much different than those with one in complimentary acumens like finance or information systems.” https://www.cpajournal.com/2023/11/27/rethinking-the-150-hour-requirement-for-cpa-licensure/ 

• “If you look at all the regulations from all the state societies, 90% of them are because we have this monopoly on the test function…the audit function.” —Ron Baker

• Here is the CATO event on licensing restrictions and the CPA mentioned by Ron and Ed today https://www.cato.org/events/licensing-restrictions-certified-public-accountant-cpa-shortage 

• Here is the interview Ed did with Herschel Frierson, the 27th Chairman of the Board of Directors with the National Association of Black Accountants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5jIOPoECZA 

Segment three:

• Boz Bostrom, the MNCPA Board Chair, prepared some remarks and recorded them as a part of the Minnesota Senate committee hearing on proposed alternatives to CPA licensure https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bozbostrom_i-was-scheduled-to-testify-today-as-a-part-activity-7171612639976960002-jOtu/ 

• Here is a great example of a certificate program as opposed to licensure. Grow with Google: https://grow.google/certificates/ 

• Ed spoke with Geof Brown on righting retention in the accounting profession. More here: https://sagethoughtleadership.com/geofbrown 

• Ed also spoke with Kari Natale on the CPA Diversity Report: Uncovering the Barriers to Success. More here: https://sagethoughtleadership.com/natale 

Segment four:

• Humility is important. “I think the general public would notice a garbage man shortage before they noticed the CPA shortage.” —Ron Baker

• Join us again next week and remember — please send an email to asktsoe@verasage.com if you are interested in having a sponsorship conversation with us. We are now actively accepting new sponsors!

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #486: Hearth of a Cheetah — Second interview with Magatte Wade

Ron and Ed are thrilled to have Magatte Wade back on the The Soul of Enterprise to talk about her new book, Heart of a Cheetah: How we have been lied to about African poverty and what that means for human flourishing. Magatte Wade is a bold Senegalese entrepreneur and unflinching prosperity activist, determined to shape the destiny of her African homeland. In her riveting memoir, she challenges Africans to redefine their narrative, casting aside imposed inferiority to reclaim their innate brilliance. This is not a recounting of poverty and politics. It's an indictment of a world that views Africa as nothing more than a colonial chessboard, with charity acting as the block that keeps Africans stuck.

About Magatte Wade

Magatte Wade is the Director of the Center for African Prosperity at Atlas Network, the leading organization of African free-market think tanks. She was listed as a Forbes “20 Youngest Power Women in Africa,” a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and a TED Global Africa Fellow.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment one

• Magatte Wade first joined us WAAAAAAY back on episode number 160. Welcome back! https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/160 

• Magatte’s new book is about how Africa got to where it is today and how the poorest region in the world gets ahead from here. 

• What is a Cheetah Entrepreneur? The cheetahs are those of us who are not waiting on anybody. It's up to us and we're not going to wait for anybody to improve our lives, especially not for government.

• With respect to a free and open market, Magatte says, “To be free is to have a power of exit and for exit to be valid, it has to be something that's achievable.”

Segment two

• Magatte has 3 reasons she believes Africa remains poor. 1) It’s the most over regulated region in the world 2) foreign aid 3) the anti capitalism bias of mainstream media, academia, and Hollywood

• What do you think is a solution to poverty? “I kid you not. You will hear everything under the sun, but you won't hear the right response […] You're not going to hear the solution to poverty is prosperity.” —Magatte Wade  

• This is PERFECT! “Poverty is solved by prosperity. Prosperity is built by entrepreneurs.” —Magatte Wade

• Poverty, Inc. is a beautiful documentary that gives you a great understanding of how foreign aid goes straight back into the pockets of the donor countries through different NGO agencies. More here: https://www.povertyinc.org/ 

• “NGOs know how to give a man a fish and how to train a man how to fish. You can teach a man how to fish, but until unless that man has access to the ocean it's still game over, it is still not happening.” —Magatte Wade

Segment three

• 1/2 On segment three today, Magatte talked about her personal struggles to open up a business in Senegal a few years ago. For starters, to legally register her business was a process that could easily take two years!!!

• 2/2 Once her business was registered, she needed employees. Copies of the employee agreement were physically taken to the labor inspection office after being reviewed by an expert. And that’s how regulation hurts. 

• When starting a new business in Senegal: “At first we were going to three different government offices, once a month, just to pay payroll related taxes. Imagine the waste of time!” —Magatte Wade 

Segment four

• What does Magatte think about the statement, “Africa is poor because it's overpopulated.” She says, “it's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. And also it's not understanding the history of the world.”

• Related to so called “overpopulation” in Africa, Magatte says, “It's only when nations actually become more prosperous, that you have less kids.”

• “If you cannot support me on my journey to 3.5 billion prosperous Africans by 2050. If you can support me in that journey, please get out of the way for your own sake,” —Magatte Wade

• A big THANK YOU to Magatte Wade for joining us today. Her book, The Heart of a Cheetah, is available now. More information here: https://www.magattewade.com/book 

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Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #485: Glorious Gallimaufry

Well, it has happened again, Ron and Ed's stacks of stuff are bursting beyond their britches, so it is time to trot out some alliterative alchemy to rightly rectify the seriously sticky situation. Okay, enough already. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment One

• 45% of CEOs surveyed in PwC’s 27th Annual Global CEO Survey said they do not believe their companies would survive more than a decade if they remain on their current path https://hbr.org/2024/04/ceos-is-your-business-strategy-bold-enough

• For CEOs, you should ask, “Is my strategy bold enough, and do I have the right team to execute it?” https://hbr.org/2024/04/ceos-is-your-business-strategy-bold-enough 

• “Strategy is not strategic planning.” —Ed Kless

• “I would say a lot of firms don't have a clear strategy. If they do, it's kind of by default. “ —Ron Baker

• Are Movies Better When We Watch Them in Theaters? Here is a statistical analysis from StatSignificant: https://www.statsignificant.com/p/are-movies-better-when-we-watch-them 

• From The NY Times, you can now share unlimited articles that recipients can read for free. “Oh, it’s behind a paywall” may not be a thing anymore when sharing an article with someone. 

Segment Two

• From former guest Andrew Stuttaford, “Stranded: The False Promise Of Electric Cars” https://www.andrewstuttaford.com/archive/2023/12/24/the-false-promise-of-electric-cars 

• “This is central planning with these EVs […] and it's just this is not how markets work.” —Ron Baker

• California’s New ‘Fast Food’ Wage Law Will Probably End Badly. We Just Don’t Know How. https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/capitolism/californias-new-fast-food-wage-law-will-probably-end-badly-we-just-dont-know-how/ 

• Have McKinsey and its consulting rivals got too big? https://www.economist.com/business/2024/03/25/have-mckinsey-and-its-consulting-rivals-got-too-big 

Segment Three

• “Has Intergenerational Progress Stalled? Income Growth Over Five Generations of Americans” (spoiler: no, it has not stalled) https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4741448 

• Using a post-tax, post-transfer income measure […] Millennials had a real median household income that was 18 percent higher than that of the previous generation at the same age. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4741448 

• What happened when Exos shifted to a 4-day workweek? Burnout went down and effectiveness went up. https://www.fastcompany.com/91072238/wharton-experts-4-day-workweek-pilot-results-exos 

• Even if the 4-day workweek is WILDLY successful, Ron has something to say about it: “I'll tell you one for sure way that you will not get a four day work week and that is if your firm bills by the hour.”

• Related to a former TSOE guest Dr. Azra Raza (episode 289): “Cancer signs could be spotted years before symptoms, says new research institute” https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/31/cancer-signs-could-be-spotted-years-before-symptoms-says-new-research-institute 

• “Generative AI develops potential new drugs for antibiotic-resistant bacteria” https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2024/03/ai-drug-development.html 

• “This AI can find billions of new antibiotics, even for superbugs that don’t respond to treatments” https://www.zmescience.com/medicine/ai-billions-new-antibiotics-0423432/ 

Segment Four

• “Productivity Is About Your Systems, Not Your People” https://hbr.org/2021/01/productivity-is-about-your-systems-not-your-people 

• The purpose of a project charter is to ensure that both authority and responsibility is given in in direct proportion to one another. Ron and Ed did an entire show on proper project initiation: https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/79 

• Former guest James Harrigan wrote a fun story called, “Baseball, a Beer, and a Dog”. More here: https://www.aier.org/article/baseball-a-beer-and-a-dog/ 

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits. 

Episode #484: Scaling New Heights — Sixth interview with Joe Woodard

Ron and Ed welcome for an unprecedented sixth time, Joe Woodard. As always this will be a wide-ranging conversation but likely topics include: plussing your offering, why people don't value your offering and what to do about it, the future of CAS, and, maybe, just maybe, Apple Vision Pro.

About Joe Woodard

As an author, consultant, business coach, and national speaker, Joe has trained over 150,000 accounting and business professionals in areas of practice development, changing technology trends, strategic consulting, and how to maximize the use of accounting software in their practices. Joe founded Woodard Events, LLC (aka Woodard® a training and resource organization for accounting professionals that provides education, community, and coaching offerings through onsite training events, virtual training events, and intensive, coach-led practice advancement courses. Joe is the host of one of the world's leading training conferences for accountants and bookkeepers called Scaling New Heights®. For every year since 2014, Joe has been recognized by Accounting Today as one of the Top 100 Influential People within the accounting profession.

Use these show notes to follow along with the audio:

Segment One

• What does CAS mean to Joe? What does the A stand for? In over 50% of firms surveyed, the A stands for accounting. However, it will end up being Advisory because that is how the AICPA defines it.

• “Client Accounting Services and Client Advisory Services are two very different business models. One of them is McDonal’s and one of them is Mortons.” —Ed Kless

• To keep the Mortons/McDonald’s analogy going: “We need to eliminate McDonald’s hamburgers and only sell Mortons. Leave the accounting to H&R Block…who is now also doing bookkeeping.” —Joe Woodard

• Here’s a thought from the conversation with Joe today: Smaller accounting firms are going to form networks, also known as co-firming, as they continue to shift to CAS

Segment Two

• We don’t value utilities in Western economies. It has nothing to do with affordability. We value unique and differentiated experiences compared to that thing you have to buy (like a gallon of gas).

• Joe has reimagined pricing tiers. We are not clearly defining the distinction in the products/services we are selling. Category 1 is accounting, category 2 is controller, and 3 is FP&A inclusive of controllership and accounting.

• “A brain surgeon requires more knowledge to do his job than a nutritionist but the nutritionist can be transformative.” —Joe Woodard

• Great thought from Joe today when thinking about new customers: Start with the end in mind. Find a very specific way you can increase a client’s wealther and remember that wealth is not always financial. 

Segment Three

• From the conversation with Joe today, plussing the offering is bigger than just, “I’m giving you a higher level of value.” Plussing is first and foremost…subscription based

• Loyalty programs are nice if people want to be able to earn their way into an experience. But you should also be able to buy your way into it. D23 from Disney is a great example of this.

• Oculus vs Apple Vision Pro: The app ecosystem is still causing Joe to spend more time on the Oculus. It’s clear to him Apple just isn’t there yet.

• Joe mentioned that his Apple Vision Pro persona is creepy. This isn’t a picture of Joe but it does compare a journalist to their Apple Vision Pro persona. 

Segment Four

• Attention and capacity is a great way to think about time well spent with a customer. It’s not “time” because that’s not a great word. It’s attention and capacity.

• Joe mentioned a book called “Quantum Supremacy” by Michio Kaku and encouraged all TSOE listeners to read it. More here: https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Supremacy-Computer-Revolution-Everything/dp/0385548362 

• Also, Joe did a great interview with Michio Kaku. It was excellent (Ron’s word) and can be found here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-78-dr-michio-kaku-quantum-computing-the/id1110209218?i=1000646285232

• If you like the podcast with Michio Kaku, this is part of a regular podcast series from Joe Woodard and Heather Satterley. More info here: https://www.woodard.com/podcast 

• A big THANK YOU to Joe Woodard for joining us today. Scaling New Heights is coming up soon! Registration is open at this link: https://www.woodard.com/scaling-new-heights-2024 

Bonus Content is Available As Well

Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.

Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits.