Accounting
Are remote partners the future for accounting firms?
The remote partner represents a small but growing part of the professional landscape, their rise a reflection of the major changes that accounting firms were forced to make during the lockdowns. But while they’re a distinct minority today, the increasing sophistication of collaboration solutions — combined with the still-unresolved challenges with the talent pipeline — indicates their numbers are likely to rise.
Jennifer Wilson, co-founder of Convergence Coaching, a remote work-focused leadership and management coaching and consulting firm, estimates that remote partners make up about 5% of firm leaders nationwide; adding in those who were already partners and then went remote, her estimate grows to about 10 to 15%. But she predicted this proportion will likely grow over time as more firms realize they’re no longer as bound to geography.
“It’s just going to become more common because firms are getting smarter about hiring based on talent, not geography,” she said. “They’re looking for a certain skill set, a certain cultural fit, a certain leadership set of attributes and they shouldn’t care that it’s local or not. It’s more important that the fit is right than the geography. There is now enough support for cross-geography work and collaborations these days. The technology works. It’s proven. We’ll see more.”
(
Randy Johnston, executive vice president of accounting-centered IT consulting firm K2 Enterprises, estimated that remote partners make up about 5% of the total population of accounting firm leaders, and the number will rise.
“I think we’ll see a lot more,” he said. “It’ll be a long time, the culture has to shift a lot … and won’t shift fast enough for the percentage of change very quickly, but if we had this conversation 20 years from now, I don’t think it would be much of a conversation because you wouldn’t worry about it so much, it would just be kind of natural, so I expect it to well exceed 50%.”
The idea of a partner who spends most of their time out of the office, or works with clients remotely from the office, has been already normalized over the years, especially at large firms. While there may have been a time when a partner saw everyone in person at their headquarters, even the most dedicated office dweller today does at least some of their work online.
“We used to say any multi-office firm has already been working remotely,” said Wilson. “It’s not that far a leap for them to make the jump.”
Another factor is the strong demand for high-quality talent, combined with the diminishing number of accounting professionals. Douglas Slaybaugh, a CPA career coach, noted this issue is exacerbated by the retirement of older experienced accountants with no one to replace them. While pipeline strain is felt mostly in the staff, manager and senior levels, it’s a problem increasingly being felt at the partner level as well.
“Boomers are leaving and there’s not as many coming up the ranks,” said Slaybaugh. “Partners will start to feel a crunch in the ranks, losing some of their most experienced professionals.”
But while necessity does play a large role in the rise of remote partners, it’s not the only factor. Remote partners can serve as a key player in not just a firm’s recruitment strategy, but its growth strategy as well.
“They can expand into other niches more readily,” said Slaybaugh. “They tend to have more geographic coverage because, if you think of the traditional model, you’re a firm, you’re in one location, you’ve got maybe another office, you’re very hyper-local or regional. You start adding remote partners, suddenly you can work all over.”
This is especially advantageous for smaller firms hiring from metro areas with bigger firms. Johnston said that, many times, such remote partners bring with them new processes that the small firm may not have known about, so they can serve to upgrade their workflow.
“Remote workers tend to bring the process from their predecessor firm with them, and they become the process if there is no process at the firm,” he added. “You go into a small firm, discover they have no processes, adopt the ones you’re familiar with and that becomes how they do things. Small firms can become sophisticated since they inherited a larger firm’s processes.”
Wilson noted that even if small firms don’t have as many resources, they can offer a lot to these remote partners in terms of lifestyle. A firm in Lincoln, Nebraska can tell job candidates they don’t need to do an expensive daily commute to the office. “You can go visit clients, but for the most part you don’t need to come into the office every day, and that will save you time and money,” said Wilson. “Now Lincoln will need to pay New York pricing for that talent, and that could be a barrier, but oftentimes it is not.”
Wilson added, though, that the flow goes both ways. Just as there is much a small firm can offer a remote partner who lives in a big city, a large big-city firm has a lot to offer for someone who lives outside the metro area too. That’s especially true for an accountant who is “stuck in a one-horse town where everyone is super-traditional, no one is evolving their firms, technology is not being utilized, and policies are really traditional,” said Wilson.
“You work in this tiny town in Oklahoma and your firm’s options are not great, but you’ll be living there because maybe your family is there so you’re not moving,” she added. “Well, guess what? You could work for a great progressive firm because we don’t care where you live, and you can have this fantastic career working for a firm you love and respect in a bigger city right from your small town. So we see both and they’re both effective.”
Johnston cited changing business models as another reason we’re seeing more remote workers. Many professionals who worked remotely during lockdown found it suited them and did not want to return to the office. This led to a lot of them leaving their more traditional firms (sometimes after being acquired) and founding their own firm, using a remote model.
“Most say, look, we worked remotely during the pandemic,” said Johnston. “I want to start a firm with a remote work style. Then, just as the old saying goes, ‘birds of a feather flock together,’ so they start finding other people like that.”
Firms don’t necessarily have to be new to make this shift, though. Atlanta-based Aprio, a Top 50 firm, was founded in the 1950s but chose to lean heavily into remote work during the lockdowns, according to Larry Sheftel, Aprio’s chief human resources officer.
“Aprio created a remote work model at the onset of the pandemic, and we continue to evolve our approach,” he said. “We currently look for talent located near one of our physical locations or located in an area where we will soon establish an office. If we are seeking a unique, specific skill set we may hire a partner who is fully remote.”
Other firms, like Top 50 firm Schellman, have always been like this. While technically headquartered in Florida, CEO Avani Desai said the firm has always conceived of itself as a remote-first company. All of its partners are remote partners. “We believe talent has no bounds,” she said.
“We wanted to tap into top-tier talent from coast to coast,” Desai added. “It was a strategic move to get the best and brightest to work here, to thrive, and it worked.”
See our entire series on the “
Over the last few years, AI has gone from being a novelty to a mission-critical business strategy for many accountants. Innovative, forward-thinking firms are using these tools to streamline manual tasks, ensure compliance and provide the best possible service to their clients. According to the 2025 Intuit QuickBooks
Processing Content
However, AI adoption is at varying levels across the industry. While nearly every firm has begun experimenting with basic AI tools, many remain in a sandbox phase, hesitant to move toward full-scale integration due to perceived complexity or costs.No matter where you may fall on the integration spectrum, the fact remains: AI is rapidly reshaping the accounting industry. If you’ve delayed AI adoption in your business, you’ll want to create a focused plan to catch up.
Time is of the essence, but don’t sacrifice strategy for speed
Firms that are ready to take the leap from casual use to deep integration may find themselves in need of accelerated adoption, but speed should not come at the cost of strategy. Identify tangible, practical ways that easy-to-use tools can impact your business through automation. Having a strong strategic focus allows firms to implement workflow changes to streamline manual tasks, ensure compliance and provide excellent service to your clients.
To begin your AI journey, here is a four-step plan that firms can use to transition from experimentation to execution, in a safe, practical manner:
Step 1: Kick off your first AI project
As is the case with many things, getting started is often the most challenging step. While enthusiasm is high, uncertainty with implementation risks can cause hesitation. The key is to lower risk by embracing AI and implementing an intentional, phased approach. Begin by weaving AI tools into high-impact, low-risk tasks, such as summarizing meeting notes, drafting client or firm-wide memos, or translating complex concepts into easy-to-understand ideas. Monitor results carefully and, if these initial attempts need adjustment, be prepared to pivot to the next use case until you can clearly demonstrate that AI systems are delivering a measurable impact on your operations. From there, you can learn from early experiences, adapt strategy, and scale appropriately to complete more complex projects.
Step 2: Dig into your AI toolkit
The marketplace is crowded with AI-powered tools that promise to do everything from enhancing your workflows to improving the customer experience. It can be hard to know which ones are worth investing your time and money. Find a trusted source like a respected peer, or leverage your professional network to help discuss the tools that may be the best fit for achieving your business goals. You can also look within the tools you’re already using to see if they offer AI-powered features, which can help ease into the transition. Additionally, look for free high-quality education to upskill your team. For example, Anthropic offers a Claude AI University that provides excellent foundational resources for moving beyond basic prompts.
Step 3: Review an AI security checklist
An important element in AI implementation is security. With AI tools needing access to firm and client data to function, it leads to questions of how the data will be protected. This makes the right AI and cybersecurity strategy critical. Firms must proactively ensure that client data remains protected from today’s increasingly sophisticated threats by embracing an established cybersecurity framework such as
Step 4: Openly discuss AI usage with your clients
Once you’ve established the best way to use AI tools that meet your firm’s needs, you’ll want to communicate all of the advantages afforded by these tools to your clients. Make sure you highlight the benefits and simultaneously ensure you are addressing any potential concerns. It’s also important to get explicit consent from all clients if you’re sharing their information with the third-party tools you may use. While this might seem like an extra step, it will go a long way toward fostering a greater level of transparency and deepen trust between you and your clients.
Don’t get left behind
Adopting AI does not have to be intimidating, expensive or overly complex. Think of it as a strategic business move that will not only keep you competitive, but will potentially free you up to focus on keeping clients happy and growing your practice. By strategically focusing on these best practices, identifying AI use cases in a phased approach, evaluating the right tools for your business, ensuring client information is secure and clearly communicating your AI strategy, you’ll be AI-ready in no time.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board met this week to discuss its projects on accounting for transfers of cryptocurrency assets and enhancing the disclosures around certain digital assets, such as stablecoins.
Processing Content
During Wednesday’s meeting, FASB’s board made certain tentative decisions, according to a
At a future meeting, the board plans to consider clarifying the derecognition guidance for crypto transfer arrangements to assess whether the control of a crypto asset has been transferred.
FASB also began deliberations on the
The board decided to provide illustrative examples in Topic 230, Statement of Cash Flows, to clarify whether certain digital assets such as stablecoins can meet the definition of cash equivalents. It also decided to include the following concepts in the illustrative examples:
- Interpretive explanations that link to the current cash equivalents definition;
- The amount and composition of reserve assets; and,
- The nature of qualifying on-demand, contractual cash redemption rights directly with the issuer.
FASB plans to clarify that an entity should consider compliance with relevant laws and regulations when it’s creating a policy concerning which assets that satisfy the Master Glossary definition of the term “cash equivalents“ will be treated as cash equivalents.
“I agree with the staff suggestion to look at examples,” said FASB vice chair Hillary Salo. “From my perspective, I think that is going to help level the playing field. People have been making reasonable judgments. I agree with that. And I think that this is really going to help show those goalposts or guardrails of what types of stablecoins would be in the scope of cash equivalents, and which ones would not be in the scope of cash equivalents. I certainly appreciate that approach, and I think it has the least potential impact of unintended consequences, because I do agree with my fellow board members that we shouldn’t be changing the definition of cash equivalents, and it’s a high bar to get into the cash equivalent definition.”
“I’m definitely supportive of not changing the definition of cash equivalents,” said FASB chair Richard Jones. “I believe that’s settled GAAP in a way, and we’re not really seeing a call to change it for broader issues. I am supportive of the example-based approach. The challenge with examples, though, is everybody’s going to want their exact pattern, but that’s not what we’re doing.”
The examples will explain the rationale for how digital assets such as stablecoins do or do not qualify as cash equivalents and give a roadmap for other types of digital assets with varying fact patterns to be able to apply.
“We really don’t want to be as a board facing a situation where something was a cash equivalent and then no longer is at a later date,” said Jones. “That’s not good for anyone, so keeping it as a high bar with certain rigid criteria, I think, is fine.”
Stablecoins are supposed to be pegged to fiat currencies such as U.S. dollars and thus provide more stability to investors. “In my view, while a stablecoin may meet the accounting definition established for cash equivalents, not every one of those stablecoins in the cash equivalent classification represents the same level of risk,” said FASB member Joyce Joseph.
She noted that the capital markets recognize the distinctions and have established a Stablecoin Stability Assessment Framework to evaluate a stablecoin’s ability to maintain its peg to a fiat currency. Such assessments look at the legal and regulatory framework associated with the stablecoin, and provide investors with information that could enable them to do forward-looking assessments about the stability of the stablecoin.
“However, for an investor to consider and utilize such information for a company analysis the financial statement disclosures would need to include information about the stablecoin itself,” Joseph added. “In outreach, the staff learned that investors supported classifying certain stablecoins as cash equivalents when transparent information is available about the entities at which the reserve assets are held. Therefore, in my view, taking all of this into consideration a relevant and informative company disclosure would include providing investors with the name of the stablecoin and the amount of the stablecoin that is classified as a cash equivalent, so investors can independently assess the liquidity risks more meaningfully and more comprehensively by utilizing broader information that is available in the capital markets and its emerging information.”
Such information could include the issuer, reserves, governance and management, she noted, so investors would get a more holistic look at the risks that holding the stablecoin would entail for a given company.
The board decided to require all entities to disclose the significant classes and related amounts of cash equivalents on an annual basis for each period that a statement of financial position is presented.
Entities should apply the amendments related to the classification of certain digital assets as cash equivalents on a modified prospective basis as of the beginning of the annual reporting period in the year of adoption.
FASB decided that entities should apply the amendments related to the disclosure of the significant classes and amounts of cash equivalents on a prospective basis as of the date of the most recent statement of financial position presented in the period of adoption.
The board will allow early adoption in both interim and annual reporting periods in which financial statements have not been issued or made available for issuance.
FASB also decided to permit entities to adopt the amendments to be illustrated in the examples related to the classification of certain digital assets as cash equivalents without the need to perform a preferability assessment as described in Topic 250, Accounting Changes and Error Corrections.
The board directed the staff to draft a proposed accounting standards update to be voted on by written ballot. The proposed update will have a 90-day comment period.
Senators introduced several pieces of tax-related legislation this week, including measures aimed at improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service, cracking down on tax evasion and curbing the carried interest tax break, in addition to efforts in the House to repeal the Corporate Transparency Act.
Processing Content
Senators Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, and Mark Warner, D-Virginia, teamed up on introducing a bipartisan bill, the
The bill would establish a dashboard to inform taxpayers of backlogs and wait times; expand electronic access to information and refunds; expand callback technology and online accounts; and inform individuals facing economic hardship about collection alternatives.
“Taxpayers deserve a simple, stress-free experience when dealing with the IRS,” Cassidy said in a statement Wednesday. “This bill makes the process quicker and easier for taxpayers to get the information they need.”
He also mentioned the bill during a
“I’m happy to meet with the team … and do all I can to make it as good as you want it to be,” said Bisignano.
“My bill would equip the IRS with the legislative mandate to create an online dashboard so that taxpayers can monitor average call wait time and budget time accordingly,” said Cassidy. He noted that the bill would allow a callback for taxpayers that might need to wait longer than five minutes to speak to a representative, and establish a program to identify and support taxpayers struggling to make ends meet by providing information about alternative payment methods, such as installments, partial payments and offers in compromise.
“I know people are kind of desperate and don’t know where to turn for cash, so I think this could really ease anxiety,” he added. “This legislation is bipartisan and is likely to pass this Congress.”
Cassidy and Warner
“Taxpayers shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get basic answers from the IRS — and in the last year, those challenges have only gotten worse,” Warner said in a statement. “I am glad to reintroduce this bipartisan legislation on Tax Day to ease some of this frustration by increasing clear communication and making IRS resources more readily available.”
Stop CHEATERS Act
Also on Tax Day, a group of Senate Democrats and an independent who usually caucuses with Democrats teamed up to introduce the Stop Corporations and High Earners from Avoiding Taxes and Enforce the Rules Strictly (Stop CHEATERS) Act.
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, joined with Senators Angus King, I-Maine, Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island. The bill would provide additional funding for the IRS to strengthen and expand tax collection services and systems and crack down on tax cheating by the wealthy.
“Wealthy tax cheats and scofflaw corporations are stealing billions and billions from the American people by refusing to pay what they legally owe, and far too many of them are getting a free pass because Republicans gutted the enforcement capacity of the IRS,” Wyden said in a statement. “A rich tax cheat who shelters mountains of cash among a web of shell companies and passthroughs is likelier to be struck by lightning than face an IRS audit, and Republicans want to keep it that way. This bill is about making sure the IRS has the resources it needs to go after wealthy tax cheats while improving customer service for the vast majority of American taxpayers who follow the law every year.”
Earlier this week. Wyden also
The Stop CHEATERS Act would provide the IRS with additional funding for tax enforcement focused upon high-income tax evasion, technology operations support, systems modernization, and taxpayer services like free tax-payer assistance.
“As Congress seeks ways to fund much-needed policy priorities and address our growing national debt, there is one common sense solution that should have unanimous bipartisan support: let’s enforce the tax laws already on the books,” said King in a statement. “Our legislation will make sure the IRS has the resources it needs to confront the gap between taxes owed and taxes paid – while ensuring that our tax enforcement professionals are focused on the high-income earners who account for the most tax evasion. This is a serious problem with an easy solution; let’s pass this legislation and make sure every American pays what they owe in taxes.”
Carried interest
Wyden, King and Whitehouse also teamed up on another bill Thursday to close the carried interest tax break for hedge fund managers that
Carried interest is a form of compensation received by a fund manager in exchange for investment management services, according to a
Under the bill, the
“Our tax code is rigged to favor ultra-wealthy investors who know how to game the system to dodge paying a fair share, and there is no better example of how it works in practice than the carried interest loophole,” Wyden said in a statement. “For several decades now we’ve had a tax system that rewards the accumulation of wealth by the rich while punishing middle-class wage earners, and the effect of that system has been the strangulation of prosperity and opportunity for everybody but the ultra-wealthy. There are a lot of problems to fix to restore fairness and common sense to our tax code, and closing the carried interest loophole is a great place to start.”
Repealing Corporate Transparency Act
The House Financial Services Committee is also planning to markup a bill next Tuesday that would fully repeal the Corporate Transparency Act, which has already been significantly
If enacted, the repeal would eliminate beneficial ownership reporting requirements, removing a transparency measure designed to help law enforcement and national security officials identify who is behind U.S. companies.
“This repeal would turn the United States back into one of the easiest places in the world to set up anonymous shell companies, something Congress worked for years to fix,” said Erica Hanichak, deputy director of the FACT Coalition, in a statement. “These entities are routinely used to facilitate corruption, financial crime, and abuse. Rolling back the CTA doesn’t just weaken transparency, it signals to bad actors around the world that the U.S. is once again open for illicit business.”
Gen X can’t retire on time as inflation outpaces wages, survey finds
Are you ready for it? 4 steps to successfully integrate AI into your operations
What that means for consumer loans
Armanino adds Strategic Accounting Outsourced Solutions
New 2023 K-1 instructions stir the CAMT pot for partnerships and corporations
