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Ignition appoints new CEO, CFO; Pearson now executive chair

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Practice management software provider Ignition announced that Ignition’s global president, Greg Strickland, is the new CEO as the current head, co-founder Guy Pearson, transitions into an executive chairman role to focus more on strategy. 

Strickland has been president since March of last year. Prior to that, he led product management software provider ProductBoard and was also a leader in content management platform Box. Given this experience in the business software world, as well as his recent performance as Ignition’s president, Pearson expressed strong confidence in his successor. 

“Greg has been with Ignition since 2024 based out of San Francisco and brings all the things I don’t have to the table,” said Pearson in the announcement, “He’s worked at a software company before (actually been COO at a number of them); he understands the U.S. tax market—our historical core market (family member is a U.S. CPA) and general SMBs; he knows why paper cheques/checks still exist in the U.S. If that’s not enough, he lives our values and we think in a very similar way on business model vs. value exchange and trying to serve our customers and build what they need to be successful and serve their clients.” 

Ignition also welcomed Amy Foo as its new chief financial officer. As CFO, Foo will be responsible for managing the company’s financial health and operations. She will drive financial planning, manage capital to maximize ROI, and ensure operational efficiency to support Ignition’s ambitious growth. She most recently served as senior vice president of finance and revenue operations for employee engagement and performance platform Culture Amp, and prior to that she spent eight years as senior vice president of global finance operations and managing director for Australia/New Zealand for customer experience platform Zendesk.

“I’m incredibly excited to be joining Ignition,” said Foo. “This is a company that empowers customers, drives business value, and is focused on strategic growth. All things that align perfectly with my experience and passions. Joining Ignition at this crucial stage allows me to leverage my experience in scaling high-growth businesses to help grow the team and organization. By fostering agility and efficiency, I think we can achieve ambitious goals, deliver value, and sustain ongoing success.”

Pearson said stepping away from the CEO role reflects the advice he has long given to others. 

“When you start a business, you aim to solve a problem for a market, build a business model that makes sense (and scales), then remove yourself as the last bottleneck of the processes in the business and become an owner and thought partner for the operators of the business,” he said. “This is what I used to talk about with my clients when I ran my accounting firm (Scendar) and what I’ve preached on webinars, talks and keynotes around the world at conferences and online over the last 10+ years. It’d be a shame not to follow my own advice.”

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Acting IRS commissioner reportedly replaced

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Gary Shapley, who was named only days ago as the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, is reportedly being replaced by Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender amid a power struggle between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Elon Musk.

The New York Times reported that Bessent was outraged that Shapley was named to head the IRS without his knowledge or approval and complained to President Trump about it. Shapley was installed as acting commissioner on Tuesday, only to be ousted on Friday. He first gained prominence as an IRS Criminal Investigation special agent and whistleblower who testified in 2023 before the House Oversight Committee that then-President Joe Biden’s son Hunter received preferential treatment during a tax-evasion investigation, and he and another special agent had been removed from the investigation after complaining to their supervisors in 2022. He was promoted last month to senior advisor to Bessent and made deputy chief of IRS Criminal Investigation. Shapley is expected to remain now as a senior official at IRS Criminal Investigation, according to the Wall Street Journal. The IRS and the Treasury Department press offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Faulkender was confirmed last month as deputy secretary at the Treasury Department and formerly worked during the first Trump administration at the Treasury on the Paycheck Protection Program before leaving to teach finance at the University of Maryland.

Faulkender will be the fifth head of the IRS this year. Former IRS commissioner Danny Werfel departed in January, on Inauguration Day, after Trump announced in December he planned to name former Congressman Billy Long, R-Missouri, as the next IRS commissioner, even though Werfel’s term wasn’t scheduled to end until November 2027. The Senate has not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing for Long, amid questions from Senate Democrats about his work promoting the Employee Retention Credit and so-called “tribal tax credits.” The job of acting commissioner has since been filled by Douglas O’Donnell, who was deputy commissioner under Werfel. However, O’Donnell abruptly retired as the IRS came under pressure to lay off thousands of employees and share access to confidential taxpayer data. He was replaced by IRS chief operating officer Melanie Krause, who resigned last week after coming under similar pressure to provide taxpayer data to immigration authorities and employees of the Musk-led U.S. DOGE Service. 

Krause had planned to depart later this month under the deferred resignation program at the IRS, under which approximately 22,000 IRS employees have accepted the voluntary buyout offers. But Musk reportedly pushed to have Shapley installed on Tuesday, according to the Times, and he remained working in the commissioner’s office as recently as Friday morning. Meanwhile, plans are underway for further reductions in the IRS workforce of up to 40%, according to the Federal News Network, taking the IRS from approximately 102,000 employees at the beginning of the year to around 60,000 to 70,000 employees.

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Accounting

On the move: EY names San Antonio office MP

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Carr, Riggs & Ingram appoints CFO and chief legal officer; TSCPA hosts accounting bootcamp; and more news from across the profession.

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Accounting

Tech news: Certinia announces spring release

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Certinia announces spring release; Intuit acquires tech and experts from fintech Deserve; Paystand launches feature to navigate tariffs; and other accounting tech news and updates.

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