Flagship event for innovation-focused accounting firms draws record attendance.
DENVER (Dec. 9, 2024) – Harnessing the power of AI, transformation of practice areas, and firm business model strategies that enable growth and high value work are key themes at this week’s Digital CPA Conference® (DCPA), the premier event for progressive accounting professionals.
“In today’s fast-changing and increasingly complex business environment, clients are increasingly looking to their CPAs for deeper insights and higher-value services to inform their strategies and support better decision-making,” said Asgeirsson. “Today’s firms must be strategic and intentional about firmwide transformation. This means taking a fresh look at your firm’s business model, embracing technology to improve service delivery and drive outcomes, and cultivating the right talent and culture. Firms that do will continue to thrive as trusted advisors for their clients.”
This year’s event, taking place in Denver (and also available virtually), brings together more than 1,400 of the profession’s most innovative leaders and practitioners across client advisory services (CAS), audit and tax.
Key themes framing the discussions at DCPA24 include:
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Unlocking the potential of AI. Over the past year, AI has quickly moved from theoretical to practical as an abundance of new AI-enabled solutions and use cases have emerged across accounting and finance, accelerating the shift toward advisory services and offering firms a viable solution to help address talent and capacity challenges.
The AICPA and CPA.com remain committed to helping practitioners understand and maximize the capabilities of AI. Through its multi-part GenAI initiative, CPA.com delivers the latest insights, tools and resources on topics from building a safe AI strategy to implementing effective change management strategies to support the impact on roles, process and workflows.
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Capitalizing on growth in client advisory services (CAS). Already the fastest growing service area for the profession, CAS is growing and presenting significant opportunities for firms that are taking an intentional approach to building and scaling their practices. According to the just released 2024 CPA.com and AICPA PCPS CAS Benchmark survey report, firms reported 17% median growth in their CAS practices, outpacing overall firm growth. Firms are also leveraging new capabilities, strategies and services to provide higher-level business insights to clients.
CPA.com has long been focused on empowering firms of all sizes to understand the opportunity within CAS to maximize their value and growth potential. Adding to its CAS 2.0® Practice Development Coaching program, CPA.com has expanded its offering to include two new learning pathways, CAS 2.0 Development Essentials and CAS 2.0 Practice Introduction, which include access to workshops, new toolkits and self-studies for firms new to CAS and those looking to build up an existing practice.
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Driving audit transformation. Audit is the latest of the practice areas to undergo a major shift to the cloud.This is being driven by the availability of more cloud-based solutions, as well as a desire by firms to deliver deeper insights and more comprehensive risk management for their clients.
To support firms in their audit transformation journey, CPA.com added its first audit track to DCPA in 2023, which was very well received. This year nearly 200 audit professionals are attending the event to network with their peers and learn more about how to transform their own audit practices. Many top 100 firms are are now on a path of full migration of the Dynamic Audit Solution (DAS), a fully integrated, end-to-end cloud-based solution with transformative AICPA methodology, to support their transformation. CPA.com also helps firms assess their readiness and offers comprehensive implementation consulting, training and data migration services to prepare for a technology-driven shift.
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Evolution of firm strategies and structures. Leading-edge firms are adopting new strategies, business models and governance structures to successfully execute transformation, optimize technology investments and better position for long-term viability. They’re also accelerating technology adoption to automate lower-level work, exploring new ownership models, such as private equity and employee stock ownership plans (ESOP), and rolling out new compensation and talent strategies to combat hiring and retention challenges and build capacity.
To learn more about CPA.com’s efforts to enable firms’ digital and advisory transformation, visit www.cpa.com.
About CPA.com
CPA.com brings innovative solutions to the accounting profession, either in partnership with leading providers or directly through its own development. The company has established itself as a thought leader on emerging technologies and as the trusted business advisor to practitioners in the United States, with a growing global focus.
Our company’s core mission is to drive the transformation of practice areas, advance the technology ecosystem for the profession, and lead technology research and innovation efforts for practitioners.
A subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, the company is also part of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the world’s most influential organization representing the profession. For more information, visit CPA.com.
