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California CPA Magazine

National Accounting Day: What Trust Looks Like in Action

With the accounting profession changing rapidly, executive coach and leadership strategist Janine K. Brown said women can no longer afford to wait for opportunities to find them.

Speaking at CalCPA’s Elevate: Women’s Leadership Forum, Brown delivered a clear message: technical excellence alone is no longer enough to move ahead.

“Performance matters,” said Brown, CEO of Everyday Lead. “But positioning matters too. And sometimes positioning matters more.”

Brown spoke about her own journey from her Midwestern upbringing, her love of the ocean and her early years in accounting, wearing “little gray suits and black suits” from Casual Corner before upgrading to Brooks Brothers.

But beneath the humor was a serious call to action for women navigating a profession undergoing massive transformation.

A former accounting professional who worked in state and local tax and banking strategy before moving into leadership consulting, Brown spoke about how dramatically the accounting industry has evolved since she entered it in 1999.

“We are not the accountants we used to be,” she said. “The profession is so different than when I entered it.”

She pointed to the growing influence of private equity investment, rising pressure around revenue generation and the accelerating pace of change across firms.

“The business of accounting is changing, and it’s not just AI,” she said. “Are you prepared? Do you know how it’s going to impact you? Can you manage your career to respond to that change?”

Drawing from her leadership experience with the AICPA & CIMA Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee, Brown said firms increasingly need professionals who are future-ready—not just technically capable.

“We need women who are not only prepared to lead the next generation of practitioners, but who know how to manage their own careers,” she said.

One of the strongest themes of Brown’s presentation centered on what she called “the good work myth”—the belief that hard work alone will naturally lead to advancement.

She described the mindset many professionals adopt early in their careers: work hard, stay reliable, keep your head down and eventually someone will notice. But too often, she said, that strategy leaves talented women overlooked.

“The only thing that happens to people who wait is that they keep waiting,” she said.

Instead, Brown encouraged attendees to think intentionally about how they position themselves within their organizations. Technical competency may open doors early in a career, she explained, but visibility, advocacy and influence become increasingly important over time.

“Those first four to five years are extremely important because you have to be technically competent,” she said. “That’s a baseline. But how you position your competency is the thing that matters.”

Perhaps the most powerful moment of the session came when Brown addressed one of the barriers she believes continues to hold women back in leadership pipelines.

“You’re not advocating for each other,” she told the audience.

Brown described conversations she’s had with firm leaders and managing partners who say women often undersell themselves and fail to actively champion other women in promotion and performance discussions.

The solution, she argued, requires both self-advocacy and collective advocacy.

“We have to self-promote,” Brown said. “And we have to be promoters of other women. That’s the only way we’re going to win.”

Throughout the presentation, Brown repeatedly returned to the importance of visibility and communication.

“A lot of women are not comfortable bragging about themselves,” she said. “But if you don’t, who will?”

She encouraged attendees to think carefully about how they describe their impact and contributions so others can accurately advocate for them when they are not in the room.

“Don’t think that just because they see it, they know the right words to say about your work,” she explained.

Brown also acknowledged that cultural background, personality and upbringing can shape how comfortable professionals feel speaking up. Drawing from her experience teaching graduate students, she encouraged women to practice using their voices early and often.

While Brown’s focused on career strategy, she carried a message of community and encouragement, and spoke about building a stronger sense of sisterhood within the profession and creating environments where women support each other. Because in today’s rapidly changing professional landscape, she said, leadership isn’t something that simply happens to you. It’s something you actively claim.

You can relive the fun and revisit some of our favorite moments—or get a taste of what you missed if you couldn't join us this year—by visiting the 

. And we hope to see you in 2027—take advantage of our 

early access discount while it’s available through July 7

Taking Ownership of Your Career Growth

From self-advocacy to sponsorship, Janine K. Brown shared practical strategies behind career advancement at CalCPA's Elevate: Women's Leadership Forum.

Members across firm sizes and specialties came together to explore what AI is actually doing to—and in—the accounting profession. Moderated by Ron Baker and Ed Kless, hosts of 

, the conversation provided a clear picture of where the profession stands and where it needs to go. 

The Experiment That Started the Conversation 

Much of the early discussion centered on a recent book documenting what happened when someone set up an AI-powered accounting firm using multiple AI agents, each assigned a specific role. The output was reviewed by a credentialed third party, who described it as impressive and identified issues that human reviewers had missed. A highlighted finding was that the human directing the operation was consistently flagged by the AI agents themselves as the primary bottleneck, not because the human wasn’t valuable, but because the system’s capacity to produce work exceeded what one person could direct and review. 

The group didn’t treat this as a warning or a promise. It was framed as a grounded, honest look at what AI can do today, and a signal that the profession needs to redefine what human involvement looks like rather than defend the status quo. 

A recurring theme was the irreplaceable nature of human judgment, relationships and accountability. Several perspectives landed and resonated with the group: 

Clients don’t stay with professionals because of unique technical skills. They stay because of the trust built over time through real human interaction. AI can’t take a client to lunch or sit with someone through a hard moment. 

The medical analogy came up more than once. Most people want AI to help their doctor diagnose a disease. But no one wants a bot to deliver a serious diagnosis. The way difficult information is delivered matters enormously, and that’s entirely a human responsibility. 

Legal and professional accountability can’t be delegated to a tool. No one can tell the IRS that the bot made a mistake. 

Clients are also arriving at appointments with more AI-generated knowledge than they used to. The role of the professional is evolving from primary knowledge source to trusted interpreter and guide, which is a higher-value role, but one that requires a different mindset and skill set. 

This was one of the most energized parts of the discussion. The core issue is simple: if AI compresses a 10-hour task to 15 minutes, the hourly billing model doesn’t hold. 

Some firms are already choosing to bill for the value delivered, not the time spent, even when AI does the work faster. Others haven’t figured out how to have that conversation with clients yet. 

A real-world example was shared involving a large firm demanding a significant fee reduction from an outside firm after learning AI was being used in the work. The outside firm complied. The group saw this as a cautionary signal about what happens when the value conversation doesn’t happen proactively. 

The consensus was that value-based and subscription pricing aren’t just theoretical anymore. The hourly model has been under real pressure, and firms that don’t get ahead of it will be in a reactive position. 

Specialized Tools vs. General-Purpose AI 

Members had a wide-ranging conversation about the tradeoffs between specialized AI tools built for accounting and general-purpose platforms. Different firms have had different experiences, and there was genuine debate about which factors matter most when evaluating options, including workflow fit, flexibility, cost and how each tool type handles customization and experimentation. 

The group recognized that there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer and that the right choice depends heavily on a firm’s specific context and its overall approach to AI adoption. 

Accuracy, Over-Reliance and Professional Judgment 

A few themes surfaced that centered on concerns about AI making mistakes. 

AI speaks with confidence even when it’s wrong, which can mislead users who associate confident delivery with correctness. That’s a useful reminder for the profession that critical thinking matters regardless of the source. 

The risk of de-skilling was raised, drawing a parallel to how calculators affected math skills. As professionals rely more on AI, there’s a question about whether they’re maintaining the foundational knowledge needed to catch what AI gets wrong. 

At the same time, the standard isn't perfect. Humans aren’t 100 percent accurate. AI only needs to be better than current human performance, and on many routine tasks, it is. The goal is human oversight of AI output, not the replacement of human judgment. 

A thread that drew genuine enthusiasm was AI as a personalized tutor. Examples were shared of students and professionals uploading textbooks or course materials and using AI to generate practice questions, receive explanations for wrong answers and progress at their own pace. The phrase “a tutor with infinite patience" came up. This is already being used in academic settings with positive results. 

One of the more forward-looking conversations was about whether and how firms should use AI adoption as a market differentiator. The group agreed that the differentiator isn’t claiming you use AI. It’s being specific about how you use it and what tangible benefit it delivers. Accuracy, speed, cost efficiency and better outcomes are things clients can evaluate. 

As AI becomes standard across the profession, the differentiator will shift from “we use AI” to “here is specifically how we use AI to deliver better outcomes for you.” Firms that develop clear, credible AI use cases will be ahead of that curve. 

CalCPA Conversation Circles are free, member-only experiences designed to foster conversation and connection. Be sure to 

, when we’ll rethink what innovation means beyond technology; explore how language, mindset and processes shape outcomes; and provide new perspectives you can apply in your organization.

CalCPA Conversation Circle: AI in Practice 

Generic claims about AI adoption won't impress clients for long. Firms that win will be specific about how they use AI and what measurable benefit it delivers.

National Accounting Day may have come and gone—but the opportunity to recognize the essential role CPAs play in strengthening businesses, communities and public trust remains—and here how you can help showcase the people behind the accounting profession in the form of a photo as the celebration becomes a collective moment to show the impact of the profession in a visible way.

At the heart of this year’s National Accounting Day is a new, interactive digital mosaic: “

.” The mosaic invites CPAs across the country to share photos that represent their pride in the profession and the trust they build every day. As individual photos come together, they form a larger picture—one that tells the story of CPA impact through real people and real moments.

A Simple Call to Action with National Impact

Participation is simple and personal. You might choose:

Every submission adds a new tile to the mosaic that helps illustrate the depth, diversity and value of the profession nationwide.

The digital mosaic is more than a celebration; it is the lead up to a broader national advertising and promotional campaign sponsored by the AICPA in collaboration with CalCPA and other state CPA societies, and other key stakeholders designed to increase market understanding of CPAs.

Advertising to reach business leaders and other influential audiences begins after the June 9 launch. The goal is clear: to reinforce that CPA is where trust meets expertise, and that CPAs are essential partners in navigating complexity and achieving long-term success.

Trust has always been the profession’s foundation. At a time when organizations and communities face rapid change, that trust matters more than ever. The National Accounting Day mosaic and the broader CPA promotional campaign are reminders that trust isn’t abstract—it’s built every day, by people, through actions.

By participating in the mosaic and social media activities supporting the CPA campaign this summer and fall, you are celebrating the profession and helping tell a story that resonates far beyond May 19. It’s a story of expertise, integrity and public service told through thousands of individual voices coming together as one.

National Accounting Day may have come and gone—but the opportunity remains for you to be a part of the celebration to highlight the trust placed in CPAs and the value CPAs deliver.