Creating a clear picture of your end goal is key to business success. One of the most important steps in this process is communication. The journey to effective communication progresses through the stages of clarity, confidence, and credibility.

Curiosity is stimulated not by an absence of knowledge, but by a gap in knowledge. We cannot become engaged in a topic we know nothing about. In fact, curiosity is as important to our professional success as it is to our personal lives. Read this review of “Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It” by Ian Leslie.

“Public or private?” So many CPAs have asked themselves this question at some point. But while most of us have asked it, it is the wrong question to ask. It is a false choice that may bias your evaluation of the opportunities before you.

Is it possible for you to be a "good boss" and at the same time underperform, or even fail, as a leader in your organization? Very much so. Successful leaders must lead well in all directions: leading up to your boss, across with your colleagues, and in front of your team.

Have you ever found it challenging to hold on to your authentic self, especially when it is out of sync with others? As a relative introvert in a business world often dominated by extroverts, Puneet Sapra has found that being true to himself is the key to his success.

The “broken rung” is a gap in the advancement cycle that stifles the promotion of women to senior leadership. For every 100 men promoted to a first-time manager position, only 72 women are. This should be getting much more press than the well-known and often used phrase “shatter the glass ceiling.” The “broken rung” is a bigger deal.

Red-teaming is designed to provide an independent, dissenting voice to challenge assumptions and anticipate potential threats, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities. The objective is to mitigate groupthink and overcome conformity by purposefully seeking to reach an opposite conclusion relative to a strategy or the prevailing wisdom. Do you red-team at your organization? Would you even know where to begin?

Success as a managing partner today requires some lofty attributes to help you and your firm perform at the highest levels. This blog shares four characteristics that are necessary to both gauge and achieve performance excellence as a managing partner.

Students today have several pathways to obtain experience and find their direction in the accounting world. Launching a career at a small vs. large CPA firm can affect the path one eventually follows. But don't automatically discount the small-firm experience. There are unique benefits to launching a career at a smaller firm.

While the certified public accountant (CPA) credential continues to be the accounting profession’s “gold standard,” you may want to consider one of the many add-on certificates to further foster your skill set and improve your value. This blog looks at a few of the options you can add to your CPA credential.

With the death of Secretary of State Colin Powell on Oct. 18, 2021, America lost one of our generation's great leaders. As we embark on 2022, we should refresh (or strive to learn) some of the leadership fundamentals Powell shared in his 2012 book, "It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership."

For those who work in professional services, often it is the people who are seen that get the choicest assignments. And those who get the choicest assignments ultimately tend to develop the most sophisticated skills. If always working from home or adhering to a unique schedule that doesn't align with others, it may be difficult to ensure “face time” with practice leaders and to benefit from the organic opportunities that arise when two people find themselves in a hallway or by the coffee machine.

The more things change, the more things stay the same ... and some professional debates continue unabated. Will you, as a CPA, be more comfortable working in public accounting or pursuing a career in industry? This blog highlights career tips from three different perspectives.

When CPAs get to the mid-career level, they are often expected to serve in some leadership capacity. But do these CPAs understand the best way to lead? Leadership coach Jon Lokhorst explains leading is not simply a top-down endeavor.

PICPA's new Career Center connects members with the resources and content they need to help them excel professionally. Organized by career stage, the Career Center features an array of programs, blogs, podcasts, and professional development opportunities.

Wake up, coffee, shower, office, meeting, call, meeting, call, work, work, call, store, gas, home, dinner, walk, work, bed, repeat. How did you end up in this seemingly endless cycle? In all likelihood, a little at a time. So, how does one stop the churn? The same way it started: one step at a time.

When reflecting on a career in accounting, it is easy to find a few situations that stick out as lessons learned. These situations often involve something dramatic, funny, or ironic. For those in the early stages of their careers, perhaps there is something in these observations that you can use in developing your practice.

Service providers are taught that “the customer is always right,” but it is important to our sanity, and our bottom lines, to recognize that some prospects are wrong for us. Even poisonous.

James J. Caruso, CPA, CGMA, has seen several sides of the accounting world, experiencing life in both public accounting and industry. He started his career at Deloitte and served as a partner with Fesnak LLP and RSM US LLP. He is now chief financial officer at J. Knipper and Company | KnippeRx. In this blog, Caruso discusses the differences between the two work environments, including daily routines, required education levels, and advancement opportunities.

The keys to succeeding and being promoted are hard work, technical prowess, leadership ability, and strong communication skills. This is true, of course, but there is a lot more to effectively positioning yourself to move up your company ladder.