carl peterson: succession or stagnation? | gear up for growth - 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

aicpa’s peterson sounds the alarm for small firms.

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peterson also challenges small firm leaders to rethink how they lead and plan for the future. “some small firm partners are making more money than they ever imagined, and they’re tempted to just keep riding that wave. but that’s not a growth strategy,” he says.

he stresses that too many small firms are still led by committees, lack strategic planning, and are unprepared for leadership transition. “you’ve got 70-year-old partners realizing their 60-year-old successors are ready to retire too, and they never looked beyond that. that’s not sustainable,” peterson says. “if you want to stay independent, you’ve got to evolve.”

he urges firm leaders to embrace ai and emerging technologies, develop internal talent, and build governance models that don’t rely on consensus alone. “leaders need to get out of their own way,” peterson warns. “you need structure, vision, and a real plan because what’s working today won’t work forever.

“being a cpa is still a credential of incredible value,” he adds. “but we have to keep earning that value through leadership, innovation, and investing in the next generation.”

4 key takeaways

peterson passionately defends the cpa credential, warning that minimizing its visibility (e.g., under private equity models) undermines long-term value.
peterson supports a hybrid office model that strikes a balance between flexibility and the benefits of in-person collaboration, mentorship, and culture-building.
small firms now have more access to advanced tech and offshore talent, which help address capacity challenges, improve work-life balance, and reduce overhead.
strategic planning should be an ongoing process that involves all levels of staff to foster engagement and innovation.

more about carl peterson
carl peterson has long been a key voice advocating for small and midsize cpa firms. he served as vp of small firm interests at the aicpa before retiring on june 30, 2025. prior to joining the aicpa in 2014 he was the managing partner of peterson, peterson & associates for nearly 15 years. he is a past chair of the minnesota society of cpas and was a member of the aicpa governing council. he has been named one of the 100 most influential people in accounting by accounting today ten times.

transcript
(produced by automation. not edited for spelling or grammar.)

jean: hello. thank you for joining “gear up for growth,” powered by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间. i’m jean caragher, president of capstone marketing and your host. our guest is carl peterson, vp of small firm interests at the aicpa. carl joined the aicpa in 2014 and has been named one of the 100 most influential people in accounting by accounting today, every year since. prior to joining the aicpa, he was the managing partner of peterson, peterson & associates for nearly 15 years. carl is a past chair of the minnesota society of cpas and was a member of the aicpa governing council. and i could go on, but i know our guests want to hear from you, carl. so, with your upcoming retirement, i am honored to have this time with you today. welcome to “gear up for growth.”

carl: thanks, jean. i really appreciate it. i’m excited to be here. this will be fun.

jean: yes. we’ve talked about, you know, not having the opportunity to meet each other before this, but we’re taking the attitude, it’s better late than never, right?

carl: that’s right, that’s right. absolutely.

jean: so, as you get ready to retire, how are you feeling about this, and what thoughts come to mind when you think about your time at the aicpa?

carl: oh my gosh. it is very weird. it just feels weird. i’ve never retired before and maybe that’s why, right? we don’t know really what to expect. and i’m not really sure how to do it, or i’d like to do it really, you know, eloquently and everybody say, “oh my gosh, you did the…you know, that was really great.” but i don’t know. i don’t know how to do it and i suppose it’s different for everybody. and then the other thing is, like, when i think about it, i’m retiring in my mind, and i think in a lot of my friends’ minds, at the pinnacle of my career, right? being with aicpa, i mean, where else do you go in this profession? and so, i’ve been super fortunate and lucky to do this. but it feels kind of weird, just like, what’s the next step? what am i going to do? how do i handle all this, you know, as i’m leaving and all those things, you know?

jean: so then look back and it’s 2014 and you’re joining the aicpa. did you have any thoughts of how this role would develop or work, and then as you look back, was it what you thought?

carl: oh, my gosh, that’s a good question. so, when i came in, i wasn’t sure what to expect, right? you know, i was filling the shoes of jim metzler, who was a legend. he started this role way back when. and so my first hurdle, actually, to get over for a period of time was everybody talked about my predecessor. like, “oh, my gosh, i’m carl, right, i’m not him.” so anyway, that was a challenge, but really, you know, the organization’s been great to allow me kind of feel my way through what needed to be done, how i can interact and make sure i’m making connections with members throughout the country, which was phenomenal. but, you know, it’s a large organization. when you’re a small firm practitioner, right, you’re like, “you know what, we’re going to change this today,” you know? doing that for so many years, and now coming into this, i’m like, “we should do this.” “oh, we can’t do that today,” you know?

jean: how many steps or how many layers do you have to go through and everything to implement that idea you have?

carl: exactly. so, i got to a point early on, i think, which was helpful for me, and i think it’s helpful for a lot of our staff that i mentored over the years, and that is, you know, i have faith in the leadership, barry, sue coffey, and others. and i thought, “you know what, they know more than i do about what’s happening. i want to make these changes. i want to have this impact. i got to figure out how to get there and make that happen,” which i think i’ve, you know, done internally and externally over the years. but man, it’s gone by so fast. and if you think about, right, what was the biggest event that i had over these 10 years, and it was covid.

jean: oh, boy. right?

carl: i was in london at the time. we have members in practice outside the u.s. i was in london at the time and i was scheduled to come back on saturday. and it was the saturday when they shut everything down. it was like thursday or friday, things were shutting down, and we got an email saying, “no more travel,” you know, and i was coming home on saturday. but they did in my email, say something about, “you have a meeting on monday in new york.” i live in minnesota, by the way. and i said, “no, i am not coming to that meeting in new york.” i don’t think anybody did ultimately.

that was when some attorney was walking around the streets of manhattan that had covid and exposing…i don’t know. anyway. you know, it happened then. and i’ll tell you what we did that was really…you know, i don’t know what i want to say, it was not a highlight of my career, but the intensity that we focused in on covid, i came home that saturday. we immediately…we being aicpa led by barry, there’s a group of us, barry, sue coffey, mark koziel, and a few others we met every single morning at 7:00 a.m. including saturdays and sundays, you know? i thought i left public accounting, right, that i…

jean: that’s right. it’s tax season all over again.

carl: we did that for several weeks, and then finally we dropped the weekends. but, you know, so many good things, i think, came out of that. i mean, all the conversation, discussions, you get a deep insight into all the things that we as an organization try to do for the profession and we were doing it. you know, the aicpa town hall came out of those conversations during that time. and, you know,…

jean: interesting.

carl: and now, you know, lisa simpson’s, you know, working with that with eric [xxx 00:06:02.809] aicpa.com. it’s amazing what has come out of that. but we did that right away. and again, it was less than 10 of us, 5 to 10 of us meeting every single day talking about public accounting here in the u.s. and our members.

jean: right, because talk about a time…you know, of course, the first thought was, “okay, is everybody gonna get sick? you know, what’s going to happen to my firm? what’s happening to my clients? am i going to lose these clients?” and the exact opposite happened, right? so that was a real opportunity for the aicpa to lead the organization’s members through this pandemic and the opportunities that there were to be helpful to their clients.

carl: absolutely. you know, i think about when i was in practice, and then when i came to aicpa, members in our small firms would look at us, like, as a resource and as an advocate. but it was almost like we weren’t very quick and fast to react. we weren’t giving out the information right away. we really were not giving out information until we were absolutely certain we had the right answer. what covid did, i think, is it made us more agile in that way, right? we became far more valuable to our members and really just the profession overall, the cpa profession overall, because i think they were looking at us. they knew we were going to come up. we even came out and said, in some of these town halls and other times, “we don’t know the answer, but this is what we think it is,” right? and i think that helped shape advocacy and shape legislation and shape responses from the irs and others that were…you know, the regulatory environment. that was pretty cool. i think we are so much more agile because of covid, and i guess that’s a positive thing.

jean: so tell me more about that, about the advocacy and the irs and all that, because clearly covid showed the accounting profession that yes, in fact, you can pack up your computer and go home and work virtually and it did change how business worked. so tell us a bit more about that part.

carl: that’s a good question. you know, technology just, like you said, changed every…we’re on zoom right now, right? who heard of zoom? who was really on zoom before? it wasn’t that prevalent. now everybody does it. for me personally, at aicpa, the amount of travel i was doing pre-covid was pretty intense. it has lessened because of zoom and the virtual meetings we’re able to have. and our clients, you know, clients, our members and our small firm practitioners throughout the profession are in that same boat, right? it’s almost like, i know you a little bit now. it’s like i’m meeting you in person it’s not quite the same, but we can communicate and have this podcast, members and their clients, same thing. and so that technology made a big difference. and then, you know, with that happening and with the acceleration of ai and all those things with technology, it’s amazing where it’s going.

jean: it is amazing. you know, i look back on this because i’ve worked from home for more than 25 years, so working from home was not new for me. what was new for me was, “oh my gosh, i’ve got to do my hair, i’ve gotta put some makeup on,” because i was using video, but…i’m sorry, i was using online, i think it was adobe connect at the time, but i was using the audio, not the video part of it. so it got to the point that my husband would see me getting ready he says, “oh, do you have another zoom today?” and i’m like, “i do.”

carl: very true.

jean: where my clients and all, they were like, “oh, i don’t have to get ready, i’m not commuting, i’m not…” so it was just so interesting how it impacted everybody.

carl: you know, you look back at that time, the intensity that people worked, right, we found we could actually work from home, be very, very effective. at the time, there were firms saying, “you know what, we will never go back because we were so good at it.” well, you know, if you think about all the challenges and the anxiety and the things that we were afraid of, our members and our staff were afraid of, “will i have a job?” well, you know what, the intensity, and everybody’s in the same boat, we’re all working super hard. i do think now we’re finding the value of having some time in the office, maybe in a hybrid environment. we’ll get back to where we can have those brainstorming sessions and the strategic plan and everything else that we need to do.

jean: so what are your thoughts about firms trying to get their people back into the office versus they’re remaining at home to work the majority of the time?

carl: i could go different directions probably with this question. but i think the real answer is in the end, i think we need to go back to the office for a certain period of time. i think we have to figure out, is that…you know, i don’t know if it’s a two-day week, three-day, four-day week, is it to make sure that certain teams are there together? but then what about those teams that aren’t there at the same time, when you get those, you know, water fountain conversations and you’re learn something you are not going to learn on zoom, right? the spontaneous component of that, i think we have to figure that out.

you know, i love not going to work. so when i took this job, i’ve been remote since then. but i came from an environment of always going in the office. i could work from home, but i always went in the office. the value of that, i think, is what organizations and staff are saying, you know, and firms are saying, “you know what, we need to have that,” because that also made us great, and also made us what we were, and what we’ve become today. but i think you have to augment it, i think you have to put the staff first, right? we should have the professional judgment say, “you know what, i’m really going to be more effective if i don’t come in today,” for whatever reason. let us have that professional level of respect and understanding at our staff level that they can make those decisions, but at the same time, if you create an environment internally where they’re going to want to be there, and that it’s not only cultural, but it’s learning and it’s all those things, i think staff are going to want to be in the office anyway in the [crosstalk 00:12:05].

jean: yeah, yeah. i don’t know what the solution is either, but firms who are trying to get their folks back every day, i think that’s a real battle. i think it is, like you were talking about, whatever that number of days is, or getting those teams of people together, because i hear also a lot from a training standpoint that the younger staff are losing something because they don’t have the person right in the seat next to them, or in the corner office, or whatever that is to get that guidance quickly. so we could talk whole time about covid and working and all, but, you know, i’ve got some other questions, carl, to ask you. when you think about smaller firms, what do you think has improved in recent years for smaller firms and what has become more difficult?

carl: well, i think on improvement side, technology of course is one. i think technology and the speed of change. you know, we always…i don’t remember what the right terminology is for the speed of change and what they call that over time with technology, but it’s going faster and faster all the time. but i think what’s been great about it, it’s been improved to where small firms can take advantage of leveraging that technology. i think it’s helped small firms deal with capacity issues, right? there’s the pipeline issue that we have today. but it also helps with work-life balance, right? they’re leveraging technology, they’re also combining that thing with, like, offshoring, which i think the acceptance by firms to consider offshoring or outsourcing, whether it’s domestic or offshore, is increased.

and the opportunities, like you can offshore…you know, like it started with just an offshore processing house. you can offshore talent, you can have staff in different countries and actually have them not only be dedicated to your account, but be really treated as staff and you bring them into your culture. all those options i think is an improvement along with the technology piece of it. and i think clients are now also more willing to accept that their data’s going to be offshore. you know, i think that was a big challenge. those things are improvements.

the difficult side of things regulatory challenges always are there, right? you know, you think about, especially in a small firm world, when you don’t have that staff to deal with quality control standards, to deal with other standards that come out. small firms are challenged that way and that’s always going to be a challenge. and i think that just gets more difficult with the regulatory things that are going on.

jean: right, because of the research that’s done…i’m sorry. the research that’s done, it’s, you know, keeping up with tax law and those regulatory requirements, especially with the smaller firms are always at one, maybe two, but it’s always the top list of challenges.

carl: absolutely. you know, we do our pcps top issue survey that’s…until covid happened. i think during covid it may have dropped a little, but we had irs challenges or something else going on at the time. but you’re right, otherwise, year in and year out, we could always say, you know, dealing with change and standards and tax was a big issue. and today it’s still a big issue. it’s always going to be there. but i think, you know, we dealt with it for all these years. small firms are going to adapt and continue to deal with it. and they’ll still be challenged with it, but we’ll deal with it. so i think we’re okay.

jean: so when you think about the growth of small and mid-size firms, what leadership qualities do you think are essential for that firm growth?

carl: well, i think it’s probably true for everybody, but leaders still need to be visionary. i think they have to be visionary, especially in a small firm. i think they need to get out of their own way. i think leaders often, especially in a small firm, get in their own way, you know? so they need to listen, i think they need to embrace the power of ai. i think where we are with artificial intelligence, whether you’re talking…you know, there’s so many names for it now, right, agentic ai, you know, generative ai, all those things. but embrace it because we’re coming into a time period where i think for the work and services and advice you can do with your clients, ai is going to make it so much more, i don’t know, cool in a way, right?

i mean, if i still had a practice today, i love the thought of doing analysis with ai for your clients that are in certain industries, and you can dive deeper and get different analysis, things that you never even thought of that your client probably never thought of, and help them out, you know, and then your staff, right, your young staff, they see you doing it and embracing ai, i think they’re going to be more excited to come in also.

jean: well, and could make them more excited to think differently about being a cpa versus going into technology or finance or another career path.

carl: right, absolutely. we get to leverage all those fun tools from technology and finance, right, in what we do in our profession, so [crosstalk 00:17:29].

jean: what i’m hearing and what i’ve experienced too, you know, in my consulting with firms, the smaller firms still tend to be run by a committee or consensus and there isn’t the one person in that ceo role, if you will. and many of them are making more money than they ever thought they would make and they’re thinking, “hey, life’s pretty good, like, why should we do anything differently because it’s worked for us all this time?” i could see your reaction, so tell me your thoughts.

carl: oh, my gosh. you and i, because i think i know where you’re going, we’re on the same page with this. it’s like you are absolutely right. some, you know, when they talk to me, they’re sharing their numbers with me and they’re making more money than they ever did in their lifetime. but they’re also at a point where they really should be retiring, but they can’t give that up because they love that money, but then they’re also not evolving and changing, being ready for retirement or ready for succession because they’re still doing the same old thing. i mean, they’re resting on the laurels of, “you know what, all i had to do is raise the fees, all i had to do is terminate some of my clients. i’m making more money. i’m reducing the number of hours i’m working. life is great.”

but that’s okay today, right, with covid and all the things that have happened and where the market seems to be going. small firms that aren’t really looking for clients for the most part. a lot of them, right, that are going like, “i don’t need any. i’m making all this money. there’s all these firms that are getting rid of their clients, and they all come to me and i can either take them or not take them.” okay, that works right now, but that’s not going to work forever. i think this is a, you know, finite period of time where we have this opportunity where there’s more clients out there that we can get, we can charge fees that are great, and we have all these positive things happen, but you got to be making a change, right, you got to be looking to the future because, you know, again, you got to keep that pipeline going. your client growth is an important component of the future. so maybe not today so much, but in the future.

jean: i’ve recorded a couple of episodes around the topic of firms remaining independent and one of those key criteria is having that succession plan because if you don’t have the folks behind you to take over the leadership and ownership of the firm, you’re not going to be going any…your firm is not going to remain independent and also not growing and sticking with those clients, you are stalling career paths for those folks on your team and that’s only going to last so long too. those people are not going to stay at that firm if they don’t see a future for themselves.

carl: absolutely right. you know, it’s interesting, i think with private equity coming into the profession and all of that, you know, the buzzwords today seem to be remaining independent, you know, as a firm and, you know, we can do that. i think firms can do that. but i think you’re absolutely right. i think they have to not rest on their laurels, you know? if they want to be independent and grow, they got to take into consideration structure and governance. am i really structured right by the right governance for the future? and i’d suggest that most small firms don’t have that exactly right. they’re still going, “well, you know what, we did better than last year. we did better than the year before. life is good. why would i make a change?” well, we need to do that.

jean: and that change is not going to happen until the leadership themselves see that they need it.

carl: oh, my god.

jean: it’s not something you could talk somebody into, is what i’m trying to say.

carl: absolutely. i’ll tell you one interesting thing over the last several…you know, i visit with a lot of firms during the spring and the fall especially, but all throughout the year, and what i’ve noticed with some of the groups i’ve met with, there are practitioners who are getting older and they have had their succession in place, right? they, you know, brought in a younger person and they grew and they’re now a partner and they’ve been ready to transition out. all of a sudden that partner’s now 60 years old, and they go, “wait a minute, i’m still working, i’m 70-something, my 60-year-old now is talking about retirement.” you really weren’t thinking about the future there very well. you need to just retire at the right time. but anyway, a lot of these things are happening.

jean: right, exactly. oh, my goodness. so you’ve talked to us about, you know, traveling the country and meeting with leaders and firms, you know, everywhere. again, getting back to firm growth or evolving, you know, as a firm, in addition to the succession issue, what are some of the other roadblocks, or common roadblocks that you see that keep firms from accomplishing that?

carl: well, i do think it’s really…in small firms, it’s the leaders that are just getting in their way. i think you need to lead. you mentioned consensus earlier, i don’t think that’s the right model, just me personally, i don’t think it’s the right model. but you need to be a visionary leader and maybe new governance and structure to where you have, you know, small group of executives or partners, depending on how many people you have in your firm, to work on that strategic planning.

small firms…when i was in practice, we didn’t do strategic planning very well at all. we were probably similar to firms today, “life is great, we’re doing some great things. oh, what’s going to come along next year? we’re going to have this…” all of a sudden we’ve got this great big project to do. we’re a small firm of six people, you know, we work in the project, we make more money, life is good, and we get more referrals, life is great, but we could have done a better job in strategic planning and having that be an ongoing event involving staff so they’re engaged and supportive of the change, and they keep that entrepreneurial spirit because it’s working internally, we can really apply that to our clients and just continue to grow the culture and the feeling that we have with our firm.

jean: so you have been a strong advocate for small firms. what are you most proud of accomplishing during your tenure at the aicpa?

carl: oh, jean, i’ll tell you. i’d like to say i single-handedly created, you know, and dealt with something, right, that i single-handedly achieved an audit standard for lesser complex entities, or big gap, little gap, because, you know, i get that complaint forever by small firms, if that’s what they want. well, i don’t know. so recently i was awarded from this alaska society of cpas, their annual distinguished service award, which, you know, i don’t live in alaska, i’m not from alaska, but they gave this to me, and they shared why and the reasons behind it, there are several people in alaska very involved with aicpa and very involved with the profession and they shared with me the impact that i had on them or firms, not only in alaska, but other people that they interact with around the country.

and reminding me not only how i directly impacted their members, but some of them have really specific memories how my listening, advising, and the guidance to others that i gave helped many of them in their next step in their firm’s life cycle, in their personal life cycle. some really, i’m serious, had tears in their eyes as they’re sharing this and they knew the impact that i had on their friends that were in the profession. i’ll tell you what, when they shared that, that was powerful.

and it brought home to me that while i may not have single-handedly achieved big gap, little gap kind of changes, which literally would’ve been monumental, right, i did have a direct impact on the personal lives of firm owners and ultimately their staff. that’s probably what i’m most proud of. and when they announced my retirement, mark koziel said in that announcement, he said that i made our members feel that they were being taken care of, that i made it personal. and that’s probably what i’m most proud of.

jean: oh, gosh. and i know you’re probably being humble also, but when you get feedback like that, i know that it’s very rewarding, like, it could be a sense of pride for you in not only what you did at the aicpa, but how you did it, like the style that you have.

carl: yeah, i appreciate the thoughts. i think that’s true. i think my style is, i don’t know if it’s unique, but i think it was of value during the time period that i’ve been there. it was what was needed. at least i feel that way with these comments that i get from these members, that i was the right person at the right time.

jean: well, kudos to you for that. so what advice would you give the next generation of cpa firm leaders who want to stay independent and grow their firms?

carl: so i would tell you, you know, that being a cpa and having cpas on staff created the firm values today, private equity wouldn’t be interested if we didn’t have the value the firms have today, that we don’t have the relationships that we have. it’s not just the people, it’s also the people with that credential. and i would say don’t lose sight of that. i mean, i remember reminding me, you know, last week when we were having a conversation on young staff and somebody came up and said, “really, what’s the value of just being a cpa?”

and he said, “you know, when you go into a room, you have instant credibility, you have instant respect.” and that’s in any situation, whether it’s a business meeting or life situation, somebody finds that you’re a cpa, you have that instant credibility and, you know, i think we just can’t lose sight of that. and that doesn’t have anything really to do directly with independent as a firm, but i think the profession overall and the firm’s value overall is there because of the credential and we need to be proud of that and make sure that young staff are aware of that value of that credential.

jean: so i’m going to go off script because that was your answer. so tell me what you think about the firms that have infused private equity now being asked or required not to refer to themselves as cpas.

carl: so i have to say, when it started to happen…you can delete this, i was pissed and really super irritated. but as we go through the pipeline, you know, changes that different states are doing with regulatory changes on licensing, things like that, i can see the value of not holding out as a cpa because listen, put it in a small firm perspective, we don’t have the resources to make sure that every state that our clients are in, that we’re communicating in, that we have the true mobility and ability to hold out as a cpa.

is it cleaner and easier than from a regulatory standpoint to say, you know what, i’m not going to put it on any communications? probably, but i don’t like it. and so i think that i’ve come to where i’m not going to push back on these, because i do have a lot of interactions with private equity firms and groups, and i think they’re great at what they do, and i think they’re an important part of our profession today, but i think this is a temporary situation. i believe, and maybe the private equity people will say, “you’re crazy,” but i believe that, first of all, they’re going to recognize that cpas created the value of what you just invested in, right. and if you don’t make sure that that value or that credential awareness is out there, your young staff aren’t going to want to be that.

so then what are you? are you just a consulting firm? because eventually young entrepreneurs who get a cpa are going to go do their own thing and they’re going to be out there competing against…i truly think that’ll happen. but i also think that the mobility issue, as we work on uniformity across all the states over a period of time here, and hopefully it’s a short period of time, that we’ll have that kind of driver’s license type of mobility again. and when that happens, why wouldn’t you put that credential out there because now you don’t have a regulatory issue? i believe in that. i think that’s what’s going to happen. so, okay, i’m okay right now, but let’s make sure we keep…just to remember, cpas are what made you valuable.

jean: so i’ve got two questions left. if you could leave the profession one last call to action, what would it be?

carl: it ties back to the credential. it’s really, you know, call to action is make sure…emphasize the awareness and the value of the cpa credential because right now, i don’t think…you know, it’s viewed by everybody, i think, as being super valuable. but if we’re going to stop using it and letting people be aware…i mean, the call to action really is just to, you know, make the world aware of the value of being a cpa at every age level, actually. there’s a book…there’s actually probably more than one book. so i have now eight grandchildren. but there’s a book you can read to your grandchildren that is for, you know, ages 3 or 4 or 5 about becoming a cpa. everybody should have that book for their grandkids. we got to start early, jean.

jean: plant the seed. that’s…

carl: that’s right. my goal is half of them are going to become cpas.

jean: well, it’s a numbers game, right? you know, if you’re starting with eight, who knows, you know, when you make it with four cpas, you’ll see.

carl: that’s great.

jean: so my last question is a bonus question. if you could go back and relive one day, not to change it, but just to enjoy it again, what day would that be?

carl: oh, my gosh. that’s a great question. well, this sounds so cliche, but, you know, when i got married, it was an amazing day. it was just amazing. and i met my wife at continued education put on by aicpa in northern minnesota at a resort. and we’re still married today. and she’s a cpa.

jean: so that was meant to be, carl. it was destined, oh gosh, to meet your wife at cpe. that’s probably happened more than once, i would think…

carl: i’m sure.

jean: …when we’re thinking about the world of accountants. oh, my goodness. well, i have been speaking with carl peterson, vp of small firm interests at the aicpa. carl, this has been a delight and i appreciate so much you sharing your thoughts and reflections about the profession and your experiences. and i want to wish you the happiest of retirements.

carl: well, thank you, jean. i appreciate. i’ve truly enjoyed it. i wish we would’ve done this before, but as you say, we’re looking forward, we’re good, and who knows what happens next, right, after my retirement. you never know.

jean: who knows? who knows? and thank you for joining in for “gear up for growth.” be sure to check us out next time when we focus on another topic crucial for accounting firms aiming for smart growth in today’s competitive marketplace. i’ll see you then.

carl peterson: succession or stagnation? | gear up for growth

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