Why Culture Beats Capital in Building Independent CPA Firms | Carla McCall

“You're not going to take an old process and fit it into a new tech box.”

Carla McCall believes the firms struggling most with AI are often the ones trying hardest to preserve the way they’ve always operated.

As Managing Partner of AAFCPAs and former Chair of the AICPA, Carla shares why firms need to rethink management habits, communication structures, and even how young professionals are trained in an AI-enabled world.

Tune in to hear how AAFCPAs scaled from $16M to nearly $80M by building a people-first culture.

Connect with us here:

1. Carla McCall- https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlamccallaaf/

2. Kacee Johnson- https://www.linkedin.com/in/kacee-johnson/

3. Digits- https://www.linkedin.com/company/digits-financial/

(00:00) Trailer

(01:11) Introduction

(03:22) The path to becoming managing partner

(05:17) Lessons from chairing the AICPA

(07:39) Launching work from anywhere

(09:22) What changed to make remote work successful

(12:33) Happy team members equal happy clients

(14:57) Organic growth without PE

(18:30) What to say to leaders pushing return to office

(22:42) What young talent actually wants from firms

(25:16) How AI is reshaping early career work

(27:23) Rolling out an enterprise-wide LLM

(32:51) Starting with agentic pilots in audit

(35:31) The highest value role for accountants going forward

(39:43) Lightning round

(41:23) Wrap-up

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