This session will provide an update on mergers and acquisitions and capital raising trends and activity, as well as how to support your clients who are positioning their company for a sale and exploring strategic alternatives.

An advisory practice is different from a traditional audit or tax practice in many ways, from economics to staffing to operations. This session will discuss “the why” behind an advisory practice, the operational essentials, how to identify advisory opportunities, and the economics that will help your advisory practice thrive.

There is a broad range of risk advisory services that CPA firms are poised to deliver, and this panel discussion will cover various aspects of growing a successful risk advisory services practice, including all the elements that go into strategic planning, go-to-market planning, expansion efforts and broad-based marketing efforts, practice-wide.

Every deal is different and requires a holistic approach to managing client risk and executing on tight timelines. The market is always moving and impacting due diligence and deal structures. This session will cover the state of transaction advisory services and address the current trends that may be helpful to advisors providing these services.

Making data-driven decisions is increasingly important. The world is moving faster and the systems and data at our disposal can be overwhelming. Whether for the CPA firm or its clients, building financial dashboards to provide integrated, timely and relevant information is a must-have to meet the challenges we face and to fuel growth. This session will cover how to strategically approach building a dashboard, determining the metrics to track, identifying your data sources, and leveraging technology tools to deliver results.

Every company is a unique mix of underlying assets and liabilities that requires careful evaluation and analysis. Clients need to look ahead at the broader implications as they prepare for the next step in their journey. Panelists with deep, cross-industry experience will share the latest on business valuations with a focus on succession planning and preparing clients for various exit events.

No economist can predict the depth or duration of a downturn with perfect precision. But past company performance shows that weathering economic uncertainty is predicated on business resilience: the capacity to withstand business shocks and pivot to new opportunities. By leaning into resilience principles, companies in all stages of business health can find opportunity in economic adversity and accelerate growth coming out of it. This session will provide background to guide the conversation with your clients to determine their level of resilience to a recession and the most impactful path forward given their circumstances.

Building on last year, this session will continue to look at innovative and engaging solutions to provide your clients. Panelists will discuss how to leverage technology to develop impactful products, solutions and services. They will also highlight recently developed and innovative products, solutions and engagement models, such as SOX Insights, Deal Analytics and Demand Generation solutions.

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) factors are increasingly utilized by company stakeholders for evaluating an organization’s ability to manage future risks and opportunities. Ensuring your clients understand the usefulness of ESG reporting, as well as proper reporting requirements and how they should be developed, communicated and audited, is critical. In this panel discussion, we will demonstrate how a strong connection between reporting, storytelling and auditing can produce positive outcomes for organizations looking to share and highlight their ESG efforts with clients and stakeholders. We will also share case studies on how other CPA firms have supported their clients in developing and implementing their ESG strategy and story.

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) is a hot topic and understanding the ESG journey is likely the first step any organization will need as they begin thinking about sustainability risks to their business. This session will cover insights into current requests for ESG services in the marketplace and how the ESG market is developing in the middle market.