40 Essential Thought Leaders in Accounting Firm Leadership (2026)

Last updated: June 2026

The people running accounting firms today face a leadership challenge unlike anything their predecessors encountered. Artificial intelligence is reshaping what accountants do. Private equity is restructuring how firms own themselves. A talent pipeline crisis is squeezing the supply of qualified professionals at the exact moment demand for advisory services is accelerating. The leaders on this list are the people doing the hard work of navigating that complexity from inside the firm. As of June 2026, each of them holds a serving role at an accounting firm or professional network, and each has built, transformed, or grown something that the profession has documented and noticed.

This is not a list of the most-followed voices on social media. Some of these leaders are extremely active online and have shaped the profession's public conversation for years. Others are managing partners who are too busy building their firms to post daily on LinkedIn. What they share is documented impact: firms that have grown faster than their peers, cultures that have won independent recognition, strategies that have moved the profession forward in ways that trade press, award bodies, and professional associations have reported on.

The accounting profession is at one of the most pivotal moments in its history. The median CPA firm grew revenue 6.7% in fiscal year 2024, according to the AICPA's 2025 National Management of an Accounting Practice Survey. That headline figure masks extraordinary variation: the fastest-growing firms are expanding at ten times that rate while others are contracting. The leaders on this list are disproportionately represented among the former group.

There is no shortage of technical expertise in this profession. What firm after firm reports struggling with is the people side: leadership development, communication, team alignment, and building cultures that retain talent through a period of rapid change. That is the gap Jonno White, Certified Working Genius Facilitator and author of Step Up or Step Out (10,000+ copies sold), works specifically on with accounting and professional services firm leadership teams.

To explore how Jonno's working genius facilitation and executive team offsites might support your firm, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Each person on this list was selected based on one of two criteria. The first group consists of serving firm leaders with independently documented evidence of what they have built or changed at their organisation in the past two to three years. The second group consists of accounting firm leaders who are actively shaping the profession's conversation on leadership, strategy, technology, and the future of the firm. Both groups are represented across seven categories below.

Why Accounting Firm Leadership Matters

Great technical work does not automatically produce great leadership. The accounting firm is one of the most demanding leadership environments on earth. Managing partners must lead equity partners who are simultaneously owners, operators, and fee earners. They must align people who chose a profession specifically because they value autonomy. They must make firm-wide strategic decisions in organisations where authority is genuinely distributed among partners who can walk out and take clients with them.

The stakes of getting this wrong are significant. Firms with poor leadership cultures face higher turnover among their best people, lower audit quality, weaker client retention, and greater vulnerability to the consolidation wave that is reshaping the industry. The private equity acceleration of the past three years has raised the bar further. Firms that enter the PE ecosystem need management infrastructure, governance clarity, and cultural alignment that many partnerships have never needed to develop.

The leaders on this list have shown, in different ways and at different scales, that it is possible to build a high-performing, growing accounting firm that people want to work at and clients want to stay with. Their example is the most useful data the profession has on what good firm leadership actually looks like.

For accounting firm leaders working to develop their own leadership teams, Jonno White works with professional services firms on the specific challenges of team alignment, accountability, and communication. Email jonno@consultclarity.org to discuss what that kind of engagement looks like.

How This List Was Compiled

For the first group of leaders, selection required at least two independent sources confirming a specific initiative they led, a measurable result at the organisation during their tenure, an external award or recognition, or substantive third-party coverage of what they have done. Current incumbency in the role was confirmed for every person. For the second group, selection required consistent original content contribution in 2025 or 2026 and evidence of LinkedIn activity and professional engagement with the firm leadership conversation. Every person appears once. This list draws on Accounting Today, INSIDE Public Accounting, Business and Accountancy Daily, CPA Practice Advisor, the International Accounting Forum and Awards, and primary firm sources.

Category 1: Firm Builders

These leaders have transformed their firms' scale, revenue, and reach in ways the profession has documented.

1. Richard Kopelman

CEO and managing partner of Aprio, one of the fastest-growing advisory and accounting firms in the United States, Richard Kopelman has spent more than a decade executing an acquisition-led growth strategy grounded in a people-first culture. Based in Atlanta, Kopelman has held the CEO role since 2013 and has guided the firm to its current position among the top 25 accounting firms nationally.

Under his leadership, Aprio has completed 48 strategic acquisitions and expanded to 42 US offices and three international locations, scaling to approximately $800 million in pro forma revenue and nearly 3,000 professionals. In 2024, Aprio secured a growth investment from Charlesbank Capital Partners, a move Kopelman has positioned as an accelerant for technology investment and further M&A, not a departure from the firm's partner-led culture. He was named to Accounting Today's 2025 Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting and to Atlanta Magazine's 2026 Atlanta 500 for the eighth consecutive year.

2. Jason Tuffs

Chairman and CEO of MNP, Canada's largest independent accounting, tax, and business consulting firm, Jason Tuffs has built a national practice from its regional origins since taking the CEO role in 2015. Under his leadership, MNP has expanded from a firm with strong roots in Western Canada to a coast-to-coast operation with offices from Vancouver Island to St. John's, Newfoundland.

The firm executed approximately 40 acquisitions in 2024 alone, including the addition of 21 former BDO Canada offices spanning four provinces. That followed MNP's 2021 acquisition of 26 Deloitte Canada offices, which added nearly 900 professionals and significantly expanded the firm's Quebec presence. With over 8,600 team members and 128 offices nationally as of 2024, MNP now serves clients at a scale it could not have approached a decade ago.

3. Francesca Lagerberg

CEO of Baker Tilly International since June 2022, Francesca Lagerberg leads one of the world's largest accounting and advisory networks, spanning 147 territories. She is the first British woman to serve as global CEO of a top 10 accounting network or firm. Under her leadership, Baker Tilly International's global revenues have grown by nearly 70% over five years, from approximately $4 billion to a record $6.8 billion in 2025. Revenue expanded in all regions in 2025.

Lagerberg has also overseen a sustained increase in female partner representation across the network, which reached a record 27% in 2025. She was awarded 2024 Personality of the Year at the International Accounting Forum and Awards in London, with judges recognising her as an outspoken leader who has made a significant contribution to the network's growth. Her public commentary on private equity, talent, and the future of the profession has shaped how the international network thinks about strategy and governance.

4. Vishesh Chandiok

CEO of Grant Thornton Bharat, the professional services firm he co-founded in India in 2001, Vishesh Chandiok has built what is now one of India's most significant mid-market accounting and advisory practices. The firm has grown to more than 10,000 professionals across 20 locations, with combined revenue of approximately $130 million as of 2024, reflecting a 21% compound annual growth rate over five years.

Chandiok was the youngest member elected to the Global Board of Governors of Grant Thornton International, serving from 2016 to 2021, and in 2024 became the first Indian council member residing outside India to be initiated into the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Grant Thornton Bharat added 59 new partners in 2024.

5. Jim Peko

CEO of Grant Thornton Advisors LLC in the United States, Jim Peko has led one of the most structurally significant transformations in US public accounting over the past two years. In 2024, New Mountain Capital acquired a significant stake in Grant Thornton Advisors, separating the advisory business from the audit firm to meet regulatory independence requirements, making Grant Thornton one of the first major US accounting brands to fully execute the dual-entity structure that private equity investment requires.

Under Peko's leadership, Grant Thornton admitted 91 new partners and managing directors in 2025 and announced plans to extend its multinational platform from the Americas into Europe and the Middle East. The firm has used PE-backed capital to invest in international expansion, with the Middle East identified as a priority growth market.

6. E.J. Nedder

CEO of RSM International, Ernest Nedder took over from longtime CEO Jean Stephens in June 2024 and led the organisation through one of its most consequential strategic announcements: the proposed merger of RSM US and RSM UK into a single transatlantic firm of over 23,000 professionals and annual revenues of approximately $5 billion, announced in October 2024.

Under the 2030 global strategy Nedder has championed, RSM reached $10 billion in global revenue in 2024, becoming only the sixth accounting network globally to reach that milestone. The organisation's Middle East and North Africa business grew 38% that year, and Africa grew 17%, reflecting the network's geographic diversification beyond its traditional North American base.

7. Carla McCall

Managing partner of AAFCPAs and immediate past chair of the AICPA, Carla McCall has led the New England-based CPA and consulting firm since 2011 and simultaneously shaped the national conversation on what firm leadership should look like in a transforming profession. She was elected as the 111th chair of the AICPA in May 2024, only the seventh woman to hold the role.

At AAFCPAs, McCall has driven an expansion of services well beyond core audit and tax, adding outsourced accounting, wealth management, robotic process automation, IT and cybersecurity, and data analytics as firm capabilities. She has been named to Accounting Today's Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting in 2024 and to the Most Powerful Women in Accounting list from 2020 through 2025. Her approach to building a human-first culture at her firm has become one of the most cited models in the profession.

Category 2: Culture Architects

These leaders have built firm cultures with independent recognition from employees, peers, and professional associations.

8. Tim Petrey

Managing Partner of HD Growth Partners, Tim Petrey represents a model of intentional leadership transition that the profession increasingly discusses. His deliberate shift from client-facing practitioner to firm CEO, which he has described publicly as one of the most personally challenging decisions of his career, has been credited with the firm's recognition by Accounting Today as one of the Best Accounting Firms to Work For. In 2024, HD Growth Partners joined David Wurtzbacher's Ascend platform, a network for high-growth independent accounting firms.

Petrey's willingness to step back from billable work to focus on strategy, people development, and firm culture has been documented in trade press coverage of leadership development in 2025. His example is particularly relevant for mid-sized firms navigating the transition from founder-led or technically-led management to genuinely professional firm leadership.

9. Suzanne Forbes

CEO of James Moore and Company, a Florida-based CPA and advisory firm with approximately 250 professionals, Suzanne Forbes led her firm through a complete governance model transformation documented in the Journal of Accountancy. The transformation was triggered by a practical problem: the firm needed clarity on who held authority for key personnel decisions across its five offices and remote staff. Forbes interviewed roughly 25 managing partners of firms that had undergone governance transformations, conducted a full SWOT analysis, and executed a ground-up revision of the firm's governance model.

The resulting clarity of responsibility and accountability has positioned James Moore and Company to navigate the M&A-driven consolidation of the profession as an independent practice with a clear strategic identity. Forbes is based in Gainesville, Florida.

10. David Wurtzbacher

Founder and CEO of Ascend, the Virginia-based accounting firm platform that provides capital and operational support to independent CPA firms, David Wurtzbacher has built an organisation whose distinctive approach to firm leadership starts with language. At Ascend, the managing partners of member firms are called CEOs rather than managing partners, a deliberate reframing intended to shift how they think about their role. That reframing has become one of the most discussed ideas in the profession's leadership conversation.

Ascend firms appear repeatedly on Accounting Today's fastest-growing and best-workplaces lists. Several Ascend member firms reported growth rates above 20% in 2024. Wurtzbacher has described the current moment as a once-in-a-generation opportunity for firms willing to transform themselves, in Accounting Today's 2026 Top 100 leadership coverage.

11. Louis Grassi

CEO of Grassi, a New York-based accounting and advisory firm, Louis Grassi led the firm through one of the more structurally unusual transitions in recent US accounting history. In 2023, Grassi converted the firm to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan model, giving employees ownership stakes and aligning the firm's financial performance directly with employee incentives. This ownership culture has driven strong organic growth since the transition and positions the firm distinctively at a time when most growth conversations in the profession centre on private equity.

Grassi is among the firms featured in Accounting Today's 2026 Top 100 Firms coverage, where Grassi himself was quoted describing the ESOP model as the foundation of the firm's client-focused growth strategy.

12. Laura Sprouse

CEO of Brown Edwards, a mid-Atlantic accounting firm with 12 offices, Laura Sprouse has built her leadership approach around employee listening. A recent survey of the firm's workforce revealed key areas for satisfaction improvement, which led to the rollout of initiatives including a new bonus programme and additional paid time off for hourly employees. Brown Edwards has been recognised by Accounting Today as one of the best accounting firms to work for.

Her focus on the employee experience as a business strategy, rather than as a compliance activity or a standalone HR initiative, reflects a broader shift in how the most successful mid-market accounting firms in the US are approaching talent retention at a time of acute pipeline pressure.

Category 3: Global Network Leaders

These leaders run accounting networks or Big Four firms that operate across dozens or hundreds of countries, shaping what accounting looks like globally.

13. Janet Truncale

Global Chair and CEO of EY, Janet Truncale became the first woman to lead a Big Four accounting firm anywhere in the world when she assumed the role on 1 July 2024. She leads an organisation of 400,000 professionals across 150 countries, which achieved $50 billion in revenues in its most recent financial year. Prior to her election as Global Chair and CEO, Truncale served as Regional Managing Partner for EY's Americas Financial Services Organisation, leading a team of more than 14,000 professionals.

She has spoken publicly about her commitment to building the next generation of EY leaders, and her appointment was received as a signal that the Big Four are willing to elevate leaders whose identity and style differ from the historical template for global professional services leadership.

14. Mohamed Kande

Global Chairman of PwC, Mohamed Kande has driven the firm's transformation into a technology-enabled professional services organisation, with AI, cloud services, and digital upskilling positioned as central to PwC's competitive offer. In 2025, PwC won the SAP Innovation Award for its AI-powered sustainability reporting engine and was named to TIME's Best Companies for Future Leaders list. Kande has led a sustained push to position PwC as a partner in its clients' digital transformation programmes.

His background spanning both advisory and technology gives him a perspective on professional services transformation that is unusual among Big Four global leaders. He has emphasised workforce upskilling as a strategic priority, not just a talent management function, making PwC one of the more vocal Big Four voices on AI and the future of professional work.

15. Richard Houston

Senior Partner and CEO of Deloitte UK, Richard Houston has led one of the UK's largest professional services firms through a period of significant investment in technology infrastructure. In 2025, Deloitte UK launched four new technology delivery centres in Belfast, Cardiff, Manchester, and Newcastle. The firm's internal generative AI platform, PairD, reached more than one million prompts per month from UK employees alone as of Deloitte's 2025 annual review.

Houston has spoken publicly about the firm's approach to AI as an enabler of professional work rather than a replacement for it, and has positioned workforce upskilling as the key variable in whether AI becomes a positive force for the UK economy. His commentary reflects the broader challenge all Big Four firms face: how to lead AI adoption internally without undermining the professional workforce it is built on.

16. Joelene Pierce

CEO of KPMG South Africa from March 2026, Joelene Pierce was elected by KPMG South Africa's partners in July 2025 to succeed retiring CEO Ignatius Sehoole. She brings 26 years at the firm, including 19 years as a partner, and has served as Head of Financial Services in South Africa and as a member of the KPMG South Africa Policy Board.

Her appointment is notable in the South African context as a demonstration of internal succession planning at a time when many accounting firm leadership transitions are externally recruited. Pierce's expertise spans retail banking, corporate treasuries, securities trading, and asset-based securitisation, making her one of the most technically credentialed financial services specialists to assume a firm-wide leadership role at a major South African accounting organisation.

Category 4: Technology and Innovation Leaders

These leaders are shaping how accounting firms think about artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and the technology-enabled future of practice.

17. Gary Boomer

Founder of Boomer Consulting and one of the most consistently cited technology visionaries in the accounting profession, Gary Boomer has spent decades helping accounting firms navigate the transition from paper-based practice to cloud-based, technology-enabled advisory. He has been named to Accounting Today's Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting repeatedly and has been a CPA Practice Advisor Top 25 Thought Leader across multiple years.

Boomer's work in 2025 and 2026 has focused on AI readiness for accounting firms, with his consulting and Boomer Circles network providing a structured community for managing partners navigating the AI transition. His influence in the technology and innovation conversation is especially strong in the mid-market, where firms lack the internal R&D capacity of the Big Four.

18. Jennifer Alleva

CEO of Withum, a Top 25 US accounting and advisory firm headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, Jennifer Alleva leads a practice that grew 23.84% in 2024, reaching $122.63 million in revenue. She is a rare example of a female managing partner of a Top 25 US firm.

The firm's technology investment has been a consistent feature of Accounting Today's coverage of best-in-class firm strategy. Withum's focus on technology-enabled advisory services, particularly in sectors such as cannabis, blockchain, and life sciences, has been part of what distinguishes its growth trajectory from firms of similar scale.

19. Erik Asgeirsson

President and CEO of CPA.com, the AICPA affiliate responsible for technology strategy and business model innovation for the profession, Erik Asgeirsson has driven some of the most consequential technology shifts in US accounting, including the profession's adoption of cloud accounting, client advisory services, and most recently AI. He has been recognised repeatedly by Accounting Today as one of the most influential people in accounting.

His role sits at the intersection of the profession's largest association and the technology decisions of member firms nationwide, giving him a platform to shape how thousands of firms approach their digital transitions. His prediction for 2026 that client accounting and advisory services would emerge as a true advisory category distinct from bookkeeping has influenced how many mid-market firms think about their service line strategy.

20. Hisham Farouk

CEO of Grant Thornton UAE, Hisham Farouk has led what was described in 2025 as one of the fastest-growing practices in the Grant Thornton network and was the first firm in the Middle East region to join the Grant Thornton Advisors platform in 2025. His leadership of the UAE practice has coincided with significant growth in the MENA professional services market, where RSM International reported a 38% jump in MENA revenues in 2024.

Farouk's positioning of the UAE practice as a regional hub with global connectivity reflects the broader shift of the Middle East toward centre stage in global professional services. The UAE's regulatory modernisation, its growing role as a financial and advisory hub, and its talent attraction have made it one of the most interesting markets for accounting firm strategy globally.

Category 5: Talent and People Leaders

These leaders are shaping how accounting firms think about hiring, retention, development, and the profession's talent pipeline.

21. Lexy Kessler

Partner at Aprio and current Chair of both the AICPA and the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, Lexy Kessler succeeded Carla McCall in the AICPA Chair role, continuing what has become a sustained run of women shaping the association's direction. She was named to Accounting Today's 2025 Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting alongside Aprio CEO Richard Kopelman.

Her work on the talent pipeline and the profession's capacity to attract and develop the next generation of accounting professionals has been a consistent theme in her AICPA communications. Her combination of serving as a partner at a major accounting firm while leading the profession's largest association gives her perspective on the talent challenge that purely associative leaders lack.

22. Jennifer Wilson

Co-founder and partner at ConvergenceCoaching, Jennifer Wilson is one of the most consistently recognised consulting voices on talent strategy, leadership development, and succession planning for CPA firms. She has been named to Accounting Today's Top 100, CPA Practice Advisor's Top 25 Thought Leaders, and INSIDE Public Accounting's Most Recommended Consultants lists, as well as the Most Powerful Women in Accounting list.

Her consulting practice focuses specifically on helping accounting firms develop partner-ready talent and build succession plans that do not require a sale to exit. That focus makes her one of the most relevant voices for the significant proportion of independent firms that have not pursued private equity but need to solve the succession problem differently.

23. Lisa Simpson

Vice President of Firm Services at the AICPA, Lisa Simpson is the senior executive responsible for the AICPA's benchmarking, practice management, and member firm support programmes, including the annual MAP Survey that provides the most comprehensive data on CPA firm performance in the United States. Her role makes her one of the most informed people in the profession on what is actually happening inside accounting firms at all size levels.

She was cited in Accounting Today's coverage of the 2025 MAP Survey findings on revenue growth, staffing, and profitability trends. Her work translating that data into accessible guidance for firm leaders is an underrecognised contribution to the profession's ability to benchmark and improve.

24. Kacee Johnson

A long-standing member of CPA Practice Advisor's Top 25 Thought Leaders Symposium since 2017 and named to the Most Powerful Women in Accounting list, Kacee Johnson has spent her career at the intersection of fintech, AI strategy, and accounting firm innovation. She works with accounting firms and technology companies on growth strategy and innovation adoption.

Her commentary on AI's practical implications for accounting talent has been among the more grounded contributions to that conversation, combining a technology provider perspective with direct experience working inside firm strategy and culture. Her consistent presence on the profession's recognised leadership lists reflects sustained contribution rather than a single high-profile moment.

Category 6: Strategy and Growth Advisors

These leaders are consulting advisors and strategic voices who have built practices specifically around helping accounting firms grow, merge, and govern themselves more effectively.

25. Gary Shamis

CEO of Winding River Consulting and a founding figure in accounting firm management consulting, Gary Shamis spent three decades building SS&G Financial Services from a small practice into the 37th largest accounting and consulting firm in the United States before its acquisition by BDO in 2014. That biography, combined with his subsequent career advising managing partners through his consulting practice and the Managing Partner Bootcamp programme, makes him one of the most credentialled voices on what firm transformation actually requires.

Shamis has been widely quoted in 2025 and 2026 trade press on the challenges managing partners face when private equity consolidation, AI adoption, and talent shortages hit simultaneously. His perspective is notable because it is grounded in having actually built and exited a major accounting firm, not merely advised others on how to do so.

26. Allan Koltin

CEO of Koltin Consulting Group and widely described as the most influential merger and acquisition advisor in the US accounting profession, Allan Koltin has personally advised on more firm mergers and PE deals than arguably any other person in the profession. His commentary on the private equity wave has become a primary reference point for firm leaders thinking through whether and when to pursue outside capital.

His prediction, made in early 2024, that several PE-backed accounting firms would sell their PE stake to a new buyer in 2026 was documented as one of the most discussed forward-looking views in the profession's 2026 outlook coverage. That predictive track record, combined with his direct deal-making experience, makes him an unusually credible voice on the M&A dynamics that are reshaping the profession.

27. Chad Anschuetz

CEO and Managing Shareholder of Doeren Mayhew, a national CPA and advisory firm headquartered in Troy, Michigan, Chad Anschuetz has led the firm through a period of significant geographic and service expansion. In August 2024, Doeren Mayhew announced a strategic growth partnership with Audax Private Equity, providing capital to accelerate acquisitions and invest in technology and client services. The firm subsequently expanded into Nashville via the acquisition of Thurman Campbell Group in March 2025, and opened a new office in Atlanta through a combination with AGL CPA Group in mid-2025.

Under Anschuetz's leadership, Doeren Mayhew grew 40.93% in its most recent year per Accounting Today's 2026 Fastest-Growing Firms data, positioning the firm among the nation's top 55 accounting and advisory practices. The firm underwent a full rebrand in January 2024 to redefine its market position and value proposition as it entered a new phase of growth.

28. David Toth

Chief Growth Officer at Winding River Consulting and a frequent co-contributor with Gary Shamis on accounting firm strategy, David Toth has become one of the most visible voices on practice growth strategy for mid-market accounting firms in 2025. His analysis of PE-backed firm dynamics, the separation of sales and delivery functions, and the structural changes reshaping firm economics has been consistently cited in the accounting trade press.

By end of 2024, according to a Wall Street Journal report cited in Woodard's accounting practice newsletter, 49 of the top 100 US firms had at least one dedicated growth executive, a trend Toth had been predicting and advising on. His work with managing partners on the transition from practitioner-led to professionally managed firms is one of the more practically useful bodies of advice available to independent firm leaders.

29. Rita Keller

A long-standing management consultant to CPA firms and one of the most recognised voices on firm culture, strategic planning, and managing partner effectiveness, Rita Keller has been named to CPA Practice Advisor's Top 25 Thought Leaders Hall of Fame. She works specifically with managing partners on the behavioural and cultural dimensions of firm leadership that technical training does not address.

Her particular focus is on the gap between what managing partners know they should be doing and what they actually do when left to navigate the ambiguity of partnership leadership without external support. That gap is the one Keller's work is designed to close.

30. Tom Hood

Executive Vice President of Business Growth and Engagement at the AICPA, Tom Hood has been named to Accounting Today's Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting repeatedly and has shaped how the profession thinks about digital transformation and the future of client advisory services. His work at the AICPA has helped translate technology trends into practical guidance for firm leaders across all size segments.

His prediction for 2026, published in CFO Brew's year-ahead outlook, was that client accounting and advisory services would emerge as a true advisory category distinct from bookkeeping, driven by AI automation of transactional accounting. That framing has influenced how a significant number of mid-market firms are thinking about their service line strategy as they plan for a world where much of the compliance work is automated.

Category 7: International and Emerging Voices

These leaders are shaping accounting firm leadership conversations in markets outside the US and UK, or represent perspectives the profession's mainstream discourse underrepresents.

31. Joanne Gorton

CEO of Deloitte Australia since February 2025, Joanne Gorton leads approximately 12,000 professionals across Australia and Papua New Guinea and is a member of the Deloitte Asia Pacific Executive Leadership team. She is only the second woman to be elected to lead a local Big Four firm in Australia, following Cindy Hook's tenure between 2015 and 2018.

Prior to her appointment as CEO, Gorton served as Deloitte Australia's Managing Partner for Audit and Assurance from 2020, during which the A&A business grew significantly. She has spoken publicly about her ambition for every one of Deloitte's 12,000 Australian professionals to be considered an extraordinary leader making change happen, positioning leadership development as a firm-wide strategic investment rather than a senior partner privilege.

32. Anna Anthony

UK and Ireland Managing Partner of EY, elected in October 2024 as the first woman to hold the position in the firm's history. Anthony leads EY's UK and Ireland practice at a time of significant transition for the firm, including the aftereffects of the scrapped Project Everest separation and the need to rebuild partner confidence and client momentum.

Her election represents a generational shift in EY UK leadership and places her among a cohort of women now holding major firm leadership roles across the UK accounting landscape, a concentration that would have been unusual even five years ago.

33. Rakesh Shaunak

Managing Partner of MHA, the UK-based top 15 accounting firm, Rakesh Shaunak has articulated a clear medium-term growth ambition, with the firm targeting revenues of over £500 million annually and exploring additional capital to accelerate expansion. MHA was included in Business and Accountancy Daily's Top 75 UK Accountancy Firms survey in 2025, where Shaunak's growth-oriented commentary was featured.

The firm has continued to add capability and geographic reach without pursuing the private equity route that many of its UK mid-market peers have taken, making MHA one of the more interesting case studies in independent firm strategy in the current environment.

34. Nigel Bostock

Chief Executive of Crowe UK, Nigel Bostock leads the UK arm of the global Crowe network and has been consistently quoted in Business and Accountancy Daily's annual Top 75 Accountancy Firms survey. His 2025 commentary focused on the dual challenge of resource constraints and rising client expectations, positioning Crowe UK's differentiation as centred on client experience and audit quality rather than scale.

Crowe UK completed a merger with Dendy Neville in June 2024. Bostock's tenure has been characterised by steady, culture-conscious growth that prioritises the quality of client relationships over the volume of acquisitions.

35. Wole Obayomi

Tax Partner and National Head of Tax at KPMG Nigeria, Wole Obayomi is one of the most consistently cited voices on tax policy, regulatory reform, and accounting firm leadership in sub-Saharan Africa. He has represented KPMG Nigeria on the national and international stage across tax reform discussions and has been a prominent commentator on Nigeria's tax policy environment.

His position at one of Nigeria's largest professional services firms and his active engagement with the profession's public conversation make him one of the most visible accounting firm leaders in Africa, a continent whose growing professional services sector receives far less coverage in global trade press than its scale warrants.

36. Ron Baker

Founder of the VeraSage Institute and one of the most provocative and enduring strategic voices in the accounting profession, Ron Baker has spent decades arguing that hourly billing fundamentally misaligns accounting firms with the value they deliver. His advocacy for value-based pricing has reshaped how thousands of firms think about their revenue model.

His work is not primarily about managing partners building empires, but about the intellectual foundation that underpins how the firms on this list think about what they charge and why. Baker's influence is the kind that shows up not in revenue statistics but in the thinking of practitioners who have fundamentally changed how they price their work.

Category 8: Voices Reshaping the Future Conversation

These leaders are most active online and are shaping how the profession thinks about the next decade.

37. Jason Blumer

CEO and founder of Thriveal, a community and consulting practice for accounting firm owners, Jason Blumer has been one of the most consistent voices on intentional firm design, advisory capacity, and building accounting practices that reflect the values and ambitions of their founders. He hosts two podcasts, the Thrivecast and the Businessology Show, and his frameworks for firm positioning, pricing, and culture have been widely adopted among independent and boutique accounting firm owners globally.

He is a CPA Practice Advisor Top 25 Thought Leader. His particular contribution is helping firm owners see their practices not as technical delivery vehicles but as businesses that can be intentionally designed around what matters to them. That reframing is more useful than it sounds in a profession where most owners fell into management rather than choosing it.

38. Jody Grunden

Co-founder of Summit CPA Group, which merged with Anders CPAs and Advisors in 2022, Jody Grunden pioneered the subscription-based billing model in accounting, becoming the first firm to introduce a recurring monthly fee structure for accounting services at scale. That innovation, documented in his books Digital Dollars and Cents and Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud, has been adopted by hundreds of firms globally.

His journey from founder to successful integration of Summit into a larger firm provides a model for boutique firm owners thinking about growth and succession. His continued advisory and speaking work post-merger keeps him active in the profession's conversation about the future of practice structure.

39. Louw Barnardt

Co-founder and Managing Director of OCFO, a South African accounting firm named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in South Africa in 2017 and 2019 and Xero Partner of the Year in 2024, Louw Barnardt leads a firm that has built a technology-forward, scalable model for accounting services in the South African market.

His commentary on firm design, team building, and technology adoption has made OCFO one of the most discussed cases in the global conversation about modern accounting firm structure. His willingness to share the firm's journey publicly, including lessons from the hard-won decisions around equity sharing and service line design, reflects the transparency that has made him a useful voice for firm owners at an earlier stage of the same journey.

40. Jason Drake

Managing Partner of Plante Moran, one of the nation's largest audit, tax, consulting, and wealth management firms, Jason Drake assumed the role effective July 1, 2024, becoming the firm's eighth managing partner in its 100-year history. Drake has spent his entire professional career at Plante Moran since joining as an intern in 1999, including six years leading the firm's international offices and practice, during which he helped increase international business revenue by 400%, as recognised by Crain's Detroit Business in 2015.

Plante Moran has been named to Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For list for 28 consecutive years as of 2026, making it one of the most enduringly recognised firm cultures in the profession. Drake has articulated his leadership priority as stewardship of that culture while expanding the firm's scope, reach, and capabilities. In 2025, he was recognised as a "Who's Who" Influential Leader by Crain's Detroit Business for his impact on both Plante Moran and the broader business community.

Notable Voices We Almost Included

Several leaders came close to qualifying but were ultimately left off the final list for one of two reasons: their primary role is as advisors to accounting firms rather than leaders of them, or their documented firm-level impact fell outside the two-to-three-year window this list focuses on. Gary Shamis's earlier career building SS&G is among the most instructive case studies in accounting firm growth in modern US professional services history. Kelly Platt of the Platt Group, who publishes INSIDE Public Accounting's annual benchmarking data, has done more for transparency in the profession than most.

It is also worth acknowledging that the Big Four global firms each have regional and practice leaders doing extraordinary work that receives less attention than their globally-prominent CEOs. The people running Big Four country firms in markets like Indonesia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya are navigating leadership challenges as complex as those in any market, with far fewer resources and far less trade press coverage.

Common Mistakes Accounting Firm Leaders Make

The most consistent mistake accounting firm managing partners make is treating leadership as something that happens after the accounting work is done. The technical competence that earns someone a partnership is not the same competence that makes someone an effective firm leader. Managing partners who still define themselves primarily as practitioners, and who treat management tasks as interruptions to their real work, consistently underinvest in the relationship quality, communication clarity, and strategic decision-making that determine whether a firm grows or stalls.

A second common mistake is assuming that culture is something that develops organically without active investment. The firms on this list that have won independent recognition as great workplaces have in common that their managing partners treat culture as a strategic investment, not a by-product of good intentions. Carla McCall's human-first approach at AAFCPAs, Tim Petrey's deliberate shift from practitioner to CEO, and Richard Kopelman's daily-practiced "31 Fundamentals" at Aprio are not accidents. They are the results of deliberate, sustained effort.

A third mistake is underestimating what integration requires after a merger or acquisition. The accounting profession's current M&A wave is producing a large number of combinations that are legal and financial successes but operational and cultural failures. Firms that acquire without investing in the alignment work required to create genuine cohesion end up with geography but not culture, revenue but not team. The leaders who have navigated this well, including Jason Tuffs at MNP and Richard Kopelman at Aprio, have each spoken about culture integration as the primary variable that determines whether acquisitions create or destroy value.

A fourth mistake, becoming more visible as AI changes what accounting staff do, is treating technology as a practice management issue rather than a leadership issue. The accounting firms that are navigating AI most effectively are those whose managing partners have made clear that technology adoption is a strategic priority, not optional.

For accounting firm leadership teams navigating any of these challenges, Jonno White delivers executive team offsites and Working Genius facilitation sessions specifically designed to surface and resolve the team dynamics, communication gaps, and alignment failures that hold professional services firms back. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Implementation Guide

The most immediate value from this list is not inspiration but connection. Many of the leaders featured here are active on LinkedIn, publish newsletters or podcasts, or run events and forums that are accessible to managing partners and firm leaders at any size of practice. Gary Boomer's Boomer Circles provide structured peer learning for firm leaders. David Wurtzbacher's Ascend platform offers capital and operational infrastructure for independent firms with growth ambitions. Allan Koltin's advisory practice is the most direct resource for firms considering a merger or PE transaction.

If you are a managing partner reading this list and you are primarily thinking about the technical side of your leadership challenge, consider expanding that frame. The leaders featured here who have built the most enduring and admired firms are not primarily technical innovators. They are culture builders, communicators, and strategic decision-makers who happened to be accountants. That combination is harder to develop than technical expertise, and it requires active effort.

For managing partners and firm CEOs who want to do that development work systematically, executive team facilitation is one of the highest-leverage investments available. A well-facilitated offsite with a clear agenda, a skilled external facilitator, and a genuine commitment from partners to engage honestly with the firm's strategic and cultural challenges produces outcomes that partner meetings and management committee calls rarely reach.

To explore what that looks like in practice, contact Jonno White at jonno@consultclarity.org. International travel for facilitation is often far more affordable than firms expect, and virtual engagement is available for teams across multiple locations.

For a broader view of thought leadership in the accounting profession, see the directory of

thought leaders in accounting in the USA at consultclarity.org/post/thought-leaders-accounting-usa. For the UK and European financial services leadership landscape, see the directory of

financial services leaders in the UK and Europe at consultclarity.org/post/financial-services-leadership-uk-europe. For Australian and New Zealand context, see the directory of

finance and accounting leaders in ANZ at consultclarity.org/post/finance-accounting-leaders-anz.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is accounting firm leadership and why does it matter?

Accounting firm leadership refers to the strategic, cultural, and operational leadership exercised by the managing partners, CEOs, and senior executives who run accounting and professional services firms. It matters because the decisions these leaders make about talent, technology, governance, and culture determine whether firms can serve clients effectively, retain skilled people, and survive the consolidation and disruption currently reshaping the profession.

How is leading an accounting firm different from leading other organisations?

The fundamental difference is the partnership model. In most organisations, authority flows from ownership. In accounting partnerships, equity partners are simultaneously owners, managers, and fee earners. Managing partners must lead people who have genuine power to leave, take clients, and in many cases block firm-wide strategic decisions. This makes cultural alignment and genuine consensus-building more important in accounting firm leadership than in most other organisational contexts.

What credentials should an accounting firm managing partner have?

Technical accounting credentials such as CPA or CA are typically a prerequisite for reaching partner level, but the credentials most relevant to the managing partner role are leadership skills that formal accounting education does not emphasise: strategic communication, conflict resolution, team alignment, and the ability to hold partners accountable without fracturing the relationships that hold the firm together. Several leaders on this list have pursued executive education and peer learning as deliberate supplements to their technical foundations.

How do you measure the effectiveness of accounting firm leadership?

Key indicators include revenue growth relative to industry benchmarks, staff turnover rates compared to peers, audit quality ratings, client retention rates, partner satisfaction, and the firm's ability to attract and develop the next generation of leaders. Firms that perform consistently well across all of these dimensions are typically led by people who treat leadership development as an ongoing investment rather than a one-time activity.

What are the biggest challenges facing accounting firm leaders today?

The three most cited challenges in 2025 and 2026 are talent, technology, and consolidation. The talent pipeline crisis is forcing firms to compete harder for a shrinking pool of qualified staff. AI is changing what junior and mid-level staff do, requiring significant investments in upskilling and workflow redesign. And private equity-driven consolidation is creating competitive pressure to either grow through M&A or find a distinctive niche that justifies independence.

Final Thoughts

The forty people on this list represent a broad cross-section of what accounting firm leadership looks like in 2026: Big Four global CEOs, independent firm managing partners, network heads, consulting advisors, and online voices. What connects them is not any single characteristic but a shared orientation toward the profession's future rather than its past.

The accounting firm leaders who are building something worth noting are asking harder questions than most. Not "how do we hit this year's revenue target?" but "what kind of firm do we want to be in ten years, and what does that require of us as leaders today?" Those questions do not have accounting answers. They have leadership answers, and finding those answers is the work that distinguishes the people on this list from the vast majority of managing partners who will finish this year doing roughly what they did last year.

If you lead an accounting firm or professional services practice and you are thinking about those harder questions, Jonno White works with leadership teams at exactly this level of challenge. His Working Genius facilitation, executive team offsites, and Step Up or Step Out keynotes are designed for professional services leaders who are ready to invest in the team dynamics, communication quality, and cultural alignment that make the difference between a firm that grows and one that drifts. Bring Jonno in to facilitate your next partner offsite or leadership retreat. Email jonno@consultclarity.org, and find out what international travel actually costs. Many firms discover it is significantly less than they assumed.

About the Author

Jonno White is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, author of Step Up or Step Out, and leadership consultant who has worked with schools, corporates, and nonprofits around the world. His book Step Up or Step Out has sold over 10,000 copies globally, and his podcast The Leadership Conversations has featured 230+ episodes reaching listeners in 150+ countries. Jonno founded The 7 Questions Movement with 6,000+ participating leaders and achieved a 93.75% satisfaction rating for his Working Genius masterclass at the ASBA 2025 National Conference. Based in Brisbane, Australia, Jonno works globally and regularly travels for speaking and facilitation engagements. Organisations consistently find that international travel is far more affordable than expected.

To book Jonno for your next keynote, workshop, or facilitation session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Sources

American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), 2025 National Management of an Accounting Practice Survey. Accounting Today, Top 100 Firms and Regional Leaders 2026. Accounting Today, Fastest-Growing Firms 2026. Baker Tilly International, Global Revenue Results 2025. Grant Thornton Bharat, press releases and firm announcements 2024-2025. International Accounting Forum and Awards 2024.

Next Read

The most influential people shaping the accounting profession in the United States represent a distinct layer of the profession from the firm leaders on this list. For an in-depth directory of the thought leaders who are advising, consulting, and writing about the future of accounting specifically in the US context, see the directory of thought leaders in accounting in the USA.

Keep reading: consultclarity.org/post/thought-leaders-accounting-usa