About CPAFMA

Community Connections

CPA Firm Management Association is the one representative voice of the profession. The Association leads CPA firm management by empowering all CPA firms to thrive while expanding knowledge, sharing experiences, achieving through collaboration, influencing leadership and envisioning possibilities.

CPA Firm Management Association was founded on January 1, 1984, to enable accounting firm managers to communicate with one another and provide each other with the benefits of everyone's experiences in what was a new and emerging profession. Through a combination of local meetings and seminars, national conferences, publications and surveys, CPAFMA, a firm-based membership association, has continued to offer benefits to members at minimal cost.

The Association is the one representative voice of the profession. Many of our members put forth a great deal of effort toward educating the public accounting profession about the benefits of hiring professional firm managers to run the operations of their respective firms. They have also largely shaped the profession, determined the direction for manager career pathing, and have been on the cutting edge of developments in our profession.

CARES is the framework within which all CPAFMA activities and efforts align.
See what’s in store for the next three years!
Community & Connections
  • Three Year Picture
    • Continue to cultivate a strong sense of community
  • 2025 Goal
    • Drive member engagement through enhanced studio exchange structure
Advocate & Elevate
  • Three Year Picture
    • Build enhanced demand for PAFM Certification
  • 2025 Goal
    • Develop an updated PAFM model by the end of 2025
Resources & Tools
  • Three Year Picture
    • Create and promote ready-to-use resources
  • 2025 Goal
    • Complete at least one survey to gather member information that can be used to position CPAFMA with our target audiences
Education & Knowledge
  • Three Year Picture
    • Increase overall CONNECTIONS registration by more than 20% (over 2024)
    • Increase the number of CPAFMA member firms represented at CONNECTIONS each year
    • Build content specific to the Human Resources function
  • 2025 Goal
    • Develop & implement a content strategy that aligns educational topics across Webinars, Studio Exchanges, and tools/resources and is crafted for the target audiences
Strategy & Implementation
  • Three Year Picture
    • Work toward an annual financial surplus
    • Draft & implement a membership growth plan
    • Establish high functioning committees
    • Grow to a total of 500 total member firms
  • 2025 Goal
    • Realign Board positions to new strategic priorities by November 30, 2024
    • Develop a membership growth/outreach strategy by May 1, 2025

CARES Gathering

Upcoming Events

CPAFMA Connections 2027
June 15 - 18, 2027

CPAFMA Connections 2027

Save the Date! CONNECTIONS 2027 will take place in Louisville, Kentucky, June 15-18! 2027 Connections Conference—our national stand-alone conference bringing together firm management professionals from across the country for education, inspiration, and connection. The conference includes sessions that range from high-level practice management sessions to the smaller breakout sessions led by firm managers and geared to specific ...

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Beyond the Chatbot: What It Actually Takes to Deploy AI Safely in Your Firm
August 27, 2026

Beyond the Chatbot: What It Actually Takes to Deploy AI Safely in Your Firm

General AI chatbots can help accounting firms—but they often lack the context, security, and controls needed for professional work. This session explores the difference between general-purpose AI and platform-native AI built with firm data in context, including recent IRS guidance on reviewing AI-assisted work. See how Canopy’s native AI execution layer, Coworker, uses a human-in-the-loop approach to help firms stay in control of AI-generated outputs.

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