Making Waves: Ascend CEO David Wurtzbacher On Winning with Talent and Technology

In a recent episode of Making Waves, David Toth, Chief Growth Officer of Winding River Consulting, sat down with David Wurtzbacher, Founder and CEO of Ascend and MPB | Leadership Accelerated Alumni. Below is a summary of their conversation. 

Listen to the full recording of the podcast here. 

How does a firm go from zero to one of the Top 30 CPA firms in the nation within two years? It’s a question that only David Wurtzbacher, CEO of Ascend, can answer. 

Recently named as one of the 100 most influential people in accounting, David leads Ascend: a PE-backed platform that gives entrepreneurial CPAs access to tools and resources they need to grow without compromising their independence. 

The past two years have been an exciting time for David and his team. They’ve acquired over 20 CPA firms, both platforms and add-on acquisitions. Along the way, he’s learned plenty of lessons and developed unique strategies for success. 

Thinking Strategically: The Role of the CEO

Two years in, David has had conversations with hundreds of firm leaders. His business model at Ascend is in stark contrast to the partnership model that’s defined the accounting industry for decades. Whether it’s working with Ascend or seeking capital from another source, he believes it’s incumbent on leaders to make a clear choice:

“There are so many partner groups that can’t make a decision together. To me, it’s unfathomable that anyone can look at the situation today and think they don’t need to act.”

At Ascend, David is looking for ambitious, dynamic firms with an appetite to grow, but with some humility about their ability to do it alone. While all the firm’s partners have to be aligned, the Managing Partner plays an especially important role.

“We don’t call them Managing Partners,” explains David. “We call them CEOs. That’s not just semantics: we’re trying to rewire their approach to leadership and management.”

From David’s perspective, the way the industry thinks about leadership is long overdue for a refresh. While there are plenty of different leadership styles, in David’s view, all leaders have one thing in common: they have followers. 

“As a profession, we have to look ourselves in the mirror and ask what our current talent pipeline challenges tell us about our followership. We have to fix how we approach leadership in this profession. Get that right, and you’ll build a great firm that attracts talented people who will do a great job for clients.”

Putting People First: the Ascend Approach

Unlike most leaders of accounting firms, David hasn’t grown up in the accounting industry. Instead, he brings a fresh perspective and new ideas. He reflects:

“Some of the things corporate America has been doing forever haven’t made their way into public accounting to the same degree. One example: in some firms, employees don’t know who they report into. That’s something we focus on changing.”

Ascend’s Co-Founder and Chief People Officer, Erin Stahmer, helps every new Ascend partner put an effective organizational structure in place. She and her team create clear objectives for each role, bringing everyone into a more traditional corporate model with well-defined reporting relationships. 

Their support goes far beyond that: Ascend provides firms with comprehensive training programs that teach managers how to manage their people effectively, with modules covering everything from giving meaningful performance reviews to sharing difficult feedback. 

Whenever new firms join Ascend’s platform, they embark on the Ascend Proven Process: a series of steps that equips leaders with the tools they need for business transformation. It’s a slightly different journey for every firm, but the effects are the same: more engaged employees, increased innovation, and stronger leadership that ignites growth. 

Balancing Leadership Development and Growth

The firms that have joined the Ascend platform are experiencing significant growth, and so is Ascend itself. One of David’s top priorities is providing leadership development frameworks to enable his team to keep pace with the growth. He comments:

“To not exist two years ago and to be north of $300 million today is a lot to digest. We have almost 60 people at Ascend now, all relatively new to public accounting. It’s key we develop those people at the same rate as we’re growing. 

David encourages his leaders to follow three important rules:

1. Set a big goal. Big goals may seem intimidating at first, but David believes firms are more likely to reach big goals than small goals. Ambitious goals act as a catalyst that creates momentum and energy. 
2. Set a high bar for talent. Ascend is focused on constantly raising the bar and encourages its firms to do the same. 
3. Make time to work on the business. Leaders at Ascend are encouraged to take the time to zoom out and work on their business, then step back in and make progress on executing their strategy. 

As a past participant of MPB | Leadership Accelerated, David credits the program with having a significant impact on the way he views leadership development in accounting firms:

“I don’t think there’s anything like it. There are two big takeaways that I share: first, it’s the job of the Managing Partner to execute the strategy. One of the things that ails this profession is that we put our clients first, which is honorable, but then we get so busy with client work that we get too busy to think about strategy.

The second takeaway I had came from the sessions with Matt Terlop –– both the physical bootcamps at the start of the day and his sessions on the importance of taking care of yourself: sleeping properly, diet, exercise, and so on. It’s a message this industry really needs to hear: if we’re not taking care of ourselves, we’re letting our people down.”

Towards the Future: Winning with Talent and Technology

“We are absolutely committed to winning with technology,” says David. “There’s this feeling in the profession that there’s got to be a better way of doing things, but that there are so many barriers to success.”

Ascend is committed to helping their firms overcome those barriers. The firm recently hired a Chief AI Officer who previously spent time at a VC-backed accounting technology company and in leadership roles at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Giving regional accounting firms access to talent like this is a key differentiator of the Ascend model.

For David, technology and talent are intertwined. “When we get technology right, it’s going to attract top talent,” explains David. “The tools are going to work the way everyone thinks they should work.”

Amid the current shortage, talented accountants have more options than ever before. David cautions them to carefully choose where they work. “There’s so many things to assess: is this partnership group functional? Are they going to invest in what’s required to help the firm continue growing? Do I think they’re going to take private equity or be consolidated?”

David might admit he’s biased, but from his perspective, it’s a huge positive for employees when a firm accepts private equity:

“There’s a lot of fear that private equity investment somehow equates to a place people don’t want to work. Private equity wants to make businesses better, and I think most people want to work somewhere that’s always striving for better. 

The other thing to consider is that private equity is bringing a new type of currency into the market. The PE model allows people to make more money, in a more tax-efficient way, than existing partnership models. I’d encourage people to keep an open mind.”

Join Leaders Like David at MPB | Leadership Accelerated

Applications for the next round of MPB | Leadership Accelerated are now open. Join us in Chicago in May 2025 for a rigorous bootcamp focused on building the next generation of leaders in the accounting industry. 

Register your interest today.