Spotlight On: Shannon Badger, Managing Partner, Badger CPA
August 2025 — In an interview with Invest:, Shannon Badger, managing partner at Badger CPA, highlighted the firm’s commitment to balancing AI-driven efficiency with strong client relationships. Badger emphasized San Antonio’s relational business culture and local talent pipeline as key drivers of sustainable growth.
What key trends have impacted your firm’s work with clients over the past year?
We have been impacted somewhat by changes in government funding because a large portion of our clients are government contractors and nonprofits. Some of the programming and contracts have gone away, but it’s impacted only a few of our clients severely. Overall, it’s been minimal for our client base, but it’s something we’re keeping an eye on.
Another major focus for us is innovation and technology. In the accounting and CPA space, the need for strategy around AI and technology infrastructure is top of mind. We’re looking closely at how to utilize AI and other tools to automate processes and serve our clients as efficiently as possible.
How we create a great work environment for our professionals is also always top of mind. We want to make Badger CPA a place where people want to work and stay. We believe that if we recruit and retain talented accountants, the clients will follow. So we focus on flexibility, reasonable workloads, and work-life balance. That’s how we compete with larger firms for top talent.
How are you advising nonprofit and government contractor clients to navigate tighter funding and compliance challenges?
Revenue diversification is key. Our clients with multiple service lines and income streams across different government departments or types of work are weathering these shifts well. Those who rely too heavily on a single source of funding are the most exposed if budgets get cut.
We’re helping clients identify their backlog, what’s coming down the pipeline, and how they can diversify. For example, nonprofits that depend on one major grant need to consider what happens if that grant isn’t renewed. The CEOs who are proactively looking at their exposure now are the ones who will be better positioned later.
We also focus on expense management. When revenue is flowing, organizations sometimes allow expenses to creep up. Being disciplined about profitability now helps them avoid reactive cuts later. Labor cost management is also huge for service-based businesses. It’s important to be clear about what productivity looks like and to avoid over-hiring so they’re not forced into layoffs if funding changes.
What makes San Antonio an ideal location for Badger to operate in?
San Antonio’s strength is its relational business environment. People here care about each other and build trust over time. That aligns perfectly with how we like to do business — building strong client relationships and genuinely wanting to help them succeed.
One challenge is that San Antonio is a more price-sensitive market than places like Austin or Houston. That can make it tougher to hire and pay for top talent when clients won’t bear the same rates they might elsewhere. But the payoff is the relational nature of our work here. Clients are loyal, the relationships are strong, and the quality of work is higher because both sides genuinely care.
It’s a different business strategy than chasing the highest rates in other markets. We’re always looking for ways to deliver a good service at a fair price while being efficient enough internally to make it sustainable.
How are you managing talent recruitment and retention in San Antonio?
After COVID, we began recruiting virtually and now have accountants all over the country. That’s helped diversify our labor pool. But we’ve seen improvement locally, too. The growth of UTSA and Texas A&M San Antonio has created more feeder opportunities, and the city has invested a lot in making San Antonio more appealing to young professionals—more parks, restaurants, and nightlife to help keep graduates here.
Historically, we’d see new graduates move to bigger cities for excitement, then return when they wanted to raise families. Now there are more reasons to stay, but we still have work to do to compete with places like Dallas or Houston for young professionals.
Once people settle here, they tend to stay. If we can provide a great work-life balance and strong community connections, our retention remains high.
How have client expectations around technology, automation, and cybersecurity evolved?
We’re still in the early stages of AI adoption in our sector. San Antonio tends to be a bit slower to adopt new tech than cities like Austin, but that’s partly because we value tradition and community. Clients haven’t started demanding that work be done twice as fast because of AI — yet. But we know that’s coming over the next few years, so we’re proactively working on our technology roadmap now.
Cybersecurity is a big concern. As AI evolves, it’s going to make fraud prevention more challenging. For example, we used to confirm payments and account changes by email, but now we always confirm by phone. But if AI can replicate voices, that adds another layer of risk.
We’re investing more in training our team on phishing, fraud prevention, and cybersecurity best practices. I think we’ll also see a renewed demand for more face-to-face interaction. As technology gets more sophisticated, people may feel safer doing some things in person.
How is Badger balancing technology adoption with your human-centered approach?
We’re doubling down on the human side. As AI handles more of the technical or repetitive tasks, the human relationship aspect becomes even more valuable. That means consulting, communicating, building trust, and maintaining those face-to-face connections.
For example, we’ve started hosting more in-person client events and roundtables. Our team needs to develop not just technical skills but also soft skills to consult and build relationships. Ironically, with the next generation coming in, those skills can be harder to find because they’ve grown up behind screens. We see communication and relationship management becoming the new premium skillset.
What is your outlook for San Antonio and your priorities for the next few years?
I’m optimistic. San Antonio continues to grow, and it’s a business-friendly city with great people and strong community ties. If we keep improving our schools, retaining graduates, and investing in the quality of life here, we’ll continue to attract and keep great professionals.
For us, our priorities are clear: focus on the human relationship aspect of our work, adopt the right technology and AI tools to stay efficient and competitive, and recruit and develop the best accountants and consultants. If we do those three things well, we’ll continue to succeed and help our clients thrive.
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