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Cosmin Nicolaescu spent years at Stripe and Brex building the financial infrastructure that millions of businesses depend on. Now he's turned that experience toward a different problem: Why are accounting firms still operating like it's 1995? As CEO and co-founder of Accrual, Cosmin is building an AI platform designed to take the mechanical burden off CPAs and give them back time for the work that actually requires their judgment. Episode 258 marks part one of a two-part conversation on The Unique CPA where he talks with Randy about what drew him to the accounting profession specifically, how watching finance teams operate strategically at Stripe and Brex shaped his thinking, and what it looks like in practice when a firm cuts a 100-hour tax return down to 15.

Get the full show notes and more resources at RandyCrabtree.com

Big thanks go out to Magnetic for backing The Unique CPA. MagneticTax.com.

Chad Davis helped build LiveCA to 120 people and then made the deliberate decision to cut it nearly in half. On Episode 257 of The Unique CPA, he tells Randy that at that size it wasn't enjoyable, and the math, modeled out on a road trip through the Italian countryside with his business partner Josh Zweig, pointed clearly to 60 as the number where profit, people, and sanity could actually coexist. That restructuring meant repricing every client, moving from value pricing to budgeted hours, and navigating the realities of headcount changes. Randy and Chad cover all of that, the AI tools accountants are trying through his AutomationTown community, the time-zone arbitrage of running a Canadian firm from Spain, and why changing people's mindsets inside a firm matters more than any efficiency gain the technology can deliver.

Get the full show notes and more resources at RandyCrabtree.com

Speaker and leadership strategist Brian Hilliard joins Randy Crabtree on Episode 256 of The Unique CPA to make a case that burnout in the accounting profession isn't a character flaw, it's "good qualities gone out of bounds." The work ethic and integrity that make CPAs excellent at their jobs are the same traits that, left unchecked, drive them straight into the ground, and to illustrate, Brian draws on his own early experience of getting sick three times in two years before recognizing that his body was simply taking the vacation he refused to schedule. The conversation gets practical quickly: managing energy rather than time, clustering deadlines to reduce background anxiety, and rethinking the to-do list with a whiteboard, a four-by-six note card, and a Sharpie. None of the fixes Brian proposes are dramatic, which is exactly the point: You can do them starting today.

Get the full show notes and more resources at TheUniqueCPA.com

Randy Crabtree sits down with Mark Gallegos, partner at Porte Brown and one of the more broadly active figures in the accounting profession, on Episode 255 of The Unique CPA. Together, they work through what HR-1 actually means for tax practitioners right now in practical terms. Mark has a knack for staying relentlessly neutral on legislation while still finding the angles that benefit clients, and that discipline runs through the whole conversation as they get into the advisory mindset shift that tax reform demands, the uncomfortable truth that most CPAs are undercharging for work that clients genuinely value, and what AI will actually compress versus what it can never replace. Mark also shares how Porte Brown operationalizes delegation as a leadership strategy, not just a talking point; a wide-ranging conversation that manages to be both technically grounded and surprisingly candid about the profession's blind spots.

Get the full show notes and more resources at RandyCrabtree.com

Randy didn't expect to ever sit through an entire conference session, but Elliott Bastien Morin's "narrative archeology" workshop changed that pattern. What started as curiosity about excavating stories became a months-long collaboration that transformed Randy's keynote from five scattered narratives into a single arc that earned a standing ovation, and plenty of Kleenex. On Episode 254 of The Unique CPA, Elliott, the co-founder of 3Motion, explains how he's spent 15 years interviewing thousands of people to uncover authentic stories, and that he treats storytelling like an archeological dig: finding fragments, piecing them together, and polishing them until they captivate. For accountants who've always worked for their clients instead of on their selves and their stories, this framework offers something urgent, and as AI handles more compliance work, the human connection becomes the differentiating factor. The profession is moving from reporting to interpretation, and that shift demands something accountants haven't always prioritized: a cohesive story that unites teams and resonates with clients in an oversaturated world.

Get the full show notes and more resources at RandyCrabtree.com

The Unique CPA is evolving. On Episode 253, Randy Crabtree and Terrell Turner sit down to announce a significant shift: Terrell is joining as co-host, and the podcast is becoming fully independent. But this isn't about changing the mission: mental health, peak firm performance, and elevating the profession remain central. It's about expanding how those conversations happen. Randy and Terrell brainstorm openly about what comes next, whether it's live recordings at conferences and roadshows, college campus visits to "bridge the gap" when it comes to talent, or revisiting past episodes on private equity and AI to see how predictions held up. They reflect on how a single LinkedIn message on Christmas Eve 2020 led to their over five-year friendship, and how Terrell once turned Captain Underpants into a marketing presentation for accounting firms after Randy challenged him at dinner. It's a candid look at what's stayed the same, what's changing, and why community matters more than ever.

Get the full show notes and more resources at RandyCrabtree.com

Sharrin Fuller has built and sold two accounting firms, and the second time around, she knew exactly what mistakes to avoid, except for one she didn't see coming. On Episode 252 of The Unique CPA, she tells Randy that the business side of an exit is straightforward, but the emotional aftermath? That sent her into two levels of counseling and off her life insurance policy due to skyrocketing blood pressure. Now, as founder of Glass Wallet Ventures, she helps firm owners prepare for exits they may not even be planning yet, because by the time someone puts a letter of intent in front of you, it's already too late to maximize value. Sharrin challenges the "we've always done it that way" mentality that keeps accountants stuck in dependency traps, and her approach is simple: fix one thing at a time, give firm owners back 30 minutes of their day, and only then move onto the next problem. Sharrin is proof that working three days a week isn't a fantasy when you build systems that actually stick.

Get the full show notes and more resources at RandyCrabtree.com

Making partner should feel like a triumph, but for many CPAs, that first year becomes the hardest of their careers. Sarah Elliott and Brian Kush from Intend2Lead surveyed new partners across the profession and uncovered a troubling pattern: 70% aren't working more hours, yet the intensity feels crushing. On Episode 251 of The Unique CPA, they tell Randy that the culprit isn't volume, it's the abrupt shift from technical expert to strategic leader, not to mention firms that rarely prepare people for what partnership actually entails. As it turns out, nearly half of new partners earn less than expected, and the profession's problem-seeking mindset undermines leadership development. Randy even mentions how one first-year partner who exceeded revenue goals by 50% was immediately questioned about unbilled hours instead of celebrated for his achievement. Sarah and Brian make the case for vulnerable leadership, transparent goal-setting, and intentional development programs that treat partnership as a transition requiring real support, not just a title to celebrate and move on from.

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Mary Delaney, CEO of Karbon, opens Episode 250 of The Unique CPA with a powerful story: she tells Randy about a neighbor whose accountant didn't just crunch numbers but delivered life-changing advice that transformed his business into a legacy. That moment crystallizes what technology can unlock for the profession. Rather than something to be feared, it has the potential to grant us the freedom to focus on advisory work that truly matters. Mary explains how automation handles the mundane, potentially flipping the statistic that 80% of small businesses fail by year ten. With the right technology, every small business could access some level of advisory support. But accountants must make a critical shift: to stop thinking like practitioners and start running their firms as businesses. Mary shares her own experience growing a compliance-heavy services company from single-digit margins to 25%, emphasizing the importance of identifying levers, whether that's increasing referrals, automating workflows, or offshoring strategically. Empowered people deliver exceptional client experiences, and it's not people first or clients first, it's both, simultaneously.

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Mike Maksymiw, better known as Mike Max, lives for change. On Episode 249 of The Unique CPA, he talks to Randy about how in a profession often defined by tradition, he's been willing to "poke the bear" and challenge long-held assumptions. His leadership at Aprio Firm Alliance is marked by a drive to create real progress on issues like DEI, work-life harmony, and value-based work, and he shares candid reflections on what it takes to move an entire profession forward. Whether it's questioning the status quo or finding creative solutions where others see roadblocks, Mike's passion for helping others and his belief in the power of collaboration shine through, and this episode offers a glimpse into the mindset of someone determined to leave the accounting world better than he found it.

Get the full show notes and more resources at TheUniqueCPA.com