The Unique CPA

Recorded live at Bridging the Gap 2025 in Denver, Terrell Turner sits down with wealth advisor and speaker Rory Henry on Episode 268 of The Unique CPA to talk about what he calls "return on relationship." "ROR" is the idea that when you genuinely invest in understanding the people you serve, the ROI takes care of itself. Rory makes a compelling case that the real work of financial professionals is...

Support for this episode comes from BILL. Simplify your workflows and accelerate your growth with BILL's Accountant Console. Take a demo today at BILL.com/uniquecpa for a $250 gift card – terms apply.  Repeat guest Roman Villard built Full Send, his Boulder-based accounting firm, on a deliberately contrarian premise: hire leadership first, reject the CAS label, and train your team to think like th...

Recorded live at Bridging the Gap 2025, Terrell Turner sits down with Chayton Farlee, a Gen Z accountant whose first-ever conference was Bridging the Gap itself, on Episode 266 of The Unique CPA. What started as a LinkedIn ad turned into a career-defining experience, and Chayton has been vocal about BTG ever since. He makes a pointed case to Terrell for why accounting firm owners should stop sleep...

Support for this episode comes from BILL. Simplify your workflows and accelerate your growth with BILL's Accountant Console. Take a demo today at BILL.com/uniquecpa for a $250 gift card – terms apply.  In 2008, John Sensiba became managing partner of what is now Sensiba, and promptly watched revenue fall from $18 million to $13 million. On Episode 265 of The Unique CPA, live from Bridging the Gap...

Accountants aren't supposed to embrace failure. It runs counter to everything the profession is built on. But K.C. Eames, who leads operations at Dark Horse, has spent time thinking carefully about why that instinct holds firms back, and what it actually takes to build a culture where people feel safe to experiment. Recorded live at Bridging the Gap 2025, her conversation with Terrell Turner on Ep...

Support for this episode comes from BILL. Simplify your workflows and accelerate your growth with BILL's Accountant Console. Take a demo today at BILL.com/uniquecpa  for a $250 gift card – terms apply. Recorded live at Bridging the Gap 2025 in Denver, Randy Crabtree sits down with Nancy McClelland—CPA, community builder, and self-described member of the BTG "hive mind"—to talk about what keeps dra...

Support for this episode comes from BILL. Simplify your workflows and accelerate your growth with BILL's Accountant Console. Take a demo today at BILL.com/uniquecpa  for a $250 gift card – terms apply.  Recorded on April 15th, a day Randy describes as one he's never been fond of, and now has even more reason to dread, is this conversation with Rozeta Atlas on Episode 262 of The Unique CPA . The Di...

Support for this episode comes from BILL. Get clear insight into payment status and cashflow with BILL's Accountant Console. BILL uses AI to simplify your tech stack so you can increase productivity and spend more time delivering truly personalized client service. Take a demo at BILL.com/uniquecpa  and you'll get a $250 gift card. Terms apply. Six and a half years in, Randy Crabtree and new co-hos...

Support for this episode comes from BILL. Simplify your workflows and accelerate your growth with BILL's accountant console. Take a demo today at BILL.com/uniquecpa  for a $250 gift card. Terms apply. Randy Crabtree sits down with CPA turned leadership coach Erin Daiber on Episode 260 of  The Unique CPA . The founder of Well Balanced Accountants, Erin digs into what it actually takes to build a fi...

Support for this episode comes from BILL. Simplify your workflows and accelerate your growth with BILL's accountant console. Take a demo today at BILL.com/uniquecpa  for a $250 gift card – terms apply.  In part two of their conversation on Episode 259 of The Unique CPA , Randy and Cosmin Nicolaescu, co-founder of Accrual, get into the harder questions: What happens to pricing when a hundred-hour r...

Support for this episode comes from BILL. Simplify your workflows and accelerate your growth with BILL's accountant console. Take a demo today at BILL.com/uniquecpa  for a $250 gift card – terms apply. 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 acco...

Big thanks go out to Magnetic for backing The Unique CPA . Most AI tools only handle basic forms, but Magnetic prepares the entire 1040 with industry-leading form coverage, so your team just reviews and signs.  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...

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 dr...

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, an...

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 Uni...

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 brain...

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...

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 abr...

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...

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 ca...

Heath Alloway, growth partner at Sorren, returns to The Unique CPA on Episode 248 for a dynamic conversation with Randy about the evolving landscape of accounting firms and the power of intentional culture. Heath shares the story behind Soren's formation, a merger of thirteen firms driven by a vision for people-first leadership and meaningful growth. Although heavily focused on business developmen...

Shawn Minard and Jeremy Jones join Randy Crabtree to pull back the curtain on Frazier & Deeter's approach to growth, culture, and leadership on Episode 247 of The Unique CPA. As the firm expands through private equity and acquisitions, the conversation moves beyond numbers to the real work of integrating people and ideas. Shawn describes how "stay interviews" and a flexible, opt-in leadership prog...

Mark Koziel's first year as AICPA President and CEO has been anything but quiet. He tells Randy Crabtree on Episode 246 of The Unique CPA that nine days into his tenure, Ohio became the first state to roll back the 150-hour requirement, setting off a chain reaction across the profession. Then came the "Big Beautiful Bill" with provisions that could have devastated pass-through entities, followed b...

Kathleen Burns Kingsbury joins Randy Crabtree on Episode 245 of The Unique CPA for a candid conversation about the hidden forces shaping how professionals, particularly women, perceive and communicate their worth. Drawing on her journey from FDIC bank examiner to wealth psychology expert, Kathleen unpacks the cultural and personal barriers that keep so many from asking for what they deserve. The a...

Adam Lean's journey from disenchanted accountant to entrepreneurial advisor takes center stage as he reveals how a simple desire to help business owners understand their numbers sparked the creation of the CFO Project on Episode 244 of The Unique CPA. Follow Adam from late-night e-commerce hustle to the formation of a productized CFO advisory service, designed to eliminate scope creep and empower...