Brown: Employer Brands Talk Even if You Don’t | MOVE Like This

Real employee stories, not polished slogans, are winning the war for talent.

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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In this episode of MOVE Like This, host Bonnie Ruszczyk sits down with Rob Brown, founder and host of Accounting Voices and previous host of Accounting Influencers, to talk about what’s really driving change in the accounting profession.

Speaking from the UK with deep experience across the U.S. and global markets, Brown shares what he’s seeing in firms of all sizes: pressure from talent shortages, shifting expectations from younger professionals, and the growing importance of a strong employer brand rooted in real stories, not slogans. 

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Brown starts by outlining three major workplace trends. 
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Kwaiser: The Real Reason People Stay—or Leave | MOVE Like This

Culture isn’t an initiative—it’s a strategy that drives retention and results.

Originally published Oct. 13, 2025
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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In this episode of MOVE Like This, host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk talks with Stacie Kwaiser, CPA and CEO of Rehmann, about the firm’s nearly three-decade journey toward building a culture where people stay, grow, and lead.

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Kwaiser began her career in public accounting at Coopers & Lybrand before joining Rehmann, a firm that now employs more than 1,100 professionals across 22 offices. She rose through the audit practice and into firmwide leadership roles, ultimately becoming CEO in 2023. Along the way, she experienced—and helped shape—Rehmann’s evolution into one of the profession’s most recognized firms for women and equity leadership.
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Sroczynski: What Every Employer Should Know About DEI Law | MOVE Like This

“A knee-jerk pullback can actually increase legal risk.”

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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In a climate where diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs have become political flashpoints, employment attorney Aislinn Sroczynski of Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld joins host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk on MOVE Like This to unpack the facts behind the fear. The result is a grounded, no-nonsense discussion on how firms can remain inclusive, compliant, and confident—without compromising their values.

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Despite the noise, Sroczynski reminds us that the legal foundation of DEI hasn’t budged. Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA, and the Equal Pay Act still form the bedrock of U.S. anti-discrimination law. “What’s changed,” she explains, “is the level of scrutiny.”

That means employers should revisit—not rewrite—their programs to ensure they focus on fairness regardless of protected characteristics, not because of them.

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Elliott: Embrace the ‘Dimension of Possible’ | MOVE Like This

The profession’s newest partners may be the most vulnerable.

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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

MOVE Like This host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk sits down with Sarah Elliott, CPA, co-founder of Intend2Lead, to unpack what conscious leadership looks like in accounting—and why the profession’s newest partners may be the most vulnerable leaders in the firm.

Elliott, a former audit partner who left public accounting in 2014 to become an executive coach, argues that real change happens in a precise order: mindset, then skill set, then habits. Her “conscious leader” model centers on leaders who share power, elevate others, and stay curious, even when uncertainty invites fear.

“Our best leaders are human-centric first,” Elliott says. “In a world of accelerating tech and change, we have to start with people—always.”

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Intend2Lead recently surveyed 110 newly promoted partners (2023–2024). The results spotlight avoidable gaps that push rising leaders toward burnout—or out of public accounting altogether.
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Hood: Forces Shaping Accounting | MOVE Like This

Technology, demographics, and ESG are colliding to reshape advisory, career paths, and firm leadership.

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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

On the latest MOVE Like This, host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk welcomes Dan Hood, editor-in-chief of Accounting Today, who has covered the profession since the late 1990s. From his vantage point, the defining theme isn’t a single issue, but the sheer volume of change: accelerating technology (especially AI), shifting demographics, new expectations for work, and the slow-building opportunity of ESG. He argues these forces are intertwined: tech is enabling the shift to advisory, advisory demands new skills and career paths, and those shifts collide with multigenerational teams navigating different priorities. 

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The conversation quickly zeroes in on culture as a differentiator in the talent market. Firms that thrive don’t rely on “nice people” and pizza in busy season; they treat culture as intentional work. That looks like clearly articulating values, reinforcing them constantly, and translating them into practices employees actually feel, including thoughtful benefits and flexibility, yes, but also visible sponsorship, personal investment in careers, and rituals that signal “this matters here.” Culture, Dan notes, should permeate every process, from how meetings are run to how milestones are celebrated. 
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Harrison: Rethink Firm Communication | MOVE Like This

Treating interactions as a strategy, not administration, helps firms navigate M&A, private equity, and constant change.

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4ImpactData: 10X Your Advisory.
Not Your Headcount

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

On the latest MOVE Like This, host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk sits down with Alice Grey Harrison of AGH Consulting to talk about the people side of firm transformation. Harrison, a three-decade veteran of strategic communications and change management in the accounting sector, helps firms navigate M&A, private equity, leadership transitions, and system rollouts by focusing on how people experience change. 

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Harrison’s central thesis: culture, clearly tied to mission–vision–values, is a growth engine. When people see how their daily work advances firm goals, they give “discretionary energy.” She illustrates this with a pivotal chapter from her big-firm years: after a streak of acquisitions, offices clung to local traditions and bespoke tax methods that trapped capacity. Moving to a true “one firm” model, aligned methodologies, systems, and talent, unlocked scale and accelerated growth that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. 
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Jeremy Vokt: Why Bland & Associates Said “No” to Private Equity and “Yes” to ESOPs | MOVE Like This

Employee ownership gave the firm a growth path on its own terms.

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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Jeremy Vokt, managing partner at Bland & Associates, discusses the firm’s journey to becoming Nebraska’s first ESOP-owned CPA firm. Vokt shares how Bland evolved from a small 17-person firm in 2006 to a thriving 130-person business today, thanks in part to its unique blend of traditional CPA services and specialized government consulting work focused on Medicare and Medicaid compliance. 

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Vokt walks through the fundamentals of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), explaining that it’s similar to a 401(k) but without employee contributions. Instead, employees are allocated shares annually based on their compensation, which grow in value over time through third-party valuations. This approach creates an ownership culture from day one for every employee – from the front desk to the managing partner – without the typical 15- to 20-year wait to buy into ownership. 
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Costin, Mason: Next Gen Won’t Compromise | MOVE Like This

Prioritize belonging over optics.

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk speaks with Dr. Claire Costin, CPA (University of Portland), and Dr. Stephani Mason, CPA (DePaul University), two professors who are shaping the future of accounting education and research through their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Their insights reveal how today’s students are rethinking what it means to belong in the profession, and what employers must do to keep up. 

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Dr. Costin and Dr. Mason each bring rich, real-world experience to their roles as accounting educators. Dr. Costin’s background in nonprofit auditing informs her work at the University of Portland, where she teaches everything from auditing to ethics. Dr. Mason began her career in a Big Four firm and spent many years in financial services before transitioning to academia at DePaul University. While their career paths differ, both have shifted their research to focus on inequity, bias, and intersectionality in the accounting profession. One theme that emerged clearly in their conversation was that today’s students care deeply about inclusion, authenticity, and choosing employers who align with their values. 
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Bailey: Communicate Culture with Clarity| MOVE Like This

As language evolves, clarity and authenticity are more important than ever.

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In this episode of MOVE Like This, host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk welcomes Cass Bailey, CEO of Slice Communications, for an insightful discussion on how firms—especially those in professional services—can effectively communicate their organizational values in a way that resonates in today’s polarized environment. With deep experience in public relations, crisis management, and employee communication, Bailey offers guidance for navigating sensitive topics while maintaining alignment between internal culture and external brand.

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Bailey opens the conversation by sharing Slice Communications’ journey from a traditional PR firm into a strategic communications agency. Today, her team helps businesses manage both their public reputation and internal messaging, especially when facing scrutiny around workforce practices and company culture.
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Wallace: Cracking the Code on Inclusion | MOVE Like This

“You can have inclusion without belonging, but it’s not going to stick. People need to feel they matter.”

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here

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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In this episode of?MOVE Like This, host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk talks with Jim Wallace, CEO of BPM, about how the firm has embedded diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) into the core of its culture and strategy. With more than 40 years in public accounting, Jim shares candid insights into how BPM went beyond the “check the box” approach to DEIB by making it a CEO-led initiative from the start. 

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Wallace explains that BPM’s brand promise, “Because People Matter, isn’t just a slogan, but a foundational principle that informs every part of the firm’s operations, from leadership development to firm-wide engagement. DEIB is not treated as a standalone initiative; it’s part of the firm’s strategic plan and embedded in its values, mission, and even metrics. For example, BPM uses colleague engagement surveys to track employee sentiment, finding that 82% of employees feel they can bring their authentic selves to work. These insights drive changes in programming and support for staff. 
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Angela Oakley: Right Coaching Fuels Engagement | MOVE Like This

“When people see their strengths clearly for the first time, they feel seen, and that changes everything.”

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

At Clark Nuber, developing talent is more than a bullet point on a strategic plan; it’s woven into the fabric of how the firm operates. Angela Oakley, director of the firm’s Talent Advisor Program, sits down with the Move Like This podcast to share how her team has successfully embedded the CliftonStrengths assessment into nearly every phase of the employee life cycle. From onboarding to performance conversations, strengths-based coaching has become a core tool for helping individuals grow and for building stronger, more connected teams.

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Oakley describes how the initiative began in 2016, after one of the tax teams had already explored strengths to improve internal collaboration. That early success, along with a culture already committed to learning and people-first leadership, laid the foundation for broader adoption. With support from key influencers and her own certification in the assessment tool, Oakley began integrating CliftonStrengths into the firm’s coaching framework, building buy-in organically, one conversation at a time. READ MORE →

Jennifer Harrity: The Business Case for Doing Good: ESG, B Corp & Real Returns | MOVE Like This

“We don’t need a few companies doing everything perfectly, we need everyone doing something. That’s how real change happens.” 

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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Jennifer Harrity, director of Sustainability at Sensiba, talks about how B Corp certification and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) frameworks are reshaping accounting firms from the inside out. Originally Sensiba’s head of marketing, Jennifer pivoted to lead the firm’s sustainability efforts after spearheading its B Corp certification in 2018. This move led to the creation of a full-fledged ESG practice that now supports clients in areas ranging from greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting to impact assessments and fractional chief sustainability officer services. 

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Harrity explains that B Corp certification is a rigorous third-party process that measures a company’s environmental and social performance, governance, and accountability. For accounting firms like Sensiba, it not only served as a differentiator but also proved to be a powerful talent magnet. Students and experienced professionals increasingly seek out values-aligned workplaces, and the B Corp logo on a recruiting booth helped Sensiba stand out, even against Big Four competitors. She emphasizes that the certification aligns naturally with many of the profession’s existing values, such as a commitment to employee well-being and community engagement. 

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Sandra Wiley: Culture, DEI, and the Future of the Accounting Profession | MOVE Like This

“I am begging firms: do not let go of your DEI&B initiatives. It is a mistake.” 

 

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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines

In a wide-ranging and deeply personal conversation on the Move Like This podcast, Sandra Wiley, president of Boomer Consulting, shares powerful insights about the evolving culture of the accounting profession and what firms must do to thrive in 2025 and beyond. From building inclusive workplaces to solving the talent crisis, Wiley emphasizes one central idea: firms that embrace change, empathy, and innovation will outlast those that cling to the status quo. 

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Wiley, a longtime leader in public accounting consulting, outlines Boomer Consulting’s growth from a tech-focused firm to a holistic advisor in five key operational areas: leadership, talent, growth, technology, and process. These “back office” functions, she explained, are often overlooked in CPA firms, yet they’re critical to long-term sustainability. Through consulting, training, peer communities, and the Boomer Knowledge Network, Wiley and her team are helping firms modernize how they work and who they are.  READ MORE →