Why Audit Walkthroughs Break Down (and What It’s Really Costing You)
Why one of the most critical audit procedures quietly becomes one of the least effective
By William Englehaupt
LEADERSHIP
Randy Crabtree: What if Vulnerability’s What Leaders Need Most? | MOVE Like This
When leaders admit they don’t have all the answers, they create room for others to contribute.
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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research
Randy Crabtree founded an accounting firm, then came to a difficult realization: Being its founder didn’t make him the right person to lead it. His decision to step aside as managing partner of Tri-Merit opens a bigger conversation about what happens when leaders admit they don’t have all the answers.
On MOVE Like This, Crabtree joins host Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk to explore how vulnerability can build trust, help people find roles that fit their strengths, and give teams the confidence to try something new. Now retired from Tri-Merit and focused on speaking, advising, and The Unique CPA podcast, he challenges a leadership model that asks people to appear invulnerable while carrying more than they can sustain.
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Crabtree’s perspective on vulnerability is deeply personal. Twelve years ago, he suffered a stroke. While his physical recovery was relatively quick, the mental recovery took years as he dealt with panic attacks, PTSD, and depression. That experience forced him to acknowledge something leaders are often conditioned to resist: he couldn’t do everything himself. It also prompted him to question other things he had long accepted as true about work and leadership, including the idea that leaders always need to have the answers, hide weakness, and prove their value by how much they can carry.
That questioning eventually led Crabtree to one of the most difficult decisions of his career.
Kassi Rushing: Firms that Move First Shape the Future | Gear Up for Growth
AI, talent development, pricing, and advisory services demand action now — even if leaders don’t have all the answers.
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Gear Up for Growth
with Jean Caragher
for CPA Trendlines
The accounting profession has no shortage of predictions about its future. But RISE2040 is designed to be something different: a future shaped by the profession itself and a practical framework for deciding what to do next.
In this episode of Gear Up for Growth, host Jean Caragher, president of Capstone Marketing, welcomes back Kassi Rushing, CEO and owner of Kassi Rushing Consulting and a member of the RISE2040 project team. Their conversation explores what the initiative reveals about the profession’s direction — and why accounting leaders cannot afford to wait for certainty before acting.
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Unlike earlier vision projects built primarily through surveys, focus groups, or the perspectives of a select group of thought leaders, RISE2040 draws from conversations with thousands of professionals across 25 countries. Artificial intelligence makes it possible to synthesize that volume of input while preserving the themes, opportunities, and barriers identified by participants.
Rushing describes the initiative as “written by the profession for the profession.”
That distinction matters. As advisory groups reviewed the findings, the project team remained committed to what professionals actually said, even when reviewers wanted to introduce additional ideas.
“We had to protect the voice of the profession,” Rushing says. “We talked about being defenders of the data.”
Rachel Anevski: Next Leaders Won’t Develop by Accident | The Disruptors
Replace informal succession practices with trained mentors and measurable opportunities for growth.
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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
For CPA Trendlines
For decades, accounting teams have assumed future leaders would emerge through the normal progression of the ranks. The best seniors would become managers, and the best managers would become partners, ready to step into the shoes of retiring leaders.
According to Rachel Anevski, that approach is no longer sustainable.
Anevski, president and CEO of Matters of Management and managing director of leadership and people at Winding River Consulting, says we must become far more intentional about training, mentoring, and retaining their next generation of leaders.
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As she describes in her book, Train Your Successor, the greatest weakness in the traditional model is its lack of deliberate preparation. The book’s title, inspired by her doctoral research on training and retention, comes from advice given by her first mentor, Ted Dudek.
“His talk to everyone was that retention and the future perpetuity of the firm were solely reliant on whether or not you could successfully train your successor,” Anevski tells The Disruptors host Liz Farr.
Major Changes Are Coming. Now What? | Accounting Voices
Protect your credibility and career options by responding with calm, connection, and purpose.
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Accounting Voices
With Rob Brown
An email arrives. A town hall appears on the calendar. Leaders begin using words such as “merger,” “sale,” “new ownership,” “restructuring,” or “strategic reset.”
Suddenly, the change that once felt theoretical becomes personal.For accounting professionals, these announcements can trigger immediate questions about job security, leadership, culture, client relationships, and the future of the organization. Some people freeze. Others panic, withdraw, overshare, or rush to update their LinkedIn profiles.
But this episode of Accounting Voices argues that change itself does not necessarily damage careers. How people respond to it often matters more.
As private equity investment, mergers, leadership turnover, technology pressures, and evolving business models reshape the profession, the ability to cope with uncertainty is becoming a career-defining skill. Professionals who remain composed, connected, and useful during periods of disruption can strengthen their reputations and create new opportunities.
The episode outlines four practical moves for navigating the days and weeks after a significant announcement.