February 25, 2025 • 31 mins
We have reached yet another mile episode of The Unique CPA, number 200, and Randy Crabtree joins producer Justin Grant to celebrate the show’s journey. They reflect on the supportive community that has sprung up around the show, the Bridging the Gap Conference, and plans for the future, while having some fun too with a bloopers segment that’s sure to make you laugh along with them. Randy also shares his thoughts on new directions for the podcast, such as becoming a go-to source for specialty tax news and analysis, and the rise of private equity in the accounting profession, before closing things out looking forward to the next hundred episodes.
Get the full show notes and more resources at TheUniqueCPA.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to The UniqueCPA with your host, Randy Crabtree.
We're committed to creating a thrivingcommunity of accounting professionals
who are physically and mentally healthy,fulfilled, and energized by their work.
Our ultimate goal is to elevatethe reputation of the accounting
profession and vastly improvethe lives of those in it.
The Unique CPA is broughtto you by Tri-Merit, the specialty tax professionals.
(00:24):
Today, our guest is Randy Crabtree.
And hello, everybody.
You may recall that 100episodes ago, I joined you.
This is Justin Grant, the producerof The Unique CPA, actually joined
you for two episodes, 100 and 101,when we reached that milestone.
And this is another milestone.
(00:45):
Somehow, Randy, we havereached 200 episodes.
That's really unbelievable, actually.
It is!
It is, and yet it isn't, because it's agood show that has become a great show and a community, not just a podcast.
I think that's exactly why it'ssustained itself as long as it has.
You know, that is pretty cool though,the community aspect of things.
(01:06):
It's, I've met so many people becauseof The Unique CPA podcast and built so many relationships and, and in reality,
you know, the conference, Bridging theGap conference wouldn't exist without
the podcast and that, those togetherhave really created a community.
And exciting part for me is thatcommunity, at least Bridging the Gap portion, which is tied to
(01:27):
The Unique CPA now has actually aFacebook community, its own page.
So it's cool to see that the people thatare adding themselves to that Facebook page on a daily basis and seeing who's
being involved on it is just like everytime I look at it, I go, Oh, start to smile because, Oh, there's another person
I really like, and they're going to startinteracting here too, which is cool.
(01:48):
That's very cool and we're definitelygonna be sure to get that link in the show notes because I know not
everybody knows about it So they'regonna want to get on there and join everybody that we've got participating.
So yeah 200 episodes It's really quitethe milestone 100 was and it's a trite question, but it's one that's necessary
did you ever foresee anything likethis and If not, because I know the
(02:13):
answer is no, what did you foreseehappening all those episodes ago?
Honestly, the journey that TheUnique CPA Podcast has taken me
on, I never would have guessed ina million years what it's done.
So, you know, I had zero expectations.
I was like, well, maybe somebodywill listen someday, you know.
(02:36):
Maybe I'll get a guest that'llcome on and be with me.
And honestly, it's, it, I mean,I know this sounds weird, but I pretty much, I can get anybody.
I don't mean it like that, but peoplewill get on any podcast in reality.
I know what you mean.
Yeah.
And so, but at the beginningI was super surprised.
(02:57):
Like I would reach out to somebodylike Richard Kopelman was one of the
first guests, you know, magic partnerof a large firm, very large firm now.
And he said, yes.
And John Sensiba said yes.
And Allan Koltin said yes.
And Kimberly Ellison Taylor said yes.
And Jennifer Wilson said yes.
And like everybody reached outto, I just felt so honored.
(03:17):
That they would take time out to, to bea guest, or at least have a conversation with me on, on The Unique CPA.
So I never expected that.
I figured I'd have to be hunting forguests and there's just so many cool
people in this profession that want tohelp, I think is the, really the key.
Yeah.
That's that
community aspect just ofthe profession overall.
(03:38):
Yep.
And I say this often, well,often lately, I think is that
we are such a collaborativecommunity as a profession that it.
It's fun to see because we're notcutthroat, you know, Hey, you know, you're going to take my client.
I'm going to take your client.
We're not going to share ideas.
We share ideas nonstop in this profession,which is, I really enjoy seeing.
(04:00):
Agreed.
So recalling that a hundred episodes ago.
We tried out a new format.
We did The Unique CPA Happy Hourtogether and, uh, and that was fun.
That was a lot of fun.
We sampled some beers from aroundthe world, including Scotland for me, uh, because that's where I was.
And of course you were in Chicagoat the time and that was nice.
(04:23):
And kind of, it followed on well fromthe beer temple special episodes.
However.
We said at the time we were, we weregoing to be doing that, uh, you know,
here and there, and we have never, everdone a Unique CPA Happy Hour again.
No, we have not.
It was a good idea.
It was fun.
There might have been the beard
talking, I don't know.
Well, it was definitely something talking.
(04:45):
Yeah.
And, uh, we decided this time, seeingas it's nine in the morning where you
are presently, maybe that wouldn'tbe such a good idea on this occasion.
But we do want to discuss a littlebit about just some kind of changes to the format that we're looking at.
So one of those is that you'dlike to get a little bit more into the kind of technical tax talk.
(05:08):
Now, the ERC is alas,long gone at this point.
And it provided a lot of that during itsheyday, especially with all the fraud that came out of it eventually as well.
You had Dan Chodan on a couple times.
You had Nick Pantaleoof Tri-Merit come on.
So these days, and now we're fully intax season for last tax year, 2024, I know that you want to hit on a couple
(05:35):
of possibilities and things you'llbe looking at over the coming months.
So why don't you go ahead and fill us in?
Yeah, it's funny because when weoriginally started The Unique CPA podcast, when Dana Plotke, who was our marketing
person at the time, came to me and said,Hey, we're going to start a podcast.
My thought was, well, okay, great.
(05:55):
And you're going to host it.
I'm like, no, I'm notgoing to host a podcast.
What are you talking about?
And then I started thinking aboutit and this was like instantaneous.
It wasn't like weeks or daysI was thinking about it.
And then I was like, okay.
Well, I'm not going to talk abouttaxes because no one wants to listen to taxes every episode.
I'm not going to talk R& D taxcredits, which I love and I'm
passionate about, but I'm not goingto talk about that every episode.
(06:16):
It just doesn't make sense.
And so what are we going to talk about?
Well, you, we've seen where that'sgone over the years, but now.
Hey, key words, every episode, right?
Yeah, right, every episode wasnot something I wanted to do, but there's especially right now with so
much uncertainty with what's goingto happen with taxes, and we're really getting news constantly on.
(06:40):
Either somebody thinking, well,this could happen, or We're seeing that this does happen.
So what we decided to do is we're goingto, and this is again in the works, you know, we may , maybe it'll be in episode
300 and we'll go, oh, remember whenwe talked about the fact we're gonna start talking about tax a little bit?
Yeah.
And then we never did itjust like the happy hours.
But I think we will, I thinkprobably, you know, once a month maybe, maybe even less, or as.
(07:07):
You know, something happens, right?
We'll have a topic, you know,let's give a good example here.
Renewable energy tax credits.
Uncertainty right now where renewableenergy tax credits are going.
And when news comes out, what we'llprobably do is record an episode that, hey, here's what's happening.
These are the changes.
These are the changes thatare going to start next year.
(07:29):
So if you are going to do aproject, start them in 2025, you know, that type of, and it's still.
To me, super exciting informationis seeing what's happening, seeing it evolve and try in real time as
quick a real, I mean, with us, it'llbe like a week, maybe at the most.
Yeah,
right.
At the most.
That's a good call from the time recordto time release, but we'll be doing that.
(07:51):
Most of it will probably revolvearound text credits and incentives.
Cause that's when tri merit.
Is yeah, but there'll be other things.
I mean, we'll see what happenswith the tax cut and jobs act 2.
0.
And when that comes out, maybe we'll putan episode on, Hey, here's what to expect.
Here's things you shouldbe thinking about.
Here's things that you needto accelerate into 25 or delay until 26, that kind of thing.
(08:14):
And so that's what we're looking at.
It's evolving.
It is a. Discussion that's happeningweekly inside Tri-Merit right
now on, uh, our marketing andsales and marketing team calls.
So I'm pretty sure we're reallyclose on, you know, getting that
information out so we can start torecord the episode that makes sense.
(08:35):
Fantastic.
And we are looking forward to that.
It's nice.
Cause it'll make the podcast, you know,it's already a go to for issues kind of within the profession, but this is, you
know, you want a little quick update onsomething you probably your firm doesn't have the highest level of expertise on.
This could be really helpful.
Just keep your ears open.
(08:56):
Right.
And we'll announce it.
Obviously we'll market it.
We'll get the information outthere, but yeah, it'll be fun.
It'll be a change of pace.
We'll see if I get bored aftertwo months, maybe we'll stop.
But if I don't, that's myproblem is I get bored easily.
And so that's why I need tokeep things exciting for me.
Sorry.
You know, we tried to keep themexciting for the audience too, but
(09:16):
thankfully that tends to, youknow, intersect pretty strongly.
Right.
And I have a feeling.
Every month and a half, two months,whenever news comes out, not going to
bore you because it's going to be a nicelittle change of pace out of nowhere.
So there you go.
That's true.
So, hey, and I'm just honest.
I say what I think.
So
that's, that's all we need.
Exactly.
So speaking of changes of pace, wethought it would be fun for the audience to get a little behind the scenes.
(09:42):
Look at The Unique CPA, because believeit or not what you, the end user receives.
In your ears every week is not in anyway, shape or form, even relatively similar to what I receive in my ears.
(10:02):
So
just as in my episodes are messyand then he fixes them up and makes them sound really good.
I'm being hyperbolic
here.
No, you're right though.
No, I am being.
However, we have fun with it.
And even before the 100th episode,I have to own up to this one.
Mark Reese, who's part of the marketingteam at Tri-Merit, he said, you know what would be a really cool idea?
(10:26):
If you kept a blooper reel.
And I completely did not dothat for the longest time.
So it's my own fault that all thebloopers that I have for us today
that we're going to look at Are fromlike the last three, four months.
However, I am grateful to you, Randy,because you always make sure to keep the supply of them coming to me.
(10:48):
I'm good at it.
I've still been able to comeup with a nice selection here.
So what we're going to do, we'regoing to make a little game out of it.
I was careful to cut awaythe other, the guests voice.
So you, you won't get ahint from hearing them.
Which episode it's from.
So I want to be able to seeif you can figure out which episodes we're talking about.
Oh boy, pressure on me.
(11:09):
All right.
So on this first one, let'sjust run right into it.
Here we go.
So you're hearing itanecdotally, at least.
I've said the word wrong, I think,but you guys all know what I meant.
Um, anecdotally, I'm goingto keep going until I get it.
Uh, we'll let it go.
You're hearing this.
Uh,
(11:35):
let me see if I can say it first.
Anecdoted.
I can't say it.
Still gotcha, huh?
Yeah.
That's a word I will not say anymore.
All right.
Let me think about that.
Who, who would that have been?
It feels fairly recent.
Like you said, the last three months,but some of the shows that were released.
Three months ago, I recorded eightmonths ago or so, or, you know, a year ago, almost in those cases.
(11:56):
But that was, I think afairly recent recording.
And I'm just going to say thatI don't remember any guests I have ever had on the show.
I'm going to go David Lane.
Okay.
Well, David Lane.
Just released last week.
It was not David Lane.
Okay.
The answer is DanBarenholtz in episode 187.
(12:19):
Okay, that was recorded a while ago.
It was for you a pretty long time ago.
But yeah, air dates pretty, prettyrecent and the funny part about this one and one of the reasons I picked
it was that not only Randy, is yourenergy and your enthusiasm and your go get 'em attitude contagious?
So are your mispronunciations.
(12:41):
Here we go.
We don't know what the completionrates were with the PDF organizer.
Obviously, that's just anecdotally.
Hey!
I'm not sure if I said it correctly.
What do you know?
It's spreading!
Did he say it right?
No, he said it wrong too, soabsolutely perfect for this segment.
(13:05):
Yes.
All right.
And I'm looking up that at 187.
There he is.
Okay.
I'm just looking onanother screen over here.
Now I'm going to cheat because I'mgoing to pull up some of these episodes.
No, that's fine.
And in the final cut, this isthe other fun part about this.
The listeners will not have heard that.
So they heard, I made it soundlike you made a little joke out of not saying the word right.
(13:26):
And then just moved on instead ofthat, you know, 10, 15 second sequence.
So, so it's cool.
We get to peer behind the curtain here.
Nice.
So let's go on to the next one.
I did leave this oneentirely alone, actually.
So everyone's heard this before,because you actually, you made a pretty good joke out of it.
So here we go.
So, so you're a success,success, hold on, success.
(13:48):
Got it.
So you're a success story then forthe profession left and came back.
I kind of like that.
So, yeah, yes.
I remember this episode too,and this was fairly, fairly recent episode of recording.
I'll guarantee that I'mgoing to put money on it.
It was fairly recent and it hasbeen released though, right?
(14:09):
Yes.
All of these have been released already.
Oh man.
It is not something that's.
I remember that for a fact that this wasa person who, who left and came back, which is not a story you always hear.
It's usually the leave and they're done.
And I remember being, Oh, you know what?
(14:29):
I'm going to go with Dave Hartley.
That is correct.
Well
done.
All right.
Ding, ding, ding.
So, yep.
That was David Hartley of Anders.
Episode 1 93 on that one.
So only what, six, seven weeks ago
here.
Oh wow.
Crazy . Yeah, I know.
Very nice.
All right, so moving onto, to clip three now.
(14:51):
This one.
Wait.
Before
you do that, sure.
Just to remember, lookand see how my memory is.
I recorded that one a while ago.
I did not record that recently.
It's true.
You did.
And you still got it.
And that's impressive.
Well, and it felt like it was recent.
That's why.
But no, that was recorded.
I don't even know.
I mean, that was eight months ago.
I bet we recorded that, if not longer.
(15:13):
I'm pretty sure it was before bridgingthe gap or immediately after it.
I think it was before.
And I think it was before, too, becauseI seem to recall I had to finagle a little bit on you guys referring
to the conference this year, quoteunquote, and so I had to, yeah.
Those are the other things you do,
make them timely when I
(15:34):
don't
make them
timely.
Right.
All right.
So in the next one, this is funbecause you may be just because
right now, in fact, if you don't mindtelling the audience, where are you?
I'm in Healdsburg, California.
Currently, I've been here foryesterday was four weeks and I got a week and a half to go.
Kathy and I hang out in warmerweather than Chicago for the winter.
(15:57):
And so.
Resultingly, you may be one of themost well traveled podcast hosts
as far as where you are locationrecording wise in the world.
I mean, and that's notreally an exaggeration.
Although in this case, youmight have been at home.
I don't know, but no matterwhere you are, there can always be kind of practical issues.
(16:19):
That you're having to deal within the middle of recording.
So in this instance, the forces ofnature were conspiring against you.
Now, um, let's go back to where we were,back to the regularly scheduled program.
And we were talking about,uh, um, give me a second.
Uh, Justin's going tohave to edit for a second.
I lost the video there and thesun is like in my face over here.
(16:43):
I, let me see if I canget these blinds down.
Um, Why can't I get these blinds down?
I'm going the right way.
Sorry, Justin, you're editing again.
Oh, maybe on the other side.
Nah, I'm just gonna leave it.
I'll just keep moving myself.
Alright, I'm gonna start back up again.
(17:05):
Now, I vaguely rememberthat, but I have no clue.
I'll guarantee I wasn't at home whenI did that, because I don't have sun issues in my office at home.
And wow, this is weird, becauseright now, well this is Probably recorded at the old house.
But then when I was thinking about this,the son, I'm thinking about the old house because we recently moved in the new
house, there is, will never be a son issuebecause I'm kind of up in a loft area.
(17:29):
So this, so it wasn't home though.
I had to be on the road somewhere,but I, I'm just going to take a wild guess and say it was Michael Haynes.
You're not far off time wise as far asreleasing, however, it was Liz Farr.
Oh, that again was recorded a while ago.
Globetrotter
as well, Liz Farr, who of course madean attempt at walking across England and was unfortunately foiled by her ankle.
(17:58):
Yeah, when I met Liz for the firsttime was in New Orleans in 2022 is my
guess and she was Walking with a canebecause you had recently hurt her ankle.
So yeah, Liz for our episode.
All right.
I wonder where I was when I recorded that.
I wonder if we can look, but that's,yeah, I vaguely remember the sun issue.
(18:21):
And obviously I don't knowhow to use blinds very well.
I guess.
Yeah.
And I was thinking they're probablynew blinds to you, so it's no wonder you couldn't deal with them.
Yep.
Yep.
All right.
And we've got one more sometimes.
This happens to all of us.
We forget what we weresaying five seconds ago.
(18:41):
And in this instance, it was you.
So let's check out this bit of selfinflicted deja vu that you shared with us.
What's going to differentiate you isthese soft skills, these leadership, these communication, these relationship
building skills, the leadership skills,the communication skills, and that, that
is, is what's going to differentiate youin this profession, because that's what.
(19:04):
Really puts your personality outthere, which is what attracts people to what you're doing.
Okay.
So I said a couple of words twice there.
Apparently I assume you fixedthat before it went out.
I did.
And lucky us.
I have the clip of itfixed so we can compare it.
Okay.
Let's hear it.
Okay.
What's going to differentiate you isthese soft skills, these leadership
(19:26):
skills, the communication skills,these relationship building skills.
And that is what's going todifferentiate you in this profession, because that's what really puts your
personality out there, which is whatattracts people to what you're doing.
Really well done, Justin.
That sounded good.
I tell people often, and they don'thear this in the recording or when we go live, before we start recording,
(19:50):
I say, hey, you know, Justin'sgoing to make us sound really good.
So don't worry about messing up at all.
He's going to take all the rums and errsand pauses and stumbles and all that.
And that's an example of it right there.
A little bit of
sleight of hand and theglitch in the matrix was Yeah.
Fixed
right up.
So let me think then, so I need to guesswho this was, cause this one's not right.
(20:12):
I mean, it's, well, causeI thought I didn't stumble.
I thought I had it right.
So this one isn't, uh, agreeing with me.
I, I'm not getting it at all, but thisis somebody, obviously we're talking
about soft skills with, at leastthat was part of the conversation.
Maybe not.
I'll just say it was Lisa Simpson.
No, it's a good guess,but it was Greg Adams.
(20:34):
Oh
yeah, that makes sense.
Episode 197.
So boy, we only got one out of four.
You got, you got David.
I don't listen to this show.
That
will make a
difference.
Yeah.
And Greg was fairly recent.
I think he was that November and Decemberand we're, I was hopeful you'd get it
because of that, but no, you, youwent back to David Hartley from May or whenever it was, but no, this one,
(20:58):
no.
No, but that seems like somethingI would have talked with Lisa Simpson about, though, to agree.
Yeah,
it's a logical guess.
Yep.
Yep.
All right.
Well, that was
fun.
Yes.
Enjoyed that.
And before we close out, I know you alsowanted to take a look at what you kind of feel will be the big issue of 2025.
(21:21):
And that is private equity.
Yeah.
It's so I'm every time I talkto somebody about private equity, I learn I'm no expert.
I'm
no, but it's happeningmore and more, isn't it?
You're hearing more and
more.
We're hearing more and more.
We, what recorded episodewith Allan Koltin.
Boy, that was a while ago when thefirst private equity deal happened.
(21:44):
Oh yeah, that was, that one
was ages ago, but you had him on back and.
Discussed it a little more.
Didn't you,
did we do it another episode?
Wow.
Look at I'm losing my memory
or I do more than one show.
So I may be thinking of another show.
Yeah.
But I remember talking to Allan andlike, this was the first big deal.
I think our first of this, all thesedeals that start happening, I think
(22:07):
it was Eisner Amper and, and Allanbasically said, this is not done.
This is not, we're just at the beginning.
We're going to, uh, see,and he was naming like top.
Twenty firms are top hundred firmsthat not firms by their name, but how many deals we should see.
Yeah,
and that was incidentally episode 54
Wow
with
Allan that was a while ago that Iin my mind that was like October of 22 or something or 21 even
(22:35):
It was 21.
It was November of 2021.
So there you go.
That was 21.
So, so I remember Allan and Allan's great.
Good friend of mine.
I always love talkingto Allan and he was of
course on at the Beer Temple too.
Yes, that's true.
He was on the Beer Temple episodewhere actually I think Kenji Kuramoto got to interview him quite a bit.
They were on a panel together andKenji was asking questions of Allan.
(22:57):
That's right.
And that's, that was a fun episode, we'redigressing, but that was a lot of fun.
That was actually the pre cur oh,now I'm going to digress, we're going to go on a tangent here.
Oh, you said it though, you're not goingto say you're going on tangents anymore.
You said this last week.
No, but I changed my mind.
I'm actually working with a,uh, a speech coach right now.
(23:21):
Yeah, I've written all my own stuffforever, pretty much, you know, and
I do a lot of presentations and, and,you know, at conferences and that.
And so for the first time ever, nowI'm actually working with somebody, you
know, at age 62, I realized that I couldprobably learn from others as well.
Um, and, and I was talkingabout the tangents I go on.
(23:42):
And he said, no, your tangents are great.
Just, you don't have to call them out.
You don't have to say I'mgoing on a tangent because what you're saying isn't a tangent.
It ties in with the topicyou're talking about.
So maybe that's what I was thinkingthat I don't have to call it out as a tangent, but I still like it.
I kind of like being, Ithink I'm self deprecating.
Oh, I, there's a, almost a blooper there.
(24:03):
You caught yourself.
Yeah, that'll be an easy edit.
No, we can't edit.
We're going to show that I'm not perfect.
Obviously, I'm not perfect.
Well, you make me sound that.
I didn't mean to say that I'm perfect.
And now I lost my train of thought.
(24:24):
Oh, the tangents.
Yeah.
And so, so we did that.
So, but yeah, Allan was great.
And then we had, uh, Tim Petrey.
Yeah.
And Tim was on talking private equitybecause they had done a deal recently.
I actually recorded an episode onprivate equity that hasn't been released.
It'll probably be released, you know,maybe, um, Two months after this episode,
(24:46):
which was with Alex Drost and Alex hadreally keen insights on what's going on.
And the way he said it is thatwe're in the second inning right now of private equity.
So we've passed the first andwe're probably got a long way to go
apparently.
Yeah.
A long way to go in this.
And I think Allan would agree.
I really do want to get Allanback on and he and I have talked about it already that we should.
(25:09):
In fact, after the CitrinCooperman deal, where they.
You know, did the second round ofprivate equity recently in the last month or so, a month or two, I talked
to Allan and said, we should really geton and talk about what's going on again.
And so we probably will do that.
That'll be an episode thatwe'll try to get scheduled soon.
Now, see, I'm putting pressureon myself because I just said it.
(25:31):
So we have to do it.
Exactly.
But yeah, I'm curious to see.
There's definitely, in my impressionwith private equity, there's definitely
positives for the current firmowners from a financial standpoint.
I've actually talked to people whohave done it where they're almost immediately not happy with the deal.
I've talked to other peoplewho've gone through it and they're very happy with the deal.
(25:53):
You know, like when we talked to Tim,it's something that, um, some friends of
mine just did a deal that I don't thinktechnically they're announcing it yet.
So, yeah.
But they said it's not private,but I'm not going to announce
who it is, but they're happy withthe initial portion of the deal.
And we will see what happens there.
(26:13):
I just, my biggest concern, Ihave two big concerns with private
equity, but you know, I'm not goingto begrudge anybody for doing it.
I mean, there's reasons andthere's a lot of positives.
There's, you know, the influx ofmoney so that you can increase your technology footprint.
You can become more efficientand efficiency is going to be key because we're.
Lacking individuals coming into theprofession, which I'm not going to say this is a tangent, but I did see
(26:39):
an announcement where there's been anuptick in enrollment and accounting.
So that's a positive sign, but I've also,and you and I talked about this a few weeks ago, there's people who are looking.
To move jobs or get jobs inaccounting that specifically are
saying, I'm not going to go work fora private equity accounting firm.
And so I'm curious to see how that'sgoing to play out in the coming years.
(27:03):
It's not going to be immediate, butthe coming years to see what that does.
And then the other thing I don'tknow with private equity is just.
What the end game is, because you can'tkeep flipping the firm indefinitely at some point, we're just going
to have one accounting firm, ifthat's the case, or it's going to
be, or we're all going to turn intopublic, you know, public companies.
(27:25):
We are public accounting, but I mean,on the stock market, publicly owned.
Yeah.
Yes.
And so, yeah, I'm just curiousto see, I don't want to.
I feel like when I talk about privateequity, I have a little bit of a negative bent on it, but I think
that's because of I'm concernedwith the culture aspect of it.
You know, I'm a very peoplefirst culture and I just don't
(27:45):
see that that historicallyhas been private equities way.
And I did talk to Allan Koltin aboutthis and Allan said, this new wave
of private equity, which now, youknow, we talked four and a half.
Boy, four, no, three and a halfyears ago now, Allan and I, he said
they've learned, they understandthat accounting is a people industry.
Right, because this is
not their first bite at this apple.
(28:07):
Right.
By any stretch.
They've done it before.
Yeah.
And so I, I try to be not, you know,the word is a naysayer, but concerned.
I guess more so about it becauseone, it's probably something there's positive aspects to it.
There's things that have tohappen in the profession.
It helps us to get out of that hole.
(28:28):
When I often say the SALY mindset,same as last year, cause private equity is going to come in and they're going
to make changes and hopefully a lotof the changes are for the positive.
So we'll see.
I'm curious to see.
We'll probably do more episodes.
Like I said, I really need to getAllan Koltin back on because he's got his finger on the pulse of this.
Dan Hood, you know, countingtoday, had a whole conference on it this past year that I went to.
(28:53):
Met a lot of really cool,interesting people there.
And it'd be great to have him
back on the show too.
Yeah.
Dan and I were texting just recently andwe do want to do an episode probably both on his and on ours and The Unique CPA.
We'll probably talk about the survey wedid, you know, we did this accountant's professional satisfaction survey.
(29:13):
We're just wrapping up the,what do you want to call it?
The.
Summary of it, but not justthe summary of the data.
Here's where we feel you can makechanges to increase satisfaction levels within the profession.
Nice, like a practical analysis.
Yes, practical.
That's See, you should host the show.
You're one of the greats.
(29:34):
I am, actually, right now.
You are hosting, you're right.
I thought you were saying you'remuch better, which you are, too.
I thought I had a big ego.
Oh, no.
See?
I'm not any good at this.
So that's one thing we're going to talkabout and that's, those are the types of things that this unique CPA podcast
(29:57):
has created because those are the thingsthat I learned from others and then like, Hey, how can we amplify this?
Or how can we Yeah.
Build upon this and finding outwhat creates satisfaction level
and what creates dissatisfactionlevels within the profession.
We really felt was super importantand now hopefully we can take this data and make a little bit of dent
in satisfaction levels on a positiveaspect for people in the profession.
(30:20):
Love it.
Well, that, right there, that roundsoff quite the roadmap for the show
for the next few months to a year, andwhat a time for it, with episode 200.
I still can't believe we're here, andwe've just pretty much wrapped it up.
Yeah, 200, 300 will be Two years from now?
(30:40):
Man, that's a long way off.
I know, and so
did
100. Yeah, I know.
I'll be really close toturning 65 at that point.
Yeah, wow.
How long am I going to do this?
Do you know?
I mean, I've got nothing on my calendar,so Alright, well, I'll keep going then.
Okay.
I'll see you again in 104 weeks from now.
(31:02):
104
weeks from now.
Yeah, something like that.
Well, I guess not 104 becausethat would be episode 304.
Oh, yeah,
you're right.
I was going
to tweet.
I
was thinking two years from now.
All right We'll see you ina hundred episodes from now.
Sounds good.
Thanks, Randy.
It was good to join you, and we'llcatch you next time, everybody.
(31:25):
Thank you for joining ustoday on The Unique CPA.
You can find the show notes fortoday's episode and learn more about Tri-Merit at RTheUniqueCPA.com.
Remember to subscribe andleave a five star rating on your favorite podcasting app.
And join us next time for more expertiseand insights on The Unique CPA.
(31:48):
ProfessionalProductions.net
Hello, and welcome to The UniqueCPA with your host, Randy Crabtree.
We're committed to creating a thrivingcommunity of accounting professionals
who are physically and mentally healthy,fulfilled, and energized by their work.
Our ultimate goal is to elevatethe reputation of the accounting
profession and vastly improvethe lives of those in it.
The Unique CPA is broughtto you by Tri-Merit, the specialty tax professionals.
(00:24):
Today, our guest is Randy Crabtree.
And hello, everybody.
You may recall that 100episodes ago, I joined you.
This is Justin Grant, the producerof The Unique CPA, actually joined
you for two episodes, 100 and 101,when we reached that milestone.
And this is another milestone.
(00:45):
Somehow, Randy, we havereached 200 episodes.
That's really unbelievable, actually.
It is!
It is, and yet it isn't, because it's agood show that has become a great show and a community, not just a podcast.
I think that's exactly why it'ssustained itself as long as it has.
You know, that is pretty cool though,the community aspect of things.
(01:06):
It's, I've met so many people becauseof The Unique CPA podcast and built so many relationships and, and in reality,
you know, the conference, Bridging theGap conference wouldn't exist without
the podcast and that, those togetherhave really created a community.
And exciting part for me is thatcommunity, at least Bridging the Gap portion, which is tied to
(01:27):
The Unique CPA now has actually aFacebook community, its own page.
So it's cool to see that the people thatare adding themselves to that Facebook page on a daily basis and seeing who's
being involved on it is just like everytime I look at it, I go, Oh, start to smile because, Oh, there's another person
I really like, and they're going to startinteracting here too, which is cool.
(01:48):
That's very cool and we're definitelygonna be sure to get that link in the show notes because I know not
everybody knows about it So they'regonna want to get on there and join everybody that we've got participating.
So yeah 200 episodes It's really quitethe milestone 100 was and it's a trite question, but it's one that's necessary
did you ever foresee anything likethis and If not, because I know the
(02:13):
answer is no, what did you foreseehappening all those episodes ago?
Honestly, the journey that TheUnique CPA Podcast has taken me
on, I never would have guessed ina million years what it's done.
So, you know, I had zero expectations.
I was like, well, maybe somebodywill listen someday, you know.
(02:36):
Maybe I'll get a guest that'llcome on and be with me.
And honestly, it's, it, I mean,I know this sounds weird, but I pretty much, I can get anybody.
I don't mean it like that, but peoplewill get on any podcast in reality.
I know what you mean.
Yeah.
And so, but at the beginningI was super surprised.
(02:57):
Like I would reach out to somebodylike Richard Kopelman was one of the
first guests, you know, magic partnerof a large firm, very large firm now.
And he said, yes.
And John Sensiba said yes.
And Allan Koltin said yes.
And Kimberly Ellison Taylor said yes.
And Jennifer Wilson said yes.
And like everybody reached outto, I just felt so honored.
(03:17):
That they would take time out to, to bea guest, or at least have a conversation with me on, on The Unique CPA.
So I never expected that.
I figured I'd have to be hunting forguests and there's just so many cool
people in this profession that want tohelp, I think is the, really the key.
Yeah.
That's that
community aspect just ofthe profession overall.
(03:38):
Yep.
And I say this often, well,often lately, I think is that
we are such a collaborativecommunity as a profession that it.
It's fun to see because we're notcutthroat, you know, Hey, you know, you're going to take my client.
I'm going to take your client.
We're not going to share ideas.
We share ideas nonstop in this profession,which is, I really enjoy seeing.
(04:00):
Agreed.
So recalling that a hundred episodes ago.
We tried out a new format.
We did The Unique CPA Happy Hourtogether and, uh, and that was fun.
That was a lot of fun.
We sampled some beers from aroundthe world, including Scotland for me, uh, because that's where I was.
And of course you were in Chicagoat the time and that was nice.
(04:23):
And kind of, it followed on well fromthe beer temple special episodes.
However.
We said at the time we were, we weregoing to be doing that, uh, you know,
here and there, and we have never, everdone a Unique CPA Happy Hour again.
No, we have not.
It was a good idea.
It was fun.
There might have been the beard
talking, I don't know.
Well, it was definitely something talking.
(04:45):
Yeah.
And, uh, we decided this time, seeingas it's nine in the morning where you
are presently, maybe that wouldn'tbe such a good idea on this occasion.
But we do want to discuss a littlebit about just some kind of changes to the format that we're looking at.
So one of those is that you'dlike to get a little bit more into the kind of technical tax talk.
(05:08):
Now, the ERC is alas,long gone at this point.
And it provided a lot of that during itsheyday, especially with all the fraud that came out of it eventually as well.
You had Dan Chodan on a couple times.
You had Nick Pantaleoof Tri-Merit come on.
So these days, and now we're fully intax season for last tax year, 2024, I know that you want to hit on a couple
(05:35):
of possibilities and things you'llbe looking at over the coming months.
So why don't you go ahead and fill us in?
Yeah, it's funny because when weoriginally started The Unique CPA podcast, when Dana Plotke, who was our marketing
person at the time, came to me and said,Hey, we're going to start a podcast.
My thought was, well, okay, great.
(05:55):
And you're going to host it.
I'm like, no, I'm notgoing to host a podcast.
What are you talking about?
And then I started thinking aboutit and this was like instantaneous.
It wasn't like weeks or daysI was thinking about it.
And then I was like, okay.
Well, I'm not going to talk abouttaxes because no one wants to listen to taxes every episode.
I'm not going to talk R& D taxcredits, which I love and I'm
passionate about, but I'm not goingto talk about that every episode.
(06:16):
It just doesn't make sense.
And so what are we going to talk about?
Well, you, we've seen where that'sgone over the years, but now.
Hey, key words, every episode, right?
Yeah, right, every episode wasnot something I wanted to do, but there's especially right now with so
much uncertainty with what's goingto happen with taxes, and we're really getting news constantly on.
(06:40):
Either somebody thinking, well,this could happen, or We're seeing that this does happen.
So what we decided to do is we're goingto, and this is again in the works, you know, we may , maybe it'll be in episode
300 and we'll go, oh, remember whenwe talked about the fact we're gonna start talking about tax a little bit?
Yeah.
And then we never did itjust like the happy hours.
But I think we will, I thinkprobably, you know, once a month maybe, maybe even less, or as.
(07:07):
You know, something happens, right?
We'll have a topic, you know,let's give a good example here.
Renewable energy tax credits.
Uncertainty right now where renewableenergy tax credits are going.
And when news comes out, what we'llprobably do is record an episode that, hey, here's what's happening.
These are the changes.
These are the changes thatare going to start next year.
(07:29):
So if you are going to do aproject, start them in 2025, you know, that type of, and it's still.
To me, super exciting informationis seeing what's happening, seeing it evolve and try in real time as
quick a real, I mean, with us, it'llbe like a week, maybe at the most.
Yeah,
right.
At the most.
That's a good call from the time recordto time release, but we'll be doing that.
(07:51):
Most of it will probably revolvearound text credits and incentives.
Cause that's when tri merit.
Is yeah, but there'll be other things.
I mean, we'll see what happenswith the tax cut and jobs act 2.
0.
And when that comes out, maybe we'll putan episode on, Hey, here's what to expect.
Here's things you shouldbe thinking about.
Here's things that you needto accelerate into 25 or delay until 26, that kind of thing.
(08:14):
And so that's what we're looking at.
It's evolving.
It is a. Discussion that's happeningweekly inside Tri-Merit right
now on, uh, our marketing andsales and marketing team calls.
So I'm pretty sure we're reallyclose on, you know, getting that
information out so we can start torecord the episode that makes sense.
(08:35):
Fantastic.
And we are looking forward to that.
It's nice.
Cause it'll make the podcast, you know,it's already a go to for issues kind of within the profession, but this is, you
know, you want a little quick update onsomething you probably your firm doesn't have the highest level of expertise on.
This could be really helpful.
Just keep your ears open.
(08:56):
Right.
And we'll announce it.
Obviously we'll market it.
We'll get the information outthere, but yeah, it'll be fun.
It'll be a change of pace.
We'll see if I get bored aftertwo months, maybe we'll stop.
But if I don't, that's myproblem is I get bored easily.
And so that's why I need tokeep things exciting for me.
Sorry.
You know, we tried to keep themexciting for the audience too, but
(09:16):
thankfully that tends to, youknow, intersect pretty strongly.
Right.
And I have a feeling.
Every month and a half, two months,whenever news comes out, not going to
bore you because it's going to be a nicelittle change of pace out of nowhere.
So there you go.
That's true.
So, hey, and I'm just honest.
I say what I think.
So
that's, that's all we need.
Exactly.
So speaking of changes of pace, wethought it would be fun for the audience to get a little behind the scenes.
(09:42):
Look at The Unique CPA, because believeit or not what you, the end user receives.
In your ears every week is not in anyway, shape or form, even relatively similar to what I receive in my ears.
(10:02):
So
just as in my episodes are messyand then he fixes them up and makes them sound really good.
I'm being hyperbolic
here.
No, you're right though.
No, I am being.
However, we have fun with it.
And even before the 100th episode,I have to own up to this one.
Mark Reese, who's part of the marketingteam at Tri-Merit, he said, you know what would be a really cool idea?
(10:26):
If you kept a blooper reel.
And I completely did not dothat for the longest time.
So it's my own fault that all thebloopers that I have for us today
that we're going to look at Are fromlike the last three, four months.
However, I am grateful to you, Randy,because you always make sure to keep the supply of them coming to me.
(10:48):
I'm good at it.
I've still been able to comeup with a nice selection here.
So what we're going to do, we'regoing to make a little game out of it.
I was careful to cut awaythe other, the guests voice.
So you, you won't get ahint from hearing them.
Which episode it's from.
So I want to be able to seeif you can figure out which episodes we're talking about.
Oh boy, pressure on me.
(11:09):
All right.
So on this first one, let'sjust run right into it.
Here we go.
So you're hearing itanecdotally, at least.
I've said the word wrong, I think,but you guys all know what I meant.
Um, anecdotally, I'm goingto keep going until I get it.
Uh, we'll let it go.
You're hearing this.
Uh,
(11:35):
let me see if I can say it first.
Anecdoted.
I can't say it.
Still gotcha, huh?
Yeah.
That's a word I will not say anymore.
All right.
Let me think about that.
Who, who would that have been?
It feels fairly recent.
Like you said, the last three months,but some of the shows that were released.
Three months ago, I recorded eightmonths ago or so, or, you know, a year ago, almost in those cases.
(11:56):
But that was, I think afairly recent recording.
And I'm just going to say thatI don't remember any guests I have ever had on the show.
I'm going to go David Lane.
Okay.
Well, David Lane.
Just released last week.
It was not David Lane.
Okay.
The answer is DanBarenholtz in episode 187.
(12:19):
Okay, that was recorded a while ago.
It was for you a pretty long time ago.
But yeah, air dates pretty, prettyrecent and the funny part about this one and one of the reasons I picked
it was that not only Randy, is yourenergy and your enthusiasm and your go get 'em attitude contagious?
So are your mispronunciations.
(12:41):
Here we go.
We don't know what the completionrates were with the PDF organizer.
Obviously, that's just anecdotally.
Hey!
I'm not sure if I said it correctly.
What do you know?
It's spreading!
Did he say it right?
No, he said it wrong too, soabsolutely perfect for this segment.
(13:05):
Yes.
All right.
And I'm looking up that at 187.
There he is.
Okay.
I'm just looking onanother screen over here.
Now I'm going to cheat because I'mgoing to pull up some of these episodes.
No, that's fine.
And in the final cut, this isthe other fun part about this.
The listeners will not have heard that.
So they heard, I made it soundlike you made a little joke out of not saying the word right.
(13:26):
And then just moved on instead ofthat, you know, 10, 15 second sequence.
So, so it's cool.
We get to peer behind the curtain here.
Nice.
So let's go on to the next one.
I did leave this oneentirely alone, actually.
So everyone's heard this before,because you actually, you made a pretty good joke out of it.
So here we go.
So, so you're a success,success, hold on, success.
(13:48):
Got it.
So you're a success story then forthe profession left and came back.
I kind of like that.
So, yeah, yes.
I remember this episode too,and this was fairly, fairly recent episode of recording.
I'll guarantee that I'mgoing to put money on it.
It was fairly recent and it hasbeen released though, right?
(14:09):
Yes.
All of these have been released already.
Oh man.
It is not something that's.
I remember that for a fact that this wasa person who, who left and came back, which is not a story you always hear.
It's usually the leave and they're done.
And I remember being, Oh, you know what?
(14:29):
I'm going to go with Dave Hartley.
That is correct.
Well
done.
All right.
Ding, ding, ding.
So, yep.
That was David Hartley of Anders.
Episode 1 93 on that one.
So only what, six, seven weeks ago
here.
Oh wow.
Crazy . Yeah, I know.
Very nice.
All right, so moving onto, to clip three now.
(14:51):
This one.
Wait.
Before
you do that, sure.
Just to remember, lookand see how my memory is.
I recorded that one a while ago.
I did not record that recently.
It's true.
You did.
And you still got it.
And that's impressive.
Well, and it felt like it was recent.
That's why.
But no, that was recorded.
I don't even know.
I mean, that was eight months ago.
I bet we recorded that, if not longer.
(15:13):
I'm pretty sure it was before bridgingthe gap or immediately after it.
I think it was before.
And I think it was before, too, becauseI seem to recall I had to finagle a little bit on you guys referring
to the conference this year, quoteunquote, and so I had to, yeah.
Those are the other things you do,
make them timely when I
(15:34):
don't
make them
timely.
Right.
All right.
So in the next one, this is funbecause you may be just because
right now, in fact, if you don't mindtelling the audience, where are you?
I'm in Healdsburg, California.
Currently, I've been here foryesterday was four weeks and I got a week and a half to go.
Kathy and I hang out in warmerweather than Chicago for the winter.
(15:57):
And so.
Resultingly, you may be one of themost well traveled podcast hosts
as far as where you are locationrecording wise in the world.
I mean, and that's notreally an exaggeration.
Although in this case, youmight have been at home.
I don't know, but no matterwhere you are, there can always be kind of practical issues.
(16:19):
That you're having to deal within the middle of recording.
So in this instance, the forces ofnature were conspiring against you.
Now, um, let's go back to where we were,back to the regularly scheduled program.
And we were talking about,uh, um, give me a second.
Uh, Justin's going tohave to edit for a second.
I lost the video there and thesun is like in my face over here.
(16:43):
I, let me see if I canget these blinds down.
Um, Why can't I get these blinds down?
I'm going the right way.
Sorry, Justin, you're editing again.
Oh, maybe on the other side.
Nah, I'm just gonna leave it.
I'll just keep moving myself.
Alright, I'm gonna start back up again.
(17:05):
Now, I vaguely rememberthat, but I have no clue.
I'll guarantee I wasn't at home whenI did that, because I don't have sun issues in my office at home.
And wow, this is weird, becauseright now, well this is Probably recorded at the old house.
But then when I was thinking about this,the son, I'm thinking about the old house because we recently moved in the new
house, there is, will never be a son issuebecause I'm kind of up in a loft area.
(17:29):
So this, so it wasn't home though.
I had to be on the road somewhere,but I, I'm just going to take a wild guess and say it was Michael Haynes.
You're not far off time wise as far asreleasing, however, it was Liz Farr.
Oh, that again was recorded a while ago.
Globetrotter
as well, Liz Farr, who of course madean attempt at walking across England and was unfortunately foiled by her ankle.
(17:58):
Yeah, when I met Liz for the firsttime was in New Orleans in 2022 is my
guess and she was Walking with a canebecause you had recently hurt her ankle.
So yeah, Liz for our episode.
All right.
I wonder where I was when I recorded that.
I wonder if we can look, but that's,yeah, I vaguely remember the sun issue.
(18:21):
And obviously I don't knowhow to use blinds very well.
I guess.
Yeah.
And I was thinking they're probablynew blinds to you, so it's no wonder you couldn't deal with them.
Yep.
Yep.
All right.
And we've got one more sometimes.
This happens to all of us.
We forget what we weresaying five seconds ago.
(18:41):
And in this instance, it was you.
So let's check out this bit of selfinflicted deja vu that you shared with us.
What's going to differentiate you isthese soft skills, these leadership, these communication, these relationship
building skills, the leadership skills,the communication skills, and that, that
is, is what's going to differentiate youin this profession, because that's what.
(19:04):
Really puts your personality outthere, which is what attracts people to what you're doing.
Okay.
So I said a couple of words twice there.
Apparently I assume you fixedthat before it went out.
I did.
And lucky us.
I have the clip of itfixed so we can compare it.
Okay.
Let's hear it.
Okay.
What's going to differentiate you isthese soft skills, these leadership
(19:26):
skills, the communication skills,these relationship building skills.
And that is what's going todifferentiate you in this profession, because that's what really puts your
personality out there, which is whatattracts people to what you're doing.
Really well done, Justin.
That sounded good.
I tell people often, and they don'thear this in the recording or when we go live, before we start recording,
(19:50):
I say, hey, you know, Justin'sgoing to make us sound really good.
So don't worry about messing up at all.
He's going to take all the rums and errsand pauses and stumbles and all that.
And that's an example of it right there.
A little bit of
sleight of hand and theglitch in the matrix was Yeah.
Fixed
right up.
So let me think then, so I need to guesswho this was, cause this one's not right.
(20:12):
I mean, it's, well, causeI thought I didn't stumble.
I thought I had it right.
So this one isn't, uh, agreeing with me.
I, I'm not getting it at all, but thisis somebody, obviously we're talking
about soft skills with, at leastthat was part of the conversation.
Maybe not.
I'll just say it was Lisa Simpson.
No, it's a good guess,but it was Greg Adams.
(20:34):
Oh
yeah, that makes sense.
Episode 197.
So boy, we only got one out of four.
You got, you got David.
I don't listen to this show.
That
will make a
difference.
Yeah.
And Greg was fairly recent.
I think he was that November and Decemberand we're, I was hopeful you'd get it
because of that, but no, you, youwent back to David Hartley from May or whenever it was, but no, this one,
(20:58):
no.
No, but that seems like somethingI would have talked with Lisa Simpson about, though, to agree.
Yeah,
it's a logical guess.
Yep.
Yep.
All right.
Well, that was
fun.
Yes.
Enjoyed that.
And before we close out, I know you alsowanted to take a look at what you kind of feel will be the big issue of 2025.
(21:21):
And that is private equity.
Yeah.
It's so I'm every time I talkto somebody about private equity, I learn I'm no expert.
I'm
no, but it's happeningmore and more, isn't it?
You're hearing more and
more.
We're hearing more and more.
We, what recorded episodewith Allan Koltin.
Boy, that was a while ago when thefirst private equity deal happened.
(21:44):
Oh yeah, that was, that one
was ages ago, but you had him on back and.
Discussed it a little more.
Didn't you,
did we do it another episode?
Wow.
Look at I'm losing my memory
or I do more than one show.
So I may be thinking of another show.
Yeah.
But I remember talking to Allan andlike, this was the first big deal.
I think our first of this, all thesedeals that start happening, I think
(22:07):
it was Eisner Amper and, and Allanbasically said, this is not done.
This is not, we're just at the beginning.
We're going to, uh, see,and he was naming like top.
Twenty firms are top hundred firmsthat not firms by their name, but how many deals we should see.
Yeah,
and that was incidentally episode 54
Wow
with
Allan that was a while ago that Iin my mind that was like October of 22 or something or 21 even
(22:35):
It was 21.
It was November of 2021.
So there you go.
That was 21.
So, so I remember Allan and Allan's great.
Good friend of mine.
I always love talkingto Allan and he was of
course on at the Beer Temple too.
Yes, that's true.
He was on the Beer Temple episodewhere actually I think Kenji Kuramoto got to interview him quite a bit.
They were on a panel together andKenji was asking questions of Allan.
(22:57):
That's right.
And that's, that was a fun episode, we'redigressing, but that was a lot of fun.
That was actually the pre cur oh,now I'm going to digress, we're going to go on a tangent here.
Oh, you said it though, you're not goingto say you're going on tangents anymore.
You said this last week.
No, but I changed my mind.
I'm actually working with a,uh, a speech coach right now.
(23:21):
Yeah, I've written all my own stuffforever, pretty much, you know, and
I do a lot of presentations and, and,you know, at conferences and that.
And so for the first time ever, nowI'm actually working with somebody, you
know, at age 62, I realized that I couldprobably learn from others as well.
Um, and, and I was talkingabout the tangents I go on.
(23:42):
And he said, no, your tangents are great.
Just, you don't have to call them out.
You don't have to say I'mgoing on a tangent because what you're saying isn't a tangent.
It ties in with the topicyou're talking about.
So maybe that's what I was thinkingthat I don't have to call it out as a tangent, but I still like it.
I kind of like being, Ithink I'm self deprecating.
Oh, I, there's a, almost a blooper there.
(24:03):
You caught yourself.
Yeah, that'll be an easy edit.
No, we can't edit.
We're going to show that I'm not perfect.
Obviously, I'm not perfect.
Well, you make me sound that.
I didn't mean to say that I'm perfect.
And now I lost my train of thought.
(24:24):
Oh, the tangents.
Yeah.
And so, so we did that.
So, but yeah, Allan was great.
And then we had, uh, Tim Petrey.
Yeah.
And Tim was on talking private equitybecause they had done a deal recently.
I actually recorded an episode onprivate equity that hasn't been released.
It'll probably be released, you know,maybe, um, Two months after this episode,
(24:46):
which was with Alex Drost and Alex hadreally keen insights on what's going on.
And the way he said it is thatwe're in the second inning right now of private equity.
So we've passed the first andwe're probably got a long way to go
apparently.
Yeah.
A long way to go in this.
And I think Allan would agree.
I really do want to get Allanback on and he and I have talked about it already that we should.
(25:09):
In fact, after the CitrinCooperman deal, where they.
You know, did the second round ofprivate equity recently in the last month or so, a month or two, I talked
to Allan and said, we should really geton and talk about what's going on again.
And so we probably will do that.
That'll be an episode thatwe'll try to get scheduled soon.
Now, see, I'm putting pressureon myself because I just said it.
(25:31):
So we have to do it.
Exactly.
But yeah, I'm curious to see.
There's definitely, in my impressionwith private equity, there's definitely
positives for the current firmowners from a financial standpoint.
I've actually talked to people whohave done it where they're almost immediately not happy with the deal.
I've talked to other peoplewho've gone through it and they're very happy with the deal.
(25:53):
You know, like when we talked to Tim,it's something that, um, some friends of
mine just did a deal that I don't thinktechnically they're announcing it yet.
So, yeah.
But they said it's not private,but I'm not going to announce
who it is, but they're happy withthe initial portion of the deal.
And we will see what happens there.
(26:13):
I just, my biggest concern, Ihave two big concerns with private
equity, but you know, I'm not goingto begrudge anybody for doing it.
I mean, there's reasons andthere's a lot of positives.
There's, you know, the influx ofmoney so that you can increase your technology footprint.
You can become more efficientand efficiency is going to be key because we're.
Lacking individuals coming into theprofession, which I'm not going to say this is a tangent, but I did see
(26:39):
an announcement where there's been anuptick in enrollment and accounting.
So that's a positive sign, but I've also,and you and I talked about this a few weeks ago, there's people who are looking.
To move jobs or get jobs inaccounting that specifically are
saying, I'm not going to go work fora private equity accounting firm.
And so I'm curious to see how that'sgoing to play out in the coming years.
(27:03):
It's not going to be immediate, butthe coming years to see what that does.
And then the other thing I don'tknow with private equity is just.
What the end game is, because you can'tkeep flipping the firm indefinitely at some point, we're just going
to have one accounting firm, ifthat's the case, or it's going to
be, or we're all going to turn intopublic, you know, public companies.
(27:25):
We are public accounting, but I mean,on the stock market, publicly owned.
Yeah.
Yes.
And so, yeah, I'm just curiousto see, I don't want to.
I feel like when I talk about privateequity, I have a little bit of a negative bent on it, but I think
that's because of I'm concernedwith the culture aspect of it.
You know, I'm a very peoplefirst culture and I just don't
(27:45):
see that that historicallyhas been private equities way.
And I did talk to Allan Koltin aboutthis and Allan said, this new wave
of private equity, which now, youknow, we talked four and a half.
Boy, four, no, three and a halfyears ago now, Allan and I, he said
they've learned, they understandthat accounting is a people industry.
Right, because this is
not their first bite at this apple.
(28:07):
Right.
By any stretch.
They've done it before.
Yeah.
And so I, I try to be not, you know,the word is a naysayer, but concerned.
I guess more so about it becauseone, it's probably something there's positive aspects to it.
There's things that have tohappen in the profession.
It helps us to get out of that hole.
(28:28):
When I often say the SALY mindset,same as last year, cause private equity is going to come in and they're going
to make changes and hopefully a lotof the changes are for the positive.
So we'll see.
I'm curious to see.
We'll probably do more episodes.
Like I said, I really need to getAllan Koltin back on because he's got his finger on the pulse of this.
Dan Hood, you know, countingtoday, had a whole conference on it this past year that I went to.
(28:53):
Met a lot of really cool,interesting people there.
And it'd be great to have him
back on the show too.
Yeah.
Dan and I were texting just recently andwe do want to do an episode probably both on his and on ours and The Unique CPA.
We'll probably talk about the survey wedid, you know, we did this accountant's professional satisfaction survey.
(29:13):
We're just wrapping up the,what do you want to call it?
The.
Summary of it, but not justthe summary of the data.
Here's where we feel you can makechanges to increase satisfaction levels within the profession.
Nice, like a practical analysis.
Yes, practical.
That's See, you should host the show.
You're one of the greats.
(29:34):
I am, actually, right now.
You are hosting, you're right.
I thought you were saying you'remuch better, which you are, too.
I thought I had a big ego.
Oh, no.
See?
I'm not any good at this.
So that's one thing we're going to talkabout and that's, those are the types of things that this unique CPA podcast
(29:57):
has created because those are the thingsthat I learned from others and then like, Hey, how can we amplify this?
Or how can we Yeah.
Build upon this and finding outwhat creates satisfaction level
and what creates dissatisfactionlevels within the profession.
We really felt was super importantand now hopefully we can take this data and make a little bit of dent
in satisfaction levels on a positiveaspect for people in the profession.
(30:20):
Love it.
Well, that, right there, that roundsoff quite the roadmap for the show
for the next few months to a year, andwhat a time for it, with episode 200.
I still can't believe we're here, andwe've just pretty much wrapped it up.
Yeah, 200, 300 will be Two years from now?
(30:40):
Man, that's a long way off.
I know, and so
did
100. Yeah, I know.
I'll be really close toturning 65 at that point.
Yeah, wow.
How long am I going to do this?
Do you know?
I mean, I've got nothing on my calendar,so Alright, well, I'll keep going then.
Okay.
I'll see you again in 104 weeks from now.
(31:02):
104
weeks from now.
Yeah, something like that.
Well, I guess not 104 becausethat would be episode 304.
Oh, yeah,
you're right.
I was going
to tweet.
I
was thinking two years from now.
All right We'll see you ina hundred episodes from now.
Sounds good.
Thanks, Randy.
It was good to join you, and we'llcatch you next time, everybody.
(31:25):
Thank you for joining ustoday on The Unique CPA.
You can find the show notes fortoday's episode and learn more about Tri-Merit at RTheUniqueCPA.com.
Remember to subscribe andleave a five star rating on your favorite podcasting app.
And join us next time for more expertiseand insights on The Unique CPA.
(31:48):
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