I joined Devon Coombs on his "Ambition, Aligned" podcast for what might be my most candid conversation yet about the accounting profession's biggest problems.
The title says it all: "We're All Lying." Because we are.
Every firm that bills by the hour knows staff routinely eat time to meet impossible deadlines. Every manager who's signed off on a rushed audit knows corners were cut.
Every partner who's pushed teams to the breaking point during busy season knows the quality of work suffers when you're working 80+ hours a week.
In this conversation, Devon and I discuss:
The secret timesheets that reveal what's really happening behind the scenes
How burnout isn't a bug in public accounting—it's a feature
Why CPE has devolved into a checkbox exercise rather than meaningful learning
The revenue recognition games that inflate earnings
The cultural rot at the heart of firms that prioritize hours over outcomes
This isn't just another "accounting is broken" rant.
We discuss real, implementable solutions that can restore ethics, sustainability, and trust to our profession.
As I say in the episode, I'm ultimately an optimist—I believe we can build accounting firms that deliver exceptional value without destroying the people who work there.
But first, we have to stop lying to ourselves.
Check out the full episode here: https://youtu.be/AXnliZAiezc?si=Wr3K6uVrpvttTRUl
