This episode explores why professional services firms must evolve or dissolve, as Dr. Jessica Levin, COO of Abacus Worldwide and co-author of Accounting for Times, argues that change and evolution are required to survive. Levin connects the succession crisis in accounting to the rise of private equity, noting that PE can fund overdue technology investment but often isn’t people first and demands cultural due diligence comparable to a merger. She presents core values as the determining factor for all decision-making, distinguishing values leaders genuinely act on from words slapped on a website, and links culture directly to business value, brand equity, and the high cost of losing employees. The conversation also covers the missed opportunity for accountants to become true trusted advisors and arbiters of financial truth, plus a personal segment on hobbies, reading, AI, and fact-checking.
Chapter 1: Welcome to Max Value
Ben Towne introduces Dr. Jessica Levin, an organizational leadership expert and COO/North America regional director at Abacus Worldwide, who also runs Seven Degrees LLC and co-authored the book Accounting for Times. The chapter sets up the show’s mission to maximize business value through valuation, exit planning, strategy, and values, previewing themes like evolution, partnering decisions, and core values driving value.
Chapter 2: Connecting the Dots
Levin describes over two decades in professional services, working in-house as a marketing director, consulting to the accounting profession, and earning a doctorate in organizational leadership with a capstone on recruiting and retaining accountants. She notes she lives and breathes the accounting world without being a practicing accountant herself, framing her cross-industry perspective on law and accounting firms.
Chapter 3: Evolve or Dissolve: The Future of Professional Services
Levin unpacks the book’s central message: professional services is changing faster than other industries, and firms that keep doing what they were doing won’t survive. She discusses breaking outdated structures without risking work quality, why partnership is ‘not the endgame,’ and how working normal hours rather than 60-100 hour weeks lets people serve firms and clients better.
Chapter 4: Private Equity and the Succession Crisis in Accounting
Levin explains how decades of ignored succession planning created a retirement wave that private equity now fills, often pushing overdue technology investment but raising concerns about culture, ethics, and profitability pressure on investors. She stresses that firms rarely do cultural due diligence on PE deals the way they would for a merger, and that outcomes vary widely between owners and staff within the same firm.
Chapter 5: Using Core Values to Drive Organizational Decisions
Levin describes her system of using core values as the determining factor for all decision-making, contrasting vague marketing-department values with specific, actionable ones like ‘work with nice people’ or ‘learn something new every day.’ She emphasizes that values must be understood and bought into across hiring and daily decisions, not just displayed on a wall.
Chapter 6: How Core Values Increase Business Value and Brand Equity
Levin ties core values directly to brand value and the bottom line, citing the cost of losing an employee as roughly equal to their salary, with ramp-up time and lost client revenue compounding the impact. She also discusses how a firm’s values, including political and ethical stances, increasingly influence which clients it attracts and retains.
Chapter 7: The Missed Opportunity for Accountants to Lead Business Strategy
Levin argues accountants have a missed opportunity to be ‘arbiters of financial truth’ and the trusted advisors who steer client relationships, referring out to law firms, insurance companies, banks, and other professionals. She reflects on building that trusted-advisor reputation without a big marketing engine behind her, and on the legacy professionals pass down.
Chapter 8: Get to Know You
In a lighter closing segment, Levin shares personal details: she is a self-described ‘world’s worst crafter’ with a Cricut machine, has ADHD, listens to audiobooks including Dan Brown, and is deeply curious about AI and the history of tariffs through heavy fact-checking. She closes by sharing where listeners can find her on LinkedIn, Threads, and Facebook, and as COO of Abacus Worldwide and CEO of Seven Degrees.
