Accouting’s Finest: Members of a Profession Seldom in the Limelight Get Their Due

by Drew Ruble

Experienced CPAs are vital to a business’ growth and success. From business plan to succession strategy, they have a hand in every aspect of a business’ life cycle. And for public companies in a post-Sarbanes-Oxley world, they are more crucial than ever.

Despite this, accountants, especially the good ones, remain relatively invisible. Unfortunately, unless there’s a scandal of Enron-ic proportions, members of this profession maintain a relatively low profile. As a result, this is a list of “best in field” that is a bit more difficult to compile than the others Nashville Post will present in the coming year.

Not surprisingly, Ernst & Young is well represented, as the firm audits nearly two dozen Nashville companies who are SEC registrants. The list is also admittedly male-dominated – an indictment of the profession’s slow-turning gears more so than any bias on our behalf.

This peer-review list encompasses practicing accountants from traditional to niche players, meaning from members of the Big Four firms serving the needs of big public companies to more entrepreneurial firms providing key tax and other services that help build companies big and small. It also includes a few individuals who are not practicing accountants but whose influence on the profession is profound.

Thanks to the following list, these professionals will have to tolerate a higher profile than usual.

Tom Aaron, Tennessee Managing Partner, Deloitte & Touche

Vic Alexander, Chief Manager, Kraft CPAs

Wynne E. Baker, Member/Partner, Kraft CPAs

Edward H. Braman, Partner, Ernst & Young

Sam Bumpus, Partner, Carr Riggs & Ingram

Mike Cain, Co-managing Partner, LBMC

Lucy R. Carter, Partner, Carter Lankford

David Costello, President & CEO, NASBA

Dell Crosslin, Managing Partner, Crosslin & Associates

Kevin Crumbo, Member in Charge, Kraft CPAs

Robert Davidson, Co-founder/Managing Partner, Davidson Golden & Lundy

Sam B. DeVane, Managing Partner, Ernst & Young

Jerry W. Faulkner, Owner, Faulkner Mackie & Cochran

Jane B. Finley, Belmont University and Deloitte & Touche

Charles E. Frasier, Founding Partner, Frasier Dean & Howard

John T. Gawaluck, Audit Partner, Ernst & Young

Randy R. Laszewski, Office Managing Partner, KPMG

David K. Morgan, Co-managing Partner, LBMC

Larry Morton, Executive, Crowe Horwath

Michael Musick, Partner, BDO Seidman

John O. Pearce, TN tax practice leader, Ernst & Young

Sid Pilson, Personal Financial Planning Specialist, LBMC

Rick Swafford, Member in charge, RM Wolff

Mike Vaden, President, Decosimo/Vaden

Troy Waugh, CEO, Waugh & Co.