Teaching · A 12toKNOW Series
An audience-first body of work on the accounting career — majoring, early paths, the credentialing threshold, and the pivots that follow. The spine of it: accounting isn't a destination, it's a launchpad to operating leadership.
Most advice about accounting stops at the first job. This series takes the longer view — from why the major is worth choosing, through the credential that opens the door, to the pivots that turn a technical foundation into a seat at the table. It's the throughline of my own non-linear path: professor and director, then operating executive. The pieces below are being written and added over time; four are live now.
Start with the anchor essay — the fullest statement of the thesis — and check back as the rest publishes.
Essay · Why Accounting · Live
The anchor essay — the whole thesis, planted: accounting isn't a destination, it's a launchpad to operating leadership. Start here.
Read the essay →Talk · Auburn University · Live
“The Non-Linear Path” — the guest lecture on building a career, and a leadership, worth following. Five themes, a zig-zag journey, and the Auburn Creed, told interactively. The clearest picture of what a launchpad career actually looks like.
Open the lecture →Series · In development
The CPA and the exam as a career gate — why it matters, when to clear it, and how it changes the doors that open next. Pairs with The CPA Companion.
Coming soonEssay · The Pivots That Follow · Live
An accounting method nobody questioned was quietly picking winners between two departments — and what it taught me about reading the whole picture at once.
Read the essay →Essay · The Pivots That Follow · Live
I told the owner his company had no #2. Five miles later, I pulled off the interstate and called back to volunteer for a job that didn't exist.
Read the essay →What did accounting launch you into that you never saw coming? Readers' answers, in their own words. Share yours →
Studying for the exam now? The CPA Companion is the hands-on prep tool. For the leadership toolkit underneath the career, see the Six Cognitive Instruments. And the flagship teaching platform, AMG, is in development.
A living series — built in the open, like everything at 12toKNOW. New pieces are added as they're written. © 2026 DeWayne Searcy.