Edward Kellman, CEO and chief design engineer of Trakker Apps, holds two U.S. patents for an innovative take on double-entry accounting 

The system, known as the Double-Entry Multi-Extrinsic-Variable Accounting Method Database, aims to modernize financial tracking while preserving the essence of the traditional accounting system that was first described by Luca Pacioli back in 1494. It leverages artificial intelligence while generating and reconciling multiple financial ledgers by account, user, customer, job and vendor.

“I made a representation of the current double entry database, which basically collects a date, amount, a debit and a credit account, and that’s about as much of that calculation as you can do by hand,” said Kellman. “It’s been done by hand for hundreds of years. It’s very tedious, but nobody ever thought to expand the database now that you can use a computer to solve for these enormously complex database solutions.”

He expanded the database with new variables, which he calls extrinsic variables, and now it can track financial transactions by customer, job, user and vendor. “By doing that, I’ve created an enormous amount of new financial solutions that can be plucked from the database that never existed, and these are all financial analytics for your company, because the variables are the things that matter in your company: which jobs make the most money, which users produce the most income and expenses, and things of this nature,” said Kellman. “But because I expanded that database, and nobody thought to do this since 1494 when this system was first published. It’s totally modernized double entry accounting.”

He offers them as apps that can be downloaded from the Apple and Android app stores, along with a browser-based version through the Trakker Apps website. He is hoping to partner with financial institutions rather than accounting software companies since the system was developed as a BaaS, or banking-as-a-service, technology. The bank would be able to white label the program with its own branding.

The system leverages artificial intelligence to automate data entry. “I didn’t want it to become a tedious process for entering data, so we basically wrote these AI data entry algorithms that collect the data and fill in the data when it knows it right away,” said Kellman. “You can enter these transactions really just as quickly, if not quicker, on a smartphone than you can on any other accounting system, because of the data entry algorithms that just collect the data really quickly. And once you hit Enter and record that transaction, that’s all stored in the cloud. All your business is digitized.”

He did beta testing for a year on the app stores, where the program had around 6,000 downloads. But then he shut down the program because he didn’t want to be the cloud host responsible for storing thousands of people’s financial data so he is searching for a banking partner to host it securely. The system provides a kind of ERP platform that combines banking and accounting. 

“Instead of printing profit and loss reports and balance sheet reports and trial balance summary reports just for the whole company, I can print them individually, for each individual user or each individual job,” said Kellman. “Or if you have multiple users, like in a law firm on one job, you can select the job and the user and print just the transactions that apply to those variables that you’ve selected, and now you’ve got a wealth of information about your company that never existed before.”

Trakker Apps’ BaaS fintech platform includes Business Trakker, Invoice 4 Business, Expense Trakker, Balance Sheet Trakker and Escrow Trakker for Lawyers.

It took four years before Kellman was able to patent the technology. “Normally, when you apply for a patent, they spend a lot of time on a patent search, where they investigate all the previous patents to see if you’re in violation of any other patents, or any other art that exists,” he said. “My patents are the only patents ever issued for a double entry accounting system, and there was no prior art. It took about four years to get it, and then I got a second one after that.”

Kellman isn’t planning to challenge other accounting software companies now that he has the patents, which are actually for the ledger. “No, I don’t want to challenge other companies,” he said. “You can’t patent a software program. My program produces what we call a multivariable ledger that you can hold in your hand. It’s a financial ledger, and that’s what’s patented.”

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and the National Association of Corporate Directors have released an exposure draft of their Corporate Governance Framework and are asking for public comments until July 11.

Last May, COSO and the NACD selected PwC to be the lead author to develop a comprehensive corporate governance framework offering principles-based guidance for organizations to establish and strengthen their governance practices, beginning in the boardroom and spreading throughout the organization. Last December, COSO released a governance framework for internal controls over robotic process automation.

The Corporate Governance Framework is designed to complement and align with COSO’s longstanding Internal Control and Enterprise Risk Management frameworks. It includes practices to help organizations improve their governance effectiveness, manage risks proactively and create long-term value. COSO is jointly sponsored by the American Accounting Association, the American Institute of CPAs, Financial Executives International, the Institute of Management Accountants and the Institute of Internal Auditors.  

“Resilient and well-structured corporate governance is the foundation of trust in capital markets, ethical business practices, and sustainable financial performance,” said COSO executive director and chair Lucia Wind in a statement Tuesday. “This framework provides organizations with a structured yet flexible approach to governance, ensuring they can navigate today’s complex regulatory and risk landscape with confidence, enable organizational effectiveness, while building long term value for its shareholders.”

Public comments will be accepted until July 11, 2025. The COSO website provides additional submission information.

COSO and the NACD are encouraging a holistic approach to defining corporate governance, extending beyond the boardroom to encompass the practices, information channels, and processes that govern how an entity is being directed, managed and controlled.  

“Strong corporate governance creates a competitive advantage for organizations of all sizes, stages of maturity, and growth strategies,” said NACD president and CEO Peter Gleason in a statement. “This framework will help boards and management align on the importance and scope of governance in a time of tremendous complexity and disruption. When adapted to fit an organization’s specific needs, the framework will help drive better business outcomes and higher-quality board and management performance.”

COSO and the NACD see corporate governance as involving the oversight and processes by which an informed board and management team steers an entity toward executing its strategies and goals while maximizing long-term shareholder value in an ethical manner and within the relevant legal and regulatory environment.   

“By providing a common language and practical guidance, it empowers boards, management, and employees to work together in building resilient, accountable organizations that can adapt, compete, and deliver long-term value to shareholders and other key stakeholders,” said Lillian Borsa and Brian Schwartz, PwC US principals and co-leads of the COSO Corporate Governance Framework, in a joint statement.

Elon Musk expressed dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump’s giant tax bill, saying it undercut his efforts to slash government spending. 

Musk, who has announced he’s stepping back from his Department of Government Efficiency — a body that quickly became an exponent of the second Trump administration’s vision — told CBS News in an interview that he was “disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.” 

The legislation, which Trump calls his “big, beautiful bill” and includes an array of tax cuts, will go to the Senate after it narrowly passed the House last week. Musk, the billionaire chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, seemed to echo the concerns of some Republicans in the House and Senate who believe the legislation costs too much and demand more spending reductions. 

“We are so far away from an acceptable bill, it’s hard to say,” said Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, when asked when his chamber could complete its work.

Other Republicans, however, not only oppose further cuts, but object to provisions already in the House version, such as restricting Medicaid benefits and the swift elimination of clean-energy tax incentives.

“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” Musk said in an excerpt of the interview released on Tuesday night before its broadcast on CBS Sunday Morning this weekend. “But I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion.”