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Art of Accounting: A holiday gift for my readers

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Complimentary Access Pill

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

Thank you for reading my Art of Accounting columns posted on Accounting Today these past 11 years. I find it amazing that I have been able to post 572 weekly columns with quick fixes to questions, problems, practice management issues and best practices. 

As a gift to my readers, I organized a file with six technical articles I wrote or co-wrote and an extra you might enjoy. My columns in Accounting Today do not deal with technical issues, but I am a practicing CPA and have had an extraordinary career serving clients. Along the way, I developed the ability to write about complicated topics in an easy to read and understandable manner. I wasn’t born that way and only started doing it when I realized that getting published was a good way to publicize my firm, get noticed and establish credentials. I worked at it and had many missteps. Early on, I hated some of the editors but also realized the ones I hated the most were teaching me the most.

The first article I wrote was never published. I had a typing service (this was long before word processors) type out a dozen copies and I sent them with a “nice” cover letter to 12 editors, who all rejected it. That never got published, so to assuage my ego and get published, I started my firm’s newsletter. In any event, I kept at it and, by a lucky break, I got something published and then leveraged that to the hilt. 

The following is a listing of and description of each of the gift articles. The first one I did not write, and the six articles that follow on the list appeared in five different authoritative publications. The gift file contains 60 pages. 

  1. Umps Fwat: A “cartoon” booklet that I did not write, but which I have been using in my college courses, high school workshops and with even younger people (and occasionally with clients) since the early 1980s. It is really good, and I’ve had a lot of fun with it. Enjoy it!
  2. Taxation of Collectibles: Something that frequently comes up and that is not so simple but is fully covered in this article. This is a great technical tax article.
  3. Getting Started with Financial Planning: A great “how to do it” if you want to start performing these services.
  4. Growing Today’s Accounting Business: This was written a few years ago but is fully applicable today and includes a listing of over 20 advisory services at the end.
  5. Illusion of Value: This article has 20 actual illustrations of how value is looked at in the real world and is not always as perceived.
  6. Trust Taxation: Everything you wanted to know about the basics (and some very technical things too) about trusts.
  7. A Down and (Not) Dirty Business Valuation Technique: How to provide a client with a quick valuation of their business — a complete “how to” guide that suggests a great advisory service where you would help a client measure growth by the value creation of their business.

This is a valuable resource, and I am sure you will keep this file handy to use when you have a client question where you need a quick and pretty complete answer, or a point in the right direction. Even though I wrote most of these, I keep them handy for a quick refresher or to share with a client, or to answer a colleague’s question.

To get the free PDF file, just email me at [email protected] and put Holiday Gift as the subject. No messages please as I handle this myself and reading the messages slows me up. 

Enjoy, and thanks again for continuing to read my columns, and have a happy holiday.

Do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected] with your practice management questions or about engagements you might not be able to perform.

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Accounting

Tech news: Makosi rolls out EBP Eddy, AI agent built specifically for EBP audits

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The OneStream logo is displayed on a mobile phone in an arranged photo
The OneStream logo is displayed on a mobile phone in an arranged photo

Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg

Corporate accounting solutions provider OneStream announced the release of SensibleAI Agents, SensibleAI Studio and SensibleAI Account Reconciliations and the most advanced SensibleAI Forecast. 

SensibleAI Agents are AI-powered chat assistants that retrieve data, do deep analysis, visualize data and execute tasks. Embedded directly into the platform, SensibleAI Agents can be operated within OneStream workflows, data models, and security frameworks. They include a Finance Analyst Agent, which allows users to query financial data using natural language and receive real-time analysis, dashboards, and visualizations based on OneStream’s financially intelligent engine; an Operations Analyst Agent, which provides on-demand access to operational and transactional data, such as inventory, transactions, and sales orders; a Search Analyst Agent which searches across enterprise documents, platform guides, and any unstructured data to transform information accessibility with source transparency; and a Deep Analysis Agent, which processes large volumes of documents to answer high-stakes, high-complexity questions. 

SensibleAI Studio is a growing library of more than 30 plug-and-play, quantitative and generative AI routines that users can activate within the OneStream platform or directly through APIs. Users can explore and analyze data in plain language and streamline reporting, reconciliation, and decision-making. Additionally, SensibleAI Studio’s Genesis Blocks make it easy to plug AI capabilities into new or existing workflows, all while maintaining full transparency and auditability. SensibleAI Account Reconciliations is powered by SensibleAI Studio. It allows users to leverage AI to detect anomalies and flag risks—like unusual adjustments or missing documentation—early in the close process.

Finally, SensibleAI Forecast is a no-code, AI-powered forecasting solution embedded in the OneStream platform that brings together the company’s machine learning-based forecasting engine (SensibleML) with new generative capabilities that allow finance teams to quickly model different scenarios and constraints, pulling forecasts up or down. Teams can create narrative commentary that provides context behind the forecast, strengthening analysis and decision making in real time.

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On the move: REDW appoints first director of client success

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INCPAS hosts leadership event; KNAV welcomes new partner; and more news from across the profession.

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Accounting

Mauldin & Jenkins merges in Bradshaw, Gordon & Clinkscales

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Mauldin & Jenkins, a Top 75 Firm based in Atlanta, is expanding into Greenville, South Carolina by adding Bradshaw, Gordon & Clinkscales, LLC, effective June 1, 2025.

The merger adds seven new partners and 42 professionals to M&J, which already has 76 partners and 510 professionals. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. M&J ranked No. 65 on Accounting Today‘s 2025 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $11.7 million in annual revenue. 

“This strategic partnership aligns with our mission to offer comprehensive accounting and advisory solutions to clients while expanding our footprint in key markets,” said Mauldin & Jenkins managing partner Hanson Borders in a statement Thursday. “We are excited to welcome the professionals of BGC to our firm and look forward to building on their legacy of excellence in the Greenville community.”

BGC offers audit, tax and business advisory services to clients and dates back over 40 years. “We are thrilled to join forces with a firm that shares our commitment to client service, integrity and long-term relationships,” said BGC managing partner Peter Tiffany in a statement. “This merger represents a strong cultural fit and an exciting opportunity to expand our capabilities while continuing to put our clients’ needs at the forefront of everything we do.” 

Last year, M&J added CFO Navigator, a firm that offers financial guidance to businesses and nonprofit organizations in the Atlanta area. In 2021, M&J expanded in Alabama by adding CDPA PC, a firm with offices in Athens, Florence and Huntsville, effective July 1. In 2020, M&J expanded to Sarasota, Florida, by acquiring Plush Smith. It acquired another firm in Florida, Jon Campbell & Associates, in 2019.

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