• Practice Management - QuickRead Top Story - Valuation/Appraisal

    Build or Buy? Is It Time to Convert to Valuation Software in the Age of AI?

    August 12, 2026

    Few issues generate more spirited conversation among valuation practitioners than the debate over whether to use Excel or a valuation software package. The author opines that the decision today is not a simple build-versus-buy issue. The issue is how to combine specialized business valuation software with requisite integrated databases and supervised AI tools for the end-user’s and clients’ benefit. Few issues generate more spirited conversation among valuation practitioners than the debate over whether to use Excel or a valuation software package. After all, many practitioners have invested hundreds, or thousands, of hours developing their own spreadsheets, templates, linked databases, and…

  • Artificial Intelligence - Practice Management - QuickRead Top Story

    Breakfast Events: Beat the Algorithm in Business Development

    July 22, 2026

    AI is effective in producing outputs. AI, however, is unable to operate in a physical world. In this article, the author underscores the value people put in being around people and recommends best practices to set up breakfast events. It is hard to resist a good AI automation story. In a recent one, the author set up a team of AI agents to run parts of his business. I paid particular attention to his business development agent because that is the work I do. This agent did research, sent e-mails, and made LinkedIn connections. The kind of activities the author…

  • Artificial Intelligence

    A Guide to AI Confidentiality: What You Can and Can’t Upload

    July 22, 2026

    A practical framework for valuation analysts and forensic accountants who want AI’s efficiency without a confidentiality breach, a privilege waiver, or a professional standards violation. Why This Matters Now Every week, another valuation analyst pastes a client’s trial balance into a free AI chatbot to “save time.” Most of them have never read the terms of service for the tool they are using, and many are violating their confidentiality obligations without realizing it. The problem is not AI. The problem is treating a consumer chatbot like a locked filing cabinet. This guide maps your existing professional obligations to concrete AI…

  • Artificial Intelligence - QuickRead Top Story

    Turn Your Last 10 Valuation Reports into a Custom AI Writing Assistant: How to Teach AI Your Firm’s Voice, Structure, and Standard Language so First Drafts Come Out 80% Done Instead of 40%

    July 8, 2026

    Generic AI drafts fail because they pull from broad, impersonal sources resulting in textbook-like output with wrong tone, structure, and terminology. The solution is not better AI, but better training; teach it your firm’s own voice using your past work. If you have experimented with AI for report writing, you have probably hit the same wall most valuation professionals hit: the output is competent but generic. It reads like a textbook wrote it. The section order is not yours, the terminology is slightly off, the tone is wrong for your clients, and by the time you have rewritten it to…

  • Artificial Intelligence - Practice Management - QuickRead Top Story - Valuation/Appraisal

    AI in Valuation Report Writing: A Practical Guide for Analysts in 2026

    June 17, 2026

    This article provides a practical, standards‑aligned framework for using AI responsibly in valuation report writing. The goal is not to discourage the use of AI, but to help analysts integrate it in ways that strengthen—rather than weaken—the credibility of their work. In a relatively short time, the world has moved from digital transformation to the next major shift: artificial intelligence (AI). Courses on how to use AI effectively are everywhere, and businesses across industries are scrambling to understand how to integrate it. Some sectors—publishing among them—have been slower to embrace AI, raising legitimate questions about creativity, authorship, and the impact…

  • Artificial Intelligence - QuickRead Top Story - Valuation/Appraisal

    Leveraging AI in Business Valuations: Practical Applications, Ethical Boundaries, and Defensible Practice

    May 20, 2026

    The central question is not whether AI can be used in valuation work because it clearly can. Rather, the key question is how it should be used in a way that improves quality without compromising professional judgment, ethical obligations, or defensibility. The author shares his thoughts on the later question. Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming part of the day-to-day workflow in business valuation. What began as a novelty for drafting and summarizing has matured into a practical tool that can assist valuation professionals with research, data organization, financial analysis, visual presentation, and administrative efficiency. The central question is not…

  • Artificial Intelligence

    The AI Investigator: Comparing Leading LLMs for Social Media Asset Discovery

    May 13, 2026

    This article explores how modern LLMs can assist financial forensic professionals with social media asset discovery and investigative intelligence gathering. Using a consistent set of research prompts and investigative scenarios, the article compares the performance of Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude across areas such as accuracy, source transparency, investigative depth, contextual reasoning, and usability. Readers will gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of each platform, where AI can accelerate investigative workflows, and the limitations practitioners should understand before relying on AI-generated intelligence in forensic engagements. If only I had learned about financial forensics earlier in my life, I…

  • Artificial Intelligence - Practice Management - QuickRead Top Story

    AI as IP™ Framework: A Practical Guide to Classify, Protect, and Monetize AI Assets (Part II of II)

    April 29, 2026

    AI serves as a double-edged sword, presenting economic risks and the potential to disrupt and harm various industries, while simultaneously enabling significant innovation and growth across many sectors. Yet, for small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs), the economic value of AI systems is often invisible in financial reporting, lacks legal protections, and is under-leveraged in financing and valuation efforts. In this two-part article, the authors provide a practical guide that builds on earlier articles in the AI as IP™ series and provides SMEs with a step-by-step framework for identifying, classifying, protecting, and monetizing AI assets. In this second part, the authors…

  • Practice Management - QuickRead Top Story

    AI as IP™ Framework: A Practical Guide to Classify, Protect, and Monetize AI Assets (Part I of II)

    April 22, 2026

    AI serves as a double-edged sword, presenting economic risks and the potential to disrupt and harm various industries, while simultaneously enabling significant innovation and growth across many sectors. Yet, for small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs), the economic value of AI systems is often invisible in financial reporting, lacks legal protections, and is under-leveraged in financing and valuation efforts. In this two-part article, the authors provide a practical guide that builds on earlier articles in the AI as IP™ series and provides SMEs with a step-by-step framework for identifying, classifying, protecting, and monetizing AI assets. Executive Summary Artificial Intelligence (AI) serves…

  • Artificial Intelligence

    Tame the Chaos: Organize Your Files Faster with AI’s Claude Cowork

    April 15, 2026

    This article highlights a practical use case for Claude Cowork: organizing files in a way that saves time and reduces frustration. It explains how AI can help users sort through scattered documents, group related materials, improve naming consistency, and make important information easier to find. Rather than spending valuable time digging through folders and disconnected files, professionals can use Claude Cowork to create a more structured, searchable, and useful file system. The article is designed as a quick introduction and pairs with an external resource for readers who want to see the workflow in action. One of the most practical…

  • Artificial Intelligence

    Excel Just Got Smarter: How to Add Claude to Your Spreadsheet Workflow

    April 1, 2026

    This article highlights a video resource showing how to add Claude to Excel and start using AI directly inside a familiar spreadsheet environment. The topic is especially relevant for professionals who want faster ways to summarize data, generate formulas, organize information, and reduce repetitive spreadsheet tasks. The video’s core promise is that users can bring the benefits of Claude’s AI model into Excel, opening the door to a more efficient workflow for analysis and reporting. Excel has long been one of the most widely used tools in business, but AI is changing what spreadsheets can do. If you have ever…

  • Litigation Consulting - QuickRead Top Story

    Ensuring Data Authenticity and Governance in Litigation and Business Environments

    March 18, 2026

    As digital interdependence and geopolitical fragmentation grow, ensuring data authenticity, security, and regulatory compliance is more crucial than ever. Trust in data has eroded due to the opaque nature of AI systems, varying regulatory regimes, and governance gaps, reinforcing a critical need for transparency and accountability. The authors of this article discuss the regulatory framework, importance of data protection, risks of failing to protect the same, and how protected data is of value key to the use of AI. Introduction Ensuring data authenticity, security, and regulatory compliance is more crucial than ever as digital interdependence and geopolitical fragmentation continue to…

  • Artificial Intelligence

    Copilot Confusion: Figuring Out if Your M365 Licensing is Ready for AI

    March 11, 2026

    Microsoft Copilot is rapidly becoming one of the most talked-about AI tools in the workplace, but many organizations discover that enabling it is not as simple as flipping a switch. The biggest hurdle is often licensing. Different versions of Microsoft 365 include different capabilities, and not every plan supports Copilot. This article explains how to quickly determine whether your organization has the correct Microsoft 365 licensing for Copilot, what prerequisites are required, and how to identify gaps before attempting deployment. It also outlines the key licenses that are compatible with Copilot and provides a resource for checking your environment. Microsoft…

  • Artificial Intelligence

    Build Smarter Dashboards: Turning Raw Data into Real-Time Insights with ChatGPT

    February 25, 2026

    This article explains how professionals can use ChatGPT to create custom dashboards from virtually any dataset—without needing advanced programming skills. It walks through how AI can assist with structuring raw data, identifying key performance indicators, generating visualizations, and even producing dashboard-ready code that you can view immediately. The piece highlights how AI reduces development time, improves insight discovery, and allows consultants and advisors to rapidly prototype and deploy decision-support tools for clients. A companion video resource demonstrates the full process step-by-step. Data is everywhere—but insight is not. Consultants, valuation professionals, and financial advisors constantly work with spreadsheets, exports from accounting…

  • Financial Forensics - Litigation Consulting - QuickRead Top Story - Valuation/Appraisal

    A Collision Course in Evidentiary Standards for AI-Assisted Financial Forensics: How a New Proposed Rule of Evidence Seeks to Admit AI Analysis and Supplant Experts

    February 11, 2026

    On January 30, 2026, Anthropic released legal plugins for its Claude AI that automate contract review, compliance tracking, and legal analysis. Within three days, $285 billion in market value evaporated from legal software and publishing companies. This was not a correction. It was a signal. The AI companies are no longer content selling infrastructure, now they are coming for the legal, financial, and forensic analysis applications themselves. The author discusses the legal and practical repercussions that the new Federal Rule of Evidence would have on financial forensics expert witnesses and the litigation support professionals. On January 30, 2026, Anthropic released…

  • Artificial Intelligence

    Demystifying AI: A Beginner’s Roadmap to the Technology Behind ChatGPT

    February 11, 2026

    I also get asked about the technology behind AI and have wanted to create an easy-to-read guide on the topic. So, here it is! This guide serves as a foundational primer on modern AI, written for readers who want to understand the technology without needing a technical background. It walks through the major building blocks of today’s AI ecosystem, including large language models, generative AI, machine learning, neural networks, tokens, vector databases, RAG systems, and AI agents. Each concept is explained using analogies and simple examples so readers can quickly grasp how the pieces fit together and how tools like…

  • Artificial Intelligence

    How Consultants Can Use AI Without Exposing Client Data (Run AI Locally)

    January 28, 2026

    Learn how to run an LLM on your computer so you do not have to worry about exposing client data. If you have been curious about protecting your client data but you still want the benefits of using AI, this video is for you. Today I am going to show you a simple way to run AI directly on your own computer; no cloud required. In the next few minutes, you will see how to use GPT4All to run a local LLM so you can test ideas, stay in full control of your data, and still get the power of…

  • QuickRead Top Story - Valuation/Appraisal

    AI, Ethics, and Standards in Valuation Practice: Guidance for a Rapidly Changing Landscape

    January 21, 2026

    Confidentiality remains the first and most immediate area of professional risk. Many AI tools store inputs, transmit data to outside servers, or use information to train future models. For valuation professionals handling confidential data, the stakes are high. The author shares how to use AI and adhere to professional and ethical standards. Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly become part of the daily toolkit for many valuation and financial forensic professionals. Whether used for data cleanup, modeling assistance, industry research, or drafting support, AI can reduce time spent on lower-value tasks and help analysts focus on judgment, interpretation, and communication. If…

  • Financial Forensics - QuickRead Top Story

    AI Fraud Detection and Forensic Accounting: Embracing Innovation to Combat Financial Crime

    January 7, 2026

    Fraud and financial crime have become increasingly complex and create pervasive issues for organizations of all sizes and specialties. As a result, advanced technology and AI have emerged as invaluable tools in the fight against such issues. This article focuses on how advances in AI and machine learning can aid forensic investigation procedures and further bring the detection of fraud and other financial crimes into the digital age. Introduction In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, fraud and financial crime have become increasingly complex and create pervasive issues for organizations of all sizes and specialties. As a result, advanced technology and…

  • Artificial Intelligence

    Create a Custom GPT to Automate Your Favorite Prompts

    January 7, 2026

    Learn how to create a Custom GPT with AI writing the prompts for you! In this short demo, I will show you how to create a goal-setting Custom GPT. Here is a practical way to put AI to work in your consulting practice. If you find yourself using the same prompt over and over, you can automate it by creating what OpenAI calls a Custom GPT. Every AI platform has its own name for this concept, but the idea is the same: a reusable, automated prompt that delivers consistent results whenever you need it. In the video, I walk through…