• Artificial Intelligence

    Excel Just Got Smarter

    April 1, 2026

    How to Add Claude to Your Spreadsheet Workflow 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…

  • Artificial Intelligence

    Excel’s New =COPILOT() Formula

    August 27, 2025

    What Valuation Analysts Can Do on Day One Use the new =COPILOT() formula and super charge your productivity in Excel. The Problem with Excel (and Why This Matters Now) If you work in business valuation or consulting, Excel is still your daily driver. We use it for everything; normalizing financial statements, running DCF models, cleaning client exports, and building rolling KPI dashboards. But as powerful as Excel is, the bottleneck has always been formulas. Even seasoned analysts can spend too much time Googling “Excel formula to calculate CAGR,” or untangling nested IFERROR statements. For consultants who bill by the hour—or…

  • Practice Management - QuickRead Top Story

    How to Excel at BVFLS Practice Development

    May 14, 2025

    The Four Pillar Framework Rod Burkert has been spreading the gospel about BVFLS practice development since 2013. In this article, he discusses a framework that he has developed and can be used to close the gap between the practice you have and the practice you want. The people I talk to all seem to have slightly different ideas about practice development. Here is one definition from a Forbes article that I like: “Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships.” A good definition, especially at the level of a large firm. But…

  • QuickRead Top Story - Valuation/Appraisal

    The Well-Written Business Valuation Report

    August 30, 2023

    Structured, Clear, and Well-Researched and Reasoned In a litigation setting, a well-written business valuation report can position your conclusion of value as credible. When completed for tax purposes, a well-written business valuation report can help avoid an IRS challenge. In any circumstances, a well-written business valuation report can provide the business owner with ways to increase cash flow and reduce risk. After business appraisers learn information about a business, research the economy and applicable industry(ies), analyze the financial statements, and estimate the value of the business, the work is captured in a report. In many cases, it is the business…

  • Litigation Consulting - Practice Management - QuickRead Top Story

    Advanced Financial Analytics in Divorce Litigation

    August 23, 2023

    An Interview with Zain Kalson, founder of Etheia As part of a broader dialogue around business valuations in the context of divorce, this article features an interview conducted by Andrew Thompson, Esq., with Zain Kalson, the founder of Etheia. The article discusses trends regarding how advanced data analytics are helping attorneys and experts sort through hidden assets, analyze expenses, and improve outcomes in marital property divisions. As part of a broader dialogue around business valuations in the context of divorce, I (Andrew or “Drew”) recently had the opportunity to sit down with Zain Kalson (“Zain”), the founder of Etheia, and…

  • Practice Management - QuickRead Top Story

    “Little Big Data”

    March 25, 2020

    Get Clients to Count on Your Accounting Is it the valuation of a small privately held company with three employees? Or a large multi-national with employees in the thousands? Perhaps it is reviewing assets in a highly contested divorce. One way or another, you are trying to reach a decision, an opinion, or a conclusion from the data in front of you. Using big data, you must compose a story and present the data in a manner that is compelling and memorable. This article discusses the importance of embracing big data and showcasing one’s expertise. Is it the valuation of…

  • QuickPress

    Microsoft Office: Rounding Time in Excel

    November 14, 2018

    Our firm bills clients in six-minute increments, so I’ve started tracking my beginning and ending time for each job in Excel. Is it possible to round my time calculations to the nearest six-minute increment (a 10th of an hour) in Excel? To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: Microsoft Office: Rounding Time in Excel.

  • QuickPress

    Things Are Looking Up With This Excel Function

    November 14, 2018

    What is the best choice when faced with an array of choices for finding specific data in a financial model? Consider this vector analysis. Conspicuous by its absence, LOOKUP may seem a less versatile function upon first glance, but it is quite useful for modelling. To read the full article in Financial Management, click: Things Are Looking Up With This Excel Function.

  • QuickPress

    Microsoft Excel: Create a Picture-Based Dashboard Report

    October 11, 2018

    Q. I have a large Excel workbook with many worksheets, and I’d like to summarize the key elements of this workbook into a single dashboard-type report. What’s the best way to do this? To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: Microsoft Excel: Create a Picture-Based Dashboard Report.

  • QuickPress

    Empowering the Human Element in Automation

    September 25, 2018

    At Flint Hills Resources, robotic process automation is supercharging, not eliminating, finance professionals.  The Koch Industries subsidiary shows us how. To read the full article in Financial Management, click: Empowering the Human Element in Automation.

  • QuickPress

    Microsoft Office: Excel’s Versatile CONVERT Function

    May 23, 2018

    Q. We receive Excel-based reports from our European operations with the daily temperatures of our electrical generators and other equipment recorded in Celsius; what’s the best way to convert these data to Fahrenheit in Excel? To read the full article in the Journal of Accountancy, click: Microsoft Office: Excel’s Versatile CONVERT Function.

  • QuickPress

    Using Excel and Benford’s Law to Detect Fraud

    May 17, 2017

    Learn the formulas, functions, and techniques that enable efficient Benford analysis of data sets.  J. Carlton Collins, Journal of Accountancy contributing editor, looks into this issue and provides some very useful tips and insights. To read the full article in JofA, click: Using Excel and Benford’s Law to Detect Fraud.

  • Practice Management - QuickRead Featured

    Accountants Are Not Allowed to Use Graphs

    May 4, 2016

    Visualized Financial Statement Analysis The use of Excel and graphics, commonly referred to as data visualization, can provide a fuller or more holistic view of changes in an entity. Does the traditional audit or report that is devoid of data visualization serve the client? In this article, the author “propos[es] not a replacement for ratios…but rather that financial statement analysis should return to a more holistic analysis of a set of financial statements.” The author showcases how Excel can be used to present a more holistic picture.

  • QuickPress - Valuation/Appraisal

    Do You Know What Your Business Is Worth? You Should. —New York Times

    February 5, 2013

    Few Business Owners Seem to Even Know How to Make a Good Guess at What Their Business is Worth.  NY Times Introduces Technology to Help—and Certified Advisers Provide Extra Value.  Mark Cohen, at The New York Times Small Business Guide, reports:  “At 53, Joe Ritz is old enough to remember a time when many of the classic cars that now pull into his specialized repair shop were new. “It’s one field where it pays to be a senior citizen,” he said. It’s Critical for a Business Owner to Know the Value of His Business; Here are Tips on Technology, Advisors,…