Read more about our contributing authors
As principal and founder of Bay Street Group LLC, Rick Telberg brings a unique background and perspective to the accounting, tax and finance community. He is a veteran editor, publisher, media executive, analyst and commentator on the profession.

Mary F. Bernard, CPA/MST is a Tax Principal and Director of State and Local Tax Services at Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co., Ltd. in Providence, RI. She has over 20 years of experience with national and local accounting firms working with a variety of individual, partnership and corporate clients, with particular focus on corporate multi-state tax issues. She has also provided advisory and compliance services to our extensive nonprofit clients. Bernard is a member of the AICPA, the Massachusetts Society of CPAs and serves as President-elect of the board of directors for the Rhode Island Society of CPAs.

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James C. Bourke, CPA/CITP, is a Partner at WithumSmith+Brown where he is Director of Firm Technology. He is a past president of the New Jersey Society of CPAs and currently serves on AICPA Council and the AICPA CITP Credential Committee.

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Jean-Luc Bourdon, CPA, PFS is an advisor with Walpole Financial Advisors, LLC in Goleta, CA. Bourdon volunteers as financial literacy advocate. He also currently serves on the UW-Platteville’s Distance Learning Alumni Advisory Board.

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CEO John Bowen founded CEG Worldwide in 2000, with the goal of bringing to bear the lessons he had learned during his career for the benefit of financial advisors and the institutions that work with advisors. His 26 years as a financial advisor and investment firm CEO had taught Bowen that many advisors lacked the high-quality empirical data and pragmatic business experience necessary to build hugely successful businesses.

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Geremy Cepin is National Director, Executive Search & Placement Services, at PDI Global, Inc.

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Blake Christian, CPA/MBT, is a Tax Partner in the Long Beach Office of Holthouse, Carlin & Van Trigt, LLP and is Co-Founder of National Tax Credit Group, LLC.

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Janice Eiseman, JD/LLM, is a principal at Cummings & Lockwood in Stamford, Conn. office where she focuses on the taxation of closely held businesses and tax planning for owners and investors. Eiseman has broad-based experience counseling clients on the formation, ownership and structuring of various business entities, as well as drafting and negotiating tax-based and transactional documentation for both individual and business clients. She has also done controversy work before the Internal Revenue Service and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Prior to joining Cummings & Lockwood, she served as senior tax and benefits counsel at the law firm Morrison & Cohen LLP, in New York City.

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Eugene Fama Jr., Vice President, Dimension Fund Advisors, Santa Monica, CA will be covering the evolution of Dimensional Fund Advisors' applied core equity approach; empirical evidence supporting the size and value premiums; as well as why most active managers fail to capture the risk exposure that drives expected return at the upcoming AICPA Advanced Personal Financial Planning Conference. Gene has spent more than fifteen years cultivating, refining and discussing Dimensional's efficient markets investment philosophy. Gene travels frequently, helping advisors and investment plans implement concepts of multifactor investing.

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Debra Feldman is the JobWhiz™, a nationally-recognized expert who designs and personally implements swift, strategic, and customized senior level executive job search campaigns, banishing barriers that prevent immediate success. Network Purposefully™ with the JobWhiz, using groundbreaking techniques was profiled in Forbes magazine. In addition to her private practice, writing featured columns and conducting exclusive workshops, Debra is a recommended resource to alumni of top-tier business schools.

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Colleen M. Feeney, JD, Associate, concentrates her practice in taxation, including tax planning and litigation matters involving individuals, corporations and partnerships. She works at the law firm Schiff Hardin LLP.

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Frances Franco, CPA/CFF, is a senior manager in the Los Angeles office of RGL Forensics. A seasoned accounting professional with 20 years experience in both public and private industry, she has more than 10 years of experience in the areas of forensic accounting, litigation consulting and business valuation. Her expertise includes financial analysis for matters involving business valuation, fraud, bankruptcy, economic damages and a variety of other forensic accounting services on behalf of legal, corporate and insurance clients.

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Neal Frankle is the author of Why Smart People Lose a Fortune: 5 Steps to Restoring Your Wealth and Sanity. He helps affluent clients establish and implement a safety-net strategy to protect their wealth. He also helps other professionals, such as CPAs, do the same for their clients You may obtain a free white paper – Should I Offer Financial Services To My Clients?

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Jack P. Friedman, CPA, ABV, CFF, is a real estate author, appraiser and economist in Dallas, Texas. He is a state-certified appraiser, with ASA, MAI and CRE designations. You can reach him by visiting www.realexperts.com.

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Robert P. Gray, CPA/ABV, CFE, FACFEI, has an extensive background in financial/accounting analyses, business valuation, economic damages, forensic investigation and litigation. He is a member of the AICPA's Forensic & Litigation Services Committee, which provides professional guidance to CPAs who perform fraud investigations and determine economic damages.

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Donald Grimes is the founder of Long Term Care Education Specialists. In 2002, Grimes was selected to serve as one of 16 presenters nationwide to conduct the educational presentations for the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP). Some of the federal agencies he presented at included NASA, General Services Administration (GSA), IRS, EPA and U.S. Postal Service among others.

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Alan Haft is an investment advisor and author of three books.

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Chris Hamilton, CPA, CFE, CVA, DABFA, is partner at the Simi Valley, CA-based CPA firm Arxis Financial, Inc. and is a licensed life and disability insurance agent and a General Securities Representative. Most of his professional time is spent in the areas of business valuations, fraud, forensic accounting and litigation related engagements. Hamilton has served as an expert in civil, criminal, probate and family court matters and is an Appointed Court Economic Expert in Ventura County Superior and Municipal courts. He is part of the team teaching the Advanced Business Valuation courses around the country for the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts.

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Michael K. Hauser, Esq./CPA, is a tax attorney with Maddin, Hauser, Wartell, Roth and Heller, P.C. in Southfield, Michigan, where he specializes in tax planning for owners of small businesses. He is also an adjunct professor in the Tax LLM program at Cooley Law School, where he teaches taxation of real estate.

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Larry Jacobson, CPA/JD, is a senior partner in the Chicago office of the law firm Schiff Hardin LLP. He holds a BA from Washington University, an MBA from the University of Chicago, an MSOD from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

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Randolph P. Johnston, M.C.S., M.C.P., is Executive Vice President, K2 Enterprises. He is a nationally recognized educator, consultant, and writer with over 30 years experience in Strategic Technology Planning, Systems and Network Integration, Accounting Software Selection, Business Development and Management, Disaster Recovery and Contingency Planning, and Process Engineering.

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John E. Karayan, JD, PhD was formerly Director of Taxes of a leading software concern. He is currently a Chair and Professor of Accounting at Woodbury University, and a testifying Expert Witness on accounting and tax issues.

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Mitchell Langbert, PhD, is an Associate Professor, Brooklyn College. Widely published on the subject of human resource management, Langbert has consulted and served as an expert witness.

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Karen J. Lee, CFP, ChFC, MSFS, AEP, Registered Representative. Advisory Services offered through Securities America Advisors, Inc. Lee is a financial planner in Atlanta and author of the forthcoming book, It's Just Money -- So Why Does It Cause So Many Problems. Reach Lee through her Web site. Karen Lee & Associates, LLC, Integrated Financial Group, Inc., and the Securities America companies are unaffiliated. Karen Lee & Associates, LLC is a member firm of Integrated Financial Group, Inc, a consortium of independent financial consultants.

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Allen M. Liebnick, CPA, is president of Overpaid Payables Recovery, Inc. A former associate professor, Liebnick has been providing accounts payable, sales tax and telecommunications post audit recovery services for over 15 years. He serves clients in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. He is a member of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants.

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LeAnn Luna is an assistant professor and holds a dual appointment with the Department of Accounting and Information Management and the Center for Business and Economic Research, both at The University of Tennessee.

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Barry MacQuarrie, CPA, is the Director of Technology at KAF Financial Group. MacQuarrie has extensive experience working with CPA firm technologies and expertise in workflow, process improvement, disaster recovery planning, security and paperless office technologies.

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Jonathan Moreland is director of research and publisher of the weekly publication InsiderInsights and founder of the Web site InsiderInsights.com. He began working with insider data in the early 1990s while an analyst/writer for Individual Investor magazine.

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Annette Nellen, CPA, Esq., is a tax professor and director of the MST Program at San José State University. Nellen is an active member of the tax sections of the ABA and AICPA. She serves on the AICPA's Individual Income Taxation Technical Resource Panel. She has several reports on tax reform and a blog.

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Kenneth R. Neumann, CPA, CFE, is Director of the Litigation and Technology Practices at RGL – Forensic Accountants & Consultants, a global forensic accounting and consulting firm.

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Ken Nussbaum CPA, PFS, JD, is a principal and shareholder in the Williston, Vermont firm of Hettena Wright & Horton, and has practiced as a CPA for nearly 20 years. He advises clients in all manner of financial counseling, including income tax planning and preparation, education planning, retirement planning and estate planning. Ken focuses on the tax as well as the non-tax issues facing his clients, and often assists with multigenerational concerns among families.

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Mary A. O'Connor, ASA, is Director of Valuation Services at RGL. Ms. O'Connor has more than 25 years valuation experience.

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Jason M. Rosenthal, Esq., is a partner with Schopf & Weiss LLP, a national business litigation firm based in Chicago. He regularly represents and counsels policyholders seeking insurance coverage.

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Molly Sargent is the Principal of Norwalk, Connecticut-based Professional Impressions Consulting. She has trained and coached thousands of financial professionals and client-facing executives in professional image, presentation skills, business etiquette and sales effectiveness. Since 1985, Molly has helped major accounting firms and Fortune 500 companies, including Aetna, American Express, AT&T, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Key Bank, MasterCard, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Prudential achieve breakthrough results.

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Mary S. Schaeffer is the editorial director for Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow, a CRYSTALLUS, Inc. publication. She is a nationally-recognized expert on accounts payable and is quoted frequently on this and other finance topics. Information about her newsletter, complimentary AP e-zine and other work can be viewed at www.AP-NOW.com.

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Lewis Schiff is the principal of Advanced Planning Group, a family office network for advisors. Schiff is also the Chairman of Inc. Magazine's Business Owners Council.

His latest book, The Influence of Affluence reveals the startling details on how the new rich are changing America.

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Tracy B. Stewart, CPA/PFP, CFP, CDFA specializes in family law litigation support in Houston, TX. She helps clients protect their wealth during property settlement negotiations. She is a member of the AICPA Personal Financial Planning and the Forensic and Valuation Services sections. Stewart is a board trustee for the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas as well as on the Executive Board of Texas Society of CPAs.

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Charles Swenson, CPA, MBT, PhD is Professor and Leventhal Research Fellow at the University of Southern California., and is Co-Founder of National Tax Credits Group. He has authored over 50 articles and two textbooks on taxation, and is editor of a treatise on state and local taxation forthcoming by Lexis-Nexis.

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Deborah Walker, Certified Career Management Coach, helps jobseekers coast to coast navigate the Internet by staying abreast of the significant technical changes that affect online job-search strategies.

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Tracey Crevar Warren, president and founder of The Crevar Group, advises professional services firms striving to grow and maximize performance. Warren was named by Accounting Today as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the accounting industry. She is an author and frequent speaker on various growth, business development, and marketing topics for local, regional, national and international audiences.

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Mark Washburn, CPA, is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting at The University of Texas at Tyler. He teaches both Individual and Corporation tax courses at the undergraduate level. He is a certified public accountant licensed in Texas and holds a Master of Science in Taxation from The University of Texas at Arlington.

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Liv A. Watson is Chair of the XBRL Jurisdiction Development Sub-Committee and the Vice President of Global Strategy at EDGAR Online Inc, where she is responsible for developing EDGAR Online’s International business development strategy.

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Thomas Wechter, JD, Partner at Schiff Hardin LLP, concentrates his practice in the area of tax planning for individuals, corporations, and partnerships and also handles matters involving tax controversies.

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Joseph D. Welch, J.D., is the managing partner of Cary, Welch and Hickman, L.L.P. and the founder and manager of The Estate Planning Center, L.L.C. His practice is limited to estate planning, trust administration, asset protection and business succession planning. He is a frequent author and lecturer on estate planning topics.

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George White is a manager with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Washington and an adjunct professor for tax at the George Washington Graduate School of Business.

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Igor Zey, CLU/ChFC, CAP, AEP, CFP, MSFS, is the president of Zey Insurance Group. His practice focuses on uses of life insurance in the areas of estate and charitable planning, family law, wealth transfer in business and retirement.

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Deborah Ziolkowski, MST/CRTP, has her Master of Science degree in Taxation from Golden Gate University. Ziolokowski has a tax and accounting practice in Sausalito, California. She has been a tax professional for 12 years.

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