Authors contributing to the April 2014 issue

Harnessing the Power of the Cloud page 24
Jeff Drew is a JofA senior editor. He oversees coverage of practice management and technology. He has more than 20 years of journalism experience, including a decade in various editorial capacities with American City Business Journals.

Excel: The Power of Mapping page 30
Jeff Lenning, CPA/CITP, is author of the Excel University book series and the founder and president of Click Consulting Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based firm that focuses on Excel training, consulting, development, and personal coaching. He specializes in teaching CPAs and accounting professionals how to use Excel to streamline their work. His articles have appeared in the JofA and California CPA.

Embracing the Automated Audit page 34
Miklos A. Vasarhelyi, Ph.D., MBA, is the KPMG Distinguished Professor of Accounting Information Systems and director of the Rutgers Accounting Research Center/Continuous Auditing & Reporting Laboratory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. He has published more than 200 journal articles and 20 books, and directed more than 30 Ph.D. theses. He is the editor of the Artificial Intelligence in Accounting and Auditing series and the Journal of Information Systems. He has taught executive programs on electronic commerce at such organizations as General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Baxter, ADL, Volvo, Siemens, Chase Bank, and AT&T.

J. Donald Warren Jr., Ph.D., MBA, is an assistant professor at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Conn. From 2004 to 2009, he was an associate professor and director of the Masters of Accountancy in Financial Accounting in Rutgers Business School. Before that, he worked 31 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Ryan A. Teeter, Ph.D., is a clinical assistant professor of accounting information systems at the University of Pittsburgh, where he conducts research on firms’ use of enhanced auditing procedures. He previously worked at Google as a training specialist and with Siemens internal audit.

William R. Titera, CPA, is a retired partner at Ernst & Young LLP, where he directed the firm’s audit tools and techniques group. He is the past chair of the AICPA Assurance Services Executive Committee and is the current chair of ASEC’s Emerging Assurance Technologies Task Force.

Managing Change Successfully page 38
Jennifer Wilson is a partner and co-founder of ConvergenceCoaching LLC, a nationally recognized leadership and marketing firm that provides coaching and consulting services to leaders. She is an experienced change agent who has worked in both the public accounting and business sectors and is a frequent speaker, writer, and blogger on leadership and communication within the CPA profession.

How to Maximize Client Retention After a Merger page 42
Joel Sinkin is president of Transition Advisors LLC in New York City. The firm exclusively consults on ownership transition for public accounting firms, providing advice on succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, and partnership agreement issues. He has been involved with and consulted on hundreds of successful closings of accounting firm mergers and acquisitions over the past 20 years, has taught CPE courses for state and national accounting associations around the country, and has published books and articles nationally, including the new book CPA Firm Mergers and Acquisitions with co-author Terrence Putney. He also is an editorial adviser to the AICPA newsletter Small Firm Solutions.

Terrence Putney, CPA, is CEO of Transition Advisors LLC. In that role, he has been involved with and consulted on hundreds of accounting firm mergers and acquisitions and also has consulted on succession planning strategies for partners of firms. He has more than 30 years of experience in the CPA profession, including as a managing director of mergers and acquisitions for one of the largest national accounting firms and managing partner of a midsize Midwest CPA firm. He is co-author, with Joel Sinkin, of the new book CPA Firm Mergers and Acquisitions and has been frequently published in the JofA in addition to many other accounting profession trade publications. He also is a member of The CPA Consultants’ Alliance.

Avoiding the Squeeze: Trusts, Estates, and the New ATRA Tax Regime page 46
Robert S. Barnett, Esq., CPA, M.S. (Taxation), is a partner at Capell Barnett Matalon and Schoenfeld LLP, attorneys at law in Jericho, N.Y. His practice areas include business and tax planning, estate planning, tax dispute resolution, and Tax Court representation.

Elizabeth Forspan, Esq., is an associate at Capell Barnett Matalon and Schoenfeld LLP. Her practice areas include asset preservation planning, estate planning, tax planning, and elder care planning. Previously, she was a tax manager at Ernst & Young LLP.

Critical Lessons From the Peco Foods Case page 52
Kristy L. Rempalski, CPA, is a partner with Crowe Horwath LLP in the National Tax Office’s Technical Services division. She consults on a wide range of federal tax and professional standards matters, focusing on the analysis and application of evolving tax matters. She leads the firm’s Tax Learning initiative, offering innovative strategies for developing the tax professional. She is also a member of the AICPA Tax Practice Responsibilities Committee.

Edward D. Meyette, CPA, is a partner with Crowe Horwath LLP’s National Tax Office. He practices in the area of accounting methods, specializing in issues of capitalization and depreciation. He was a member of the AICPA Comments Task Force for the tangible property regulations in 2012.