Blog
Explainers and worked examples on financial due diligence, audit and controls, and valuation — and how finance teams turn raw data into defensible, fully sourced work.
Finance operationsHow to make a board-ready financial presentation with AI
A step-by-step guide to turning raw trial balances, budget files, and GL exports into a board-ready financial presentation where every figure links back to its source.
7 min readRead more
Strategy & consultingHow strategy consultants build McKinsey-style research decks from 100+ raw PDFs
How consulting and strategy teams turn 100+ raw research PDFs and filings into a data-dense, McKinsey-style executive deck where every claim links back to its exact source page.
8 min readRead more
Finance operationsWhat is a cash flow statement?
A cash flow statement shows how much cash a business generated and spent over a period, split into operating, investing, and financing activities. The three sections, direct vs. indirect method, how the indirect method reconciles net income to the change in cash, a worked example, free cash flow, and the statement's limits.
7 min readRead more
Finance operationsWhat is financial analysis?
Financial analysis turns financial statements into ratios, trends, and comparisons that support a decision — lending, investing, or managing. The three core techniques (ratio, horizontal, vertical), the four ratio families with formulas, a worked example, who uses it and why, and the limits of a backward-looking view.
7 min readRead more
Finance operationsWhat is an income statement?
An income statement — also called a profit and loss statement or P&L — shows revenue minus costs and expenses, arriving at net income over a period. The line-item waterfall, single-step vs. multi-step formats, revenue recognition, a worked example with margins, and what accrual accounting hides.
7 min readRead more
AI & agentsHow AI is used in banking and finance (2026)
AI in banking and finance is really two generations under one label — mature statistical and ML systems that run fraud, credit, and trading decisions, and a newer wave of generative and agentic tools for drafting and triage. A practitioner survey of where each is deployed, how mature it is, and what it still can't do.
10 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceWhat is financial modeling?
Financial modeling turns assumptions about revenue, costs, and capital structure into projected statements that support a decision — a valuation, a financing, an acquisition, or a budget. The common model types, the anatomy of a good model, best-practice principles, a worked revenue build, and the honest limits.
8 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceBest AI contract review tools for finance and legal ops (2026)
The best AI contract review tools for finance and legal ops in 2026, by the job you need done — CLM platforms (Ironclad), M&A due-diligence engines (Kira, Luminance), playbook review (LawGeex), Word drafting (Spellbook), and an agentic finance workspace that reads the terms against the numbers (MacrosLM). What each does, where it fits, and what AI can't do.
9 min readRead more
Finance operationsWhat is a balance sheet?
A balance sheet reports what a company owns, owes, and retains for owners as of one date, built on Assets = Liabilities + Equity. The three components, standard format, a worked example with ratios, why book value isn't market value, and the statement's honest limits.
7 min readRead more
AI & agentsAI in trading: what's real and what's hype (2026)
AI in trading means bounded, checkable jobs — executing orders, scoring signals, reading sentiment, backtesting, monitoring risk — not a system that predicts where a price is headed. What's genuinely useful, why the "best AI trading app" hype breaks down, and a four-step research workflow with copy-paste prompts.
10 min readRead more
AI & agentsMachine learning in finance: applications that actually work
Machine learning in finance is the quiet, proven half of the AI story — credit scoring, fraud detection, algorithmic trading, cash forecasting, and document NLP, all in production for years. What each application actually does, how ML differs from generative and agentic AI, and where the limits (data quality, overfitting, regime change) bite.
9 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceBest AI tools for equity research (2026)
The AI worth knowing for equity research in 2026, by the job it does — a deliverable-focused deep dive (MacrosLM), document search across filings and transcripts (AlphaSense), fundamentals extraction (Daloopa), and accessible chat-based research (Fiscal.ai) — plus what to look for and what AI still can't do.
8 min readRead more
Audit & assuranceBest AI tools for KYC and AML (2026)
KYC and AML isn't one job — it's identity verification, sanctions/PEP screening, transaction monitoring, risk scoring, and defensible write-up. An honest walk through the tools worth knowing in 2026 (Sumsub, Trulioo, World-Check, NICE Actimize, MacrosLM, and more), what each is for, and where each stops.
7 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceAI stock analysis: how it works and where it breaks
AI stock analysis screens tickers, summarizes filings and earnings calls, drafts comps, and tracks sentiment — fast and checkable. What it doesn't do is predict prices or replace analyst judgment. What AI is genuinely good at, where the hype breaks down, and a six-step workflow with copy-paste prompts.
9 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceWhat is DuPont analysis?
DuPont analysis breaks return on equity into the components that drive it — net profit margin, asset turnover, and leverage — so you can tell whether an ROE comes from fat margins or heavy debt. The 3-step and 5-step formulas, a worked Costco example, and where the method breaks down.
8 min readRead more
Finance operationsWhat is a 13-week cash flow forecast?
A 13-week cash flow forecast is a rolling, week-by-week view of cash in and out over the next quarter — the tool finance teams use when liquidity matters more than profit. How to build one step by step, where AI removes the weekly grind, and a live cash-runway example with scenario toggles.
10 min readRead more
Audit & assuranceWhat is a trial balance?
A trial balance lists every general-ledger account and its balance in debit and credit columns, to check that the two sides tie before financial statements are built on top. Why it exists, the unadjusted/adjusted/post-closing versions, where it sits in the accounting cycle, and a live ten-column worksheet.
7 min readRead more
Audit & assuranceWhat is segregation of duties?
Segregation of duties splits a process across more than one person so no single individual controls it end to end — why it's one of the cheapest, most effective anti-fraud controls, the conflicts auditors flag most, how SOX enforces it, and a live ERP access-conflict test.
6 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceWhat is precedent transaction analysis?
Precedent transaction analysis values a company by what buyers actually paid for similar businesses in past M&A deals — why the multiples run higher than trading comps (control premiums and synergies), how the analysis is built, where it breaks down, and a live cybersecurity M&A comps example.
11 min readRead more
Audit & assuranceBest AI tools for SOX compliance (2026)
SOX compliance spans running the program, collecting ITGC evidence, and the testing and workpaper. A 2026 roundup, led by the tool for the slowest part — the control testing and the defensible ICFR workpaper (MacrosLM) — plus the strongest program-of-record and evidence-automation options to build around it.
7 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceBest AI tools for financial modeling (2026)
Financial modeling isn't the arithmetic — it's the historicals, the assumptions, the sensitivities, and a number you can defend. A 2026 roundup by which piece each tool attacks: a finished, source-traced valuation (MacrosLM), Excel-model generators (Shortcut, o11), data extraction (Daloopa), and in-spreadsheet assistants.
9 min readRead more
Finance operations10 AI tools to run an advisory firm solo
You don't need a team of ten to launch an advisory firm anymore — you need the right AI on each job, and one tool for the client work you can't get wrong. The stack a solo founder can run, stage by stage, from client deliverables to admin.
8 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceDLOM explained: what is a discount for lack of marketability?
A discount for lack of marketability (DLOM) reduces the value of a private or illiquid interest that can't be readily sold — how appraisers estimate it (restricted-stock, pre-IPO, and option-pricing models), why it's so heavily litigated, and a live calculator to explore it.
11 min readRead more
Finance operationsBest AI for month-end close in 2026: match the tool to your bottleneck
The month-end close is one workflow, but the thing slowing yours down is specific. A guide to finding your bottleneck — deliverables, reconciliation volume, coordination, or the ERP — and the AI built to clear each one (MacrosLM, BlackLine, FloQast, and more).
8 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceWhat is loan covenant compliance?
Meeting the conditions in a credit agreement — the affirmative, negative, and financial covenants a borrower must keep, the ratios lenders test, how compliance is certified quarterly, and what happens (from waiver to acceleration) when one is breached.
10 min readRead more
AI & agentsWhat is agentic AI for finance?
Autonomous agents that run whole financial workflows end to end — how agentic AI differs from RPA and chatbots, the architecture underneath (ReAct, tool use, memory, planning), what a multi-agent system is, where it's used, and what stays human.
12 min readRead more
Audit & assuranceBest AI tools for audit automation (2026)
The AI audit tools worth knowing in 2026, by category — agentic workspaces that build the deliverable (MacrosLM), document automation in Excel (DataSnipper), GRC platforms (AuditBoard), and anomaly detection (MindBridge) — plus how to pick for your bottleneck.
10 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceBest AI for financial due diligence (2026)
The AI worth knowing for financial due diligence in 2026, by layer — financial engines that produce the sourced analysis (MacrosLM), virtual data rooms (Datasite), contract review (Kira), and data extraction (Dili) — plus what AI can't do and how to choose.
10 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceBest AI tools for credit analysis (2026)
The AI worth knowing for commercial credit analysis in 2026, by layer — agentic workspaces that produce the analysis and memo (MacrosLM), end-to-end underwriting (Crediflow), institutional platforms (Moody's CreditLens), and credit intelligence (Hebbia) — plus how to choose.
10 min readRead more
Finance operationsBest AI for FP&A teams (2026)
The AI worth knowing for FP&A in 2026, by category — agentic workspaces that produce finished analysis and deliverables (MacrosLM), planning platforms (Anaplan, Planful), and Excel-native layers (Datarails) — plus a live 13-week cash-forecast example and how to choose.
9 min readRead more
Audit & assuranceWhat is KYC risk scoring?
How financial institutions rate each customer's money-laundering risk and sort them into tiers — the FATF factors that drive a score, how tiers map to due diligence, the risk-based regulatory basis, and how AI and the EU AI Act are reshaping it in 2026.
11 min readRead more
Audit & assuranceWhat is journal entry testing?
The audit procedure that hunts for financial-statement manipulation hidden in the general ledger — why AU-C 240 and AS 2401 require it, the red flags that trigger scrutiny, and how AI is shifting it toward full-population testing in 2026.
8 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceWhat is a DCF model?
A DCF values a company by projecting its future free cash flows and discounting them to present value — the formula, FCFF vs. FCFE, terminal value, the step-by-step build, and why the assumptions matter more than the arithmetic.
12 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceWhat is an EBITDA bridge?
A waterfall that explains how EBITDA moved from one number to another, driver by driver — and the second, easily-confused version that does the heavy lifting in M&A.
9 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceWhat is a Quality of Earnings (QoE) analysis?
The independent test of whether reported earnings are real and repeatable — what's inside a QoE report, how it differs from an audit, what it costs in 2026, and where the manual work hides.
12 min readRead more
Audit & assuranceWhat is a three-way match?
The AP control that checks the purchase order, the receiving report, and the invoice before a bill gets paid — and the same logic, applied to revenue, that proves each recognized dollar is real.
9 min readRead more
Audit & assuranceWhat is SOX control testing?
How a public company proves its financial-reporting controls are designed well and operating effectively under Section 404 — what gets tested, how failures are rated, and how AI is reshaping it in 2026.
12 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceWhat is net working capital normalization?
Working out the “normal” level of working capital a business needs to run — the peg a deal trues up against dollar-for-dollar, and where the definitions and documentation decide who wins.
10 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceWhat is the Altman Z-Score?
Five financial ratios rolled into one number that flags bankruptcy risk — the formula, how to read the safe/grey/distress zones, the private and non-manufacturing variants, and what it misses.
9 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceWhat is WACC and how is it calculated?
The blended rate a company pays to finance itself, and the discount rate behind every DCF — the formula, the cost of equity via CAPM, the after-tax cost of debt, and a worked example.
10 min readRead more
M&A & diligenceFinancial due diligence, explained
Financial due diligence is a toolkit, not one procedure. A map of the core concepts — earnings quality, the EBITDA bridge, working capital, WACC, the Altman Z-Score, and the controls underneath — each with a plain-English explainer.
5 min readRead more