Technical accounting · Whitepaper
The Deals Desk
Bring accounting into commercial decisions before signature, when the team can still address the consequences of contract terms.
Read the whitepaperApplied frameworks & published writing
Make the reasoning visible.
These are the frameworks, tools, and ideas I use to explain financial decisions and help teams act on them. They connect my work as a Santa Clara University finance professor with experience in technical accounting, complex transactions, and applied AI.
Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA · Assistant Teaching Professor of Finance and Faculty Director of Real Estate Finance, Santa Clara University
The framework library
Start with the problem you’re working on.
Browse applied methods and resources by subject. The assessments support reflection and planning; their scores are starting points for judgment.
Applied AI · Method
The AI Adoption Method
Map it. Split it. Fuel it. Guard it. Review it. A five-step method for bringing AI into a workflow with clear inputs and human review.
Explore the methodApplied AI · Self-assessment
AI Readiness
Assess your organization’s current capabilities, from strategy and execution to risk. Use the result to guide a discussion about priorities.
Explore the assessmentFinance systems · Framework & tool
The Integration Blueprint
Plan an ERP or systems integration from the owner’s perspective: assessment, decision gates, workstreams, partner selection, and costs.
Open the blueprintInternal controls · Framework & tool
AI-Augmented SOX
Explore SOX program activities and where AI may assist documentation and analysis, with attention to human review and control ownership.
Explore the frameworkTeam learning · Interactive deck
AI Foundations for Finance
Work through language models, context, agents, and the AI Adoption Method, with a reconciliation exercise that makes the concepts concrete.
Open the learning deckEntrepreneurship · Self-assessment
The Founder Archetype
Reflect on how you lead across five dimensions and use that context to evaluate the advice you receive.
Explore the diagnosticEvidence · Reference
AI in Finance: Statistics
Find dated statistics and primary-source links on AI adoption, productivity, talent, and spending in finance and accounting.
Browse the source collectionA closer look
The AI Adoption Method.
A task becomes easier to evaluate when you can see its inputs, steps, boundaries, and review. This is the structure behind the method.
- 1
Map it
Describe the finished artifact first
- 2
Split it
Separate the deterministic from the judgment
- 3
Fuel it
Give the model the minimum clean context
- 4
Guard it
Run the red-lines check before data moves
- 5
Review it
The person who signs it still owns it
Published writing
In Financial Executives Journal.
Articles on accounting risk, AI, and what financial education needs to make clear.
Financial Executives Journal
I Asked 150 Finance Students What They Want From AI. They Rejected All of It.
I asked 150 finance students what they wanted from AI, and they turned all of it down. What they asked for instead, and what I built from it.
Financial Executives Journal
The Hidden Accounting Risks Shaping the AI Economy
The three largest areas of technical accounting risk in the AI economy. Revenue recognition, capitalization, and impairment. And what CFOs need to know.
From the insights archive
Recent writing on finance, AI, and leadership.
Leadership
Before You Advise a Founder, Diagnose the Game
A practitioner framework for matching advice to founder context, built on the Founder Archetype Matrix and three diagnostic questions.
AI & Finance
Claude Cowork and Skill Packs for Finance
A practitioner's guide to Claude Cowork and Skill Packs. How AI-powered workflows are transforming financial close, reconciliation, and reporting.
AI & Finance
Claude Can Now Build Visuals Mid-Conversation
Anthropic shipped a feature this week that sounds incremental but isn't: Claude can now generate interactive visualizations directly inside the chat window.
AI & Finance
Your AI Strategy Is Backwards
Every finance leader I talk to asks the same question first: "What AI tools should we buy?" That's the wrong question and it's costing you months of progress.
AI & Finance
Is the AI Boom Built on Funny Money?
Circular deals, trillion-dollar commitments, and depreciation assumptions. How the money behind the AI buildout is structured, and what investors should watch.
Personal Growth
Happy Holidays, Grateful for 2025, and Looking Ahead
Reflections on 2025. Gratitude for the community, lessons learned, and what's ahead for AI, finance, and building a life with purpose.
From the academy
Study the tools in context.
These frameworks live inside the free courses, with explanations and applications you can work through at your own pace.
Venture Economics
Examine the economic quality of a venture, from the problem it solves to its unit economics.
Explore the frameworkMARCS Forecasting
Build forecasts around Measurable, Aspirational, Realistic, Controllable, and Sequenced assumptions.
Study the workflowAI Governance One-Pager
A practical reference for data rules, boundaries, and human review of AI-assisted work.
Open the checklistPrompt-Pattern Library
Connect inputs, AI steps, human checkpoints, and finished work through reusable finance workflow patterns.
Browse the patternsWorkflow Maturity
Use a self-scored rubric to examine your team’s capabilities in applying AI to finance work.
Explore the rubricApply the ideas to your organization.
If a framework connects to a decision your team is facing, we can discuss a focused advisory engagement or a session built around the work.