Blucora, which owns the TaxAct software line, has named John Clendening as president and CEO effective April 4. Clendening is replacing William Ruckelshaus. The hiring of Clendening, who had executive roles at Charles Schwab Bank and Charles Schwab & Co. follows Blucora's acquisition of HD Vest on December 31.

Sleeter Group founder Doug Sleeter has left the company he founded. He is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the conference formerly known as SleeterCon in November, which has been renamed Accountex USA (www.AccountexUSA.com.) 

When I founded Kruze Consulting in 2012, I was a one-woman shop. My focus was to deliver premium startup accounting services as efficiently as possible. In November of 2014, I had 30 clients. As of October 2015, I grew the client base to more than 165—an increase of 450 percent.

Accountants inhabit a unique position in the business world. They see data from a multitude of clients and can spy trends before others do. In Silicon Valley, I've heard numerous stories where an accountant saw busineses struggling to get funded and recommended that other clients tighten the belt as well. Those that controlled or reduced spend survived. Business clients that ignored the advice didn't.