Jim Colville is the founder and principal officer of Accounting Education Institute (AEI). His background and experience gave him the tools to be a leader in accounting education. Concurrently with his CPA experience he continuously was involved in education presenting courses to other CPAs, accountants in industry and other related professionals including several years of teaching at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) extension. Awarded Instructor of the Year, June 1995.

Jim started his own CPA firm in 1982 offering auditing and tax services along with consulting, litigation support, fraud services, PC training and technology solutions. He joined CBIZ (formerly Nation Smith Hermes Diamond) and its affiliate Mayer Hoffman & McCann P.C. to manage special litigation support and forensic accounting related projects. These projects required an extensive background in audit, tax and technology in which he was well prepared. He then began his own firm performing financial audits, fraud and forensic accounting engagements and Excel projects. He retired as an active CPA in 2019 with last engagement being completed in February 2020 and is now focusing on AEI and Excel365Solutions.