D. Michael Costello, CPA, ABV, CFF, CFE, ASA
— Elliott Davis

Mike Costello is a Shareholder and Services Leader - Litigation, Fraud and Forensic Services for Elliott Davis. He is also a Registered Representative with Decosimo Corporate Finance, LLC. Mike is a certified public accountant (CPA), certified in financial forensics (CFF), a certified fraud examiner (CFE), an accredited senior appraiser (ASA), accredited in business valuation (ABV), and a consultant with more than 35 years of training and experience in business valuations, business acquisitions and divestitures, and related fields. Mike's experience includes extensive consulting work and testimony in tax, accounting, financial, economic, and business issues of commercial litigation, with emphasis on business valuation, economic damage and forensic accounting issues.

Mike was managing director of a Chattanooga CPA firm for approximately 20 years before merging with Decosimo in 2003.  After that he served as Principal and member of the Board of Directors for Joseph Decosimo & Company, CPAs for approximately 12 years.

As Litigation, Fraud and Forensics Leader, Mike works in all of the offices in the four state region served by Elliott Davis.

Based on recent reports, Elliott Davis is the 40th largest CPA firm in the US.

Mike writes articles for professional publications and speaks at a variety of professional conferences about forensic and valuation issues. He is also a frequent speaker on a variety of consulting issues and has served on the accounting adjunct faculties at Tennessee Temple University, Tennessee Wesleyan College and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). He was recognized by UTC as Accountant of the Year, by the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA) for Article of the Year, by the Small Business Administration as the Tennessee SBA Accounting Advocate of the Year, by the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce as the Small Business Person of the Year, received the Chattanooga Jaycees Distinguished Service Award, and is a mentor for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' (AICPA) ABV Mentor Program.

Mike has served as president of the Chattanooga Chapter of CPAs and chairman of the TSCPA's Ethics, Small Business Services and Forensic and Valuation Services Committees. He is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the American Society of Appraisers (ASA), the AICPA and the TSCPA.

Mike is qualified to serve as an expert witness in U.S. District Courts, Circuit Courts, and Chancery Courts. He has been appointed by the Hamilton County Circuit Court as a Special Master to resolve an accounting dispute, as a Custodian to liquidate and appraise a business, by the Hamilton County Chancery Court as a Custodian/Receiver to manage and sell a medical practice and by a U S Bankruptcy Trustee to sell a professional services firm.

Mike's appraisals have been used in various courts and in connection with buy-and-sell transactions between corporate shareholders. In a case involving two business valuations, Mike's appraisals were upheld and accepted by the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

Mike earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and a Master of Accountancy degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.