BusinessTN

As a young accountant working with Ernst & Ernst (later Ernst & Young) in Nashville, Mike Vaden states flatly that he became "bored to death with traditional accounting." As a favor to an attorney who asked the firm to take on a country music client, Vaden volunteered his representation. The artist turned out to be none other than the Man in Black, Johnny Cash.

Vaden enjoyed working with Cash and, in his words, "getting his world straight." Cash in turn encouraged Vaden to go to work for his old roommate, Waylon Jennings. Next, Waylon's attorney got Vaden working with George Jones. The work snowballed. "Ernst thought I'd lost my mind," Vaden says, acknowledging that his client base was expanding at a time when country music and Nashville's music industry wasn't so highly regarded by the general Nashville business community. But Vaden says he was excited by the work--and no wonder. A single man at the time, Vaden did more than work for artists--he ran with their crowd. A niche business was born.

Vaden eventually opened his own firm with various partners. For 15 years until 2007, the firm existed as Crosslin Vaden. That's when Vaden split with longtime partner J. Dell Crosslin and later formed Vaden Group. This past April, Vaden Group became a corporate partner of Chattanooga-based regional accounting and business advisory firm Joseph Decosimo and Co., forming business management practice Decosimo/Vaden, with Vaden serving as president and principal. "They had the same mindset about how to deal with individuals and offered back office support in the tax business that allows me to grow the practice," Vaden sums up.

Put succinctly, Mike Vaden takes care of country music artists and other entertainment types from stem to stern. It's normal in the music community for a family office manager like Vaden to work on all aspects of an artist's life, whether it be acquiring life insurance, buying houses, negotiating deals on cars and boats, or getting their kids out of jail--"whatever it takes to keep them happy and working," Vaden says. From recording artists, writers and producers to pro athletes, business executives and doctors, Vaden's clients also require help with more traditional tasks like royalty accounting, concert tour accounting, tax planning and compliance, catalog valuation and financial management. He even helps with investment analysis, serving as a de facto equity investment proposal advisor for his clients who are always getting pitched business plans and partnerships. "We tell people 'no,'" Vaden says. "When necessary, we're the bad guys."