Lingni Xu, CPA

Lingni Xu, a manager at Councilor, Buchanan & Mitchell (CBM), began studying at the University of Maryland to pursue a career in finance or accounting. Inspired by family members from her home in China, she quickly came to appreciate the way that accounting and financial statements can create order for individual and institutional clients, whether she does this by helping a new client work through bookkeeping challenges or maintaining clean records for existing clients so they can pursue their goals.

Currently supporting clients in the tax and client accounting and advisory divisions of CBM, Lingni helps individuals and businesses with tax compliance and projections, and tax notice examinations, while delivering research projects to help provide a legal, compliance-based basis to decision-making. She is also passionate about the interpersonal connections she establishes with colleagues and clients with whom she works to solve problems and bring the most desirable outcomes possible.

Effective collaboration, which Lingni believes means responding to client requests in a timely manner, provides her with a real sense of accomplishment. At the same time, she recognizes while that not every client will benefit financially from a tax engagement, she believes her primary job is to keep them compliant with tax law and in good standing with the IRS and other state and federal regulatory agencies. When a CBM team member recently retired and passed along complex tax work to Lingni including a concern about a recently closed DC business return, she was able to gain the client’s confidence by resolving the issue in a prompt and professional manner.

Lingni first joined CBM as an intern and liked the work environment enough to stay and grow her role as a full-time professional. She decided to stay in the United States after her studies because she enjoys the natural beauty of the country including the ease of accessing national parks. Because her family is still in China, she visits every year and keeps a close group of local friends to keep her Chinese heritage alive through holiday celebrations and food.

When she’s not helping clients, Lingni enjoys gardening, reading and traveling including to her native homeland to try different local dishes and experience the natural beauty of different provinces.