What's Next For Accounting? - Issue #78
Jason Staats
April 14, 2023
🧠 Your Practice Management System on AI
This week I shared a rundown of 16 ways AI will make your practice mgmt system better YT | Pod | Developer-friendly version
Here are my top 5:
Better Search - A single search experience across organizational email, team chat, meeting transcripts, projects, file contents + workpapers. This can even be extended into third-party app data, like client accounting ledgers.
Generative Email Replies - Suggested replies that take into account that a colleague emailed the client yesterday. That you're generally snarky with this client. That they have a project that is near completion. That their engagement letter stipulated certain expectations of the client. The details they provided in a Zoom meeting last week. Made even better with suggested file attachments: "Can you send me my 2020 return?"
Document Generation - You're replying to that email requesting a banker letter, and you have 200 other such banker letters in your file system. Using a few of the letters most relevant to this request, generate a letter I can use as a starting point to send to the banker.
Smart Requests - Creating a new client-request? Whoa tiger, looks like according to this transcript, the client mentioned this matter in a meeting with your colleague Tina yesterday. Or just emailed the info to Greg 20 minutes ago. Even resolve outstanding requests when the system receives new context: Given this new Zoom meeting transcript, it looks like I can resolve requests 2, 3 and 4. Does that sound right?
Agents - The hottest hotness of the last 10 days, AI agents that will work on a given task until the end of time. Some examples. In practice they're super broken & limited still, but look for this space to grow quickly. Longer-term, this looks like assigning a task to an agent user, and it going out to complete the task. Sounds far-fetched, I know! But it got a lot closer this week.
Other things discussed on my daily show this week: Open-Sourcing the Accounting Profession | When's The Right Time to Launch a Firm | Happy Growth and How It's Different
💎This Week's Sponsor
📆 This Week
Happy to share I'll be emceeing this accounting conference in Chicago in August
I made a video about how to price your accounting expertise because people aren't opinionated enough on the topic
Keeper released that bank transaction categorization thing I shared as part of their product - get beta access here
After releasing The Lazanis Files we defeated Future Firm Accelerate in the AccountingHigh bracket, and now face Uncat in the finals
Automation flex of the week goes to Brad Nelson for building a Power Automate thing to file 1040 extensions with Drake
We crowd-sourced some advice for a mega-niche $200k firm
"AI-powered bookkeeping and finance" - They're taking user descriptions of transactions, and sending it to GPT to automate the accounting categorization 🏆
"Modern Accounting For Startups" with the promise to deliver insights on the 1st
😍From The Community
04/19 📗 Book Club - S05E04 with Kate Presto
04/20 💘 Swiping Right - File Review with Kellie Parks
04/20 💻 Demo Day - GoProposal with Jason Staats
04/24 🕸️ Into The Chadiverse with Chad Davis
04/25 📗 Book Club - S05E05 with Kate Presto
04/25 👉Show & Tell - Canopy with Jake Kessenich
04/26 🏫 Hall Pass - Designing Advisory Offerings with Brandon Hall
04/26 💻 Demo Day - The CFO Project with Jason Staats
04/26 🎤 Who Runs The World - “Are you happy in this modern world” with Twyla Verhelst
04/27 🐠 EOS-Ish with - Tools & Resources with Rachel Fisch
04/28 🤝 Meetup - TaxDome with Ryan Elblein
My community Realize is a private space for people to swap ideas & collaborate. At $180/mo it’s also the way I finance everything else I do, pay a full-time creative director, and a part-time developer in an effort to make the accounting industry a slightly better place 💗 The community is currently about 300 members strong.