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Welcome to the Accounting for Innovation podcast, where we explore cutting edge strategies and insights into the world of accounting and finance.
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Presented by Decimal and the Radical CPA, each episode dives deep into industry trends.
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Whether you're a seasoned professional or a budding entrepreneur, join us as we unpack key concepts and share practical tips to drive success.
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All right.
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So we're already at episode five.
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In today's finale, we're going to explore how the combination of outsourcing and AI can create the powerful synergy for accounting firms.
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And we're going to talk about the strategic integration of both approaches to maximize efficiency, agility, and value.
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And basically all the things we've been talking about this season, Matt, like how much is outsourcing and AI automation going to fundamentally change how accounting firms operate in the near future?
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I think, I mean, you and I geek out over this stuff all the time, and we could spend hours diving into each one of these topics, but I think the intersection of all three is extremely important, because you're right.
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The, the economics and the execution of work in accounting is going to look very different today than it will in five, ten years.
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And I think that's really important to understand.
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Because if you accept that, you're ready for the changes that are coming.
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If you don't, it's going to be hard.
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And really what I mean by this.
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is accountants will always be there.
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They are exceptionally important to small businesses, to people, but trying to get accountants out of doing some of the more basic work and higher level work and moving into higher level work is so much of what this is about that it's such a cool Time and a cool thing for the industry.
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Don't you think?
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Oh, for sure.
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I mean like there's never been a more Like a bigger time for opportunities to happen.
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It's really we're almost in a renaissance, right?
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It's like going to be a blank slate And we're going to be able to build all kinds of new things of what that looks like now I've always been talking about a million dollars for Full time equivalent and who knows, maybe it will be even more.
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But when you look at the tools that are going to be available, especially, you know, you think, okay, these tools will be.
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The cloud was really the great equalizers for the small firms because prior to that, like you really had to have like these big servers and all this stuff to like kind of high computing power to do things right.
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And then the cloud leveled the playing field for a lot of small firms.
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Well, AI is going to lay level it even more for, I would even say.
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Like the solo practitioner or the person of one is going to be able to do so much more across the board, not just in accounting, but in customer service and emails and all the things that maybe they always had to have a specialist to do.
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That generalist is going to be able to do it good enough.
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It may not be perfect, but they're going to be able to do it good enough, especially at the small firm level.
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And I think that's what's really exciting about how AI is going to change.
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Um, and, and it's going to be for everyone at a fair price.
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It's not going to be something that is.
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Oh, crazy expensive.
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And only the big firms are going to be able to afford it.
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And I think the other piece about it is, is we're going to have the agility, the small firms are to move fast enough.
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Whereas the big firms are, it's hard for them to move.
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They have too many policies.
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They have too many like rules.
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It's going to be hard for them.
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To change, to adjust to this.
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And I think this is where smaller firms who have the ability to be more nimble are really going to be able to kind of outshine bigger firms, at least in the beginning.
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Yeah.
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And I think, look, what, what AI does is it fully democratizes information.
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It has made it so that information is there for everybody anywhere.
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And there's a lot of security that's built in.
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There's a lot of need, but as far as like doing stuff in general, your access to information is much greater than it ever has been.
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Number one, number two, the world has shrunk.
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Which means that you can now hire people anywhere in the world and communicate with them the same as you would communicate with somebody that you hire for an office job.
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And that's huge because what both of those two things are doing, AI, outsourcing, or hiring out of country, is it's giving you the ability to start to change the economics of work.
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It used to be so much, and Jody, you and I have talked about this when you started your career, so much of owning a firm or working in tax was burnout, was I've got to grind, I've got to work so hard.
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Now you can have a great work life balance as a partner or principal in a big firm or Owning your own firm and outsourcing and implementing AI and automation.
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It gives you the ability to create, create new economics, which I think are really, really important to accountants in general is the economics of the profession is changing dramatically.
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And I think the big deal is too, is like, as we think about the talent shortage or, you know, hard time finding team, all these, um, boomers, they're going to retire, right?
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Like the majority of the profession is retiring over the next number of years.
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Right?
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Like you, you hear about everywhere.
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It's our opportunity to automate and to say, look, we can't replace this with a person because there isn't a person to hire.
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How do we change our process?
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How do we change our business model?
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How do we automate it?
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Something so that we can be sustainable in the future and we can continue to grow and expand.
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And I think because it's this perfect storm, it's exciting, right?
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Like, because if it wasn't the perfect storm, then.
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I think the, the adoption would be slower, but I think because, and the technology is changing so fast.
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Um, but because of that, I think there's really an opportunity for CPAs who are curious, accountants who are curious, anyone who's not afraid to learn, because I guarantee however we do our jobs today is not going to be how we do them tomorrow.
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So we have to be open to learning and open to experiencing new things.
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But if we have that open mind, the sky's the limit for what you can do.
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Oh, I think it's, I think it's such a cool time to get into the industry, to be an accountant.
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I was just teaching an accounting course at Butler University here in Indianapolis.
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And that's what I told them.
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I said, I honest to God, and I'm not an accountant.
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So.
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Don't quote me on too much, but this part's true.
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This is the single most exciting time to get into the profession because you can start to rethink about what you find joy out of, what you like to do.
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And you can start to move the other pieces away from you while still doing that.
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And it used to be, you had to do all of it.
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And so now you can look, and if you, if you take work.
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And you break it into small buckets and you say, Hey, we've broken this one large task into 10 things.
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I like doing free.
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You can now look at outsourcing.
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You can look at technology automation.
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You can look at artificial intelligence and you can say, I am going to find places for the other seven buckets.
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And that's a really, really cool thing.
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You don't like writing emails.
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Great.
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Get a tool that writes AI emails for you, edit and tweak them to make sure it sounds like you get it done.
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All of a sudden your emails are now written.
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Find a tool that helps you write blog posts.
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Find a tool that helps you review things or inputs, uh, flat data.
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Um, whatever it is, find ways to outsource that.
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To other people and I think that or to technology.
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I think that's why it's such a cool time to get into the industry is so much is changing and so many young accountants are going to come into or or newer accountants are going to come into a profession that the work that used to happen for them.
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No longer does and so they get into advisory even faster.
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And I think that's really cool as well
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Yeah, and I think the other thing about it is for the people who have been around for a little bit longer And maybe there's a little bit of fear here that you have to remember that Like we've been through so much change over the years that we've been in our, in our own careers that this is just one more thing that we have to adjust to.
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It's not the end of the world.
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It's like, it's exciting.
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And we just have to go into it with the right mindset.
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And if we have that right mindset, then we can evolve.
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And I think, you know, I'll come back to pricing as all of these things change.
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And as your business model is going to have to change because how do you build two minutes for AI?
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You can't, how do you build two seconds?
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You're going to have to relook at your pricing model as well and think about pricing and outcomes and all the other things that, that happen as well.
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So I think what's interesting again is, We've been talking about automation.
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We've been talking about cloud tools.
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We've been talking about pricing for years, especially me.
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It's like 15 years now, but now truly now is the time where all of it can come together because of the outside forces pushing the profession or pushing the industry together.
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Right?
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So you have the retiring boomers, you have the new technologies, You have, um, this next generation who has a different idea of work.
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There are so many external forces pushing it that, you know, we, we really have the opportunity to rethink what we want to be when we grow up.
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Well, and isn't that, I think that's scary and cool at the same time.
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I mean, it's scary because typically you come out and people tell you generally what you're going to do.
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Now you get to start choosing a little bit more and it's awesome because you get to choose more.
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And that's where I think both of when we talk and this whole season has been about AI and it's been about outsourcing two ways to start to change the profession to give you to put you in a position to find more joy and more balance in your work if you want to keep working long hours.
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That's great.
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That's ambition, how you see it.
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But if you want to work less, you can create leverage to do that.
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And these tools and outsourcing provides you with the ability to create that leverage.
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And you have to rethink how you do things, rethink how you manage things, but that's okay.
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And now back to the show.
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Well, right.
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And I think it also goes to the fact that you can decide what What you want to do.
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Do you want to take on more work and grow your firm, or do you want to work 20 hours a week and make the same amount of money that you used to make when you were working 40 hours a week?
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Right.
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So you now have a choice as to what's important to you and figuring out what that is.
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And it's not going to be the same for everyone.
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There are definitely people who want to grow these big firms and scale and you know, that that's their cup of tea and that's good.
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But if you want to say.
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Hey, I'm going to use these tools differently and I'm going to allow myself to work 20 hours a week and I'm going to take up knitting or do something else that's okay too.
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And I think that's, what's cool about this choice that we now have the opportunity to, to kind of rethink, reinvent, um, that's why it's such a Renaissance.
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Number one, I cannot wait to take up knitting.
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It's going to be great someday.
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But number two, one of the things we hear a lot and you and I both hear it is AI is going to, or outsourcing is going to, remove the role of an accountant.
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I don't believe that.
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I know you don't believe that, but why?
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So it's because the more tech you have, the more human you have to be.
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And ultimately as an advisor, you should be walking alongside your customer.
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And if you think about what happened in, 2020 with the pandemic and PPP loans and how quickly all of those things changed and did, you know, Um, you know, the small businesses, who did they look to?
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They look to their financial first responders for help.
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And if you think about yourself like that, and again, it doesn't have to be in a dire situation where, you know, it has to be a financial first responder, maybe just a financial responder.
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Right.
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But the idea being is, is that those business owners.
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Still need someone to guide them along.
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They still need context to the content, right?
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They still need context to the understanding of the numbers that they're experiencing and what it means for their particular business, what it means for their goals.
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AI doesn't necessarily understand the holistic picture.
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I can give you a lot of good information back, but it is missing that Human piece.
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And that's where we have to remember that the more technology we use, the more human we have to be.
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And again, um, some of us would say, Oh, but I really like doing Excel.
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Um, okay, then we're going to have to rethink what kind of Excel you're going to work on or what kind of things you're going to do, because the reality is, is most of the data is going to be done for you.
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The 20 percent is still needs.
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You know, a look over, but it's, it's our opportunity to get more human and figure out what those skills are to, to really become that advisor that I think small business owners actually want and would pay 10 times more for, because they feel like they're not getting it today.
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I think, I think you hit on a good point.
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A couple of things aren't going to change.
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Number one, I always joke that the three worst parts about running any business are HR, IT, and accounting.
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That's not going to change.
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We do accounting.
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Business owners don't like this aspect of their business, want to spend time on this aspect of their business or want to spend the time to truly understand it.
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They want somebody to help them.
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They are desperate for somebody to help and advise them, and that's not going to change.
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You could put as many tools and A.
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I.
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s and outsourcing as you can.
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They still want somebody to help them.
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And that, I think, is a really cool opportunity.
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You hit it.
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Earlier right now because you have to you have to create a cost structure that people will pay for you are spending you're seeing accountants today spending so much time getting work done and they don't have the time within that cost structure to advise and so now with AI and outsourcing changing that.
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You don't have to do as much of the work, which means you can spend more time advising.
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And I think that's a really cool thing because I think most accountants truly enjoy being advisors and that's where the skill set is.
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And so that's where I think both the integration of outsourcing and AI come in, is moving accountants out of doing the work and into final review.
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And advice, and that's a really cool place,
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and I think it means we're going to also have to rethink what advice means and how we're going to change train the next gen to become advisors a lot faster.
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But the cool thing is, is AI is going to be here to help us, and it's going to allow us to kind of upskill the next generation a lot faster,
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so that actually gets to a really good point and question that I have for you.
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How do you think this, this integration of AI?
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And an outsourcing into kind of more daily and more expected value for accounting is going to change client expectations and service delivery and accounting.
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So I think the client expectations have, have already shifted.
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Um, you know, I talk about that a lot, that.
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You know, there's a disconnect in product market fit so that the clients expect more from their accountants today are ready and accountants haven't really kept up with where they should be.
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And that's why when you look at, um, tools like Intuit and when it, it pops into you and it says, Hey, you know, do you need help in your quick books?
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And you know, the little chat bot pops up and you can respond.
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That's why there's actually a need there for that because accountants haven't necessarily been responding, but I think it's only going to 10 X that.
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As an expectation, because AI is not just coming to accounting.
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It's coming to the rest of the world as well.
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So everyone is going to have to level up in how they interact from a customer experience perspective, because again, it's not going to just be people are going to expect it from their accountant.
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They're going to expect it, um, from every other service provider.
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They have as all these other tools kind of increase.
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Their value as they integrate AI as well.
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I mean, doctors are using AI already.
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So like, you know, it just kind of, it's leveling everyone up and accountants just need to keep up.
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I think they do.
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And, and I think we're being put in a position as an industry to do that easier and better.
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And, and I think that's also happening as well is it's, it's not going to be as hard as you think to implement this because it's just going to start being there more often.
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And there are also more and more really great tools that are coming out.
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And I think picking the tools that also have kind of the right mentality behind them.
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Like when you talk to tech companies, they kind of fit into two general AI buckets.
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One AI is going to work alongside an accountant and help make an accountant better.
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Two, it's going to replace accountants.
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I prefer to work with Number one, because I think that's the end point of where AI gets to.
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And I think that's a really important thing as you start to look at AI is, is really looking at the philosophy behind the builders and, and implement what you think fits your firm and you.
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And the expectation that your clients have for you.
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And if you think about it from a client relationship standpoint, think about how you're going to solidify those relationships moving forward and how you're going to up your game and be more human because that's, there's going to be an opportunity there and there's going to be a risk there.
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So I think that's, you know, one of the things that we need to look at as to how we up our game to be more human.
00:19:08.627 --> 00:19:09.917
So we can kind of.
00:19:10.613 --> 00:19:23.383
Capture our clients that we want to keep today before some of the tools or other things kind of encroach on our space and you know, kind of snatch them away.
00:19:24.272 --> 00:19:25.373
I think that's a great point.
00:19:25.373 --> 00:19:33.768
And you know, this season Jody has been really fun to kind of talk about, you know, AI and outsourcing and kind of where the industry is going.
00:19:34.278 --> 00:19:38.438
I think it's going to be really cool as we've kind of wrapped up today's episode.
00:19:39.028 --> 00:19:42.028
We keep going back to advisory and advising.
00:19:42.028 --> 00:19:56.258
And I think as we look at next season, I think helping people understand advising and where AI can help and how we can start to level up towards that will be another great continuation of these fun conversations.
00:19:58.008 --> 00:19:58.468
Awesome.
00:19:58.518 --> 00:19:59.008
Thanks.
00:00:00.644 --> 00:00:08.003
Welcome to the Accounting for Innovation podcast, where we explore cutting edge strategies and insights into the world of accounting and finance.
00:00:08.464 --> 00:00:14.544
Presented by Decimal and the Radical CPA, each episode dives deep into industry trends.
00:00:14.884 --> 00:00:23.164
Whether you're a seasoned professional or a budding entrepreneur, join us as we unpack key concepts and share practical tips to drive success.
00:00:24.074 --> 00:00:24.545
All right.
00:00:24.545 --> 00:00:26.484
So we're already at episode five.
00:00:26.524 --> 00:00:34.115
In today's finale, we're going to explore how the combination of outsourcing and AI can create the powerful synergy for accounting firms.
00:00:34.155 --> 00:00:40.804
And we're going to talk about the strategic integration of both approaches to maximize efficiency, agility, and value.
00:00:40.804 --> 00:00:53.115
And basically all the things we've been talking about this season, Matt, like how much is outsourcing and AI automation going to fundamentally change how accounting firms operate in the near future?
00:00:54.270 --> 00:01:06.719
I think, I mean, you and I geek out over this stuff all the time, and we could spend hours diving into each one of these topics, but I think the intersection of all three is extremely important, because you're right.
00:01:07.099 --> 00:01:16.739
The, the economics and the execution of work in accounting is going to look very different today than it will in five, ten years.
00:01:17.409 --> 00:01:20.099
And I think that's really important to understand.
00:01:20.734 --> 00:01:25.504
Because if you accept that, you're ready for the changes that are coming.
00:01:26.224 --> 00:01:28.045
If you don't, it's going to be hard.
00:01:28.674 --> 00:01:30.545
And really what I mean by this.
00:01:31.295 --> 00:01:33.254
is accountants will always be there.
00:01:33.305 --> 00:01:51.180
They are exceptionally important to small businesses, to people, but trying to get accountants out of doing some of the more basic work and higher level work and moving into higher level work is so much of what this is about that it's such a cool Time and a cool thing for the industry.
00:01:51.180 --> 00:01:51.859
Don't you think?
00:01:52.489 --> 00:01:53.349
Oh, for sure.
00:01:53.370 --> 00:01:59.409
I mean like there's never been a more Like a bigger time for opportunities to happen.
00:01:59.409 --> 00:02:01.799
It's really we're almost in a renaissance, right?
00:02:02.030 --> 00:02:14.990
It's like going to be a blank slate And we're going to be able to build all kinds of new things of what that looks like now I've always been talking about a million dollars for Full time equivalent and who knows, maybe it will be even more.
00:02:14.990 --> 00:02:20.960
But when you look at the tools that are going to be available, especially, you know, you think, okay, these tools will be.
00:02:21.585 --> 00:02:32.534
The cloud was really the great equalizers for the small firms because prior to that, like you really had to have like these big servers and all this stuff to like kind of high computing power to do things right.
00:02:32.594 --> 00:02:36.465
And then the cloud leveled the playing field for a lot of small firms.
00:02:36.645 --> 00:02:41.745
Well, AI is going to lay level it even more for, I would even say.
00:02:42.125 --> 00:02:58.925
Like the solo practitioner or the person of one is going to be able to do so much more across the board, not just in accounting, but in customer service and emails and all the things that maybe they always had to have a specialist to do.
00:02:59.254 --> 00:03:02.435
That generalist is going to be able to do it good enough.
00:03:02.865 --> 00:03:07.625
It may not be perfect, but they're going to be able to do it good enough, especially at the small firm level.
00:03:07.625 --> 00:03:12.495
And I think that's what's really exciting about how AI is going to change.
00:03:12.805 --> 00:03:16.955
Um, and, and it's going to be for everyone at a fair price.
00:03:17.034 --> 00:03:18.705
It's not going to be something that is.
00:03:18.985 --> 00:03:20.205
Oh, crazy expensive.
00:03:20.235 --> 00:03:23.324
And only the big firms are going to be able to afford it.
00:03:23.354 --> 00:03:29.955
And I think the other piece about it is, is we're going to have the agility, the small firms are to move fast enough.
00:03:30.354 --> 00:03:33.004
Whereas the big firms are, it's hard for them to move.
00:03:33.205 --> 00:03:34.564
They have too many policies.
00:03:34.564 --> 00:03:36.865
They have too many like rules.
00:03:37.125 --> 00:03:38.620
It's going to be hard for them.
00:03:38.729 --> 00:03:42.270
To change, to adjust to this.
00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:52.000
And I think this is where smaller firms who have the ability to be more nimble are really going to be able to kind of outshine bigger firms, at least in the beginning.
00:03:52.439 --> 00:03:52.569
Yeah.
00:03:52.569 --> 00:03:57.659
And I think, look, what, what AI does is it fully democratizes information.
00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:02.449
It has made it so that information is there for everybody anywhere.
00:04:02.569 --> 00:04:04.659
And there's a lot of security that's built in.
00:04:04.659 --> 00:04:11.830
There's a lot of need, but as far as like doing stuff in general, your access to information is much greater than it ever has been.
00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:15.370
Number one, number two, the world has shrunk.
00:04:16.134 --> 00:04:25.305
Which means that you can now hire people anywhere in the world and communicate with them the same as you would communicate with somebody that you hire for an office job.
00:04:26.134 --> 00:04:38.545
And that's huge because what both of those two things are doing, AI, outsourcing, or hiring out of country, is it's giving you the ability to start to change the economics of work.
00:04:39.259 --> 00:04:50.560
It used to be so much, and Jody, you and I have talked about this when you started your career, so much of owning a firm or working in tax was burnout, was I've got to grind, I've got to work so hard.
00:04:50.970 --> 00:05:03.240
Now you can have a great work life balance as a partner or principal in a big firm or Owning your own firm and outsourcing and implementing AI and automation.
00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:15.949
It gives you the ability to create, create new economics, which I think are really, really important to accountants in general is the economics of the profession is changing dramatically.
00:05:16.875 --> 00:05:26.154
And I think the big deal is too, is like, as we think about the talent shortage or, you know, hard time finding team, all these, um, boomers, they're going to retire, right?
00:05:26.154 --> 00:05:30.185
Like the majority of the profession is retiring over the next number of years.
00:05:30.185 --> 00:05:30.394
Right?
00:05:30.394 --> 00:05:32.045
Like you, you hear about everywhere.
00:05:32.389 --> 00:05:39.509
It's our opportunity to automate and to say, look, we can't replace this with a person because there isn't a person to hire.
00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:41.509
How do we change our process?
00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:43.050
How do we change our business model?
00:05:43.209 --> 00:05:44.459
How do we automate it?
00:05:45.139 --> 00:05:51.839
Something so that we can be sustainable in the future and we can continue to grow and expand.
00:05:51.850 --> 00:05:57.329
And I think because it's this perfect storm, it's exciting, right?
00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:01.420
Like, because if it wasn't the perfect storm, then.
00:06:01.834 --> 00:06:08.745
I think the, the adoption would be slower, but I think because, and the technology is changing so fast.
00:06:09.144 --> 00:06:23.279
Um, but because of that, I think there's really an opportunity for CPAs who are curious, accountants who are curious, anyone who's not afraid to learn, because I guarantee however we do our jobs today is not going to be how we do them tomorrow.
00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:27.800
So we have to be open to learning and open to experiencing new things.
00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:32.800
But if we have that open mind, the sky's the limit for what you can do.
00:06:33.550 --> 00:06:39.519
Oh, I think it's, I think it's such a cool time to get into the industry, to be an accountant.
00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:44.519
I was just teaching an accounting course at Butler University here in Indianapolis.
00:06:44.870 --> 00:06:45.649
And that's what I told them.
00:06:45.649 --> 00:06:48.639
I said, I honest to God, and I'm not an accountant.
00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:48.939
So.
00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:52.209
Don't quote me on too much, but this part's true.
00:06:52.259 --> 00:07:01.410
This is the single most exciting time to get into the profession because you can start to rethink about what you find joy out of, what you like to do.
00:07:01.889 --> 00:07:06.110
And you can start to move the other pieces away from you while still doing that.
00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:08.370
And it used to be, you had to do all of it.
00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:12.430
And so now you can look, and if you, if you take work.
00:07:12.615 --> 00:07:18.454
And you break it into small buckets and you say, Hey, we've broken this one large task into 10 things.
00:07:18.814 --> 00:07:19.814
I like doing free.
00:07:20.855 --> 00:07:22.665
You can now look at outsourcing.
00:07:22.675 --> 00:07:24.685
You can look at technology automation.
00:07:24.694 --> 00:07:30.745
You can look at artificial intelligence and you can say, I am going to find places for the other seven buckets.
00:07:31.115 --> 00:07:33.084
And that's a really, really cool thing.
00:07:33.355 --> 00:07:34.605
You don't like writing emails.
00:07:34.615 --> 00:07:34.975
Great.
00:07:35.074 --> 00:07:41.095
Get a tool that writes AI emails for you, edit and tweak them to make sure it sounds like you get it done.
00:07:41.485 --> 00:07:43.235
All of a sudden your emails are now written.
00:07:43.704 --> 00:07:46.115
Find a tool that helps you write blog posts.
00:07:46.125 --> 00:07:51.904
Find a tool that helps you review things or inputs, uh, flat data.
00:07:52.375 --> 00:07:55.615
Um, whatever it is, find ways to outsource that.
00:07:56.035 --> 00:07:59.125
To other people and I think that or to technology.
00:07:59.334 --> 00:08:11.605
I think that's why it's such a cool time to get into the industry is so much is changing and so many young accountants are going to come into or or newer accountants are going to come into a profession that the work that used to happen for them.
00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:14.939
No longer does and so they get into advisory even faster.
00:08:15.110 --> 00:08:16.699
And I think that's really cool as well
00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:36.370
Yeah, and I think the other thing about it is for the people who have been around for a little bit longer And maybe there's a little bit of fear here that you have to remember that Like we've been through so much change over the years that we've been in our, in our own careers that this is just one more thing that we have to adjust to.
00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:37.860
It's not the end of the world.
00:08:38.149 --> 00:08:39.899
It's like, it's exciting.
00:08:39.929 --> 00:08:42.529
And we just have to go into it with the right mindset.
00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:45.470
And if we have that right mindset, then we can evolve.
00:08:45.509 --> 00:08:51.509
And I think, you know, I'll come back to pricing as all of these things change.
00:08:51.705 --> 00:08:57.034
And as your business model is going to have to change because how do you build two minutes for AI?
00:08:57.034 --> 00:08:58.684
You can't, how do you build two seconds?
00:08:59.054 --> 00:09:06.804
You're going to have to relook at your pricing model as well and think about pricing and outcomes and all the other things that, that happen as well.
00:09:06.815 --> 00:09:12.815
So I think what's interesting again is, We've been talking about automation.
00:09:12.815 --> 00:09:14.184
We've been talking about cloud tools.
00:09:14.184 --> 00:09:17.254
We've been talking about pricing for years, especially me.
00:09:17.254 --> 00:09:31.024
It's like 15 years now, but now truly now is the time where all of it can come together because of the outside forces pushing the profession or pushing the industry together.
00:09:31.125 --> 00:09:31.335
Right?
00:09:31.335 --> 00:09:40.924
So you have the retiring boomers, you have the new technologies, You have, um, this next generation who has a different idea of work.
00:09:41.164 --> 00:09:48.815
There are so many external forces pushing it that, you know, we, we really have the opportunity to rethink what we want to be when we grow up.
00:09:49.884 --> 00:09:53.654
Well, and isn't that, I think that's scary and cool at the same time.
00:09:53.664 --> 00:09:58.654
I mean, it's scary because typically you come out and people tell you generally what you're going to do.
00:09:59.154 --> 00:10:04.705
Now you get to start choosing a little bit more and it's awesome because you get to choose more.
00:10:04.919 --> 00:10:22.870
And that's where I think both of when we talk and this whole season has been about AI and it's been about outsourcing two ways to start to change the profession to give you to put you in a position to find more joy and more balance in your work if you want to keep working long hours.
00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:23.519
That's great.
00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:25.110
That's ambition, how you see it.
00:10:25.639 --> 00:10:28.929
But if you want to work less, you can create leverage to do that.
00:10:29.330 --> 00:10:35.139
And these tools and outsourcing provides you with the ability to create that leverage.
00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:41.889
And you have to rethink how you do things, rethink how you manage things, but that's okay.
00:10:42.745 --> 00:10:47.456
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That's syscloud.com.
00:11:13.884 --> 00:11:15.476
And now back to the show.
00:11:15.868 --> 00:11:16.488
Well, right.
00:11:16.498 --> 00:11:21.437
And I think it also goes to the fact that you can decide what What you want to do.
00:11:21.447 --> 00:11:32.457
Do you want to take on more work and grow your firm, or do you want to work 20 hours a week and make the same amount of money that you used to make when you were working 40 hours a week?
00:11:32.457 --> 00:11:32.768
Right.
00:11:33.148 --> 00:11:39.207
So you now have a choice as to what's important to you and figuring out what that is.
00:11:39.288 --> 00:11:41.028
And it's not going to be the same for everyone.
00:11:41.028 --> 00:11:47.648
There are definitely people who want to grow these big firms and scale and you know, that that's their cup of tea and that's good.
00:11:47.658 --> 00:11:48.927
But if you want to say.
00:11:49.248 --> 00:11:58.977
Hey, I'm going to use these tools differently and I'm going to allow myself to work 20 hours a week and I'm going to take up knitting or do something else that's okay too.
00:11:59.008 --> 00:12:09.177
And I think that's, what's cool about this choice that we now have the opportunity to, to kind of rethink, reinvent, um, that's why it's such a Renaissance.
00:12:09.628 --> 00:12:11.618
Number one, I cannot wait to take up knitting.
00:12:11.658 --> 00:12:13.087
It's going to be great someday.
00:12:13.577 --> 00:12:23.347
But number two, one of the things we hear a lot and you and I both hear it is AI is going to, or outsourcing is going to, remove the role of an accountant.
00:12:25.107 --> 00:12:25.988
I don't believe that.
00:12:26.048 --> 00:12:27.908
I know you don't believe that, but why?
00:12:28.697 --> 00:12:32.457
So it's because the more tech you have, the more human you have to be.
00:12:32.727 --> 00:12:38.378
And ultimately as an advisor, you should be walking alongside your customer.
00:12:38.618 --> 00:12:51.488
And if you think about what happened in, 2020 with the pandemic and PPP loans and how quickly all of those things changed and did, you know, Um, you know, the small businesses, who did they look to?
00:12:51.518 --> 00:12:54.427
They look to their financial first responders for help.
00:12:54.748 --> 00:13:04.227
And if you think about yourself like that, and again, it doesn't have to be in a dire situation where, you know, it has to be a financial first responder, maybe just a financial responder.
00:13:04.227 --> 00:13:04.528
Right.
00:13:05.008 --> 00:13:08.288
But the idea being is, is that those business owners.
00:13:08.562 --> 00:13:11.072
Still need someone to guide them along.
00:13:11.102 --> 00:13:14.682
They still need context to the content, right?
00:13:14.682 --> 00:13:24.753
They still need context to the understanding of the numbers that they're experiencing and what it means for their particular business, what it means for their goals.
00:13:25.043 --> 00:13:28.243
AI doesn't necessarily understand the holistic picture.
00:13:28.393 --> 00:13:34.437
I can give you a lot of good information back, but it is missing that Human piece.
00:13:34.998 --> 00:13:39.937
And that's where we have to remember that the more technology we use, the more human we have to be.
00:13:40.187 --> 00:13:45.268
And again, um, some of us would say, Oh, but I really like doing Excel.
00:13:45.727 --> 00:13:59.697
Um, okay, then we're going to have to rethink what kind of Excel you're going to work on or what kind of things you're going to do, because the reality is, is most of the data is going to be done for you.
00:13:59.967 --> 00:14:01.888
The 20 percent is still needs.
00:14:02.138 --> 00:14:18.888
You know, a look over, but it's, it's our opportunity to get more human and figure out what those skills are to, to really become that advisor that I think small business owners actually want and would pay 10 times more for, because they feel like they're not getting it today.
00:14:19.908 --> 00:14:22.158
I think, I think you hit on a good point.
00:14:22.998 --> 00:14:24.398
A couple of things aren't going to change.
00:14:24.557 --> 00:14:31.317
Number one, I always joke that the three worst parts about running any business are HR, IT, and accounting.
00:14:31.908 --> 00:14:32.817
That's not going to change.
00:14:33.398 --> 00:14:34.097
We do accounting.
00:14:34.798 --> 00:14:43.937
Business owners don't like this aspect of their business, want to spend time on this aspect of their business or want to spend the time to truly understand it.
00:14:43.977 --> 00:14:45.957
They want somebody to help them.
00:14:46.538 --> 00:14:51.138
They are desperate for somebody to help and advise them, and that's not going to change.
00:14:51.158 --> 00:14:53.118
You could put as many tools and A.
00:14:53.118 --> 00:14:53.288
I.
00:14:53.288 --> 00:14:54.788
s and outsourcing as you can.
00:14:55.158 --> 00:14:57.957
They still want somebody to help them.
00:14:58.758 --> 00:15:01.207
And that, I think, is a really cool opportunity.
00:15:01.638 --> 00:15:02.248
You hit it.
00:15:02.482 --> 00:15:23.748
Earlier right now because you have to you have to create a cost structure that people will pay for you are spending you're seeing accountants today spending so much time getting work done and they don't have the time within that cost structure to advise and so now with AI and outsourcing changing that.
00:15:23.967 --> 00:15:27.967
You don't have to do as much of the work, which means you can spend more time advising.
00:15:28.618 --> 00:15:36.357
And I think that's a really cool thing because I think most accountants truly enjoy being advisors and that's where the skill set is.
00:15:36.717 --> 00:15:48.107
And so that's where I think both the integration of outsourcing and AI come in, is moving accountants out of doing the work and into final review.
00:15:48.868 --> 00:15:51.658
And advice, and that's a really cool place,
00:15:52.158 --> 00:16:01.538
and I think it means we're going to also have to rethink what advice means and how we're going to change train the next gen to become advisors a lot faster.
00:16:01.538 --> 00:16:09.238
But the cool thing is, is AI is going to be here to help us, and it's going to allow us to kind of upskill the next generation a lot faster,
00:16:10.408 --> 00:16:14.748
so that actually gets to a really good point and question that I have for you.
00:16:15.107 --> 00:16:17.727
How do you think this, this integration of AI?
00:16:18.628 --> 00:16:27.687
And an outsourcing into kind of more daily and more expected value for accounting is going to change client expectations and service delivery and accounting.
00:16:28.967 --> 00:16:34.107
So I think the client expectations have, have already shifted.
00:16:34.207 --> 00:16:36.177
Um, you know, I talk about that a lot, that.
00:16:36.302 --> 00:16:46.352
You know, there's a disconnect in product market fit so that the clients expect more from their accountants today are ready and accountants haven't really kept up with where they should be.
00:16:46.373 --> 00:16:54.342
And that's why when you look at, um, tools like Intuit and when it, it pops into you and it says, Hey, you know, do you need help in your quick books?
00:16:54.342 --> 00:16:58.023
And you know, the little chat bot pops up and you can respond.
00:16:58.293 --> 00:17:05.472
That's why there's actually a need there for that because accountants haven't necessarily been responding, but I think it's only going to 10 X that.
00:17:05.702 --> 00:17:09.833
As an expectation, because AI is not just coming to accounting.
00:17:10.173 --> 00:17:12.182
It's coming to the rest of the world as well.
00:17:12.423 --> 00:17:23.022
So everyone is going to have to level up in how they interact from a customer experience perspective, because again, it's not going to just be people are going to expect it from their accountant.
00:17:23.032 --> 00:17:26.732
They're going to expect it, um, from every other service provider.
00:17:26.732 --> 00:17:30.323
They have as all these other tools kind of increase.
00:17:30.778 --> 00:17:34.077
Their value as they integrate AI as well.
00:17:34.948 --> 00:17:37.548
I mean, doctors are using AI already.
00:17:37.597 --> 00:17:43.847
So like, you know, it just kind of, it's leveling everyone up and accountants just need to keep up.
00:17:44.968 --> 00:17:45.688
I think they do.
00:17:45.688 --> 00:17:50.548
And, and I think we're being put in a position as an industry to do that easier and better.
00:17:51.077 --> 00:18:01.488
And, and I think that's also happening as well is it's, it's not going to be as hard as you think to implement this because it's just going to start being there more often.
00:18:02.123 --> 00:18:06.163
And there are also more and more really great tools that are coming out.
00:18:06.563 --> 00:18:12.153
And I think picking the tools that also have kind of the right mentality behind them.
00:18:12.363 --> 00:18:16.903
Like when you talk to tech companies, they kind of fit into two general AI buckets.
00:18:16.982 --> 00:18:22.022
One AI is going to work alongside an accountant and help make an accountant better.
00:18:22.423 --> 00:18:24.542
Two, it's going to replace accountants.
00:18:24.923 --> 00:18:29.778
I prefer to work with Number one, because I think that's the end point of where AI gets to.
00:18:30.278 --> 00:18:42.018
And I think that's a really important thing as you start to look at AI is, is really looking at the philosophy behind the builders and, and implement what you think fits your firm and you.
00:18:42.498 --> 00:18:45.688
And the expectation that your clients have for you.
00:18:45.978 --> 00:19:02.278
And if you think about it from a client relationship standpoint, think about how you're going to solidify those relationships moving forward and how you're going to up your game and be more human because that's, there's going to be an opportunity there and there's going to be a risk there.
00:19:02.278 --> 00:19:08.307
So I think that's, you know, one of the things that we need to look at as to how we up our game to be more human.
00:19:08.627 --> 00:19:09.917
So we can kind of.
00:19:10.613 --> 00:19:23.383
Capture our clients that we want to keep today before some of the tools or other things kind of encroach on our space and you know, kind of snatch them away.
00:19:24.272 --> 00:19:25.373
I think that's a great point.
00:19:25.373 --> 00:19:33.768
And you know, this season Jody has been really fun to kind of talk about, you know, AI and outsourcing and kind of where the industry is going.
00:19:34.278 --> 00:19:38.438
I think it's going to be really cool as we've kind of wrapped up today's episode.
00:19:39.028 --> 00:19:42.028
We keep going back to advisory and advising.
00:19:42.028 --> 00:19:56.258
And I think as we look at next season, I think helping people understand advising and where AI can help and how we can start to level up towards that will be another great continuation of these fun conversations.
00:19:58.008 --> 00:19:58.468
Awesome.
00:19:58.518 --> 00:19:59.008
Thanks.
