Accounting Firm Coach: Office Hours

🚀 Get smarter faster by learning with other firm owners: https://www.rlz.io/
📩 Want a simple way to keep up with accounting firms and AI? I break it down every week in my newsletter: https://www.jasononfirms.com/newsletter
📌 Check out the cool stuff our sponsors are doing here: https://accountingfirmcoach.com/sponsors/
Welcome to Accounting Firm Coach Office Hours presented by Canopy. I’m Jason Staats. Ready to get 1% better at running an accounting firm? In this episode, I break down whether you can build a bookkeeping firm without QuickBooks or Xero, and why specializing around a painful industry-specific accounting system may be a much bigger opportunity than simply choosing a newer ledger. I also look at Meta’s upcoming VR glasses, debate separating technical production from client relationship management, dissect a supposedly self-sufficient $1.2 million accounting firm for sale, empty out September’s Swear Jar, and answer Mailbag questions about sponsorships, advisory positioning, buying versus building a firm, AI-powered email management, and tax research tools.
📌 Here’s that firm we talked about https://poegroupadvisors.com/practice/va2036/
// Chapters:
01:54 - Building a Bookkeeping Firm Without QuickBooks or Xero
11:20 - The Industry Ledger Opportunity
17:05 - Meta VR Glasses: Goodbye, Monitors?
23:25 - Technical Hire or Relationship Manager?
26:49 - Planning for When Someone Leaves
31:58 - A CPA Firm Run in 30 Owner Hours a Year
33:46 - What You're Really Buying
38:05 - The September Swear Jar
42:41 - How Sponsors Work at Accounting Firm Coach
45:01 - What's Wrong With the Word "Advisor"
48:07 - Buy a Firm or Grow Organically?
50:55 - Admin vs AI for Email Management
57:00 - CoCounsel vs. Claude, ChatGPT or Blue J
📞 Leave me a voicemail at +1 (516) 980-4968!
📧 Email me! jason@jasononfirms.com
🗣️ Continue the discussion on social!
X https://x.com/jasononfirms
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstaats/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@jasoncpa

🚀 Get smarter faster by learning with other firm owners: https://www.rlz.io/
📩 Want a simple way to keep up with accounting firms and AI? I break it down every week in my newsletter: https://www.jasononfirms.com/newsletter
📌 Check out the cool stuff our sponsors are doing here: https://accountingfirmcoach.com/sponsors/
Welcome to Accounting Firm Coach Office Hours presented by Canopy. I’m Jason Staats. Ready to get 1% better at running an accounting firm? In this episode, I break down how I’d approach a potential $540,000 client opportunity without simply discounting services, share a three-step system for eliminating reactive client status check-ins, and look at the latest AI models from Claude and ChatGPT for accounting firm work. Then I hit the 📫 Mailbag to talk three-tier pricing, niche positioning, getting an overwhelmed firm back under control, connecting Claude across multiple QuickBooks clients, AI security, and work-paper management.
// Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:04 - A $540K Opportunity
11:20 - A $243M Opportunity
18:58 - A System for Client Updates
27:06 - The Worst Thing A Client Can Feel
29:16 - A New AI Model in Claude
35:16 - New Models in ChatGPT
38:43 - 3-Tier Fails
41:43 - Fully-Automated Micro Bookkeeping
44:29 - What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Do
47:23 - Connecting Claude to Multiple QuickBooks Files
50:41 - Struggling To Capitalize On AI
53:16 - Workpaper Management for Small Firms
54:54 - Closing Thoughts
📞 Leave me a voicemail at +1 (516) 980-4968!
📧 Email me! jason@jasononfirms.com
🗣️ Continue the discussion on social!
X https://x.com/jasononfirms
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstaats/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@jasoncpa

🚀 Get smarter faster by learning with other firm owners: https://www.rlz.io/
📩 Want a simple way to keep up with accounting firm and AI? I break it down every week in my newsletter: https://www.jasononfirms.com/newsletter

☎️ Leave me a voicemail at (1)516-980-4968!
📧 Email me! jason@jasononfirms.com

In this episode, I break down why the latest generation of AI models should force accounting firms to rethink how work actually gets done, from bookkeeping and tax prep to review, staffing, and firm structure. I explain why the biggest limitation is no longer the AI itself, but workflows that were never designed for AI, and how firms can rebuild production around more structured, reviewable systems. I also run through 10 recent accounting tech updates in 🤓 Nerd Corner, answer 📫 Mailbag questions about app recommendations, AR services, Juno, document management, Power Automate, and Claude plus Beancount, and share the upcoming rebrand from Jason On Firms to Accounting Firm Coach.

⚒️ Tools I mentioned in the podcast:
- Filed open sources their 1040 engine https://www.filed.com/blog/we-open-sourced-our-tax-engine
- Ramp launches accounts receivable https://ramp.com/blog/introducing-accounts-receivable
- Campfire forecast https://www.linkedin.com/posts/johnglasgow_campfire-is-the-first-erp-that-calls-the-activity-7507836212796227584-MPz-
- Accrual Arc https://accrual.com/arc
- Canopy + Juno integration https://juno.tax/integrations/canopy
- QuickBooks updates https://www.firmofthefuture.com/product-update/september-2026-mpu
- Double lower-cost AI model https://doublehq.com/
- Digits’ 11 new automated quality-control checks https://digits.com/blog/quality-checks/
- Financial Cents AI file routing https://financial-cents.canny.io/changelog/ai-file-routing
- RightTool right-click QBO navigation https://righttool.app/release-notes/

💰 Today's Sponsors
Verito: https://verito.com/jason?utm_campaign=42071442-Jason&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=show-notes
Soraban: https://hubs.ly/Q04cNLF80
MakersHub: https://makershub.com/get-started?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=jasonstaats
Canopy: https://www.getcanopy.com/jason complete your demo for a $75 gift card

// Chapters:
00:00 - AI Changes the Workflow
04:30 - Building From Scratch
06:40 - AI at Any Scale
06:50 - Claude + QuickBooks
10:25 - Automating Tax Prep
12:05 - The Workflow Problem
13:30 - AI-Compatible Workflows
18:35 - Rebuilding Production
20:15 - Excel 1040
21:25 - Accounting AI Agents
24:40 - Solo + AI Firms
27:15 - The First Human Hires
30:15 - Rethinking Firm Structure
35:10 - Work Worth Doing
38:35 - Building AI Skills
40:03 - 🤓 Nerd Corner
40:13 - Filed Open-Source Tax Engine
41:24 - Ramp Accounts Receivable
41:49 - Campfire Forecasting
42:19 - Accrual ARC
42:39 - Canopy + Juno
42:49 - QuickBooks Updates
45:04 - Double AI Costs
45:39 - Digits Quality Control
46:14 - Financial Cents File Sorting
46:49 - RightTool Updates
48:03 - 📫 Mailbag
48:13 - Apps by Firm Size
52:58 - Managing Client AR
56:23 - Juno for Tax Intake
58:28 - Replacing FileCabinet
01:00:48 - Microsoft Power Automate
01:02:18 - Claude + Beancount
01:03:53 - Accounting Firm Coach
01:05:03 - The Podcast Is Changing

🗣️ Continue the discussion on social!
X https://twitter.com/jasononfirms
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstaats/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@jasoncpa

🚀 Get smarter faster by learning with other firm owners: https://www.rlz.io/
📩 Want a simple way to keep up with accounting firm and AI? I break it down every week in my newsletter: https://www.jasononfirms.com/newsletter

☎️ Leave me a voicemail at (1)516-980-4968!
📧 Email me! jason@jasononfirms.com

In this episode, I break down eight different types of hires accounting firm owners can make, ranking them based on how effectively they give the owner time back and reduce bottlenecks. In 🤖 You Need This Tech, I share a simple hydration tool that can help you stay focused and productive throughout the day. Then I answer 📫 Mailbag questions about securely redacting PII, the future of my live events, buying your first accounting firm, audit tech stacks, contract review work for other firms, and whether I might eventually get involved in accounting firm M&A or rollups.

💧The Autonomous Hydrate https://www.autonomous.ai/robots/hydrate

💰 Today's Sponsors
Verito: https://verito.com/jason?utm_campaign=42071442-Jason&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=show-notes
Soraban: https://hubs.ly/Q04cNLF80
MakersHub: https://makershub.com/get-started?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=jasonstaats
Canopy: https://www.getcanopy.com/jason complete your demo for a $75 gift card

// Chapters:
00:00 - Hiring Backwards
03:45 - Eight Hiring Paths
04:25 - Production Capacity
06:40 - The Growth Hire
08:00 - Specialist Expertise
09:50 - Operations Hire
14:50 - Client Experience
17:40 - Tech + Automation
20:35 - Your Future Successor
22:50 - Administrative Support
25:00 - Best Hiring Options
26:10 - 🤖 You Need This Tech
27:25 - Autonomous Hydrate
31:00 - Four Available Accountants
33:45 - 📫 Mailbag
34:05 - Redacting Client PII
38:15 - Future Live Events
40:25 - Buying Your First Firm
45:35 - Audit Tech Stacks
48:05 - Contract Work for Firms
50:25 - JasonOnFirms M&A?
53:00 - Building a Firm Network
54:30 - Could It Become a Rollup?
56:00 - Closing Thoughts

🗣️ Continue the discussion on social!
X https://twitter.com/jasononfirms
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstaats/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@jasoncpa

🚀 Get smarter faster by learning with other firm owners: https://www.rlz.io/
📩 Want a simple way to keep up with accounting firm and AI? I break it down every week in my newsletter: https://www.jasononfirms.com/newsletter

☎️ Leave me a voicemail at (1)516-980-4968!
📧 Email me! jason@jasononfirms.com

In this episode, I break down the accounting conferences and industry events that are actually worth attending, including how to use client-facing events. 🐝 We talk in Niche of the Week on how to become more visible in a specific industry. I also share a simple lighting upgrade that can dramatically improve how you look on video, then answer 📫 Mailbag questions about industry-specific credentials, Mercury launching an accounting ledger, earning potential for accounting firm owners, AI-backed firm rollups, practice management platforms expanding into close automation, and whether joining a PE-backed platform really gives firm owners a meaningful seat at the table.

📄 Here’s that list of over 1,000 events https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1alr-NMmUWXUK4nC-JK-Nnr7R8Kg9BIJXSsLFqEQOU1s/edit?usp=sharing
🔦 And here’s that video light https://amarancreators.com/pages/amaran-verge-max

💰 Today's Sponsors
Verito: https://verito.com/jason?utm_campaign=42071442-Jason&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=show-notes
Soraban: https://hubs.ly/Q04cNLF80
MakersHub: https://makershub.com/get-started?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=jasonstaats
Canopy: https://www.getcanopy.com/jason complete your demo for a $75 gift card

// Chapters:
00:00 - The Best Accounting Events
02:05 - 1,100 Upcoming Events
03:00 - Intuit Connect
03:45 - Scaling New Heights
04:45 - AICPA Conferences
05:35 - Bridging the Gap
06:25 - Reframe
07:20 - Customer Conferences
08:15 - Skip Technical Training
09:00 - State Society Events
09:35 - Client Industry Events
10:06 - 🐝 Niche of the Week
10:15 - Why In-Person Matters
11:25 - Industry User Conferences
15:05 - Certification Events
15:55 - Association Meetings
16:35 - Trade Shows
17:20 - Local Chapters
17:50 - Golf Fundraisers
18:30 - Member Alliances
20:15 - Virtual Events
20:50 - Mastermind Groups
21:00 - Events to Avoid
21:30 - Compliance Events
22:35 - Better Video Lighting
24:10 - Amaran Verge Max
27:48 - 📫 Mailbag
28:13 - Industry Credentials
30:33 - Favorite Star Trek Episode
30:48 - Mercury’s Accounting Ledger
32:00 - Replacing Traditional Ledgers
34:13 - Accounting Firm Income
35:13 - Selling Outcomes, Not Hours
36:33 - Finding Expensive Problems
38:18 - Moving Beyond Hourly Rates
41:03 - AI Accounting Rollups
43:48 - Built-In Close Automation
45:03 - Best-of-Breed vs. All-in-One
46:13 - PE Shareholder Seats
48:13 - Alternatives to PE
49:37 - Closing Thoughts

🗣️ Continue the discussion on social!
X https://twitter.com/jasononfirms
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstaats/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@jasoncpa