Jason On Firms Podcast

🚀 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 what firms are actually creating, from custom integrations and reporting tools to trial balance workflows, and give my red-light/green-light take on what’s worth building. I also speedrun the latest AI releases, talk through whether small firms really need a practice management system, and answer questions about AI costs, offshoring, browser automation, and preparing your team for an AI-first accounting firm.

🔥 Here’s that Roast-My-Firm intake form: https://airtable.com/appZ7dtNz3oaTWWZT/shrybn5166E9t12ag📚 A curated list of the apps I actually use and recommend: https://www.jasononfirms.com/apps

💰 Today's Sponsors
Financial Cents: Book a demo here: https://hubs.li/Q03PYVrp0 and use code Jason10 to receive 10% off the Team or Scale annual plan for firms with 2+ users.
Soraban: https://www.soraban.com/
MakersHub: https://makershub.com/get-started?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=jasonstaats
Canopy: getcanopy.com/jason Schedule a demo to see for yourself, and receive a $75 gift card after your demo
Karbon: https://karbonhq.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=jason-staats
Verito: https://verito.com/jason?utm_campaign=42071442-Jason&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=show-notes

// Chapters:
00:00 - Building Your Own Firm Software
02:07 - How Firms Are Building Software
04:08 - What Accounting Firms Are Building
10:17 - What Should You Actually Build?
18:13 - What Custom AI Apps Look Like
25:26 - Nerd Corner: AI Updates
26:00 - ChatGPT Work
26:52 - Claude Combines Chat and Cowork
29:17 - Grok Challenges Claude
31:04 - GPT Live and Voice AI
37:30 - OpenAI’s New AI Models
45:29 - Mailbag
45:53 - Getting AI Past Bot Restrictions
49:03 - Do You Need a Practice Management System?
54:42 - Building Referral Relationships
57:32 - The Rising Cost of AI
1:00:08 - Finding Time to Implement AI
1:03:00 - What Happened When Clients Learned We Offshored
1:07:48 - Automating Home Depot Receipts
1:09:58 - Training Teams for an AI-First Firm
1:15:16 - The Future of Accounting Firms

🗣️ 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 wrap up the Dirty Dozen series by tackling one of the highest-leverage areas in any accounting firm: client onboarding. I break down the four biggest onboarding mistakes, explain how the first 90 days shape the entire client relationship, and share ways to standardize the process without losing the human touch. Then I switch to hiring and career growth, how firms can attract ambitious people, how employees know when it’s time to leave, and why AI won’t replace great talent. Finally, I answer questions on pricing, AI tools, tax workflow automation, practice management software, IT providers, starting a firm, camera setups, and much more.

🔥 Here’s that Roast-My-Firm intake form: https://airtable.com/appZ7dtNz3oaTWWZT/shrybn5166E9t12ag📚 A curated list of the apps I actually use and recommend: https://www.jasononfirms.com/apps

💰 Today's Sponsors
Financial Cents: Book a demo here: https://hubs.li/Q03PYVrp0 and use code Jason10 to receive 10% off the Team or Scale annual plan for firms with 2+ users.
Soraban: https://www.soraban.com/
MakersHub: https://makershub.com/get-started?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=jasonstaats
Canopy: getcanopy.com/jason Schedule a demo to see for yourself, and receive a $75 gift card after your demo
Karbon: https://karbonhq.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=jason-staats
Verito: https://verito.com/jason?utm_campaign=42071442-Jason&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=show-notes

// Chapters:
00:00 0 Client onboarding matters most
01:55 - Dirty Dozen finale
03:20 - Trap #1: Bad client filtering
06:10 - Trap #2: Wrong onboarding owner
11:20 - Trap #3: Chasing client documents
16:40 - Trap #4: Standardize before automating
21:05 - Hiring firms people won’t leave
22:15 - When should you leave your firm?
38:00 - Mailbag begins
38:40 - Pricing and close rates
41:50 - AI tax workflow & Filed
47:10 - Starting your own bookkeeping firm
50:15 - Most surprising AI use cases
52:30 - Jason’s T-shirt recommendation
54:20 - Self-hosting AI models
55:45 - “Accounting department in a box”
57:35 - Copilot vs Claude
01:00:35 - Replacing Thomson Reuters File Cabinet
01:02:50 - Camera, lighting & microphone setup
01:05:25 - 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 explore why Anthropic embedding Claude directly into Slack may be one of the biggest AI shifts we’ve seen yet—and why it makes me both excited and uncomfortable. I explain how goals, MCP connections, and Slack integration could eventually make AI the operating layer of an entire company. I also share three creative AI workflows accounting firms are already using, discuss whether QuickBooks and Xero are losing their grip on the market, answer questions about Claude, onboarding bookkeeping clients, hiring with AI, and explain why firms should rethink their workflow statuses for the AI era.

🔥 Here’s that Roast-My-Firm intake form: https://airtable.com/appZ7dtNz3oaTWWZT/shrybn5166E9t12ag
📚 A curated list of the apps I actually use and recommend: https://www.jasononfirms.com/apps

💰 Today's Sponsors
Financial Cents: Book a demo here: https://hubs.li/Q03PYVrp0 and use code Jason10 to receive 10% off the Team or Scale annual plan for firms with 2+ users.
Soraban: https://www.soraban.com/
MakersHub: https://makershub.com/get-started?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=jasonstaats
Canopy: getcanopy.com/jason Schedule a demo to see for yourself, and receive a $75 gift card after your demo
Karbon: https://karbonhq.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=jason-staats
Verito: https://verito.com/jason?utm_campaign=42071442-Jason&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=show-notes

📚 Here’s that service library resource: https://youtu.be/T8rQzr3ogkM?si=DRjYWbe-2LobQcuS
📕The Alex Hormozi book I mentioned: https://www.amazon.com/100M-Offers-People-Stupid-Saying-ebook/dp/B099QVG1H8

// Chapters:
00:00 - Claude’s Trojan Horse?
01:32 - Goals Change Everything
05:29 - Claude Inside Slack
10:34 - Is AI Running the Firm?
15:31 - Why Software Developers Matter
17:35 - Why MCP Wins
19:48 - 3 Wild AI Use Cases
20:23 - AI Proposal Generator
24:55 - AI Client Reporting
28:57 - AI Trial Balance Builder
36:30 - Mailbag Begins
38:13 - Will QuickBooks & Xero Lose?
41:18 - Claude Chat vs Cowork
46:58 - Best Alex Hormozi Book
48:16 - Claude Projects Best Practices
50:05 - Is ChatGPT Dead?
51:48 - Pricing Cleanup Work
56:27 - AI Resume Screening
59:38 - Rebuilding Workflow Statuses for AI

🗣️ 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 explain why I think advisory is often positioned the wrong way inside accounting firms and share five common traps that stop firms from building higher value services. I also cover Claude Fable returning to Claude, what its new pricing means, how I’d build a bookkeeping practice from scratch today, AI powered bookkeeping and review workflows, choosing practice management software, meeting transcript tools, Copilot versus Claude, training the next generation of accountants, and whether Intuit is falling behind.

🔥 Here’s that Roast-My-Firm intake form: https://airtable.com/appZ7dtNz3oaTWWZT/shrybn5166E9t12ag📚 A curated list of the apps I actually use and recommend: https://www.jasononfirms.com/apps

💰 Today's Sponsors
Financial Cents: Book a demo here: https://hubs.li/Q03PYVrp0 and use code Jason10 to receive 10% off the Team or Scale annual plan for firms with 2+ users.
Soraban: https://www.soraban.com/
MakersHub: https://makershub.com/get-started?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=jasonstaats
Canopy: getcanopy.com/jason Schedule a demo to see for yourself, and receive a $75 gift card after your demo
Karbon: https://karbonhq.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=jason-staats
Verito: https://verito.com/jason?utm_campaign=42071442-Jason&utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=show-notes

// Chapters:
00:00 - Is Advisory Really the Future?
01:43 - The Advisory Hype Problem
04:05 - Trap #1: Imposter Syndrome
09:31 - Trap #2: Giving Premium Work Away
16:10 - Trap #3: Death by Deadlines
19:07 - Trap #4: Selling Favors Instead of Products
22:25 - Trap #5: Sell Outcomes, Not Coaching
28:43 - Claude Fable Is Back
38:31 - Mailbag
38:58 - Best AI Meeting Transcript Tools
41:44 - Which Accounting Ledger Would I Choose Today?
44:10 - How Do You Avoid Buying the Wrong Software?
49:58 - Do You Actually Use All These AI Tools?
52:08 - Should Firms Standardize on Microsoft Copilot?
53:43 - How Good Is AI at Reviewing Tax Returns?
55:03 - Do File Naming Conventions Really Matter?
56:39 - Will AI Create an Accounting Knowledge Gap?
01:00:20 - Can Claude Help When Intuit Breaks?

🗣️ 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 answer the nine AI questions I hear most often from accounting firms, covering how to securely use AI with client data, why I recommend Claude over ChatGPT and Copilot, where firms should start with AI, and practical workflows for QuickBooks, spreadsheets, email, and tax software. I also share my thoughts on the latest IRS AI guidance and why I disagree that AI savings should automatically lower client fees, then wrap up with a Mailbag on bank statement automation, QuickBooks MCPs, IT security, work papers, value pricing, and why I believe AI will make human expertise even more valuable.

🔥 Here’s that Roast-My-Firm intake form: https://airtable.com/appZ7dtNz3oaTWWZT/shrybn5166E9t12ag📚 A curated list of the apps I actually use and recommend: https://www.jasononfirms.com/apps

💰 Today's Sponsors
Financial Cents: Book a demo here: https://hubs.li/Q03PYVrp0 and use code Jason10 to receive 10% off the Team or Scale annual plan for firms with 2+ users.
Soraban: https://www.soraban.com/
MakersHub: https://makershub.com/get-started?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=jasonstaats
Canopy: getcanopy.com/jason Schedule a demo to see for yourself, and receive a $75 gift card after your demo

// Chapters:
00:00 - The 9 Biggest AI Questions
01:43 - AI & Client Data Security
06:22 - Why Claude Beats Copilot
08:04 - Should You Switch from ChatGPT?
08:17 - Where Should You Start with AI?
10:50 - Building Your First AI Agent
14:49 - Best Beginner AI Use Cases
17:00 - AI & QuickBooks Automation
20:56 - Can AI Automate Tax Software?
23:20 - Should Clients Know You Use AI?
25:37 - IRS Says AI Should Lower Fees?
32:23 - Mailbag
32:48 - How Do I Automatically Fetch Bank Statements?
38:09 - Secure Client Credentials Without Sharing Passwords
40:44 - Are Traditional Work Papers Still Worth It?
44:05 - How Do You Handle AI Discount Requests?
47:22 - Can Claude Post Journal Entries to QuickBooks?
52:04 - Is Thomson Reuters Falling Behind on AI?
54:06 - IT Security for a New Fractional CFO Firm
56:20 - Does AI Kill Creativity and Advisory?
01:02:00 - 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