The Diamond Org Chart Is a Succession Problem in Disguise
What happens when a firm stops turning managers into partners? That's the real question hiding behind the "diamond" org chart everyone in accounting firm management is talking about.
The IRS Can’t Tell Who’s Real Anymore
The IRS is drowning in comments. According to a recent GAO report, covered by Michael Cohn in Accounting Today, the IRS is being swamped by public feedback on proposed tax regulations. A growing share of it is AI-generated. And the agency has no reliable way to tell which comments come from real people and which came from a chatbot with an agenda.
Is AI Cutting Accounting Jobs? Or Creating Them?
Nearly half of finance professionals spend more than 15 hours a week checking AI's work. Nineteen percent spend over 30 hours a week doing it. Sage calls this the "verification tax." We keep hearing that, as AI does more of the work, firms will need fewer people. But look at what's actually happening at companies investing heavily in AI, and the story falls apart.
AI Took Away the Entry-Level Work. Is Training About to Get Better?
KPMG is testing a new training tool called TaxSIM, developed with Centaurian AI. Instead of having new hires grind through thousands of hours of real client prep work to build judgment, TaxSIM throws them into rapid-fire simulated tax scenarios.
The IRS Made Hourly Billing a Compliance Risk. So Why Are You Still Doing It?
The IRS recently handed firm owners a perfect excuse to finally kill the billable hour (and a massive regulatory headache if they don’t). If you’re still charging by the hour for tax prep while using AI, you might accidentally be violating Circular 230.
AI Does Two Years of Bookkeeping in Four Hours. So Why Are Fees Going Up?
I just did two years of bookkeeping in four hours. Tax prep work is being automated, too. Meanwhile, CPA firms are raising fees by 8% a year. Something doesn't add up.
How KPMG's AI Dashboard Backfired
KPMG rolled out an AI usage dashboard in late 2025. The target, according to reporting we covered on the show, was roughly 75% of the working day. Three out of four days, you need to be in an AI tool, doing something. So what did KPMG's people do? They had AI summarize emails they'd already read. They asked it to make drawings. Anything to show activity on the dashboard. There's a name for this now: token maxxing.
The Private Equity Accounting Bet Is Starting to Look Shaky
CBIZ's stock is down 51% over the past year. The market is sending a signal. And if you've been watching private equity's push into accounting, you should pay attention to it.
AI Is Coming for Tax Pros, Not TurboTax
Intuit's stock is down 59%. Is AI really going to kill TurboTax? That’s the story on LinkedIn and on Wall Street right now. But as we discussed on a recent podcast episode, the real disruption target might be your firm.
The Accounting Trick Inflating the AI Bubble
If OpenAI doesn't IPO, or if the IPO disappoints, its paper gains start reversing. The index funds that bought in at inflated valuations start selling. The feedback loop runs in reverse. That's how bubbles pop. Not always in a dramatic crash, but in a slow correction as the gap between paper profits and real cash flows becomes impossible to ignore.