The Accounting Podcast

Could AI make a one-person audit firm possible—and what happens if the data-center boom slows down first? Blake and David examine the AI economy’s circular debt, the construction ripple effects of a pullback, and practical ways firms can document workflows before automating them. They also cover AI-powered continuous audits, Mercury’s new general ledger, and tax evasion headlines.

Sponsors
Digits - http://accountingpodcast.promo/digits
Thomson Reuters - http://accountingpodcast.promo/taxautomation
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Cloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/cas

Chapters
(00:00) - OnlyFans Tax Evasion

(00:27) - Podcast Welcome Halloween

(04:02) - News Lineup

(06:34) - AI Bubble Warning

(14:14) - AI Adjusted EBITDA

(18:07) - SOP Marathon For AI

(21:19) - AI SOP Workflow Tip

(26:41) - Christina Ho AI Audits

(29:22) - Audit Fees Under AI

(29:55) - Audit Fees Surge

(30:57) - AI Disrupts Audits

(33:56) - Solo CPA Audit Firm

(35:26) - Who Wins and Loses

(35:52) - Audit Demand Explained

(36:40) - Tech Enables New Entrants

(38:26) - Audit Like Cloud Accounting

(42:00) - ‌

(43:03) - IRS Refund Nightmare

(44:33) - OnlyFans Tax Evasion

(46:51) - Punishing Financial Crime

(49:59) - Mercury Launches Books

(52:22) - Can Banks Compete

(54:33) - Is Mercury Enough

(56:44) - Wrap Up and CPE

 

Show Notes
NRF: Halloween spending to remain strong, reach $13.5B
https://chainstoreage.com/nrf-halloween-spending-remain-strong-reach-135b
Too interconnected to fail? New paper connects the AI dots
https://www.axios.com/2026/09/21/ai-finance-credit-circular
The AI gold rush has a dress code: steel-toe boots
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/ai-gold-rush-dress-code-233725771.html
40% of Small Businesses Lack Cash Reserves to Survive a Month of Late Client Payments
https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2026/09/21/40-of-small-businesses-lack-cash-reserves-to-survive-a-month-of-late-client-payments/190371/
AI Future Savings Is Latest Ebitda Tweak to Jolt Debt Investors
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-17/ai-future-savings-is-latest-ebitda-tweak-to-jolt-debt-investors
How to run a SOPathon: The missing first step in every AI strategy
https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/community/industry-insights/how-to-run-a-sopathon-the-missing-first-step-in-every-ai-strategy
The 3-phase roadmap every accounting firm needs before AI delivers
https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/the-3-phase-roadmap-every-accounting-firm-needs-before-ai-delivers
Process Street MCP Server
https://www.process.st/help/docs/mcp-server/
Christina Ho's next act
https://www.cfobrew.com/stories/christina-hos-next-act
AI sounds the death knell for audit fee inflation
https://www.ft.com/content/80d02797-9a54-47e0-8bc3-a7144354da93
Tennessee Farmer Tried to Return $20,000 to IRS. Years Later, He's Still Fighting
https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2026/07/23/tennessee-farmer-tried-to-return-20000-to-irs-years-later-hes-still-fighting/187281/
OnlyFans content creator pleads guilty to tax evasion
https://www.irs.gov/compliance/criminal-investigation/onlyfans-content-creator-pleads-guilty-to-tax-evasion
Mercury Launches Intelligent Accounting with Mercury Books
https://www.morningstar.com/news/business-wire/20260916850195/mercury-launches-intelligent-accounting-with-mercury-books

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Thanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.

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Is AI the real threat to accounting firms, or is it the client experience? Blake and David unpack a KPMG-linked Polymarket insider-trading investigation, AI-powered fraud, Xero’s influencer backlash, and a tax startup founder charged with defrauding investors. They also share their own experiments using Claude and ChatGPT to prepare tax returns, making the case that firms must eliminate frustrating back-and-forth if they want to keep clients.

Sponsors
Cloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/cas
OnPay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/onpay
Thomson Reuters - http://accountingpodcast.promo/taxautomation
Savant Labs - http://accountingpodcast.promo/savant

Chapters
(00:00) - Client Experience Threat

(00:30) - Podcast Welcome Banter

(02:05) - Week's News Rundown

(04:17) - KPMG Polymarket Probe

(11:46) - KPMG TaxSim Training

(13:40) - KPMG OpenAI Headless UI

(17:13) - Deepfake Defense Stakes

(18:31) - Revolut Social Engineering

(20:33) - Compliant CEO Fraud Case

(25:31) - Xero Influencer Backlash

(25:41) - Xero Claude Ad Backlash

(28:57) - Apology and AI Framing

(29:59) - DIY Taxes With AI

(34:05) - Client Experience Problem

(40:15) - IRS AI Fee Guidance

(43:00) - PwC Leaves Downtown LA

(44:48) - Wrap Up and CPE

 

Show Notes
Polymarket Trader Won 41 of 42 Earnings Bets on Companies KPMG Audits
https://www.financemagnates.com/forex/polymarket-trader-won-41-of-42-earnings-bets-on-companies-kpmg-audits/
SEC Charges Startup Founder with Fraud (Shiloh Luckey / ComplYant)
https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26424
KPMG Is Testing a New AI-Powered Tax Simulation Tool
https://goodfest.westfield.com/2026/05/kpmg-is-testing-a-new-ai-powered-tax-simulation-tool/
KPMG working with OpenAI to advance new "headless" enterprise tech model
https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/kpmg-working-with-openai-to-advance-new-headless-enterprise-tech-model
KPMG LLP Takes Minority Stake in Deepfake Detection Leader Reality Defender
https://kpmg.com/us/en/media/news/kpmg-llp-takes-minority-stake-in-deepfake-detection-leader-reality-defender.html
Cybercriminals using AI for fraud are making far more profit, Interpol claims
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/cybercriminals-using-ai-for-fraud-are-making-4-5x-more-profit-interpol-says
Revolut confirms customer data breach after fake government requests
https://fstech.co.uk/fst/Revolut_Confirms_Customer_Data_Breach_After_Fake_Government_Requests.php
Xero issues new apology to accountants, days after controversial social media post
https://www.smartcompany.com.au/?p=344586
To our accountant and bookkeeper community
https://blog.xero.com/uk/accountants-bookkeepers/to-our-accountant-and-bookkeeper-community/
AICPA seeks IRS clarity on AI guidelines, CPA fees
https://www.thetaxadviser.com/news/2026/sep/aicpa-seeks-irs-clarity-on-ai-guidelines-cpa-fees/
Downtown L.A. Fixture PwC Will Move to Century City
https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2026/07/08/downtown-l-a-fixture-pwc-will-move-to-century-city/186368/

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Thanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.

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Need Accounting Conference Info? 
Check out our new website - accountingconferences.com

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Can AI prepare a tax return—and catch errors the software misses? Blake shares how Claude Cowork reconciled books, built workpapers, and completed two business returns, while David examines EY’s bonuses for human judgment, Deloitte’s $21 million DEI settlement, and PwC’s Evergrande exposure. Plus, Cloud Accountant Staffing’s Jordan Sublette explains why onshoring is joining offshore hiring strategies for accounting firms.

Sponsors
OnPay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/onpay
Thomson Reuters - http://accountingpodcast.promo/taxautomation
Savant Labs - http://accountingpodcast.promo/savant
Cloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/cas

Chapters
(00:00) - Ethics And Job Security

(00:18) - Show Intro And Headlines

(02:34) - Livestream Shoutouts

(03:03) - Claude CoWork Tax Prep

(06:54) - AI Catches TaxAct Errors

(11:26) - Accrual Buys Puzzle

(18:19) - EY Human Skills Bonuses

(20:33) - Deloitte DEI Settlement

(27:43) - Salaries And Big Four Fallout

(31:22) - PwC Evergrande Liability

(35:03) - Grant Thornton Buys CBIZ

(36:25) - CBIZ Returns Reality Check

(37:23) - Marcum Deal And Partner Payouts

(38:34) - IRS Revenue Hits Record

(40:50) - Chat Reactions And AI Ledgers

(44:03) - AI Cost Seg Pitfalls

(53:00) - Jordan Joins And Origin Story

(55:06) - Jason Staats Partnership Explained

(59:37) - Onshoring Portal And Pricing

(01:04:58) - Candidate Vetting And Training

(01:09:37) - Meetups And CPE Wrap Up

 

Show Notes
Accrual to Acquire Puzzle to Expand Into Client Accounting Services
https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2026/09/02/accrual-takes-the-leap-into-cas-by-acquiring-puzzle/189565/
EY Rewards Employees' Human Skills With $100M
https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/ey-rewards-employees-human-skills-with-100m

Deloitte to Pay $21.5M to Settle Claims Its DEI Programs Violated Federal Civil Rights Law
https://www.cfo.com/news/deloitte-to-pay-215m-to-settle-claims-its-dei-programs-violated-federal-c/828948/

Accounting Firm Salaries Rose Slightly This Year
https://www.cfobrew.com/stories/accounting-firm-salaries-rose-slightly-this-year

KPMG Australia to Axe 5% of Workforce
https://www.cfo.com/news/kpmg-australia-to-axe-5-of-workforce-John-Sams/828636/

PwC International Can't Exit Evergrande Case, HK Court Rules
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-26/pwc-international-can-t-exit-evergrande-case-hk-court-rules

CBIZ Told Grant Thornton No, No, No, Before Saying Yes
https://cpatrendlines.com/2026/09/01/cbiz-told-grant-thornton-no-no-no-before-saying-yes/

IRS Enforcement Activity Fell Despite Record Tax Collections, TIGTA Says
https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2026/aug/irs-enforcement-activity-fell-despite-record-tax-collections-tigta-says/

Cost Segregation in the Age of AI: What the IRS Audit Technique Guidelines Reveal
https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/cost-segregation-in-the-age-of-ai-what-the-irs-audit-technique-guidelines-reveal

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Thanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.

Sponsorships
Are you interested in sponsoring The Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.

Need Accounting Conference Info? 
Check out our new website - accountingconferences.com

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TeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merch

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Transcripts
Th...

Can AI make tax prep cheaper without replacing the experts behind it? Hector Garcia joins Blake and David to unpack Intuit’s TurboTax pricing pressure, QuickBooks’ push into the mid-market, and whether AI-powered services are a bridge to automation. They also examine Thomson Reuters’ proprietary tax-and-legal AI model, Relate’s $100 million raise, and a student’s unusual path onto the New Mexico Board of Accountancy.

Sponsors
Cloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/cas
Thomson Reuters - http://accountingpodcast.promo/taxautomation
OnPay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/onpay
Savant Labs - http://accountingpodcast.promo/savant

Chapters
(00:00) - TAP 503

(02:47) - Intuit earnings overview

(03:52) - Meet Hector Garcia

(04:40) - Intuit stock and AI fears

(07:57) - TurboTax pricing pressure

(11:34) - TurboTax Live strategy shift

(16:12) - TurboTax Live vs firms

(19:47) - AI plus human bridge

(22:13) - QuickBooks Free and Light

(25:54) - Thomson Reuters builds LLM

(30:29) - Trust security and ownership

(34:16) - Vertical models disrupt giants

(35:18) - Copilot partnership pitch

(36:51) - Bulk AI Adoption

(38:59) - Rillet Unicorn News

(39:21) - Workday Buyout Math

(40:50) - Switching Costs Reality

(43:12) - Intuit Versus Rillet

(45:26) - How Rillet Wins

(48:18) - AI Spend Line Item

(51:15) - Stripe Buys OpenRouter

(53:22) - Reframe Conference Pitch

(56:01) - Pablo Pledgebar Cautionary

(57:08) - Britton Joins Board

(01:01:37) - Student View On PE

(01:04:57) - Education And AI Concerns

(01:09:33) - Board Dynamics Explained

(01:12:12) - Regulation Priorities

(01:15:13) - Wrap Up And CPE

 

Show Notes
Intuit Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Fiscal 2026 Results; Sets Fiscal 2027 Guidance
https://investors.intuit.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1320/intuit-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-fiscal-2026-results-sets-fiscal-2027-guidance
Thomson Reuters Leverages its World-Class Data Assets to Launch Its Own Frontier Model
https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/press-releases/2026/august/thomson-reuters-leverages-its-world-class-data-assets-to-launch-its-own-frontier-model
Rillet Raises $100 Million Series C at $1 Billion Valuation, Becomes Unicorn
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/19/rillet-raises-100m-series-c-at-1b-valuation-2-years-after-emerging-from-stealth/
Silver Lake Eyes $51 Billion Workday Take-Private in Mega Software Deal
https://www.axios.com/2026/08/14/silver-lake-workday-take-private
Stripe Agrees to Acquire OpenRouter to Help Businesses Optimize Token Routing and Usage
https://stripe.com/newsroom/news/stripe-agrees-to-acquire-openrouter
From Accounting Major and Frat Brother to Suspected of Being Penn State's Largest Drug Dealer
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/penn-state-agostino-abbatiello-drug-scheme-rcna593041
Accounting Student Appointed to the New Mexico Public Accountancy Board
https://news.unm.edu/news/accounting-student-appointed-to-the-new-mexico-public-accountancy-board

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Get in Touch
Thanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.

Sponsorships
Are you interested in sponsoring The Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.

Need Accounting Conference Info? 
Check out our new website - accountingconferences.com

Limited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessities
TeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merch

Subscribe
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Transcripts
The full transcript for this episode is available by clicking on the Transcript tab at the to...

AI agents are going rogue — deleting bookings, sending unauthorized emails, and lying about it — and Blake and David trace the trend into the $3 trillion of off-balance-sheet AI commitments hiding in Big Tech's footnotes (and why accountants will get blamed when the bubble pops). They also recap what stood out at XeroCon 2026. Then Hoover Institution fellow Ben Jaros runs the real numbers on California's Prop 40 billionaire wealth tax — why the $100 billion estimate is closer to $40 billion, and whether taxing 200 people is even constitutional.

Sponsors
Canopy - http://accountingpodcast.promo/canopy
Thomson Reuters - http://accountingpodcast.promo/taxautomation
OnPay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/onpay
Cloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/cas

Chapters
(00:00) - Welcome to The Accounting Podcast

(03:00) - Rogue AI Agents Gone Wild

(07:53) - Controlling Agent Permissions

(12:08) - Microsoft AI Receivables Surge

(14:49) - Three Trillion Off Book Commitments

(17:09) - Meta Hyperion Lease Loopholes

(21:33) - Bubble Risk and Circular Financing

(28:24) - XeroCon Highlights and AI Agents

(32:21) - Bank Reconciliation and Roadmap Gripes

(34:10) - Conference Vaporware Rant

(34:37) - Billionaire Tax Preview

(36:33) - Prop 40 Basics

(38:40) - Revenue Reality Check

(42:44) - Residency Cutoff Drama

(45:01) - Wealth Tax vs Income Tax

(45:52) - One Time Or Not

(46:34) - Healthcare Backfill Claims

(51:42) - Better Ways To Tax

(55:23) - Constitutional Challenges

(58:01) - Why Voters Oppose It

(01:02:09) - Trial Balloon And Wrap Up

 

Show Notes
Coming soon!
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Thanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.

Sponsorships
Are you interested in sponsoring The Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.

Need Accounting Conference Info? 
Check out our new website - accountingconferences.com

Limited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessities
TeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merch

Subscribe
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Transcripts
The full transcript for this episode is available by clicking on the Transcript tab at the top of this page