What's Next For Accounting? - Issue #144

Author

Jason Staats
July 18, 2024

🤖 AI Research Is Getting Very Good

It feels like just yesterday AI couldn’t produce citations, making it useless for technical research. How far we’ve come.

The leading AI search app Perplexity recently launched two features:

  • Pro Search - An advanced search mode that goes much deeper, providing more context by running multiple prompts

  • Pages - Generates wikipedia-like articles to summarize your research into a single tidy page

And the result is a research companion that generates extremely good research summaries.

The prompt was a somewhat nuanced tax question, looking for exceptions to the exclusive use rule for the business use of home.

In 51 seconds it wrote a killer memo complete with an IRS flowchart. Here’s what the full generation process looked like:

Impressive, but is it correct? Can I trust it? Will it save anyone time?

I’ve never known an accountant to trust anyone. Tools, peers, clients, even themselves. We’re professional skeptics, so we’re going to assume the output still requires validation.

But the future of research looks bright.

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🔮 Q&A

How do I find people running firms like mine so it’s not so isolating? Link
Consider your visibility and engagement online. Posting regularly on social media about your work, commenting on industry content, attending conferences, being willing to initiate conversations. Building relationships often starts with small interactions that grow over time. Consider existing communities for professionals in similar situations, and if you don’t see the right one, you may be the right person to create it 🙂

How could I make a professional onboarding video for new clients?Link
Don't overthink the production value. Start with simple tools like Loom, which offers recording, basic editing, and hosting capabilities. Prioritize personality and information over fancy production. Your clients will be impressed you got on camera and made a video, regardless of its sophistication.

If moving away from hourly billing breaks my GL reporting, how do I ensure I have solid decision making info?Link
A number of today’s trends break the traditional WIP yardstick, fixed fee engagements being another culprit. Priority #1 is getting to whatever process will most effectively deliver value to clients. It’s certainly going to change the related plumbing, but don’t let the plumbing get in the way of positive change. Once you’re settled into a new change, look for a combination of financial and non-financial metrics to serve as guardrails.

How should I present pricing on my website if I’m a brand new firm?Link
Because your website should be fine-tuned to attract your ideal next client, the answer for a new firm is the same as the answer for a mature firm. Personally, I’m going to present a combination of median pricing, example client avatars, and the prices they pay. The overall maturity of the firm needn’t impact how we present ourselves, unless that maturity (or lack thereof) yields a competitive advantage that would be attractive to the prospect.

😍 From The Community

My private peer networking community Realize for firm leaders, and it’s now reached its cap of 500 members 🎉

▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮ 500/500 members