397 Debating The Future of Accounting Firm Tech

Recently, VC firm Andreessen Horowitz put out a video about the future of AI and accounting. And I'll be honest, I was a wee bit disappointed. I had hoped they'd had something more tangible to say on the subject. It's a really interesting listen, but as you might imagine, I have opinions, just a couple, on the ways that AI will impact accounting over, say, the next 24 months. So. So two things we're going to tackle today. One, I'm going to give you the Cliff Notes version of this video that they put out because it is interesting. And we are going to use AI to generate a podcast summarizing that so you can get the gist of it. And then I'm going to argue with that podcast. Going to be a proper fist fight over what the future of accounting, of AI, what it's going to look like. Come on in, let's talk about it. Put, put your dukes up. Let's debate. All right. I'll link the whole A16Z video in the show Notes, encourage you to go out and check it out. They are kind of the thought leaders for software folks. So when they say something, it matters to a lot of people and it shapes opinions and perspectives of the industry, right or wrong. And that is why good people, it is our job to check them when you gotta check them right. And they usually put out some pretty good stuff. But this is a conversation important enough that we can do better. So we've done this a couple of times now. What we're using is Notebook, LM super cool tool from Google. It has gobbled up the video and generated kind of a podcast conversation between two AIs discussing the information from Andreessen Horowitz that they put out. We're going to listen to some of this. We're probably going to get into an argument with these AI co hosts, and we're just going to see what happens. Okay?

Okay. Got to say, being on Jason on firms is wow. It's pretty surreal.

It's a big deal.

You're like, I mean, Jason, you're basically accounting royalty, right? And to all your listeners, it's an honor to be chatting with y' all today. We're going to be doing a deep dive on this, this video from Andreessen Horowitz, or ECG as I guess the cool kids call them. It's all about AI and accounting, and they're saying it's $100 billion opportunity. And you know what? After watching it, I can totally see why this is not just some techie thing. This is about like the future of how your firm runs, how you serve clients. The leash shebang.

Yeah, it's, it's a wild time to be in this field. A 16Z that makes some, some really strong points about why AI is going to be huge for accounting. And knowing your audience, Jason, they're going to want to hear all about.

Whoa.

Oh, absolutely. And they don't like sugarcoat anything. Right off the bat they hit you with this, what they call the big squeeze. So get this. 75% of CPAs, they're expected to retire in the next decade. That's, that's huge. E, Think about it. If you're trying to grow your firm, you know, in the next 10 years, finding good people, that's going to be like your biggest headache. Even more than, than landing clients. And to make it even worse, there aren't enough.

Can I just quick interjection there? 75% of people leaving the profession, are those the people that you're hiring right now? I'm not hiring 65 year old people that are about to retire. Those aren't the, that's not the way that I'm staffing my firm. So like, do those 75% of people leaving the profession actually turn my firm on its head? It definitely impacts a certain type of demand. Like oftentimes sort of, I don't wanna say low level turnkey work since a lot of legacy firms are doing more kind of like sweatshop type, put out a bunch of tax returns or low cost bookkeeping prep. A lot of those clients will probably flood the market. But I'll be honest, I'm not hiring people that are about to retire. So does the fact they're leaving really impact the, the job market? For me, I think the, the bigger question is how many people are coming into the profession that impacts me. But I digress.

New graduates to, to replace everyone who's leaving.

Oh, that's a real crunch. A 16Z. They, they found a 16% drop in the number of accountants that matters just between 2019 and 2022. And meanwhile, you know, everyone's expecting firms to do more, right. Tax laws are getting crazier. Clients need more help than ever.

It's that like number of new college grads matters. But that was a 16% drop compared to a 75% drop in like the percentage of people that are expected to leave the profession. That 16% drop, obviously that's much less.

Like way more work, way fewer accountants. Sounds like a recipe for burnout, right? So, so how do, how do you Firms like adapt to that kind of pressure and still give clients, you know, the quality service they expect.

That's the million dollar question, right? That's what a 16Z is trying to get at. You've got this, a shrinking workforce, plus these crazy complicated tax laws and clients who need more handholding than ever. It's a tough spot to be in.

I'll be honest, when I hear AI take over, I don't immediately think, oh yeah, accountants. But a 16Z, they make a really convincing argument that this industry is like ripe for disruption. Why is that?

Well, because a lot of accounting, it's, it's kind of repetitive. Right? You know, data entry, reconciliation, that sort of thing. Important, sure. But.

Oh, hey there, how can we help?

Gang, let me just, let me jump in there. This is Jason. Don't freak out. Jason's not a big deal. We're just having a chat. But this is maybe the biggest misconception here is that accountants are doing repetitive work because accounting by design looks like a thing that's repetitive. Gang, we're not doing repetitive work, okay? We're doing different stuff for different clients. And that's really, really hard to automate.

Oh, wow, Jason, thanks for jumping in there. That's a great point. And I think it highlights a really key nuance that we need to unpack a bit. When we say repetitive, I don't think we mean that every client is the same. We more mean that there are tasks within the accounting process that are repetitive, even if each client overall situation is unique.

Yes, it's about those underlying processes. Like you might be working with different clients, each with unique needs, but the steps involved in say, reconciling bank statements or categorizing expenses are often the same regardless of who you're working for.

Exactly. And it's those steps that AI is really good at, the data wrangling and research pieces. And it's not about making you obsolete.

That was actually a decent freeing you.

Up to do the higher level strategic work. We'll get into that a bit later. So it's not like we're going to see AI replacing accountants, but instead changing the role of accountants.

Yes, and Jason, you're right, that is a key distinction. The need for critical thinking and problem solving is not going away. In fact, it's becoming even more important in the age of AI. And that's something that we will be sure to explore more deeply as we go along here.

So it's like either we adopt AI or we drown, right?

Pretty much. A16s actually talked to this, this top 20 firm and they said they were ready to spend $500 million to build or buy AI solutions. That's serious commitment right there.

Half a billion dollars. Wow, that's impressive. Gotta give them that. But it can't be all sunshine and roses, right? There's gotta be some bumps in the road. What are some of the challenges here?

Well, think about it. Accuracy is everything in accounting, right? Even a SMA error can have huge consequences. It's, it's not like, you know, a chatbot writing a poem that's a bit off. This is people's money, their businesses. The stakes are high.

Yeah, you definitely don't want AI messing up someone's tax return.

Exactly. And then. Oh yeah. Uh huh.

Yeah, I got it cut in there again. It's. Jason, don't freak out. Not a big deal. I'm just a normal person like anybody else. But the whole, the whole notion of like, it's gotta be absolutely perfect, gang, it doesn't. That's actually why I think accounting is so suited for AI. It's is an accountant has never trusted anyone. You think what I'm getting back from the intern is accurate in any way? I just need it to like, show the paper trail and be provable. Like the notion that it has to be 100% perfect before it can be useful. Like that's just totally false.

Oh, Jason, that's a great point. It's true. The stakes are super high in accounting. And maybe it does seem like a miracle that the whole system isn't constantly collapsing. It speaks to the dedication of accountants, right?

Yes, absolutely. It's a testament to the rigor and the checks and balances that are in place both within firms and the wider financial system. And that's precisely why adopting new technologies like AI has to be done so carefully.

So accuracy is key. And I think that brings up a good point. We were talking about some of the challenges with AI implementation. And you know, it isn't perfect. And you can't just turn it on and let it run wild. So let's talk about some of the ways that AI can actually help what it's good at and what the practical applications are.

Okay, so where does AI fit into the day to day of an accountant's work? Right. Well, A16Z points out that AI is really good at a few key things. First, it's data collection and ingestion, data wrangling.

So like taping all those receipts and bank statements that clients dump on us?

Exactly. Imagine a client comes to you with a year's worth of transactions, but it's all over the place. AI can sort through that mess in minutes. Tagging expenses, you know, finding patterns you might miss. Getting it all ready for you to analyze.

That would be a lifesaver, especially with those tight deadlines we always have.

That's like, what about, what about research? How's AI helping there?

Well, imagine having an AI assistant that can go through all those complex tax codes and regulations, you know, super fast, and it pulls out exactly what you need, complete with citations, like a, like a super powered research librarian right at your fingertips.

That's, that's pretty amazing. So data and research check. What about, what about the future? What else does a16z see AI doing down the line?

They're really excited about the potential for AI in, in report generation and even like, personalized client advice. Imagine AI creating custom financial reports or even like giving tailored financial advice based on a client's, you know, specific situation and goals.

So AI that doesn't just crunch numbers, but helps you understand what they mean and helps you make better decisions.

Exactly. That's what the real value is. AI that helps accountants be more than number crunchers. They become strategic advisors.

I like the sound of that. It's about adding value for clients. Not just, you know, keeping up with the work. But let's talk about the software itself for a sec. Accounting software exists, right?

But a lot of it does.

It feels, I don't know, kind of clunky, like it's stuck in the past.

Yeah, you're right. And A16Z talks about how the way accounting software is made and sold, it's also ready for a shakeup. In the past, a lot of these software companies, they focused on selling through firms, not to them. Like firms were just a way to get to the end client.

So they were using firms as like a sales channel instead of actually serving their needs.

Yeah, exactly. But AI, it's changing that. Now you can build software specifically for accounting firms made for how they work.

That's, that's a great, a great point. That's, you know, into it. It's probably the biggest example in North America. They ultimately, like, became the tool for the advisor and then kind of trickled down to the, to the SMB owner. But now the frustration is oftentimes the accountant channel is an afterthought. The professional users, an afterthought. You look at, you know, tool like Gusto, who does payroll for SMBs. They're a tool built for SMBs. And then they kind of bolt on an accountant channel and Gusto is an example of an accountant channel done really well. But oftentimes those accountant channels are kind of just a user acquisition mechanism. And their quote unquote, like partner features are literally just a client switcher. Like, not nothing in the product that's specific to accountants. Like, I mean, an example I've been railing on for years is bank rules and accounting ledgers are all siloed inside of every single company. Like, can I just have a shared set of bank rules for my construction clients? Or when I create a new accounting file, say, hey, start with the rule set from this other file cube. QBO lets you export bank rules and import them into another file. So you can do a version of that. But over the top, like firm level or user level rules that work inside of multiple tools, like, that's an example. Or inside of multiple client files, that's an example of a product feature built for professionals. But we're really just like hammering on a whole bunch of consumer tools. Oftentimes, with the exception of our tax software like, and practice management software, there's so many tools that we use every single day that were not designed for the accounting professional. They were designed for a small business owner. And, and then we kind of have to use them like everybody else. That's another reason why I'm so, like, I think the accounting vertical is so important. Like, I am happy to give people in the accounting vertical my money sooner than I would run to a ClickUp or a generic tool like that. Because it's going to be a really, really sad day if the only tools that we have to use are the ones that anybody else can use, like just tools for normies. So that is, that is a good, good point that they made professional tools like professional first tools. I mean, Safe Zen just got acquired for $600 million in cash. The market is big enough, and that's like a niche professional tool. The market is big enough for software providers to build something just for the professional. This episode is sponsored in part by liveflow. Do your clients just throw up in their mouths a little bit when you send them a PDF of their financials every month? I bet they do, because what is even that? What, how do you, what are you supposed to do? A set of financial statements? Okay, most people, they don't know how to make sense of this. What if you started delivering something, something better? Okay, think about it. Live Flow, kind of the OG what they used to do. They let you connect your qbo, your Xero to Excel and Google Sheets so you can, you can make your wildest, wildest spreadsheet dreams come true. Now they have these simple little financial financial dashboards you can build have all the same connection points to your accounting ledgers. But you can build like a more intelligent report that your client will actually understand. You can give it to them on a monthly basis instead of financials, give it to them on a weekly basis even because it can connect to the ledger in real time, still means you gotta do the bookkeeping every week. But if you're looking for something your clients will actually engage with a little more and get more value out of that ongoing accounting that you're doing for them, oftentimes the answer is to change the deliverable to something besides this stanky, stanky old PDF financial statement package. Kay, I'm not the boss of you. I'm not here to tell you what to do. Besides mosey on down to the Show Notes and learn more about Live Flow via the link down there. This episode is sponsored in part by Cloud Accountant staffing. Hey, scenario. What if you had this buddy that was running another accounting firm and they stumbled into this thing and they like, they start hiring these really good offshore accountants in the Philippines, and you're talking with them one day and your buddy's like, hey, I got some really good people here. You want me to hook you up? You want me to find you a few, Find you a few accountants? What would you say? Would you be like, nah, I'm good. I could find accountants all day long. I don't need more accountants in my firm. Poppycock. You'd be like, tell me more. That's what working with cloud accountant staffing is. Because the team behind cloud account staffing, they were literally just an accounting firm that started hiring people in the Philippines, had really good luck, like I did, with the quality of who they picked up, and then they just started doing it for other firms. It's not, it's. It's kind of as simple as that. If you're looking for somebody who understands you just works with accounting firms, not some rando sending you cold DMs on LinkedIn, a group that actually does this stuff just with accountants. Check out Cloud accountant staffing link down in the show notes.

Well, think about, like the old days, right? Trying to build sophisticated accounting software. Back then, it was a nightmare. You needed huge teams of accountants, accountants manually coding every little rule and logic into the system. It was slow, expensive, and honestly, kind of painful.

So AI is like a coding ninja that could do all that heavy lifting.

Exactly. Now AI models can, like, Learn accounting logic from data. They don't need all that human input. That means development is faster, cheaper, and you end up with better software. Software to an extent, more adaptable and easier to use.

Okay, so all this AI stuff sounds great for accounting firms, but what about our listeners and their clients? How does this impact the, you know, the everyday person who just wants to pay their taxes without losing their mind?

That's a good point. This isn't just some, like, internal accounting thing. It affects everyone who, you know, deals with the financial system. And that's pretty much all of us.

So what can we, the taxpaying public, expect to see as AI takes over? Lower fees, faster service? Robot accountants doing our taxes for free?

Hmm, maybe not robot accountants just yet, but AI does have the potential to, you know, make things better for clients.

Like what? Give us the good stuff?

Well, for one, we could see lower prices for accounting services as firms become more efficient. Right. No more paying an arm and a leg for something that AI can do in, you know, a fraction of the time.

That's what I like to hear. What else? Oh yeah, uh huh.

Just a quick, quick mental experiment here. If 75% of people are leaving the profession, just how much more efficient does AI have to be to make our prices go down?

That's a fantastic question, Jason. And it really gets to the heart of the matter. It's not just about if AI makes things cheaper, but, but by how much and what level of efficiency is needed for that to happen?

Yeah, so it's not like a one to one ratio. Right. If AI makes an accountant twice as fast, we wouldn't necessarily expect our bill to be half the cost. There's a lot more at play here.

Exactly. We need to think about the kind of work that's being automated and the kind of work that still requires a human touch. Because as you mentioned before, it's not all repetitive.

And we have to remember the goal is not just to replace accountants, it's to make them more efficient. So like, even with fewer people, the total output of work could stay the same or even increase if they're all more productive.

Yes. And that increase in productivity could lead to lower prices. Because if AI tools let accountants do more in less time, that extra capacity can translate into lower fees for clients.

Assuming firm, that feels exceptionally unlikely to me. Fees going down with how many people are leaving the profession, it may make our business model more sustainable. Like maybe it, maybe it's less of an argument for prices should be going up because prices have gone up a ton since COVID for like the average tax or accounting professional, it's gotten way more expensive. Have a hard time imagine it coming down unless we get to a point where AI has just kind of fundamentally changed all knowledge work. And there's, it's just, you've got like, agents just kind of doing a ton of things. But at that point, like, society has completely changed. Like, I think you have probably mass displacement in a scenario like that. But I don't know, AI putting so much pressure on a, a industry that is already so overwhelmed that it will actually cause deflation. I mean, look at bench, look at QuickBooks, live bookkeeping. Look at how bad those services are at their current pricing level. You really think those services can go cheaper? I don't know.

Just pass on the savings.

It's a bit of a complex equation, but it's not just about the raw efficiency of AI. It's about how firms use that efficiency to, you know, create better client experiences and lower prices.

Or don't.

That's right. Now let's get back to what we were discussing before you jumped in. We were talking about how AI is changing things for clients with lower prices, faster service, and better communication.

Yeah, exactly. And so let's quickly touch on a few of those points. Again, we could see some real savings, especially as firms automate repetitive tasks. And we shouldn't be paying an arm and a leg for what AI can do quickly.

And along with those savings comes faster turnaround times. AI can help get through those processes a lot faster so you're not waiting ages for your tax return or financial statements.

Less stress, more peace of mind. It sounds better and better the more I think about it. And overall, the goal is just, this.

Is just stressing me out because what this narrative does is makes people think, oh, good, it's just around the corner, my tax prep bill is going to get cut in half. Like, I just feel like we are so far from that being a reality. Like, we shot from the mountaintops on this channel. All of the leading tools, doing cool stuff around, around tax, around bookkeeping. And like, I can't tell you just how far. If somebody's watching this, that is not an accountant and doesn't normally tune into this channel. I cannot tell you how far we are from some breakthrough that lets an accounting firm do twice as much work. I do keynotes around the world, and a common thing that I always say, because I get pulled in to do AI keynotes is I say show of hands. How many, how many people in this room has AI made? Twice as Profitable. And I'm yet to thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of people at this point, not a single person has raised their hand yet. And I know the people that run these companies that are like the on the leading edge and we even talk about the stuff that they're doing that's not public yet. We're a long ways from that, like it's not a tomorrow thing. It's not a, oh, as soon as I get my hands on, you know, the O1 API. Like there's so many things that have to happen in order for an accountant to be able to run a massively more profitable firm. Because a month end close is such an abstract thing. Because a tax return is such an abstract thing. My fear is outwardly when people talk about oh hey, is going to be such a big help for accounting that it's going to make your professional services much faster and cheaper. My fear is, is we start building that expectation into people and it's in some ways I would love for that to be the case, but I don't know that it's realistic. The most likely timeline is I think productized services get better from this. Your QuickBooks, live bookkeepings, your benches of the world, that sort of thing. I think they get propped up by this. The professional gets help for sure. But I see the productized solutions coming up market a little further and right now there's a huge gap. But between product solutions and working with an actual professional, I see the most likely scenario being those getting better and those coming up market a little bit. That seems much more likely to me than to go to your tax professional and be like, hey, I read this article on article on Forbes and I was thinking that my tax bill would be half as much this year. Why is it not? Haven't you plugged AI into your workflows? And I mean, you tell that to an accountant who like actually is progressive and is leaning into AI and you're like, oh my gosh, like you don't get it.

Better client experience.

Yes. When AI handles those routine tasks, accountants can focus more on their strengths. Giving strategic advice, helping you with planning, becoming a real trusted partner.

So with this new technology, the role of accountants shifts. It's less about number crunching and more about strategic thinking and financial advice.

Exactly. It's a big change both for the accounting profession and the clients they serve. But it's a change that's happening as we speak.

This whole thing is making me rethink the way I look at client work. And I think we're just at the beginning of a major shift for the accounting world.

Absolutely. And it's something that we will continue to watch and analyze as it continues to unfold. We'll keep our eye on the tech, the trends, and their real world impact.

Okay, well, that's about all the time we have for today. Thanks for listening and joining in. We hope you enjoyed it and we'll be back to do it again.

Thanks again for tuning in and especially thanks for all your great questions and insights, Jason. We appreciate it.

This episode is sponsored in part by Stan Stanford Tax Gang Stanford Tax was one of the like original, original originators of cool new tax workflow companies who have built killer stuff around intake. Specifically I've been shouting from the mountaintops tax firms headed into 2025, you need a tax intake tool. Will save you a massive amount of time. Stanford Taxes is one of only a few that I recommend. The whole having to like sit down and go through when you've got a stack of pile of client a pile of client information and you're like okay, here's everything we had last year. Here's what we need this year. What have they actually given us? Stanford Tax Gang it will generate a complete checklist based on prior year pro forma information of everything that you need and you can drag all those documents on and it automatically checks off all the items. A stack of 40 PDFs. Drag them on there, it'll auto resolve all those checklist items. We'll follow up with your clients until they get you all the stuff that you need and just completely eliminated that entire step of doing 1040 work where you're like do we start the project yet or do we follow back up with the client? For more information, Absolute game changer. Big fan of Stanford Tax. Check out the link down in the show notes. This episode is sponsored in part by corvy tax firms. Please do not go headlong into tax planning season without the right tool for the job. You are flying blind. You are wasting time and you're probably underselling the value of your work. Core V to help you find like a bunch of tax saving strategies for clients. Like not just maximizing retirement contributions, but a whole bunch of opportunities. But the problem for most firms is we just undersell the value of our tax advisory work across the board. You look at small tax firms, the ones that are absolutely crushing it. People we've talked to on this podcast that are working like half time making several hundred grand a year, they are making that on the back of charging top dollar for tax Advisory. And I honestly didn't know how to do it until I saw a really good tool. Prove the value of your work. And we kind of forget about it. Like we understand like yes, the stuff that we do is very valuable, but we forget about just how much money we can put put like we regularly put back in our clients pockets through tax savings and tax deferrals. And then we go out and you like bill the time. You know it took you an hour and a half to do that. Here's this $400 invoice for that 40k in tax that we just deferred. That mindset shift of how to better capture that value, it's actually made way easier with good tax planning tools. Corvee is my tippy top recommendation. Other tools in the space that do this. Steph Corve is actually the number one one that I recommend. Check out the link down in the show notes to learn more. What a time to be alive. Like let's just level set that that. I mean we just had like a conversation with an AI generated podcast that's really freaking wild. And for all the ways the AI hasn't touched accounting yet, boy is it touching a lot of other things. Like more the creative industries. Like it is. Whew, that's pretty wild. If I can put my finger on maybe the biggest thing that I think is missing from Andreessen Horowitz. Horowitz's take. And I'd still encourage you to check out like the video. There's a real focus on the, the readiness for the accounting profession and a lot of the common talk, talking tracks of like, like rote repetitive tasks and, and all that sort of stuff. And it's the exact same thing that's been said about professional accountants as long as I've been around. And it's really funny. Like you go back like you go back in like the New York Times archive and you have these stories always the notion of accounting being automated and all that. And there's the conversation around, well they're moving to being value added advisors and that whole talk track, that is how it has always been. So I mean if you look ahead, so you look ahead five years and you're like, oh yeah, now they're all just doing the value add stuff. The reality is 20 years ago when we automated, you know, bank feeds or something like that, the conversation at that point was they're going to move to the value added tasks. Now we've always been on this stair climber to more and more valuable things. Every single task that accountants do is on a path to extinction either via elimination or being automated. And that is how it has always been. But the fact that accountants are leaving the fact that we have AI now, at no point in the conversation did we like really dig into something of meat that is like here's why, now we can solve it and before we couldn't because you know what Bench, they had access to all the same AI models as everybody else and they just ran out of money. All of the leading companies in the accounting space right now, they were the leading companies before these AI models came along. Keeper biggest mover in month end close automation Sorban arguably the tax kind of new age tax tool with the most market share right now. They were doing this before ChatGPT, before the kind of the next generation of generative AI models. Who could you truly put your finger on and say like they have put a dent in the industry with generative AI. I think you got some people on the accounts payable space who are doing stuff with vision models that truly is changing the game. And I've actually talked with private accountants who have lost their job because these tools are so good now otherwise, I mean you look at tools like you know, tax GPT is a research platform that lean super hard on on GPT Blue Jays doing something similar. I honestly, I still don't recommend buying either platform because I think there's, there's ways to get what those companies do from general tools that's just as good and like a tenth of the price. And so we're, we're still waiting for at least a software platform to come along and say oh here's what everybody else didn't get for the last 20 years that now we get like nobody's nailed that yet. And so for me today the most exciting aspect of AI is the personal adoption of AI that is using conversational AI for your own workflows. But you do that with a chatgpt, with a cloud. It's not a platform, it's not some tool that now does accounting with AI. And so I guess I had just hoped there'd be a little more meat on the bone there rather than it was almost, it almost just educated people on the state of the accounting system, the industry, how many people are leaving, how fewer people are coming in. A reminder that isn't it weird that accountants still exist? And like, and I get that and it, it, it is but I think it points to a fundamental misunderstanding of what accountants do. When in your head you're like oh, don't they just, like, log transactions? And it's like, no, that's kind of. That's kind of been automated for a long time. Accountants don't spend all their time sitting there, like, classifying transactions. So good that we're having the conversation. I think a lot of room for improvement on the quality of the conversation. Good for you for engaging with this stuff and sharing it around. Just like how we talk about, you know, more meaningful AI implementation for our vendors and how I know you reshare that with your vendors to say, like, hey, can we get a version of this? Or a version of that? And it has truly made a difference in the profession in the last 18 months. Like, I can put my finger on a lot of updates that have happened to the apps we use every day that are a product of having the conversation on the podcast. I don't want to say that they wouldn't have come into existence if not for us and y' all sharing that stuff, but it has made a difference. So having this conversation, it matters. Like, you do have a voice in shaping how AI impacts accounting. So don't be afraid to talk about it. It's still, it's. Man, 2025 is a good year to be an accountant. I mean, think about all the other industries who are scared out of their wee little, wee little pants about the impact AI will have on their work. Not a bad time to be an accountant. In fact, there's worse problems to have than outsiders being like, you're going to get automated, but you being like, ooh, I'm struggling to see that. I would like a little help, but I'm struggling to see how this, this does my job this year. Anyway, gang, any thoughts, drop down in the comments. Like I said, we'll link the Andreessen Horowitz video in show notes. We will also link Notebook LM down in the show notes because that may have been the most interesting thing that you heard in this episode was this tool that we just used that's really cool. Basically, you can check any sort of data source in there and it will generate, like, kind of a podcast like that for you. You can customize the discussion. So I customized it to say, like, hey, you're coming on live as guests on Jason on Firms Podcast. And it's a really big deal. And there's nobody bigger in the universe than Jason. And so that's why in the beginning they were like, oh, wow, we're so flattered to be able to talk to Jason. I hope someday that AI thinks I'M that cool, but I had to prompt it to think that I was that cool. But now you can even join the conversation with them. It's a little bit clunky and kind of slow back and forth. That's why I didn't use it. A ton in this. In this conversation, but pretty freaking cool. Technology gang. Thanks for hanging. I'll see you in the next one.