TECH and FINTECH

Before Building with AI, Firms Need a Plan for Client Data | Innovation Insights

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Context, verified sources, and human review remain essential as teams build AI tools.

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Innovation Insights
With Donny Shimamoto and Liz Mason
Center for Accounting Transformation

A tax firm can build an AI agent to organize documents, flag missing information, and track unfinished returns. The harder assignment is deciding what that agent should never do on its own. That question drives this episode of Innovation Insights, a Center for Accounting Transformation podcast conversation between hosts Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, and Liz Mason, CPA.

As smaller firms experiment with building their own tax tools, the two examine what separates a useful automation from a costly lapse in security, accuracy, or professional responsibility.

More Donny Shimamoto

Shimamoto is founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC and founder and inspiration architect for the Center for Accounting Transformation. Mason is co-founder and CEO of TaxFigure, founder and CEO of High Rock Accounting, a member of Intuit’s Partner Council, a board member of AuditMiner, and CEO and founder of Rebel Rock.

Their message gives firms room to experiment, but it also gives that experimentation a clear starting point: Understand the data, the workflow, and the professional obligations before building.

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42 Hot AI Firms Raise $1.23 Billion in New 2026 Funding

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Wall Street places big money on both sides of the bet for and against accounting firms.

The top ten of 42 firms identified by CPA Trendlines raise 75% of the new money so far this year.

By CPA Trendlines Research

With $1.23 billion invested so far this year, 42 new AI-powered tech companies, from pre-seed startups to growth-stage platforms, are vying for a place at the table where the future of tax and accounting will be decided.

MORE AITech and Adoption: Buying AI Is Easy. Rebuilding the Firm Is Hard. | Trent Yesberg: How AI Re-Builds Accounting Firms | The AI Demo Is Easy. The Rollout Gets Complicated. | If AI Is Saving Time, Why Are You Still Working Late? | Intuit, Thomson, Wolters Kluwer: Accountants Question AI Promises | David Marquis: AI Can Do More Work but Auditors Must Make the Call | AI Accountants Cut Costs per Task to 21 cents from $10.35 | Your Next Hire Might Not Be an Accountant | “Set It and Forget It” Is Not an AI Strategy | Kenji Kuramoto: When AI Does the Work, What Are Firms Selling?

They’ve captured the serious attention of both the fintech cognoscenti and the tax and accounting avant-garde. Some build the tools that help tax and accounting firms handle more work. Others are taking the other side of the bet, selling tax and accounting services themselves, rolling up firms that do, or selling bookkeeping with no human bookkeepers.

To be sure, the bets are anything but certain.

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Intuit, Thomson, Wolters Kluwer: Accountants Question AI Promises

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At the big three user conferences, AI is changing the rules… again.

Vendors take center stage at user conferences. Logos: Thomson Reuters, QuickBooks, Wolters Kluwer

By CPA Trendlines Research

Over the next few weeks, Intuit, Wolters Kluwer and Thomson Reuters will be gathering their users in Las Vegas and Orlando, each bringing software and strategies that accountants fear could encroach on a firm’s client relationships.

Intuit Connect – Oct. 26-28, Aria, Las Vegas. Client books, monthly close, advisory, agents and the accountant relationship. More than 100 breakouts. Up to 12 CPE credits. Learn more
CCH Connections (Wolters Kluwer) – Oct. 25-28, Grande Lakes, Orlando. Tax and audit production, review, migrations and quality management. More than 90 sessions. Up to 19 CPE. Learn more
Thomson Reuters Synergy – Nov. 16-19, Fontainebleau, Las Vegas. Research, preparation, document workflows and engagement evidence. Combined professional audiences; separate general sessions. Learn more

The gap between firms and vendors provides a lens into the season. Intuit Connect, Wolters Kluwer’s CCH Connections and Thomson Reuters Synergy are pairing agentic AI demos with sessions on pricing, review, staffing and leadership. READ MORE →

AI Accountants Cut Costs per Task to 21 cents from $10.35

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Claude delivers faster, cheaper production. But what do the tests overlook?

AI models passed accountants on benchmark tasks in 2025 and now score at or near 100%, compared to an average human accountant at 37%. (Accuracy of AI models on the study’s accounting tasks by model release date, compared with accountants without AI. Source: Mercor)

By CPA Trendlines Research

Jason Staats: “How can I be so busy if AI is this good?”

AI accountants are running faster, cheaper and now more accurately than humans.

Artificial intelligence outperforms 12 licensed CPAs on four structured accounting tasks in a new study by an AI deployment firm, with Claude Opus 5 scoring 100 percent across 20 attempts while unassisted accountants average about 37 percent.

MORE AI | Your Next Hire Might Not Be an Accountant | K1x Bets $175 Million to Beat the K-1 Bottleneck | “Set It and Forget It” Is Not an AI Strategy | Kenji Kuramoto: When AI Does the Work, What Are Firms Selling? | Your AI Agent Should Show Its Work | Rillet’s Raise: Betting $100 Million on Fewer Accountants

Claude finishes every attempt in under 10 minutes. Most accountants take 30 minutes to three hours in the Mercor study. Even the strongest participant falls behind the model on both speed and accuracy.

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