CPA Trendlines

Today's Features

Major Websites Blocking Content from AI Crawlers

Amazon, Quora and Indeed are three major websites that prohibit ChatGPT’s bot.

By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week

According to recent data from content detector Originality.AI, nearly 20 percent of the top 1000 websites in the world are restricting crawler bots that collect web data for AI services.

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Big and small websites are taking matters into their own hands because there are no clear legal or regulatory guidelines limiting AI’s usage of intellectual information.

Early in August, OpenAI unveiled its GPTBot crawler, claiming that the information obtained “might improve future models,” assuring that paywalled content will be omitted and providing instructions on how to block the crawler on websites. READ MORE →

ADVISORY & CONSULTING

AI and the Future of Advisory

Or, ‘The Real Battlefield: AI’s Inroads into Value Creation within Accounting’

By Ric Payne

Four university professors sat the 3.5 Version of ChatGPT for the CPA Exam in May. And it failed. Rather badly, it turns out! Averaging a score of 53.1 across all sections.

However, it passed when the same researchers repeated the experiment on the upgraded ChatGPT version 4.0 only a month later. Rather impressively, actually. With an average score of “The chatbot received an 87.5 in the part that rated highest, auditing and attestation (AUD),” the researchers reported.

MORE on ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Chris Vanover: Question the Why or Stay with the Status Quo | AI + MRI = Diseases That Doctors Might Miss | The Art of Prompt Engineering for Accountants | Staff Need Good Pay and TLC | Two Words Define Your Work Future in the AI World | Becky Livingston Launches “The B2B Marketer’s Guide to AI” | Getting Real: Accounting Tech Decisions You Need to Make Today | Generative AI: Should You Avoid It or Adopt It? | The Disruptors: Al Anderson on The New Manifesto for Accountants | Should Accountancy Account for Sustainability? | Firms Rev Up Expansion Plans | What an A.I.-Powered Workforce Means for Accountants | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa. | AI Systems Just for Accounting in Development | AI Is Not Your Enemy |

MORE CPA TRENDLINES coverage here.

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This is a very interesting development for several reasons.

First, it’s amazing how quickly ChatGPT has improved. I doubt a human, even a smart one, would achieve a 32 percentage point improvement in an examination score in just a few months. This performance improvement begs the question: are we looking at the likelihood of close to 100% shortly? READ MORE →

PRO Member Exclusive

Three Ways to Work Together on Wealth

Collaboration can be in house, but it doesn’t have to be.

By Anthony Glomski

The term “wealth management” comes up time and time again as you seek advice about helping your clients with their financial challenges and opportunities.

MORE: Target the Family CEO | How to Implement Collaborative Wealth Management | Five Challenges of Liquidating a Business
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People throughout the financial services industry like to call themselves “wealth managers” or “wealth advisors,” but research shows that only about 1 in 16 financial professionals really provide collaborative wealth management. This type of client relationship includes not only investment consulting, but all aspects of advanced planning and relationship management. Mostly they focus on investment management services that everyone else provides. In most cases, standard investment management services are not enough to make a meaningful difference in your client’s total financial picture. But your role as your clients’ personal CFO does make a huge impact.
READ MORE →

PRO Member Exclusive

Merge in Lower-Priced Work without Losing Out

You bought a tax practice! But they charge less than you do. Now what?

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

QUESTION: I bought a tax return practice in December from a person who was charging $180 per hour. My rate is $300 per hour so I did not make money and I would like to know what I could do to raise fees so I don’t continue to lose on it.

MORE: Want More Tax Clients? Here’s How | Bundle Tax Services with Financial Planning | How to Begin a Business Valuation | How to Offer Conflict Resolution | Get Your Clients Talking About Retirement | When Clients Remarry | Four Reasons to Perform Tax Projections
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ANSWER: After a long discussion, it appears that he bought a good practice with good fees charged for the returns. His problem is that he has no employees and did all the work himself – about 750 tax returns, and was totally overwhelmed with non-stop work.
READ MORE →

CLIENT ACCOUNTING SERVICES

How to Destroy Your CAS Profits

Twelve causes to repair ASAP.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

We discussed that you need to explain the why of your client accounting services pricing. A price is a measurable number. “Value” of each of your CAS component also needs to be reasonably measurable for your clients and prospects to understand the why. This is easier said than done, and you need to keep rewriting the value statements, testing them and revising them.

MORE: Price by Outcome, Not Time Spent | Want Higher Profitability? Turn to CAS | Structure Insights as What-Why-What | Set Your Processes Apart in Nine Steps | Five Ways to Overcome CAS Staffing Challenges | Think CAS Isn’t for Your Firm? | Convince Your Firm of CAS Value
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The best way to define the measurable value of each of your CAS components is to state it from the client’s perspective, i.e., which business decisions the client can make based on the information/insight/intelligence you provide in a given CAS component, and under which circumstances. Then state the measurable impact of such business decisions. E.g., “On an average, we help our clients reduce money stuck in inventory by 11 percent, which in many cases results in lower overdraft interest costs by about 1.3 percent annually.” Without the numbers in your value statements, clients can feel you are pitching marketing fluff.
READ MORE →