CAS

AI Is Not Your Enemy; Here’s Why

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Clients will always need context.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

In 1994, in a small hotel meeting room in Colorado Springs, 50 accounting firms were up in arms when the presenter mentioned QuickBooks. They shouted angry comments: “QuickBooks is destroying my business.” “They want to take my clients.” “They are giving people a false sense of security with their commercials that say, ‘If you can write a check, you can do QuickBooks.’”

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The presenter was nervous and asked me what he was to do. I said I use QuickBooks for your company, and I have no idea what I am doing, and I could use an accountant to teach me.

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Breslin & Greathead: Be a Client Advocate | The Disruptors

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Help customers catapult their businesses forward.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Back in 2013, before CAS became part of the accounting vernacular, Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead taught roomfuls of accountants how to do what Breslin called bookkeeping and back office support, or BOS.

“We had 200 accountants sitting in the room wanting to know how to grow this part of their business,” Greathead recalls.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Dominic Piscopo: Clear Pay=Bargaining Power | Debbie Kilsheimer: Stop Thinking Small | Dave Kersting: Collaborate with Co-Firming | Ashley Francis: AI’s a Partner, Not a Replacement | Richard Roppa-Roberts: Collaboration Over Competition | Ira Rosenbloom: M&A Numbers Are Easy – Culture Fit Is Hard | Roman Villard: Ditch the Suit & Shine | Monique Swansen: Align Firm Values with Services | Tina McGill: How to Create Lasting Client Impact | Stefan van Duyvendijk: Develop Operational Mindset | Steve Evans: Why Traditional Hiring Methods Fail | Roger Knecht: Can You Be an Accountrepreneur? | Beth Whitworth: Focus on Outcomes Not Hours |Mike Sylvester: Learn to Say No | Salim Omar: Identify Your Client’s $100,000 Problem | Jackie Meyer: Earn More with Fewer Clients | Jack Fleherty: Don’t Be a ‘Yes’ Person | Greg Adams: From Finance to Storytelling  | Jody Padar: Make Radical Changes Now If You Want to Be Relevant in 2030 | Rebecca Driscoll: Amplify Reach By Helping Other Firm Owners | Rory Henry: Create the Return on Relationships

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Cloud-based accounting tools like Xero and QuickBooks Online were just entering the U.S. market, and the two recognized an opportunity for firms.

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Luke Templin: Lose Your Perfectionist Gene | The Disruptors

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Don’t be afraid to try new ideas or plans–or afraid to fail.

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by “Holistic Guide to Wealth Management,” by Rory Henry – See Today’s Special Offer

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Luke Templin believes that CAS – Client Advisory Services – will be the key to success as an accountant in the future. Not only is it an effective recruiting and retention tool for staff, but “it’s an attractive offering to clients,” he says. “If you were to talk to most entrepreneurs on what they want, most of them are going to want some sort of proactive advice on the numbers,” and not just the basics of bookkeeping and tax prep.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Ira Rosenbloom: M&A Numbers Are Easy – Culture Fit Is Hard | Roman Villard: Ditch the Suit & Shine | Monique Swansen: Align Firm Values with Services | Tina McGill: How to Create Lasting Client Impact | Stefan van Duyvendijk: Develop Operational Mindset | Steve Evans: Why Traditional Hiring Methods Fail | Roger Knecht: Can You Be an Accountrepreneur? | Beth Whitworth: Focus on Outcomes Not Hours |Mike Sylvester: Learn to Say No | Salim Omar: Identify Your Client’s $100,000 Problem | Jackie Meyer: Earn More with Fewer Clients | Jack Fleherty: Don’t Be a ‘Yes’ Person | Greg Adams: From Finance to Storytelling | The Disruptors | Jody Padar: Make Radical Changes Now If You Want to Be Relevant in 2030 | Rebecca Driscoll: Amplify Reach By Helping Other Firm Owners | Rory Henry: Create the Return on Relationships | Mike Maksymiw: Be the Leader You Wish You Had | Terrell Turner: Build a Solid Business Showing Up as Yourself | Kelly Mann: Be the Bull in the China Shop | Alicia Katz Pollock: Create A Human-Centric Business |  Nancy McClelland: Be the One Your Clients Ask First |Alan Whitman: Stop Accepting the Status Quo | Sean Duncan: Discover Your Own Genius | Ingrid Edstrom: True Wealth Is Not Financial |

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Over his career, Templin has built four different CAS offerings in other firms, including his own, A2 Advisors, which focuses on fractional CFO services. As Templin explains, the goal of CAS is “to get numbers as real-time as possible,” while a fractional CFO expands on bookkeeping, “helping the client solve problems with as real-time numbers as we can possibly get.”

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Ed Kless: Accounting Must Innovate Beyond Technology | Accounting Influencers

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In an era when traditional models fail, accountants should rethink relevance, client experience, and the power of language.

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Accounting Influencers
with Rob Brown

Accounting visionary Ed Kless challenges the profession to move beyond the traditional billable hour and embrace a proactive, subscription-based model. In this episode of Accounting Influencers, Kless, known for his strong stance on abolishing hourly billing, offers actionable insights into how accountants can redefine their services and stay relevant in an evolving landscape.

Kless wastes no time challenging one of the industry’s longest-standing practices: billing by the hour. “It’s an absolutely dead model, and it’s a problem not only for accountants but also for their customers,” he argues. By emphasizing efficiency over effectiveness, Kless says hourly billing creates a barrier to innovation and true client satisfaction. “Think about it—if you had a brain tumor, would you want an efficient surgeon or an effective one?” he asks, underscoring the need for quality service over rigid time-tracking.

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