Track Your Mileage Automatically

Help clients stay on track with these odometer assistants.
Driver using software on phone in car
By Beth Ziesenis
App of the Week

National Odometer Day (May 12) encourages people to check their odometers and keep up with vehicle maintenance as their vehicles age. But it can also be a great reminder that we itemizers are losing money if we’re not tracking the mileage we drive for work.

MORE APPS of the WEEK:  Make Your Computer a Clean Slate | Recycle and Repurpose Old DevicesEnlist AI for More Productive Meetings | Keep Teams on Task with Project Management Apps | Apps to Put Your Affairs in OrderApp of the Week: Celebrate Black Business Month | App of the Week: Cheap Flights | Help Your Clients Save Money | Time to Upgrade Your Spreadsheets | App of the Week: Secretly Stash Cash | Easy Apps for Increasing Client Engagement with Video | App of the Week: Grow Your Business Knowledge and Career Skill Sets | App of the Week: Upgrade Your Resume | App of the Week: End Procrastination
SEE ALL: Apps of the Week here |
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There are several options available, but here are my three favorites and why:

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Seven Ways AI Could Change Accounting

Artist concept of an AI-based neuronGet past the AI tools hype to see the real potential.

By Hitendra Patil
Rise of The AiCCOUNTANTS 

Accounting, as it existed until now, is ripe for a makeover.

MORE: Who Is Better At Accounting, AI or Humans? | Talent Shortage: AI Neither the Cause Nor the Remedy | Accounting Profession to Experience Highest AI Impact | Be Serious About AI, Not Amused
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This is not a doomsday prediction for the accounting profession. On the contrary, it is just a confirmation of the golden era of accounting that is about to come.

And artificial intelligence will be the driver leading the metamorphosis.
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26 Ways to Wreck a Financial Projection

And some things to do instead.

By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!

Hello, I am Mr. No and have been asked to explain what I do and why I could be your biggest obstacle.

MORE: How to Prepare Business Plan Financial Projections | What’s More Profitable, Raising or Lowering Prices? | Insurance You Might Not Know You Need | Solos Need Plans for Death, Disability | Five Ways to Ward Off Fraud in Not-For-Profits | Client Hires New Manager: You Need a Plan | Anatomy of a Fraud | How to Explain Internal Controls to Clients
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I can’t help you, but I can definitely hurt you. And I love to hurt those who understate my importance. In reality, there is nothing in it for me to okay a deal, and my reputation and credibility might be hurt, and I could even lose my job if the deal flops. On the other hand, saying no keeps me safe and free from harm.
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Megan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance

Flip the org chart and put staff at the top.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
for CPA Trendlines

Megan Genest Tarnow is well-known in accounting circles as the go-to expert in using QuickBooks for the fund accounting required by nonprofit entities.  

MORE: Clayton Oates: One Way to Keep Clients for LifeRandy Crabtree: Follow These Three Rules to Keep Employees HappyErik Solbakken: Yes, You Can Work Less and Make More | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a MindshiftJennifer Wilson: Empower Young Workers to Build the Firm Everyone LovesMike Whitmire: Re-Think Your Hiring and Training PracticesHector Garcia: Success Strategies of a Quickbooks YouTube Superstar | Blake Oliver: Why Tax Work Yearns To Be FreePrivate Equity Explodes in U.K. | Brannon Poe: The Status Quo Must Go  | Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Disruptor: Jason Statts Shakes Up the Status Quo | Think Small to Think Big with Matt WilkinsonWhen Financial Statements Go Extinct with Corey SchmidtCan Geraldine Carter Save Accountants from Themselves?Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson

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Many of the best accountants she knows have come from non-traditional backgrounds like dance or philosophy. Megan herself worked in theater for several years before she was thrust into a finance role. Like her, these non-traditional accountants apply their native curiosity to understand how the pieces fit together. By leaning into the work and asking questions, they uncover an unknown aptitude for accounting, suggesting that perhaps we should hire for curiosity rather than compliance knowledge.  

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Who Is Better At Accounting, AI or Humans?

And what that means for the profession.

By Hitendra Patil
Rise of The AiCCOUNTANTS

A new research study by the American Accounting Association evaluated the performance of ChatGPT on accounting-specific content.

MORE: Talent Shortage: AI Neither the Cause Nor the Remedy | Accounting Profession to Experience Highest AI Impact | Be Serious About AI, Not Amused
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The study was conducted by a team of 327 coauthors from 186 educational institutions worldwide, who entered 25,817 assessment questions and evaluated the accuracy of ChatGPT’s responses.
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Talent Shortage: AI Neither the Cause Nor the Remedy

Spiral of binary characters emerging from laptop screenAre we implementing enough technology?

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

  1. Artificial intelligence says, “It’s essential to recognize that the talent shortage in the accounting profession is not a new problem. The profession has been facing challenges in attracting and retaining talent for many years, with factors such as increasing workloads, long hours and a lack of work-life balance contributing to the problem. Addressing these issues is crucial to ensuring the profession’s continued success.”

MORE: Accounting Profession to Experience Highest AI Impact | Be Serious About AI, Not Amused
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Wait. Don’t believe AI at face value.
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Accounting Profession to Experience Highest AI Impact

A new research report hints at future opportunities for accountants.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

OpenAI, the creator of the wildly popular artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT, conducted a new research study with the University of Pennsylvania. It identified the occupations with the most significant impact potential because of large language models (LLMs, like ChatGPT). Among the occupations with the highest exposure to AI are accountants, auditors and tax preparers!

MORE: Be Serious About AI, Not Amused
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What does it mean?

1. To quote some (edited somewhat for more straightforward reading) of the essential notes from the research:

  • Which occupations will see GPT-powered software saving workers a significant amount of time completing a task while maintaining equivalent quality? Workers facing higher (lower) barriers to entry in their jobs tend to experience more (less) exposure to LLMs. (GPT = generative pre-trained transformer.)

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Chase Birky: Overcoming Paralysis by Analysis

Be the author of your own story and chart a path not subject to the control and opinions of others.

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Transformation Talks
With Bill Penczak
Center for Accounting Transformation

Center for Accounting Transformation
Center for Accounting Transformation

Entrepreneurs in the accounting profession are rare, according to Chase Birky, president and CEO of Dark Horse CPAs. And he should know.

He had to take an uncomfortable step outside of his own comfort zone to become one.

MORE: Secret to Success? A Growth and Abundance Mindset | O.D. Lanier: Stepping Into Advisory | From Tax to Transformation | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in Audit | Why the Future is in Risk Advisory | Four Strategies for a Future Ready Firm
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After starting out in audit at a Big 4 right out of college, he decided it was no longer what he wanted to do.

“I started an audit specifically, you know, not really having a great idea of what audit truly was, you know, because you take the courses in your undergrad, and you know, you have a section of it on the CPA exam,” Birky explained. “But what that material is versus what the job is, you know, are two very different things.”

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