625 Should Accounting Firms Build Their Own Software? [Actually.. here’s where it makes sense]

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In this episode, I break down what firms are actually creating, from custom integrations and reporting tools to trial balance workflows, and give my red-light/green-light take on what’s worth building. I also speedrun the latest AI releases, talk through whether small firms really need a practice management system, and answer questions about AI costs, offshoring, browser automation, and preparing your team for an AI-first accounting firm.

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// Chapters:
00:00 - Building Your Own Firm Software
02:07 - How Firms Are Building Software
04:08 - What Accounting Firms Are Building
10:17 - What Should You Actually Build?
18:13 - What Custom AI Apps Look Like
25:26 - Nerd Corner: AI Updates
26:00 - ChatGPT Work
26:52 - Claude Combines Chat and Cowork
29:17 - Grok Challenges Claude
31:04 - GPT Live and Voice AI
37:30 - OpenAI’s New AI Models
45:29 - Mailbag
45:53 - Getting AI Past Bot Restrictions
49:03 - Do You Need a Practice Management System?
54:42 - Building Referral Relationships
57:32 - The Rising Cost of AI
1:00:08 - Finding Time to Implement AI
1:03:00 - What Happened When Clients Learned We Offshored
1:07:48 - Automating Home Depot Receipts
1:09:58 - Training Teams for an AI-First Firm
1:15:16 - The Future of Accounting Firms

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