Ron and Ed welcomed Hitendra Patil, President of the Global Finance and Accounting Outsourcing Services of Datamatics Business Solutions, Inc. and author of Rise of The Aiccountants: The What, Why, and How of Artificial Intelligence for Accountants. AI is way more than an amusement gimmick. At its core, AI is a powerful tool that can make accounting firm operations, analytics, decision-making, and client services more efficient, impactful, and insightful resulting in clients getting more delighted and, importantly, firm staff more productive, engaged, and happier. Unfortunately, other than starting to use publicly available AI tools, firm leaders who want to professionally leverage artificial intelligence often don’t know where to start. AI journey can feel overwhelming—as it requires firms to analyze existing processes, make new choices for software solutions, decide the priorities for applying AI automation and prepare every part of the firm for the transition.

About Hitendra Patil

Hitendra Patil is the author of two critically acclaimed books bought by accountants from 14 countries across five continents. Hitendra is one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting in the United States, as recognized by Accounting Today, which is the #1 professional trade journal in the US accounting and finance profession. He has also been among the Top 10 Accounting Influencers to Follow on Social Media and the Top 100 Accounting Social Media Leaderboard. He is a regularly published author in many of the leading publications in the accounting profession in the United States. Hitendra provides research-backed, contemporary insights into the accounting profession about practice growth, entrepreneurship in accounting, client accounting services, and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, and cybersecurity. Hitendra has a keen interest in human behavior science, neuroscience, psychology - and writing. All this culminates in books, articles, blog posts, podcasts, webinars, and content that resonates deeply with the audience to inspire and influence people to take actions that benefit them.

Use these show notes to follow along with audio…

Segment one:

“I’m not an AI deep fake. This is the real Hitendra.” That’s how Hitendra started the show today which is EXACTLY what a deep fake Hitendra would say.
What is the biggest challenge facing the accounting profession? Separating the symptoms from the core of accounting. In a good way, we are going towards the core purpose of accounting. To help people improve their business and perform better.
“If you look at accounting as a profession it has fewer number of celebrities compared to outside the profession. Excluding Ron Baker, of course. […] We need those celebrities to pull people into the profession.” —Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services. Heard the phrase? Hitendra wrote the book, Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide https://cpatrendlines.com/shop/hp21cas/

Segment two:

Hitendra holds the role of President of the Global Finance and Accounting Outsourcing Services of Datamatics Business Solutions and can be found at https://datamaticscpa.com/accounting-bookkeeping-outsourcing-for-usa-cpas/
In January of 2023, Hitendra published a new book “Rise of The AiCCOUNTANTS”. More info at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-AiCCOUNTANTSTM-Accountants-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/B0BTKSP6M8
Can we get to the point of significantly reducing the audit with artificial intelligence? Audit is facing an extreme talent crunch so it certainly is a candidate. You also handle massive amounts of data in Audit and AI is great for that.
What about “wisdom about the situation” when it comes to applying AI to solve problems? AI does not have that context and probably never will. “There is a world that exists outside of the data.” —Hitendra

Segment three:

Hitendra refers to “the engagement ring” as pulling in data and analyzing the past, present, and future. It’s a clever way to think about how to help your clients.
If you have 800 CAS customers, how can you work on the future? There’s just not enough time. Doesn’t CAS require fewer customers? “For those who really do CAS, […] the number will surely come down.” —Hitendra Patil
If you were to launch a firm today, what would you do? “Make sure I can survive for 1,000 days with saved money. Otherwise, anything that walks in the door is a client.” —Hitendra Patil
Do you see CAS firms adopting the subscription model? “OH YES.” —Hitendra Patil

Segment four:

Can you be both CAS and CAAS at the same time? “I don’t think CAAS can exist with CAS.” —Hitendra Patil
What’s your production function around doing research. “I start with some LinkedIn polls. […] Then I go through proper channels with massive amounts of subscribers. Then I ask what will be useful and actionable for the market from the research.”
A big THANK YOU to Hitendra Patil for joining us today to talk about AI and accountants. Check out his book, Rise of The AiCCOUNTANTS, at this link: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-AiCCOUNTANTSTM-Accountants-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/B0BTKSP6M8

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