AI is now co-writing your clients' financials. Are you ready to sign off?

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Summary: AI is now embedded in month-end close workflows at many organizations, drafting journal entries and financial reports with minimal human input.

Why it matters: If you review or sign off on financial statements, AI-generated content is likely already in the files — and auditors now need to ask new questions about traceability, human review, and whether documentation will survive regulatory scrutiny.

Catch: This isn't a single tool — it's a category shift happening across platforms, which means the checklist of questions applies regardless of what software your clients use.

My take: The firms getting caught flat-footed won't be the ones that ignored AI — they'll be the ones that signed off on AI-generated outputs without updating their review process. Now is the time to build that checklist. Read more →

EY Just Previewed the Future of AI Audit EY's revamped Canvas platform auto-fills workpapers, surfaces real-time accounting guidance, and accelerates risk assessment, with EY claiming the update makes audits faster and better at catching fraud. Regulators are now on record too: auditors are fully responsible for whatever AI produces, regardless of firm size. Why it matters: When the Big 4 resets the standard, client and regulator expectations follow for every firm. Read more →

Gartner: 90% of Finance Roles Will Need Digital Skills by 2030 Fewer than 30% of finance teams are considered digitally skilled today, and Gartner's five-step framework lays out exactly how accounting leaders need to restructure now. Why it matters: Small and solo firms that build AI fluency now will gain a durable competitive edge. Read more →

The Real Story of AI in Finance, From the Trenches Finance leaders share what's actually working and failing, including a CFO who used ChatGPT to consolidate 50 charts of accounts and hit hallucination issues. Why it matters: Real-world cases beat vendor promises when advising clients on AI adoption. Read more →

Before rolling out any AI tool in audit or review, map your risks into two buckets: governance (access, decision rights, policy) and technical (hallucinations, prompt injection, unpredictable outputs). Each requires different controls, and firms skipping this step are the ones caught off guard when a client or regulator asks how AI-generated work was reviewed.

AI Voice Cloning Is Targeting Elderly Clients Scammers are impersonating grandchildren, attorneys, and government officials using AI-generated voices, including a recent $6,000 grandparent scam in Philadelphia. The AICPA is urging CPAs to act as a first line of defense. A quick heads-up email to older clients this week could prevent a devastating loss. Read more →

📬 Know an accountant drowning in manual bookkeeping? Forward this.