AccountingWEB

As registrations open for FAB 2027, Dhosjan Greenaway-Dalini joins the show to explore how AI is reshaping finance leadership, why technology should follow the business problem, and how the CFO’s role is continuing to expand.

Moving an old process onto software isn't innovation; changing the process itself is. Richard Sergeant of Principle Point tells the AccountingWEB podcast why e-invoicing could deliver what Making Tax Digital only promised.

Inspired by dramas such as Mr Bates vs The Post Office, the team put on their TV producer hats and pitch the accounting stories they think deserve their own TV series.

This week's episode looks at the first MTD quarterly deadline and what the numbers tell us. Special guest Robyn Milstead joins the podcast to discuss the pressure on accountants and concerns over what comes next.

AI may be changing the mechanics of accounting, but the firms best placed to benefit will be those that get the fundamentals right first.

That was a central message from a panel at Zoho’s Connected Practice Summit in London, where Taj Accountants founder Abul Nurujjaman, Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB) chief executive Ami Copeland and Zoho vice president Prashant Ganti joined AccountingWEB editor Tom Herbert to discuss how AI and automation are reshaping UK practices.

Having seen the profession move through RTI, cloud accounting and Making Tax Digital (MTD), Nurujjaman argued that more bookkeeping work will increasingly be handled through AI and automation, leaving practitioners to review exceptions, investigate anomalies and use up-to-date information to support business decisions.

But the panel pushed back against the idea that advisory is simply another service package to bolt onto a firm. Nurujjaman said useful advisory work starts with understanding the individual business: whether a client can afford new premises, for example, or what buying equipment might do to cashflow.

Copeland made a similar point from the bookkeeping perspective, arguing that being deep in the business numbers is one thing, but understanding its context will allows firms to surface deeper insights. Automation, she said, should create an opportunity to deepen that relationship rather than create distance from the underlying data.

That human oversight becomes important as firms adopt generative AI. Ganti warned against starting with a chatbot before fixing the data beneath it. His proposed hierarchy begins with accurate transactions and connected systems, followed by reporting and analysis, with advisory at the top. In finance, he said, a “99.95% answer” may still not be good enough.

For full show notes, visit: https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/content/get-the-fundamentals-right-before-chasing-ai

On this week’s episode, the team is joined by AJ Chambers managing director James Gosling to discuss Affinia’s acquisition of Wilson Partners and what it could mean for consolidation, private equity and the profession.

Sharon Cooke, technical director at 20:20 Innovation, joins the latest episode of No Accounting for Taste to talk about training in a changing profession, the skills accountants will need and why development should support a firm's wider strategy.

Despite Tom Herbert missing Xerocon, Richard Hattersley was on hand to fill him in – including the big slide and ball pit. He explains how AI dominated the event, with Xero’s Anthropic integration taking centre stage. Herbert discusses the announcements that stood out, Hattersley’s podcast with Xero CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy and signs of growing discontent among users.

Hattersley then reflects on the stories shaping the profession over the past three months, from pressure on owner-managed businesses and reporting reform fatigue to financial reporting changes and the launch of Making Tax Digital (MTD). Looking ahead, he predicts a busy summer, with the first MTD submissions due in August, tax uncertainty under the new prime minister and chancellor, continued reliance on rolling forecasts and a possible AI reality check. The team asks whether the profession is facing its biggest period of change in years.

Finally, Matthew Ord shares insights from his conversation with Richard Davis, founder of FNLY and former CFO at SpareRoom.co.uk and Coolr, about choosing your battles when finance leaders cannot afford to be ‘yes people’. Rather than simply saying yes or no, they need to ask why, challenge decisions and act as informed business partners. Hattersley argues that finance leaders must bring independent thinking and in-depth knowledge to become effective co-pilots, while Herbert adds that they must step outside their comfort zones as finance becomes less siloed.

Live from Xerocon at Olympia, Richard Hattersley sits down with Xero CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy to mark the company's 20th anniversary. Together, they unpack Xero's massive AI announcements, a new mid-market push, and a fascinating experiment where the software giant tried—and failed—to clone itself using AI.

In this episode, they discuss:

Xero at 20: The journey from a far-fetched New Zealand startup to a platform serving 5 million global subscribers.

The Rise of the 'Builder Class': How 500,000 users have already adopted Xero’s AI bundle (Jax), driving a fourfold jump in API usage.

Microsoft & Anthropic Integrations: Why bringing Xero data into Copilot and Claude is a game-changer for finance workflows, and addressing the "fox in the henhouse" data security debate.

The Clone Experiment: Why AI can handle basic bank categorization with ease, but hits a roadblock on the general ledger ("Xero is always more than five lines of code").

The Mid-Market Push & Xero Ultra: Solving the painful leap from small business to full ERP with advanced analytics and seamless book-to-tax workflows.

Listen now to find out why model advances are a product tailwind rather than a market threat, and how to move from compliance drudgery into high-value advisory work.

For full show notes visit: https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tech/tech-pulse/xero-ceo-ai-builder-class-rewrites-accounting

How can firms ensure technology improves the client experience rather than complicates it and can such a step be taken without affecting that relationship? David Gartside and Luke Farren join The Progressive Firm Podcast to discuss.