Prompt & Loss

Intuit says early users of its new embedded AI are saving 13 hours a month. Daniel thinks that’s a modest claim. In this episode of Prompt & Loss, he’s joined by James Fry, founder of Fry Accounting, to work through what embedded AI actually means for how firms price, deliver and stand behind their work.

The conversation gets straight to the uncomfortable bit: if compliance takes half the time, do fees halve too? James argues accountants have long been their own worst enemy on compliance pricing, and that clients pay for output, not hours. But he admits the answer depends on how you package it.

From there: why “advisory” is still a word nobody can define, how James went from cynic to daily user of AI in Xero, and the question most firms haven’t answered: who signs off work the AI did? Daniel shares the story of a colleague who saved a month of work pulling data off PDFs, then went quiet when asked how he’d verified any of it.

Plus the quickfire round, and a strong case for the best non-work use of AI yet.

AI is moving faster than most accounting firms can govern it. This week, Daniel is joined by Sam Horner, Head of Accounting Partnerships at Penfold Pension, to unpack two stories that show why.

India’s national cyber agency, CERT-In, warned that AI models doing online research reached live systems at Indian organisations and read private business records, and none of those organisations noticed until the AI providers told them. Meanwhile, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi and Schwab all drew the same line: outside AI agents can look at your accounts, but they can’t log in as you or move your money.

Daniel and Sam dig into what “read, don’t touch” means for firms that hold client bank access, whether short-lived agent identities and activity logs are realistic for a practice, and what this all means for pensions and accounting. Then Sam takes on the quickfire round: favourite AI thing, best outcome, worst fail, what’s winding him up, and the one thing he’d make everyone in accounting do with AI tomorrow.

The practical takeaway: does your firm truly understand AI governance? Start with an AI inventory of every AI tool connected to your firm, not just the ones you actively use, and what each is doing. Larger firms may need an AI amnesty first.

Prompt & Loss is the weekly, straight-talking AI podcast for accountants and finance professionals.