The Accounting Podcast

Sponsor

• CPA.com: http://cloudaccountingpodcast.promo/cpa

Show Notes

• 00:16 - Welcome to the Cloud Accounting Podcast!
• 01:02 - Correction: Gappify is true automation (not fake bots)
• 03:09 - Jotham's background in the Big Four and then SOX compliance consulting
• 04:06 - What is Gappify Alan and what does it do?
• 07:13 - How does Alan work behind the scenes?
• 11:00 - The value proposition of Gappify for a midsize company
• 13:16 - About Gappify, including their participation in the AICPA startup accelerator
• 16:48 - Live demo of Gappify Alan
• 24:07 - Who is a good fit for Gappify as a customer?
• 25:29 - What does Gappify cost?
• 26:14 - Do you find challenges with customization?
• 28:41 - Are you still building a bot to pass the CPA exam?
• 32:36 - Do you think companies will stop customizing so much?
• 36:16 - How to get in touch with Jotham Ty and learn about Gappify (https://www.gappify.com/)

Get in Touch

Thanks for listening! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes. Interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.

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Sponsor

• Xero: http://cloudaccountingpodcast.promo/joinxero

Show Notes

• 00:34 -- Welcome to the Cloud Accounting Podcast, and our guest, Lorilyn Wilson, CPA!
• 02:29 -- We got another review! Click here to leave a review on iTunes.
• 03:25 -- Canopy releases professional tax prep software | Accounting Today — Practice management software developer Canopy announced general availability Tuesday of Tax Prep, its professional tax preparation software.
• 08:10 -- Poll: What Percentage of your Firm’s Revenue Comes From Advisory Services? | Tax Pro Center | Intuit ProConnect
• 10:37 -- @TheBig4Accountant: "I still have no idea what advisory does" | Twitter 😂
• 13:54 -- Lawmakers expected to offer new version of IRS bill without 'Free File' provision | TheHill — The Free File program was stripped from the legislation moving through Congress, putting the future of the Free File program in doubt.
• 14:52 -- Changes coming to tax transcript availability | Journal of Accountancy — The IRS said Tuesday that on June 28 it will stop faxing tax transcripts to taxpayers, tax professionals, and third parties to protect against identity theft.
• 16:09 -- The Worst-Kept Secret About QuickBooks Online | Forbes — David says that Gene Marks nailed the key point about cloud accounting price increases way back in 2015.
• 19:47 -- Hey CPA Exam Candidates, Y'all Ready For Continuous Testing? It's Coming | Going Concern — According to the revised rule, when system changes have eliminated the need for test window limitations “a Candidate can retake a Test Section once their grade for any previous attempt of the same Test Section has been released.”
• 22:20 -- Georges raises $11.2 million for its accounting automation tool | TechCrunch — On the latest app that has raised VC money to automate accountants out of a job: “It’s not perfect so you still have to manually categorize some transactions. But it’s still much faster than entering each transaction in an accounting application. Once everything is tagged properly, Georges generates paperwork and sends it to tax authorities.”
• 25:41 -- Here’s what creatives think of the new Mac Pro | The Verge — What do you think of the “Cheese Grater”?
• 27:03 -- Updates to the App Store Review Guidelines | Apple Developer — Apple buried a new requirement that all apps on the app store use a “sign in with Apple ID” option in the future. Does this mean we’ll see an Apple ID sign in option in the QuickBooks and Xero iOS apps?
• 29:32 -- In a rare advisory, NSA urges users to patch BlueKeep flaw | TechCrunch — If you’re running Windows 7 or earlier, patch your computers ASAP!
• 31:50 -- ATAX Franchise and Loyalty Brands Join Forces to Expand Nationwide and to Serve the $2.13 Trillion US Latino Market | PR News Wire — There’s a reason ATAX is growing so quickly: “In the last decade, U.S. Latinos launched 86% of all new businesses in the U.S.”
• 34:06 -- @LorilynWilson: “Bookkeeping Firms: Do you allow your client to dictate the accounting software?” | Twitter — According to a totally non-scientific poll on Twitter, the majority of respondents don’t allow their clients to dictate what accounting software to use.
• 37:28 -- Thanks for joining us, Lorilyn! Follow Lorilyn Wilson on Twitter.

Get in Touch

Thanks for listening! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes. Interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.

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Sponsor

• Elefant: http://cloudaccountingpodcast.promo/elefant

Show Notes

• 00:48 - Why start your own accounting conference?
• 01:47 - What is an "Accounting Salon"?
• 02:47 - What makes the Accounting Salon different
• 04:08 - Agenda for 2019
• 06:04 - How to nominate yourself (or another) to be invited next year
• 07:01 - Thank you to this year's sponsors!
• 07:38 - Visit AccountingSalon.com for more information

Get in Touch

Thanks for listening! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes. Interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.

Subscribe

• Apple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcasts
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• Overcast: http://cloudacctpod.link/Overcast

Sponsor

• Xero: http://cloudaccountingpodcast.promo/joinxero

Show Notes

• 02:34 -- Blake crunches the numbers and figures that if Intuit meets its publicly stated goals, QuickBooks Live will likely be a $60 million per year accounting firm by 2020, putting it at 73 on Accounting Today’s Top 100 Accounting Firms list. 
• 06:56 -- Sholto Macpherson asks, is QuickBooks Live a "Watershed moment or BAU?" — Twitter
• 10:02 -- Google’s Duplex Uses A.I. to Mimic Humans (Sometimes) — The New York Times — Google admitted that it’s AI still needs human help, but you’ve got to listen to a recording of a call from Google Duplex (a bot) to a restaurant to book a dinner reservation.
• 17:13 -- Roger, the accounting automation tool, raises $7.35M Series A — TechCrunch (Guess who is one of the investors? Dan Wernikoff, the former GM of QuickBooks and TurboTax.)
• 20:02 -- Firms lose cloud access after Cetrom systems breach — Journal of Accountancy — Centrom, a provider of cloud hosting to CPA firms, fell victim to an attack using similar malware to the one that caused the CCH outage.
• 21:23 -- In Baltimore and Beyond, a Stolen N.S.A. Tool Wreaks Havoc — The New York Times — The New York Times details how a leaked N.S.A. hacking tool might be responsible for the recent malware attacks on CCH, Centrom (a provider of cloud hosting to CPA firms) and the City of Baltimore.
• 25:53 -- Social engineering: Password in exchange for chocolate — ScienceDaily — A disturbing percentage of people will give out their password to strangers in exchange for little value.
• 29:38 -- Hands On: The Twin-Screen Asus ZenBook Pro Duo Is a Laptop From the 2020s — PC Magazine — With two built-in screens, David predicts this laptop could be the ideal computer for accountants and bookkeepers on the go.
• 32:04 -- When You Raise Prices More Than a Smidge ... They At Least Look At Another Vendor — SaaStr — The author cautions software companies that rase prices to dramatically. Meanwhile, David was hit by a 100%+ price increase on his QuickBooks subscription!

Get in Touch

Thanks for listening! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes. 

Interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? We have some open sponsorship dates available for the summer season. We also have some “conference special” sponsorship opportunities available, for example, the week of June 16 we’ll be doing 4 daily “conference crossover” episodes covering Scaling New Heights and Xerocon. For details and pricing, read the prospectus.

Subscribe

• Apple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcasts
• Spotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/Spotify
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• Overcast: http://cloudacctpod.link/Overcast

Sponsor

• Elefant: http://cloudaccountingpodcast.promo/elefant

Show Notes

• 00:46 - Why Acuity is starting to offer tax services after being a solely advisory and bookkeeping firm for many years
• 02:07 - Kenji shares the background on his firm Acuity
• 04:56 - Acuity takes a B2B software startup approach to sales, unusual for an accounting firm
• 07:01 - Kenji shares why they don't call their bookkeepers "bookkeepers"
• 08:50 - How Acuity builds out their CAS technology stack and lessons learned along the way
• 11:39 - Watch Kenji and Matt's YouTube show, Drink While You Think
• 14:50 - Follow Kenji Kuramoto on Twitter

Get in Touch 

Thanks for listening! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes. Interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.

Subscribe

• Apple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcasts
• Spotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/Spotify
• Google Play: http://cloudacctpod.link/GooglePlay
• Stitcher: http://cloudacctpod.link/Stitcher
• Overcast: http://cloudacctpod.link/Overcast

Thank you to this week’s sponsor!

This episode of the Cloud Accounting Podcast is sponsored by Xero. Did you miss the Xero Roadshow when it came to your city? You can still attend a Xero Roadshow Online! You’ll learn how your practice can benefit from the full power of the Xero Platform and earn CPE credit. Register here.

Show Notes

• 03:06 -- High schoolers get certified in QuickBooks... Desktop? Noooo! | Twitter
• 04:24 -- Glendale man admits to embezzling $2.8-million and filing fake tax returns | CPA Practice Advisor
• 08:17 -- TurboTax Uses A “Military Discount” to Trick Troops Into Paying to File Their Taxes | ProPublica
• 09:56 -- Senator Warren Leads Colleagues Questioning Intuit's Deceptive Practices That Led Low- and Middle-Income Taxpayers to Pay Unnecessary Fees | Elizabeth Warren
• 11:53 -- Intuit Corp (INTU) Q3 2019 Earnings Call Transcript | The Motley Fool
• 17:32 -- Update on QuickBooks Live with Intuit's Rich Preece | QBO Show
• 24:32 -- Investor Briefing: Full year results to 31 March 2019 | Xero
• 26:53 -- Quarterly Report | Intuit
• 28:32 -- Xero's CEO says it still has a cautious future in the US | Scoop News
• 32:56 -- Public Statement - Network and Service Interruptions | Wolters Kluwer
• (34:54) Hackers have been holding the city of Baltimore’s computers hostage for 2 weeks | Vox
• 36:13 -- Atlanta Spent $2.6M to recover from a $52,000 ransomware scare | WIRED
• 38:49 -- SURVEY: 59% Deliver Invoices on Paper | CPA Trendlines
• 40:22 -- Making Change | Payments, Perspectives and Politics | Square 
• 42:27 -- Zero percent of respondents to an online survey are actively researching or currently implementing blockchain in controllership | Deloitte Controllership Digest
• 44:58 -- $461,646 in Pay for One Worker: M.T.A. Overtime Scrutinized by Prosecutors | NYTimes
• 49:45 -- Bill.com launches AI platform for automated payments processing | Venture Beat
• 52:18 -- Introducing Plaid Direct | Plaid
• 53:23 -- TransferWise: Europe's Most Valuable FinTech | PYMNTS
• 53:42 -- Shopify quietly acquired Handshake, an e-commerce platform for B2B wholesale purchasing | TechCrunch

Get in Touch

Thanks for listening! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes.

Interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? We have some open sponsorship dates available for the summer season:

• June 21 through October 4
• Then again starting January 10, 2020

We also have some “conference special” sponsorship opportunities available, for example, the week of June 16 we’ll be doing 4 daily “conference crossover” episodes covering Scaling New Heights and Xerocon. For more information, check out the prospectus.

Subscribe

• Apple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcasts
• Spotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/Spotify
• Google Play: http://cloudacctpod.link/GooglePlay
• Stitcher: http://cloudacctpod.link/Stitcher
• Overcast: http://cloudacctpod.link/Overcast

Sponsor

• Xero: http://cloudaccountingpodcast.promo/joinxero

Show Notes

• 03:11 - Thanks for the reviews! Click here to leave a review on iTunes and we'll read it on the air.
• 05:44 - Elon Musk tells Tesla employees he'll review all of company’s expenses in new cost-cutting plan | FOX Business
• 07:20 - IRS statement and instructions regarding recent software outage | Internal Revenue Service
• 09:07 - QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping Update: May 2019 | Firm of the Future
• 15:29 - Intuit CEO in Internal Video: Hiding Free TurboTax Was In “Best Interest of Taxpayers” | ProPublica
• 19:18 - Audio of a phone call with a TurboTax customer support agent who repeatedly cites false information | Twitter
• 26:12 - Intuit grows more defensive | Accounting Today
• 26:47 - Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP : Announces the Filing of a Consumer Class Action Lawsuit Against Intuit Inc., Maker of TurboTax, for Improperly Charging Fees
• 28:09 - Subscribers boost gives accounting software giant Sage profit spike of 16%
• 29:30 - Drury family stake in Xero soars to $1.1b after Xero moves into profit | Stuff.co.nz
• 31:09 - Sage's Nancy Harris: "We do not intend to push our customers to the cloud" | Twitter
• 32:42 - Xero announces Tony Ward as new President of the Americas | Twitter
• 33:31 - Matt Paff on the appointment of Tony Ward as President of the Americas | Twitter
• 34:56 - Sage Research Reveals that 90% of Accountants Worldwide Believe There Has Been a Cultural Shift in the Accountancy Profession | AP News
• 41:05 - Warren Buffett decries accounting rule change that has made a mess of Berkshire's earnings | Yahoo Finance
• 45:06 - Developing your own specialized niche practice | Journal of Accountancy

Get in Touch

Thanks for listening! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes.

Subscribe

• Apple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcasts
• Spotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/Spotify
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• Overcast: http://cloudacctpod.link/Overcast

This episode is sponsored by Xero. Xero Roadshow is coming to a city near you. Expand your knowledge and keep up with all things Xero.

Show Notes

• 01:41 - Nicolas Cage Ponies Up $6.25 Million to Pay Back Taxes—But How Much Does He Still Owe? | E Online
• 03:14 - Wolters Kluwer takes services offline after malware attack | Journal of Accountancy
• 07:21 - What’s Behind the Wolters Kluwer Tax Outage? | Krebs on Security
• 12:20 - Read updates by Wolters Kluwer regarding the outage on their Facebook page (and comments expressing customer outrage)
• 17:00 - Surge of MegaCortex ransomware attacks detected | ZDNet
• 17:49 - A malware attack against accounting software giant Wolters Kluwer is causing a 'quiet panic' at accounting firms | CNBC
• 19:17 - A "Firm of the Future" finalist loses a client to QuickBooks Live | Twitter
• 21:52 - Vermont House Backs 'Cloud Tax' to Fund Clean Water Programs | Seven Days
• 27:05 - ADP and Intuit Partner to Enhance Cross-Platform Integration with QuickBooks Online | CPA Practice Advisor
• 31:21 - Los Angeles city attorney sues H&R Block and maker of TurboTax for allegedly misleading low-income taxpayers | NBC News
• 36:04 - Are all-white-male panels hindering diversity in accountancy? | AccountingWEB — Also see the original panel that started the discussion and the thread with Paul Meissner on Twitter.
• 37:40 - How New Accounting Grads Can Tune Up Their Diversity BS Detectors | Going Concern
• 42:57 - Everyone’s Income Taxes Should Be Public | New York Times
• 47:59 - Subscribe to Cloud Accounting Podcast show notes
• 49:16 - Don't miss the Desktop Accounting Podcast! | PodBean

Get in Touch

Thanks for listening! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes.

Subscribe

• Apple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcasts
• Spotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/Spotify
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• Overcast: http://cloudacctpod.link/Overcast

Sponsor

• Xero: http://cloudaccountingpodcast.promo/joinxero

Show Notes

• 01:43 -- It looks like Intuit and H&R Block have been employing some super-shady marketing tactics for years to charge people who should otherwise have qualified to file their taxes for free. Here’s everything you need to know about the ProPublica “Free File” investigation. For more, be sure to read “Here's How TurboTax Just Tricked You into Paying to File Your Taxes,” and "TurboTax Deliberately Hid Its Free File Page from Search Engines”. You can get background on the 16-year-old IRS Free File Alliance on the IRS website. Check out the official TurboTax response here and read the text of Intuit’s agreement with the IRS to understand why this matters.
• 07:22 -- It gets worse — former Intuit and H&R Block employees detail how both companies worked to prevent low-income taxpayers from utilizing the Free File program, despite their commitment to the IRS to promote their truly free offerings. Now the scandal has entered the Presidential campaign — Elizabeth Warren called for agencies to investigate the matter. With the political fallout, the fate of the Taxpayer First Act, which would have enshrined the Free File Alliance permanently into law, is now in question.
• 15:21 -- To contain the damage, Intuit has started buying up a number of negative or offensive domain names containing their trademarks. Meanwhile, at least one TurboTax customer service agent called the whole thing “fake news.”
• 18:39 -- Rich Preece of Intuit joins Friday Night Live on Facebook to talk the future of the QuickBooks Live with Bookkeeping test, including a go-live date in June. Meanwhile, Intuit is raising prices for QuickBooks (again).
• 25:56 -- Divvy, which has set out to revolutionize expense management (for free), just raised $200 million in a Series C round. Listen to find out what they plan to do with that money.
• 29:45 -- Over in the alternative lending space, OnDeck’s charge-offs are rising.
• 31:33 -- Sholto MacPherson details how NetSuite’s new analytics tool shows how ERPs can win versus ecosystems when it comes to reporting.
• 34:46 -- Here’s some practical advice on SaaS marketing.
• 35:58 -- Learn why Amazon bet (almost) a billion dollars on certainty.
• 37:10 -- Helm asks, “What the Heck is an Advisor?”
• 38:30-- Here’s why accidents like the Notre-Dame fire happen.

Get in Touch

Thanks for listening! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes.

Subscribe

• Apple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcasts
• Spotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/Spotify
• Google Play: http://cloudacctpod.link/GooglePlay
• Stitcher: http://cloudacctpod.link/Stitcher
• Overcast: http://cloudacctpod.link/Overcast

Sponsor

• Xero: http://cloudaccountingpodcast.promo/joinxero

Show Notes

• 01:21 -- We got some more reviews! Leave us a review on iTunes and we’ll read it on the air.
• 02:33 -- Scroll to the comments of this review on The College Investor for some pretty scathing reviews of Visor, the $99 tax prep service we covered in the last episode of the Cloud Accounting Podcast (they did not have a good busy season).
• 03:15 -- Ryan Lazanis says that the only way traditional accounting firms can compete with accounting startups like Visor, Pilot, Bench, and Botkeeper is personalized service. 
• 05:30 -- According to a stat published in the Journal of Accountancy, only 60-70% of small firms (under $1 million in revenue) accept credit cards as a form of payment.
• 06:31 -- Here’s a story about a CPA who has partnered with other professionals to act as the single point of contact for all his client’s financial needs. It's a great example of how accountants can create plenty of value beyond compliance, which will become increasingly automated over the next decade.
• 09:31 -- Henry Bloch, the ‘H’ in H&R Block, died at 96.
• 11:44 -- Intuit appears to be marketing QuickBooks Live to clients of ProAdvisors.
• 19:24 -- Here’s why there won't be an Uber for Bookkeeping — at least that’s what Blake thought three years ago. Has QuickBooks Live changed that?
• 21:49 -- Jordyn Dahl, News Editor at LinkedIn, posted about the QuickBooks Advanced Rate Limits. The quantity of comments suggests this is a big deal.
• 22:32 -- Businesses that invoice via QuickBooks Payments can receive next-day funding for both credit card and ACH transactions. It’s only available to QuickBooks Online and GoPayment customers for now. It costs 1% (max $10) per transaction. Next day is also available for credit cards, with no additional fee.
• 25:19 -- Intuit sees uptick in TurboTax sales this year. Intuit reported a 5 percent increase in TurboTax units sold this tax season compared to last year, thanks to a 7 percent increase in TurboTax Online sales. Intuit CFO Michelle Clatterback said the company’s consumer group now expects full-year fiscal 2019 revenue growth to be about 10 percent, at the high end of its previous guidance range of 9 to 10 percent. It will be reporting its quarterly earnings on May 23.
• 26:33 -- Here are the top 10 cities for accountants. A study by AdvisorSmith analyzed 399 small, midsized and large cities across the country based on accounting salary and job availability statistics from the Bureau of Labor, and on the local cost of living from Sperling’s BestPlaces.
• 28:04 -- The Desktop Accounting Podcast is headed your way soon!
• 28:55 -- Here are three ways to charge $25K to your customers, courtesy of Greg Kyte.
• 32:15 -- Listen to “I’m not a Robot” on Planet Money to learn how scammers are paying humans to defeat CAPTCHA.
• 33:28 -- Slack is bridging email to chat, improving calendar integration and search.

Get in Touch

Thanks for listening! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and, if you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes.