By now, many of us are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our practices. The use of AI can certainly add efficiencies to our work, but there are risks. The IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) recently issued some guidelines on the use of AI and Tax Ethics. We will also review strategies and guidelines for the use of AI in your practices. Presented by Lawrence Pon, CPA/PFS, CFP, EA, USTCP, AEP. 

What got firms here won't get them through what's next. The way firms have operated for the last 80 years won't fly going forward, and small firm owners who try to do everything themselves pay for it in time, energy, and growth. The good news: you don't have to do it alone, and getting help doesn't have to mean another project on your plate. In this conversation, Randy Crabtree, CPA, sits down with technology and talent providers to talk about how small firms can hand off work through automation, outsourcing, and delegation, with a focus on choosing the right partners, setting clear expectations, and managing those relationships. The payoff is the firm of the future: one where the practitioner keeps the technical knowledge but finally has time to be what clients actually want, a partner and advisor who's there when they need them.

Every small firm gets the same question from a new client: what should I be using? We might answer out of habit, or perhaps with whatever the last client used. That one answer can quietly decide how many hours your staff will spend on that client's books for the next five years. This session focuses on evaluating those client-facing financial tools and the quality of the information they deliver to your accounting systems. 

We'll work through: 

1. Where the work actually lives: mapping a client's stack across banking, cards, bill pay, and invoicing, and identifying where missing information or disconnected systems create accounting cleanup. 
2. One connected system vs. four tools: how much month-end and tax-prep cleanup disappears when the pieces talk to each other, and where the hours go when they don't. 
3. Receipt capture and coding in the real world: how these behave day-to-day versus how they look in a demo. 
4. Real GL integration vs. a CSV with extra steps: what a genuine handoff into accounting looks like, and how to test for it before you recommend a tool. 
5. Building a default stack you stand behind: how California firms landed on theirs, which client needs should guide the recommendation, and when a different setup may be appropriate. 

Small firms don't usually have an advisory problem. They have a capacity problem. Most owners already know which clients need more strategic help and which engagements are underpriced. What they don't have is the room to act on it. This session walks through how small firms are rebuilding their operating model around that constraint before 2027 starts: auditing where the hours actually go, deciding which recurring work can be handed off to automation, and reinvesting the reclaimed time into the higher-value client conversations that generate recurring revenue. We'll cover what firms are automating today, where AI tools are and aren't ready for client work, the data and review-control questions to settle before turning any of it on, and how to sequence the changes so you're not rebuilding the firm during busy season.