AI becomes more useful when it can reflect the context of the businesses accountants serve. In this conversation with Kacee Johnson, CLA CEO Jen Leary explains how the firm’s industry-specific data is informing its investment in proprietary AI models. She discusses protecting that data and keeping the work focused on insights that help clients make better, faster decisions. It’s a practical look at how one firm is approaching the connection between its accumulated knowledge, AI capabilities, and client outcomes. Watch the clip from the AI Native Accounting® Podcast. Full episode link in comments.

Your clients are using AI. Their questions are changing. How do we address bias? Manage hallucinations? Demonstrate responsible use? Schellman’s Danny Manimbo explains how the firm turned those emerging needs into new assurance services—and new opportunities for growth. For firms, recognizing the next client problem can be just as valuable as improving an existing workflow. Watch Danny’s conversation with Kacee Johnson on the AI Native Accounting® Podcast from the AI Native Accounting Foundation. Full episode in the comments. 👇

What should never be automated at the IRS? Danny Werfel's answer is immediate: "I'm sorry, Watson, you're not getting the chair." He wants AI-powered auditors: smarter, faster, moving through cases quicker. What he doesn't want is AI making the call. "It should be an IRS employee that is making the final decisions on audit selection, on the assessment of what the balance due is, the audit outcomes." Augmentation, not replacement, even at the highest-stakes point in the system. Full episode with Danny Werfel, the 50th Commissioner of the IRS, in comments.

"We can't just walk out of the room and say, 'You got this, Watson. You're all set.'" Danny Werfel's warning to firms and tax authorities: don't let efficiency gains push the human out of the decision chair. He's already seeing the pattern play out. Firms implement an agent on top of tax prep, it saves preparers four hours a day - and leadership either cuts headcount or just piles more compliance work onto the people who are left. Either way, oversight erodes. The efficiency is real. The mistake is treating it as a reason to remove the human, rather than a reason to reinvest in judgment. Full episode with Danny Werfel in comments.

AI in tax is moving fast, and the risks are moving just as fast. @DannyWerfel, the 50th Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, joins @KaceeJ to discuss what responsible AI adoption should look like across the tax profession. The conversation examines: “Extraordinary productivity gains shouldn’t automatically mean removing people from the process.” “Accuracy isn’t enough. AI systems must also be auditable, transparent, and governed.” “If AI performs the work traditionally given to junior professionals, how will the next generation develop the judgment required to supervise it?” The goal isn’t to slow AI adoption. It’s to make sure the profession understands what it is deploying, and who remains accountable when something goes wrong. AI should sit beside the tax professional, not take their chair. A conversation every accountant and tax professional should hear. Link in the comments.

"It's not just about what a job pays. It's about the value you create for society." Barry Melancon spent 30 years leading the AICPA, and this idea shaped his view of the accounting profession. He explains why being a CPA is about far more than technical expertise. Watch the full conversation.

Can you trust what AI creates? Barry Melancon explains why assurance plays a critical role in helping businesses trust AI-generated information and the systems behind it. He also shares how AI will reshape the way audits are performed. Hear his full perspective.

Leadership looks different from the inside. After leading the AICPA for three decades, Barry Melancon shares how his role at Baker Tilly International gave him a firsthand look at the execution and prioritization challenges firms face every day. Watch the full episode now.