Shows / The Accounting Podcast
The Accounting Podcast
The most authoritative voice in accounting news. Every week, Blake Oliver and David Leary break down the stories reshaping the profession — AI, the Big Four, firm M&A, audit failures, and the talent crisis — with analysis you won't get from the trade press. Earn free NASBA-approved CPE just for listening, with the Earmark app.
Episodes
The Accounting PodcastMinus AI, US Edging Toward Recession & Unauthorized Agents Accessing Banks
Should your AI agent have the same bank access you do? Blake Oliver and David Leary unpack banks’ concerns about AI agents and explain why separate logins and…
The Accounting PodcastFrontier Models Outscore CPAs & What Clients Will Spend on Accounting
AI outperformed 12 CPAs on a month-end close benchmark, but that doesn’t mean it can replace them. Blake Oliver and David Leary unpack the study’s limits and…
The Accounting PodcastCould AI Replace CFOs & Time Tracking 188 IRS Calls
Could AI replace your CFO or simply make their job more exhausting? Blake and David debate automation’s limits, unpack an enrolled agent’s log of 188 IRS…
The Accounting PodcastWhen Financial Reports Used to Be Cool & AI's Microwave Moment
Will AI replace accountants—or finally ease the profession’s talent shortage? Blake and David unpack why AI-exposed accounting roles are seeing pay rise, not…
The Accounting PodcastTips to Roll Out AI In Your Firm, AI Squeezing Audit Fees
Could AI make a one-person audit firm possible—and what happens if the data-center boom slows down first? Blake and David examine the AI economy’s circular…
The Accounting PodcastFeds Target KPMG Polymarket Insider Trading, ComplYant Founder Charged with Wire Fraud
Is AI the real threat to accounting firms, or is it the client experience? Blake and David unpack a KPMG-linked Polymarket insider-trading investigation…
The Accounting PodcastEY to Bonus Staff $100M, Deloitte Pays $21M to Settle DEI Case
Can AI prepare a tax return—and catch errors the software misses? Blake shares how Claude Cowork reconciled books, built workpapers, and completed two business…
The Accounting PodcastTurboTax Losing Customers Over Price, Thomson Reuters Builds Own AI
Can AI make tax prep cheaper without replacing the experts behind it? Hector Garcia joins Blake and David to unpack Intuit’s TurboTax pricing pressure…
The Accounting PodcastRogue AI Agents, Off-Balance-Sheet AI Financing & Xerocon 2026
AI agents are going rogue — deleting bookings, sending unauthorized emails, and lying about it — and Blake and David trace the trend into the $3 trillion of…
The Accounting PodcastNVIDIA AI Funding Deal Has "Shades of Enron" & EY Speeds Audits 125%+
Is AI creating an audit boom—or hiding the next Enron-style risk? Blake and David unpack NVIDIA’s $500 billion data-center financing plan, why Michael Burry…
The Accounting PodcastPwC Cuts Disney & The Uncertain Career Path for CPAs
What does episode 500 reveal about where accounting is headed? Blake Oliver and David Leary celebrate the milestone with CFO.com’s Adam Zaki and Going…
The Accounting PodcastGrant Thornton to Acquire CBIZ & Trump Puts Immunity Over Blanche
Could Grant Thornton’s $5 billion CBIZ deal create a Big Five? Blake and David unpack the private-equity-backed combination, what it means for accounting firm…
The Accounting PodcastIRS Chief Spied on Colleagues & Out of Control AI
Could an AI agent decide to hack a system, or cancel your software subscription just to complete its task? Blake and David examine reports of AI agents…
The Accounting PodcastHow Sam Leon Uses Claude Cowork to Prep Tax Returns 5x Faster
Can one accountant really do tax prep five times faster with AI? Blake and David talk with Sam Leon, founder of The Millennial CPA, about how he uses Claude…
The Accounting PodcastHow Much Will World Cup Players Pay in Taxes & Xero's New AI Agent Builder
What do World Cup taxes, AI-built accounting tools, and remote work have in common? In this episode, Blake and David unpack how tax rules hit global athletes…
The Accounting PodcastAussies Want to Break up Big Four & Trump Accounts Go Live on the 4th
What if one tax break could give your child a head start or hand them a pile of money at 18? Blake and David unpack the new Trump accounts, who should use…
The Accounting PodcastFake AI Receipt Fraud Soars & Big Firms Losing Power
Are fake AI receipts becoming the next big headache for finance teams? Blake Oliver and David Leary unpack the surge in AI-generated expense fraud, why tax…
The Accounting PodcastKPMG Withdraws AI Report Full of "Vibe Citations"
Can AI really clean up messy bookkeeping—and what happens when firms trust it too much? Blake and David break down KPMG’s error-filled AI report, the…
The Accounting PodcastAICPA Says By 2040 Compliance Will Be Automated
Will AI really automate most accounting work by 2040? Blake and David unpack what they heard at AICPA Engage, from deterministic AI agents and rising…
The Accounting PodcastAI Beats Humans at Bookkeeping & Powers Finance Team of One
Can AI now do bookkeeping better than humans? Blake and David dig into new data showing major AI models outperforming outsourced accountants on basic…
The Accounting PodcastWhat CBIZ Means for PE, Starbucks Kills Off AI Inventory Counting
Is private equity betting on the wrong accounting firms? Blake and David break down CBIZ’s stock slide, why investors may be losing faith in the traditional…
The Accounting PodcastIntuit Stock Gets Hammered & Trump's Wild IRS Settlement
Is AI about to break the billable hour? Blake and David unpack what they heard at a major AI tax summit, where new tools promise to prepare complex returns in…
The Accounting PodcastIs GAAP Inflating the AI Bubble?
Is AI really the next Google—or are investors repeating the last tech bubble? Blake and David dig into OpenAI’s legal win, the accounting mechanics behind…
The Accounting PodcastSEC Prepares for Semi-Annual Reporting & the True Cost of the Iran War
Could public companies stop reporting every quarter? Blake and David break down the SEC’s push toward optional semiannual reporting, OpenAI’s new consulting…
The Accounting PodcastAn AI-Powered Firm of One, KPMG Shuts Down Fed Audits
Sponsors OnPay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/onpay R.E. Cost Seg - http://accountingpodcast.promo/recostseg C&R Consulting -…
The Accounting PodcastKPMG Lays Off 10% Audit Partners, Best AI Still Fails 1/5 Accounting Tasks
What does it mean when Big Four partners can be demoted—and AI still gets 1 in 5 accounting tasks wrong? Blake and David unpack KPMG’s audit partner cuts, EY…
The Accounting PodcastFirms Need New Metrics, Accountants Worried About Iran
Can the accounting profession grow with fewer people? Blake Oliver and David Leary unpack how AI is reshaping firms, from PwC Australia’s staffing cuts and…
The Accounting PodcastWhen Tax Day Was Party Night at the Post Office
What happens when AI starts doing the audit work itself? Blake and David dig into KPMG’s prediction that routine audit testing could soon happen with almost no…
The Accounting PodcastPerplexity Goes After Tax Prep, IRS Testing Palantir for Audits
What happens when AI starts doing more than answering questions? Blake and David dig into Perplexity’s move into tax prep and bookkeeping, the IRS testing…
The Accounting PodcastTreasury Declares US Insolvent, AI Does Taxes (with Kenji Kuramoto)
Can AI really prepare a tax return without a human touching the keyboard? Blake and David dig into a wave of new accounting tools that promise exactly that…
The Accounting PodcastFake SOC 2 Reports as a Service & Games for Busy Season
Can AI really handle accounting and tax work—or is it just creating new ways to fake compliance? Blake and David dig into allegations of fraudulent SOC 2…
The Accounting PodcastBaby, Where The Hell Is My Audit?
Will AI actually take accountants’ jobs—or just change what their work looks like? Blake and David unpack the gap between AI hype and reality, from a LinkedIn…
The Accounting PodcastAccounting for the U.S. Iran War
What do tariffs, war, AI agents, and a collapsed accounting startup have in common? This week, Blake and David connect the dots between rising economic…
The Accounting PodcastThe AI Agent That Can Do A Partnership Tax Return
Can an AI prep a partnership return on its own? Blake and David dig into Basis’s $100M unicorn claim, Intuit’s OpenAI/Anthropic tie-ups and Claude Cowork, and…
The Accounting PodcastTariff Refund Opportunity for Accountants & Taxpayers Don't Trust AI
SCOTUS just struck down Trump’s global tariffs—so who gets the $133B back, and how can firms capture advisory fees helping clients claim refunds? Blake and…
The Accounting PodcastThe Best & Worst Firms in Accounting with Dom Piscopo
Which accounting firms really deliver sane hours and happy teams? Dom Piscopo (Big Four Transparency) reveals this year’s best—and worst—by job satisfaction…
The Accounting PodcastThe Most Famous Accountant In The World Is A DJ
What happens when AI starts cutting audit bills? Blake and David unpack KPMG’s push for a 14% fee cut from Grant Thornton, Botkeeper’s shutdown versus Pilot’s…
The Accounting PodcastAI Could Displace 50% of Entry-Level White-Collar Jobs
Could AI wipe out half of entry-level accounting roles? Blake and David recount a brazen “courier scam” on David’s porch to unpack how deepfakes and spoofed…
The Accounting PodcastFiscal State of Nation Act & Solving for CPA Mobility with Lindsay Patterson
Are you accidentally breaking CPA rules across state lines? Guest Lindsay Patterson, CPA CIA breaks down the new mobility landscape after alternative licensure…
The Accounting PodcastThe CPA Workload Dilemma: Can We Do Better?
Carla McCall shares insights on the challenges faced by the accounting profession, including workload, work-life balance, and the AICPA's role. She addresses…
The Accounting PodcastTrust In Accountants At Historic Low, the Fraudster Inside the SBA & IRS
Are we causing our own busy-season chaos? Blake and David break down a simple scheduling system that spreads tax work, trains clients, and slashes extensions…
The Accounting PodcastInstead of Armed IRS Agents We Got Armed ICE Agents
Raids replaced audits, and guns replaced spreadsheets. Blake and David connect the dots from Minnesota's sprawling public-assistance fraud to a decade of IRS…
The Accounting PodcastCan AI Replace “Thought Leaders”? A 2026 Reality Check
Think AI will free you from ‘mundane bookkeeping’ so you can do advisory? Blake and David say it’s the opposite. Hear how owners already use AI as a de facto…
The Accounting Podcast$95 Million Missing—and Still a Clean Audit?
How does $95 million go missing at a bank—and still get a clean audit? Blake and David unpack the Evolve Bank/Synapse meltdown, what auditors missed, and how…
The Accounting PodcastWhat Tax Pros Charge & the PE "Dumpster Fire"
Is private equity turning firms into a 'dumpster fire'? Blake and David unpack Accounting Today's survey showing partners are upbeat while staff are sour on…
The Accounting PodcastThe CPA Who Controls Epstein's Fortune
Sponsors Cloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/cas Relay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/relay OnPay -…
The Accounting PodcastThe IRS Agents Who Will Watch OnlyFans At Work
Will IRS agents have to watch OnlyFans to police the new “no tax on tips” deduction? Blake and David unpack the wild twist: a study showing that women-led…
The Accounting PodcastTrump's Department of Education Says Accountants Aren't Professionals
Are accountants no longer “professionals”? We unpack the DOE proposal that could slash grad loan limits—and what AICPA/NASBA plans to do about it. Plus…
The Accounting PodcastWhat Americans Are Most Afraid of Discussing at Thanksgiving
Do money talks make your family squirm more than politics? In this Thanksgiving mailbag, Blake and David dig into a Bankrate survey on taboo money chats, the…
The Accounting PodcastIntuit's $100m/yr OpenAI Deal & How Tech Companies Juice Profits
Blake breaks down how AI can help with cost segregation and explains why AI currently works best on tasks that take humans 2-5 minutes. Michael Burry is…
The Accounting PodcastThe Future of Advisory: Unlocking Your Firm’s CFO Potential (from The Earmark Podcast)
Earmark Media Presents a bonus episode of Earmark Podcast: Live from Boston on the final stop of the Advisory Amplified tour, Blake sits down with James Erving…
The Accounting PodcastLeading with Empathy: Building Teams That Thrive (from The Earmark Podcast)
Earmark Media Presents a bonus episode of Earmark Podcast: On the fifth stop of the Advisory Amplified tour in Atlanta, Blake sits down with Lisa Gilreath of…
The Accounting PodcastBanking on Change: How Renegade Firms Redefine Success (from The Earmark Podcast)
Earmark Media Presents a bonus episode of Earmark Podcast: Live from Austin on the Advisory Amplified tour, Blake sits down with Madeline Reeves of Fearless…
The Accounting PodcastUnlocking Capacity: The Workflow Revolution (from The Earmark Podcast)
Earmark Media Presents a bonus episode of Earmark Podcast: Blake sits down with Mary Delaney, CEO of Karbon, and Kenji Kuramoto, co-founder of Acuity, to…
The Accounting PodcastNASBA Enters the Chat on PE in Accounting & Intuit to Open Retail Stores
Is private equity eroding the soul of the accounting profession? Blake and David unpack NASBA’s PE task force, the BDO–First Brands meltdown, and why…
The Accounting PodcastPricing For Profit: Unlocking Your Firm’s True Value (from The Earmark Podcast)
Earmark Media Presents a bonus episode of Earmark Podcast: Most accounting firms are dramatically underpricing their services, but the fear of losing clients…
The Accounting PodcastIntuit Connect 2025: What's New With QuickBooks
Alicia Katz Pollock joins the show fresh from Intuit Connect with detailed notes on everything announced for QuickBooks Online and the accounting profession…
The Accounting PodcastBurning It Down To Build Better: How Community Is Key To Battling Burnout (from The Earmark Podcast)
Earmark Media Presents a bonus episode of Earmark Podcast: Recorded live in Seattle at the first stop of the Advisory Amplified tour, Blake sits down with…
The Accounting PodcastBDO vs Going Concern, Trump's $3 Trillion Tariff Tax & Film Accountant's $2M Fraud
Blake and David cover BDO's legal threat against Going Concern over independence questions, Crowe hiring an investment bank to explore private equity options…
The Accounting PodcastTrump to Target IRS at Left-Leaning Groups & NASBA Needs An Audit
What if a “stable” coin wasn’t? Blake and David unpack Paxos’s accidental minting of $300 trillion in PayPal USD—and what it reveals about stablecoin “pegs.”…