Podcast: AI job displacement fears overblown; firms pivot strategy

There may be errors in spelling, grammar, and accuracy in this machine-generated transcript. David Leary: [00:00:04] So I have a LinkedIn post as 10,000 views, and I'm asking for people to put the name of one accountant that they know have lost their jobs because a company implemented some AI and now they don't need that account anymore. Zero names, Blake, zero names. It's been weeks zero names in this thread because I don't think it's true. Coming to you weekly from the OnPay Recording Studio. Blake Oliver: [00:00:30] Hello and welcome back to the accounting Podcast, your weekly roundup of news in the profession. I'm Blake Oliver. David Leary: [00:00:35] I'm David Leary. Blake Oliver: [00:00:37] David. This week I've got an amazing parody video to play for you. The Massachusetts State Auditor performed karaoke at a parody at like, an event on Saint Patrick's Day. It's hilarious. It's called baby, where the Hell is My audit? But before that, let's thank our sponsors who are our sponsors this week. David Leary: [00:01:00] Our sponsors this week we have on pay and we have uncW Kenan-flagler Business School. Blake Oliver: [00:01:07] Uh, thank you so much to on pay for sponsoring this episode. Are you tired of payroll headaches getting in the way of the client experience? You want to deliver manual workflows, creating bottlenecks, compliance nightmares, and endless support calls that go nowhere. There's a better way for your team and your clients on pay. Is the partner that accountants and bookkeepers actually love for payroll. Why? Because it's easy to use, packed with value, and backed by support that actually supports you. Their team gets rave reviews for being fast, expert, and actually reachable when you need them. Amp handles the heavy lifting. You get a dedicated onboarding coordinator who sets up worker profiles and transfers year to date data from previous providers, all at no extra cost. They're seamless. Quickbooks and Xero integrations eliminate manual journal entries, and they support any type of businesses you serve. Farms, restaurants, nonprofits, you name it on pay can handle unique requirements without adding complexity. And OMP keeps pricing simple to everything your clients expect from multi-state filing to off cycle pay runs is included. No hidden fees. No surprises. To book a demo, head over to The Accounting Podcast. That's The Accounting Podcast o p a y. And welcome to our livestream viewers. Great to see you. Our boring accountant. Blake Oliver: [00:02:24] Happy Friday. Hazardous items. Good to have you with us. All right, let's open up with something a little bit fun. This is a video Massachusetts State Auditor, uh, what's her name? Diana. Diana Dizoglio. And she performed this parody at a Saint Patrick's Day breakfast. And it's aimed at the Massachusetts state legislature, which she says is still blocking an audit that voters already approved back in November of 2024, Massachusetts voters passed question one, giving the auditor authority to audit the legislature. It was a landslide, 72% in favor. And this is a performance audit, not just a financial statement audit. The measure lets the auditor examine the legislature's accounts, programs, activities and functions. And the reason that she's singing this song, where the hell is my audit? Is that the legislature has refused to cooperate, arguing that an executive branch auditor digging into the legislature violates separation of powers under the Massachusetts Constitution. So Dizoglio has sued the legislature, sued them on February 10th to force the lawmakers to turn over records. And on March 19th, a Supreme Judicial Court justice said the threshold legal issue should go to the full court. So this is going to the court and we're going to see what happens. But for right now, we're going to listen. David Leary: [00:03:52] She rolls up into the executive branch. Right? Blake Oliver: [00:03:54] That's right. David Leary: [00:03:55] Okay. Blake Oliver: [00:03:55] So here we go. Audit Parody Clip: [00:03:58] Oh, baby, where the hell is my audit? Do they think we forgot it? Oh, tell them if you see them, baby. If you see them, baby. Why is the speaker waiting for me to get over? He's already testing my patience. I only fear he's taking time to destroy all the records and the age he's been taking vacations. Wait till I get my hands on them. Look how long they've kept us waiting, anticipating. And despite my frustrations, we keep saying they must conceive completely how the people want it. Are they far away? Are they okay? The speaker's testing me. Help me, help me, help me. Lord, I need you to tell me, baby, where the hell is my audit? What's the date? It's so long. To find me. Oh, baby, where the hell is my audit? Do they think we forgot it? Oh, tell them if you see them, baby. If you see them, baby. They should holler. I just filed in court, but the AG said no. Leaving the voters with nowhere to go. Access to justice. Just for some. We know where the judge's paycheck comes from. No wonder some are under the speaker's thumb. We already voted to force question one. You already voted for the audit, but the AG and court seem determined to block it. Come, come, come save me. How? The people want it. Are they far away? Are they okay? The speaker's testing me. Audit Parody Clip: [00:05:37] Ha ha ha ha! Help me, help me, help me! Lord, I need you to tell me, baby, where the hell is my audit? What's taking so long to find me e Eat me. Oh, baby, where the hell is my audit? Do they think we forgot it? Oh, tell them if you see them, baby. If you see them, baby, they should tell him. Tell them all. Tell them, tell them mom. Tell em. Mom. Five, five. Tell em. Michael Brown eyes and a growing fear that if it doesn't find me now. I'm gonna die without it. Hurry up. Sir. Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah. I wanted wanted wanted wanted wanted. I would like a ring. I would like a ring. I would like a telephone ring. I would like a bright and shiny on it that I can wave around and talk and talk about. And when the day is here. Forgive me, God, that I could ever doubt it. Until death do I, do I, do I. Is he about testing me? Help me, help me, help me. Lord. I need you to tell me. Baby, where the hell is my audit? What's been taking so long to find me? Oh, baby, where the hell is my audit? Do they think we forgot it? Oh, tell them that my grandma said it. Tell them grandma said it. Audit Parody Clip: [00:06:52] Your order is coming. Audit Parody Clip: [00:06:58] I would like a ring. I would like a ring. I would like a telephone ring. Obviously, I would like a shiny on it. On it, on it, on it. On it. Where is our audience? Are. David Leary: [00:07:16] Super impressive. Super impressive. Blake Oliver: [00:07:21] I don't know why they're not on their feet. David Leary: [00:07:24] There's a lot of awkward clapping along the way by awkward non rhythmic white people clapping. Kind of oddly. Blake Oliver: [00:07:31] The beats on the beat. Yeah. David Leary: [00:07:32] On the on the ones and threes. Um so somebody put a comment about afroman in the lemon pound cake vibes. And I was going to bring the story that to the show and I talked myself out of it, but now that somebody brought it up in the chat. Yeah. The Afroman case is kind of similar, right? He used social media and a music and a song to get justice. Blake Oliver: [00:07:55] I have no idea what you're talking about. What is. David Leary: [00:07:57] The Afroman? Blake Oliver: [00:07:58] Afroman case? David Leary: [00:07:59] Let's rewind to the mid 90s. Do you remember that song? Like, I didn't do my dishes today because I got high. Do you remember that song? Yeah, yeah. That's afroman. Blake Oliver: [00:08:08] Okay. David Leary: [00:08:09] A couple years back, he got his house raided because there was a tip turned in that he had drugs there and a kidnaping victim or something like this. His house gets raided. They wind up filing no charges against him, and he has these video cameras. So he made some songs that went viral on Spotify and TikTok about these police officers to went through his house. Called him out and essentially mocked them so bad that they filed a $4 million lawsuit against him. And he won the lawsuit yesterday against these police officers. But there is an accounting story because one of the. And that's why I almost brought to the show one of the things that. Blake Oliver: [00:08:49] You are bringing to the show. Now, what is the accounting. David Leary: [00:08:51] In the show? So one of the things they did is they confiscated about 4000 300,000 or $4300 in cash from his house, put it in an evidence envelope, logged it as a certain amount of money. When he got it back, it was short $400, right when he got it back from the evidence and the accounting story there is they didn't use proper cash accounting. They just counted the cash, right? They didn't. Instead of saying there was two $100 bills, six, $20 bills, uh, 17 fives and 32 ones or something like that. They didn't follow proper cash handling guidance. And that's that's the accounting record keeping. That's a stretch of accounting story, but it's kind of tied to the aftermath. And then and then he actually claimed that they took his money, his earned money that he paid taxes on already. So he, he, he keeps bringing that up. This is money I paid taxes on. So he's very upset about it. But it worked. This viral video type thing. This could basically it resulted in justice by doing these viral videos. And so maybe. Blake Oliver: [00:09:53] It gets attention. David Leary: [00:09:53] Maybe this, uh, is she the she's the state auditor. Blake Oliver: [00:09:58] She's the Massachusetts state auditor. David Leary: [00:10:00] Yep, yep. Blake Oliver: [00:10:01] So maybe this will pressure the legislature into complying. Well, I guess it's going to go to the court anyway. So if once the court decides, then maybe the legislature will do it. David Leary: [00:10:13] Now