CPA Peter McCarroll on Why Accountants Must Adopt AI Now

Oh, go live. Okay, we're live.

You know what? We're not doing scripts today. [music] We're just talking. Welcome to Adrien Barker Speaks. No prep needed. [music] No notes on the [music] table. No lines to read, just [music] story, strategy, and what you really need. We skip the small talk, get straight [music] to the heart. Real world answers [music] you can use from the start. No prep needed. Okay.

I love it.

Absolutely.

Oh,

that doesn't get you in the mood. Nothing will.

Yes, exactly. That is sunno. Um, and I can even play it in the background lightly.

Okay, you guys, I am so excited. And I will be honest with you, Peter had to call me.

Where are you, Adrian? I'm like, oh my gosh, I totally like just messed up. Messed up, Peter. I was with my daughter. That's my my biggest excuse, but I'm so excited at when Peter said it and then I was like, let's do it now. And then I'm like the AI accountant. Oh yeah, I want to hear everything. So yes, if you're watching the live, you could read about Peter, but let's hear it from his mouth. So Peter, introduce yourself. But first, I have to say you're bright, you're bold, you're handsome, you got a nice head of hair, and it's a lovely silver gray. I wish I could. I'm jelly. Um, so thank you. So, let's hear who are you?

Well, I'm Peter. I am the AI accountant. I'm a CPA in Canada and CA in New Zealand. So, that's why I speak funny. And I talk to accountants. I know that sounds really boring. Um, and sometimes it is, but I talk to accountants about AI and the shift that it's happening in their businesses that most of them haven't really realized about. And I run an accounting firm just in case I don't have enough time to do stuff. So, I think that's the most important part of what you're saying to me is that,

you know, you're not someone who doesn't understand the industry, you know, cuz you're an accountant.

Yeah.

And is this something that you realized was missing?

Yeah. Well, see, I'm an accountant that uses AI. I'm not an AI consultant that knows something about accounting. Totally different businesses.

So, yeah.

I love that. I love that. Okay. So, go into it. Go into it. Tell me who who would that be? What what not not person-wise, but what would that look like? Someone that um what you said, an AI consultant.

Yeah. So, look, there's lots of AI consultants out there and a lot of them are just trying to sell you a prompt pack or or or or tell you you should use AI. You know, I'm an accountant at heart. I'm a numbers guy. I love a good set of financials. I love it when the books balance. I love helping my clients think through their finances. And it was out of that passion to help my clients plus also realizing what was coming with AI when I realized this is not going to be good enough for much longer. I have to lift my game, deliver a better service to my clients. And you know, I realized that all my colleagues in the accounting profession, we've got to change the way we think, got to change the way we do things. We've got to do actually what it ends up is we got to do better for our clients than what we're doing today. Sorry.

I love this. So wait, so you needed a solution for yourself and then you realize, wait, I could develop this solution for other

I think we've lost Adrien, guys.

Just jam with the music. Stand by caller. Oh, and now she's dropped off.

Hang out here. If you're watching on YouTube live, nice to meet you. Wish I could see you. Wish I could talk to you.

I've never done a live before. It's my first live and now I'm solo. It's a little scary.

Done a few podcasts, produced my own videos,

but never done a live.

I speak live.

So, Peter, yes. So, doing live sometimes technical issues will happen.

I've just been talking to your audience. Hopefully, they uh appreciated it. So,

yeah. And usually it works too. Like the system will still run.

Yes.

Peter, I love what you were saying. I I mean like this to me is really really important. And actually, Peter, I want to take a minute because I I feel like I want to share your website.

And hopefully that's okay with you.

Yeah.

Not doing scripts today

because I think what you were doing. So, I didn't want to be the accountant watching from the sideline while a while. Wait, where's the wording for this?

Oh, maybe it's further up.

Huh. I'm so curious.

It's all up all the way at the top. You're you're you're towards the bottom. That that was

Oh. Oh, I see. Oh. Oh. Oh my god. [laughter] Peter's all worried about doing it live. Well, Peter, I should be the one like my dumminess just showed right there. I'm like, what's going on here? Okay. I didn't want to be the account watching from the sideline while I tank ran over my business. So, I want to make Oh my gosh, I'm just a mess today. Let me turn off my phone. I really am a mess. Okay, so Peter, tell me about this.

Yeah, so look, it was it was May of 24 and yeah, I just finished busy season. And I was taking a breather. I was thinking about, you know, [snorts] planning the rest of my year, thinking about the future of the business. And I've been listening to podcasts talking about AI and this chat GPT thing. And I could smell it, but I'd never used it. And I was listening to to these guys talking about AI and the changes it was going to make. And I'm I'm of that age, given my hair color, I've seen all the technology revolutions. And, you know, I I was the first kid of my class to have a personal computer. uh black and white screen, [music] you know, tape drives, uh you know, floppy discs. No one even knows what that is anymore, you know, like I've been through the cloud revolution. I've been through, you know, all this kind of stuff. And and so they were talking about AI and I'm like, I totally see how this is real. I've seen the progression. I know where it's going. I've listened to the industry and I'm like, this is going to change our business. And I had this image in my brain of me sitting on the side of the road and in front of me was a desk and papers and computers and of course a calculator squashed just flattened on the road. And I'm looking to the left and I see this truck driving away from me having just run over my business. That is literally the image I saw in my mind. And of course, I knew that truck was AI. And I made the decision that day that I did not want to be the guy sitting on the side of the road crying because my business had just been run over. I want to be the guy driving the truck.

I love that. You know, you made me think for a second like when I was when I was when you were looking at an accountant, would AI turn you off or would a knowing AI turn you on? And I was thinking about it and I'm like thinking to myself, I'd want an accountant that understands AI because they could do the work a little faster, but I want them to understand where to doublech checkck and where to challenge what AI is saying. So in essence, is that kind of where you're going with it, but in a much broader, smarter way.

Yeah. Well, in in this brand, I'm really talking to accountants, but you're absolutely right. You know, accountants need to be aware of what's happening in the industry. We need to be able to advise our clients. And that's the step up that we all need to take is to be able to advise our clients. And and the one thing a client won't tolerate is an accountant that doesn't understand their business or their environment.

And if we don't adapt and become fluent in AI, we can't help our clients as well as we should. And our clients will will begin to feel that we just don't get it.

So, okay. So what you teach is for accountants. So for all my friends out there that are CPAs or accountants then this is so you have I'm just so excited. I want to see everything. Okay.

Oh I said so this is what you were saying about short version of story. Yeah.

Yeah. Tell me a little bit about Fuel Accountants.

Yeah. So Fuel Accountants is my CPA practice. We do full service bookkeeping, uh, sales tax filings, year-end accounts, tax returns, and advisory, um, for businesses in the US, Canada, and New Zealand because that's where I'm from originally. I live in Toronto now. Um, and so yeah, we do we do full service bookkeeping and accounting for mostly owner managed businesses.

Okay. Is this the is this your business that I have on the screen?

Yes, that's it.

Okay. It's a good name though, Fuel. profitable business. So, so you're more than just an accountant. You are understanding their business so you can provide the best value and advice and tax planning.

Yeah.

I always people, I don't get out of bed in the morning to do a tax return.

Nobody wants a tax return. They do one because they get in really big trouble if they don't do it. So, my mission is not to do your tax return. My mission is to help you run a profitable business. I love that

building tax returns a necessity. We have to do it.

I love that. I I absolutely agree with you. So, you're helping. So, so okay. So, what is this? The Profit First cash management system.

Yeah. So, we're Profit First certified firm for those that haven't heard of it. Profit First is a book by Mike Mallowitz and it teaches a fairly simple cash management strategy that helps business owners prioritize and allocate their cash so that the money is where it needs to be. Most business owners in, you know, let's say you've got an income tax bill or a sales tax bill that's due. Well, most business owners look at their bank account and go, "How am I supposed to pay that?" Well, I I'll take the money that comes in next week and I'll use that to pay the sales tax bill or the income tax bill. The problem is that income tax bill or that sales tax bill was last week's revenue, not next week's revenue. I spent last week's revenue. I didn't put anything aside. So, the profit first system helps you allocat