Hey there, happy Monday,

I wrote this on my flight over to Intuit Connect this weekend!

If you’re at Intuit Connect let’s talk this week!

Accountants love SALY(Same As Last Year), we love staying the same month over month, year over year. It’s solid, reliable, and unchanging.

It’s that spreadsheet you’ve used for 3 years without any updates.

Well.... that’s great for compliance & the work still gets done but it's absolutely dangerous right now as a mindset.

Especially in our modern, fast-paced world.

Creativity isn’t something accountants are known for but it’s becoming one of the best qualities an accountant can have.

Those who think outside the box, find creative solutions for their clients, and lean into the “what if” have a big leg up on those stuck in the same old routine.

Wherever there are phrases like "this is how we've always done it" and "this is good enough for our clients", there is the potential for disruption.

The good news is, you have time to change that if you start opening up your mind right now to the possibilities.

To consider where this potential disruption might live, we should define the different types of services accountants currently offer their clients:

Typically, 1 & 2 have been the same old, same old. We all do it the same way as other firms and there's only one way to do it. 3 is where our creativity has lived.

I want to challenge this. Because the more I work with companies like Intuit & Ramp, I can see, with emerging technologies, how these processes might change.

We'll always need to corroborate data between the G/L, tax return, and other sources, but the way we do it could be changing rapidly in the next few years. Which is both exciting and unsettling, especially for those firms who have been so consistent year over year.

So how do you start thinking more creatively with your clients? Here are a couple different ways I currently do it.

The first step is really being open to change & opening your mind a bit to the possibility that the way we've been doing things for the last 10, 20, or 30+ years might actually change. The second step is realizing you have the ability to come up with great ideas.

This is so important because we're all getting the ultimate resource in our corner, and that's AI technology.

If you're not using what's available to provide better solutions to your clients, you're going to start losing those clients to those that are.

What's one thing you can do today to give yourself the space for ideas?

I challenge you to bring up some new ideas with your team this winter. Whether it's an efficiency, a new way of doing something, or something completely new. Ideas are the future lifeblood of a business. SALY is holding you back.

So break up with her because she’ll still be doing the same thing next year.

I love the tools that you can effortlessly give context to and it can give you relevant responses and data from that context.

Rewind AI is the best tool I’ve come accross so far to give that context. Kind of like Poke, it’s a little scary because you’re giving it a lot of work and personal data.

Basically it records your screen + audio all day, everyday and starts building that context. You can use it to build SOPS, understand your working habits, etc. It’s really powerful but oh so scary.

Worth checking out if you have iphone or Mac. I think it’s still in development for PC.

If you could rebuild one part of your firm from scratch what would you change?

As always, thank you for reading and talk soon.

Tailor