This Week in Accounting AI

The ERP Is Broken by Design — And Accountants Are Paying the Price | ft. Adam Riches, Netgain CEO

Netgain CEO Adam Riches joins Paul Peterson to expose why ERP systems deprioritized accounting decades ago — and why CFOs are still paying the price. They cover the history of accounting as a competitive advantage (from the Medici to Carnegie to the IBM mainframe era), how the spreadsheet became a 40-year Band-Aid, and what modern accounting infrastructure actually needs to look like. Adam breaks down Netgain's three-layer close framework (cash, simple accrual, GAAP), the case for rules over AI in bank reconciliation, Benford analysis for anomaly detection, and why AI risks repeating the same mistake as ERP if the profession isn't deliberate. A must-listen for CFOs, controllers, and finance leaders navigating the next wave of accounting technology.
This Week in Accounting AI is produced by Wiss, an AI-optimized CPA and advisory firm serving privately-held and venture-backed businesses.

Is Your Accounting Department Held Hostage?

In episode 12, Paul and Matt get into the uncomfortable truth about accounting departments: too many of them are held hostage by a single person who has turned a process into a black box. From the controller who "bamboozles" leadership to the commissions guy who made Friday bagels a bigger priority than payroll, Paul and Matt unpack how power and control became baked into the profession, starting with the 150-hour rule, and why AI is about to flatten it. They also dig into service as a lost art, why accountants were never supposed to be schedule-preparers, and Paul's vision of accountants as storytellers and business leaders inside the companies they serve.

Is the Intelligent Layer Coming for Accountants, or Amplifying Them?

Fresh off the Wiss Labs Bourbon & Bookkeeping event, Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri unpack the three biggest questions a room full of CFOs, controllers, and founders brought to the table: How do AI agents handle audit trails? What about hallucinations? And the one everyone wants to ask — are accountants about to lose their jobs? Plus, why the new "intelligent layer" running over the ERP is making context the most valuable asset in accounting.

Are Accountants Being Left Out of Their Own AI Revolution?

Fresh off the BDO Annual Conference and meetings in San Francisco, Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri get real about what's actually happening with AI adoption in accounting, and what's not. Drawing on candid feedback from Wiss staff who piloted AI tools through busy season, they dispel two big myths: that AI means fewer accountants, and that AI tools can be distributed like traditional software.
In this episode:
Why "max your tokens" mandates are killing AI adoption
The hidden cost of implementation that VCs and founders keep missing
Why mandated AI is the case most easily headed for failure
How accounting is shifting from a back office to a front office function
A direct message to startups and VCs: stop treating this like a SaaS rollout
A candid, unrehearsed conversation about why the profession has been undervalued, and why the path forward requires real partnership between accountants, founders, and investors.

Rillet Recon Takeaways: Why Is Your Accounting Always an Afterthought?

For 30 years, ERPs have been built for operations, and the general ledger got bolted on as an afterthought. Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri argue that's exactly why so many finance leaders say "the accounting blows", and why it was never an accountant problem in the first place.
Fresh off Rillet Recon 2026, Matt shares what he saw in the room: a community that feels more like an apprenticeship than a conference, a live moment where 100 Claude licenses got handed out on the spot to attendees who'd never logged in, and an AI adoption gap in finance that's now an either-or, with very few in the middle.
From there, Paul and Matt dig into the harder questions. Why are companies hiring FP&A teams to do work their accountants are already trained to do? When a growing company outgrows QuickBooks, what's the right way to evaluate an ERP, without starting with the tool? And what does it actually look like to put accounting back at the center of the system, instead of bolted on at the end?
A candid conversation about what's broken in accounting systems, what Rillet is getting right, and what every finance leader should be asking before their next system decision.

From Input to Intelligence: Is it time to rethink offshoring?

Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri make the case that offshoring is a bandaid, not a fix, and that CFOs evaluating accounting partners need to stop asking "how cheap?" and start asking "how are you building intelligence on my business?" They unpack why context is the new competitive advantage in the AI era, why tribal knowledge is the real moat, and the specific questions every CFO should be asking before signing with a firm, from data security to deliverables to who actually owns the knowledge being built.
Source: https://paulpetersonwiss.substack.com/p/title-why-does-accounting-have-to

Is AI Actually Making Tax Season Easier?

Tax season is over. The real work is just beginning.
In this episode, Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri pull back the curtain on what actually happens inside an accounting firm during busy season, and why, despite billions spent on software and a wave of AI optimism, this year was harder than the last. They get honest about the hidden costs of AI adoption, why offshoring is a band-aid not a fix, and why the most valuable thing an accountant holds isn't a tax return, it's context.Source:
https://paulpetersonwiss.substack.com/p/title-why-does-accounting-have-to

The Soul of Accounting: Why the Profession Breaks People - and How AI Changes That

After 25 years in the trenches together, Paul and Matt get candid about something most firm leaders won't say out loud: accounting has been a soul-crushing profession, and it didn't have to be. Sparked by a piece Paul wrote on the industry's broken culture, this episode unpacks why talented, hardworking accountants have spent careers feeling like they're failing, even when they're not. From the 340,000 accountants who left during COVID to the structural silos that still define most firms today, Paul and Matt trace the roots of the equilibrium problem, too much complexity, too little tooling, and a culture that rewards knowledge hoarding over collaboration. Then they turn to what's changing: why AI won't replace accountants but will finally give them the tools to match their ambition, why context and judgment will become the profession's highest-value currency, and why Wiss is betting big on a different kind of future. This one hits different.
Source: 
ttps://paulpetersonwiss.substack.com/p/title-why-does-accounting-have-to

Does Accounting Have a Soul Problem?

In this solo episode, Wiss CEO Paul Peterson gets candid about a question he recently put in writing: why does accounting sometimes feel soulless? Paul draws on real responses from accounting professionals and sobering industry stats to make the case that the profession has a deeper problem than a talent shortage.
340,000 people left the field during COVID
CPA exam sittings hit a 20-year low in 2022
50% of accountants under 30 say they regret their career choice
Using the Tribal Leadership framework, Paul walks through the five stages of organizational culture and challenges accounting leaders to honestly assess where they stand, and why getting to Stage Four isn't just a culture play, it's a prerequisite for successful AI adoption. He also speaks directly to the people living through the transition right now: doing their jobs the old way while simultaneously piloting new AI tools.
This one's a rallying cry for anyone who got into accounting because they wanted to make a difference and is still waiting for the profession to catch up.
Sources:
https://paulpetersonwiss.substack.com/p/title-why-does-accounting-have-tohttps://www.triballeadership.net/

Why Do Growth Companies Hire Finance Too Early?

Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri break down the costly mistake venture-backed founders keep making — hiring a CFO before the fundamentals are in place, then watching the org chart balloon from the top down. They unpack the traditional finance build, why it creates mismatched roles and bloated headcount, and why that model becomes even harder to unwind once a company is locked in. The conversation shifts to what a smarter alternative looks like: partnering with a co-sourcing firm that can scale up or down with the business, bring AI-powered workflows to the areas that matter most — AP, AR, revenue — and give your head of finance the tools and intelligence they need to operate as a true strategic partner, not a glorified bookkeeper.