Podcasts

One year after an accounting firm acquisition: What DBA retained (and what it changed)

Earmark Team · September 24, 2026 ·

A 72% client-retention rate might make an accounting firm owner wince. But that number doesn’t tell the whole story.

Nearly one year after Dillon Business Advisors (DBA) acquired Enterprise Business Solutions (EBS), DBA expected to retain about 95% or more of the acquired firm’s $1.5 million revenue base. The combined firm had fewer clients, but almost the same revenue.

On Who’s Really the BOSS?, hosts Rachel Dillon and Marcus Dillon joined Amy McCarty, DBA’s Director of Operations and co-founder of Collective by DBA, to review the acquisition. The deal closed at the end of September 2025, and the conversation took place a few weeks before its first anniversary.

Their experience offers a practical lesson. Acquisition success isn’t simply about retaining every client, employee, and system. It depends on defining what fits the combined firm and acting when something doesn’t.

Growth was meant to create stability

DBA spent years between $2.5 million and $3 million in annual revenue while moving clients from annual engagements to monthly recurring work. The firm was growing and improving, but it struggled to break through that range.

Their goal of reaching $5 million wasn’t about size for its own sake. A larger revenue base would support positions like Director of Tax, Director of Technology, and Director of Operations. It would also create better career paths for existing employees.

Growth could also reduce client concentration risk. Marcus explained that one DBA client spent more than $200,000 a year and, in some years, close to $300,000. Losing that client at $2.5 million in revenue could significantly impact the firm’s annual profit. At $5 million, the loss would still hurt, but DBA would have more room to adjust.

DBA chose mergers and acquisitions as part of its growth strategy. It first completed a smaller, roughly $600,000 acquisition in the St. Louis market. That deal allowed the team to learn before taking on EBS, which was about two and a half times larger.

That experience helped DBA recognize what made EBS a promising fit.

EBS looked aligned, but the team expected surprises

EBS had healthy profitability, capable employees, strong clients, and services and pricing similar to DBA’s. Its structure could also fit DBA’s Team of 3 model.

Nearly 60% of EBS revenue came from monthly recurring engagements. Before the acquisition, DBA was approaching 80%. The firms’ mission, vision, values, and culture also appeared closely aligned.

Still, Marcus cautioned that buyers “only know so much before the transaction closing.” Documents can show alignment, but daily operations reveal whether it’s real.

So DBA structured the agreement around a range. The purchase terms included an 80% revenue-retention floor and allowed the sellers to benefit if revenue reached as much as 120% through price increases, referrals, or new work. That structure gave both sides a reason to focus on revenue quality instead of retaining every account.

Fewer clients didn’t mean a failed deal

Amy calculated overall client retention at about 72%. Retention among all business clients was around 65%. The rate was much higher for monthly recurring clients, with only a small number leaving because of a sale, consolidation, or price.

Revenue told a stronger story. DBA expected to generate between $1.4 million and $1.5 million from the acquired $1.5 million base during the first year. As Marcus put it, “Same revenue, fewer clients. That’s always a win.”

DBA achieved that result by implementing 5% to 10% price increases for monthly work and about 10% for tax services.

Not every client fit DBA’s model. One real estate client paid roughly $950 to $975 per month, including QuickBooks Online and ADP costs. That was well below DBA’s $1,500 monthly minimum. When another provider offered to do the work for $500, DBA considered a reduced fee but ultimately let the client leave.

The minimum supports a Team of 3, which includes a Client Service Manager, Client Controller, and Client CFO. Without enough revenue, the firm can’t give that team the budget to deliver timely monthly work.

DBA also added better-fit work. Marcus noted that new wins totaled about $10,000 in monthly recurring revenue, helping replace smaller accounts that were harder to serve.

Client fit was only one part of the integration. The next test involved the team.

Clear roles made difficult staff decisions easier

DBA retained five of the seven EBS employees included in its calculation, a 71% retention rate. It also promoted an acquired Client Controller into a Client CFO role leading a pod.

The first employee exit happened within roughly a month. The role and behavior didn’t fit the combined culture, and the mismatch existed before the acquisition. Rachel noted that any departure can make employees quietly wonder, “Am I next?” Leaders need to respond by clarifying remaining employees’ responsibilities and future, not by discussing confidential details about the person who left.

The second exit came close to the one-year mark after tax season, coaching, and assessment. Marcus acknowledged that DBA’s remote environment works well for experienced professionals but hasn’t always been the best place to start a career.

Defined roles gave DBA an objective standard for those decisions. The firm could explain what success looked like for each position and where they needed improvement.

Those standards also exposed differences in how the two firms served clients.

Integration required deadlines and hard cutoffs

DBA aims to deliver at least 80% of monthly financial statements by the 15th. EBS offered similar services, but its delivery schedule didn’t consistently match that standard.

DBA addressed the gap in stages. It first gave the acquired team access to its tax and practice-management systems without disrupting tax season. After tax season, leaders recorded employees completing monthly work, decided which tasks belonged to Client Service Managers or Client Controllers, and used Copilot or Claude, along with reviews by peers in similar roles, to identify gaps and training opportunities.

Technology adoption required a firmer approach. DBA moved EBS from Keeper to Practice Protect, but some employees continued using Keeper because it was still available. Full adoption happened only after DBA removed access to the old system.

The practical lesson is that communication alone doesn’t create adoption. Firm leaders should:

Define role ownership and service deadlines
Set clear transition and cutoff dates
Confirm adoption employee by employee
Limit legacy-system access to one or two administrators
Review client fit and minimum pricing before closing

DBA’s next step is to continue firm-wide training on onboarding, tax and accounting workflows, approved tools, and client delivery.

Define success before you sign

An acquisition can create budget, career paths, and protection from client concentration. It can also expose unclear roles, weak processes, and technology habits much faster than organic growth would.

Before signing a deal, write down the standards the combined firm must follow, including ideal-client criteria, minimum pricing, role definitions, delivery deadlines, approved technology, and an acceptable revenue-retention range.

Then be ready to enforce them.

Listen to the full episode to hear Rachel, Marcus, and Amy share the numbers and lessons from DBA’s first year after the EBS acquisition.

Rachel and Marcus Dillon, CPA, own a national, remote client accounting and advisory services firm, Dillon Business Advisors, with a team of 28 professionals. Their latest organization, Collective by DBA, supports and guides accounting firm owners and leaders with Streamlined OS, an operating system for accounting firms, mastermind groups, and one-on-one advisory.

How to find, trust, and use your own voice

Earmark Team · September 21, 2026 ·

We know what to do when the records and reality don’t match. We follow the discrepancy, ask questions, and keep digging. But what happens when the gap isn’t between the books and the bank statement? What if it’s between the person we present to the world and the person we really are?

In this episode of She Counts, host Nancy McClelland is joined by Misty Megia, founder of the Theatre of Public Speaking, sitting in for co-host Questian Telka. Together, they share two stories about finding your voice. Certified Fraud Examiner and private investigator Candy Bellau explores what she calls the “fraud within.” Emily Grey explains how she learned to fully represent her beloved nonprofit, Spike’s K9 Fund, by finding her own voice.

The connection might feel familiar for accounting professionals. Closing the gap between what we say, believe, and do can help us build both confidence and trust.

Fraud grows when policy and culture don’t match

Candy didn’t plan to become a fraud examiner. As an accountant, she was hired to solve cash flow problems, clean up books, and help companies decide what to do next. But along the way, she kept uncovering fraud.

Colleagues and friends Dawn Brolin and Nicole Landau encouraged her to get certified. Within three months of speaking with Dawn, Candy was a Certified Fraud Examiner. The training taught her that investigations require specific interview methods and rules. She later became a private investigator, which added another code of ethics to her work.

Candy also learned to recognize the conditions that allow fraud to grow. In addition to the fraud triangle, she points to Robert Barry’s “three Cs”:

Controls: Policies only work when people follow them
Compensation: When employees feel underpaid, resentment can lead them to “compensate” themselves in other ways
Culture: When honesty feels unsafe, people learn to hide information

Candy saw the culture problem during a flight. The man beside her said he had about 300 hours of paid time off and had never used sick time. While working on his home in Mexico, contractor delays forced him to request two extra vacation days. He told his boss the truth, but the request was denied.

“He was honest, and he got penalized for honesty. There’s your culture,” Nancy said, identifying the lesson.

Leaders can’t demand integrity while making honesty costly. And that same pressure to conceal the truth can also operate inside us.

The “fraud within” often comes from people pleasing

Candy understands concealment personally. She previously hid spending from her now-spouse and used money from her retirement and savings accounts instead of facing the problem. “I find it interesting that I’m a fraud-fighter when I felt like a fraud myself,” she says.

Childhood trauma and addiction among people close to her taught Candy to read a room, identify who felt safe, and adapt. Those skills helped her spot risks inside organizations. They also taught her to become a chameleon.

She recognized the pattern while watching Runaway Bride. Each former fiancé described Julia Roberts’ character as liking his preferred style of eggs. Candy realized she’d been doing the same thing:

She claimed to love interior design because she wanted someone to like her
She attended music festivals for decades even though she liked the friends, not the festivals
In relationships, she sometimes adopted the other person’s interests so fully that she lost sight of herself

As Misty explains, “Being a chameleon feels safe.” If we share someone else’s preferences, we may believe we’ve earned a place to belong. Yet enough small adjustments can leave us unsure where the other person ends and we begin.

Recognizing that pattern is only the first step. We also must learn to be honest without using “authenticity” as an excuse to be hurtful.

Honest communication requires both compassion and boundaries

Candy believes she is an authentically kind person. For her, telling the truth doesn’t mean it’s okay to say something mean, even though it may reflect how she feels.

Context matters. At a speaking retreat, direct feedback is useful because speakers can apply it. In contrast, Nancy’s brother once repeated a hurtful comment their father had made about her. Her brother meant to be honest, but Nancy couldn’t act on it, so it only caused pain.

Before sharing difficult feedback with a client, colleague, or employee, ask:

Is this information useful?
Can the person act on it?
Is this the right time and setting?
Can I say it in a way that supports the desired result?

Boundaries can also strengthen relationships. When Candy recently declined an invitation, her friend thanked her. Candy usually said yes, so her friend never knew whether she truly wanted to attend.

Misty calls saying “no” without over-explaining a muscle that requires practice. We often assume other people will judge our boundaries when in fact, they may respect that we’re setting them.

Emily found confidence in a story she owned

Emily Grey faced a different version of the same challenge. She’d been with Spike’s K9 Fund since its beginning. The nonprofit provides lifesaving equipment, emergency medical care, and critical training for America’s working dogs.

For years, its founder served as the public face of the organization while Emily stayed behind the scenes. When he stepped away, she tried to deliver his material. It never felt right. Her voice shook, and the fear of mishandling his personal story became paralyzing.

Emily’s confidence changed when she built a presentation around her own connection to animals and the mission. “For the first time in my life, I appreciate my voice now,” she says. “And I love it.”

She also learned practical tools that apply to presentations, client meetings, and difficult conversations:

Move before speaking to release nervous energy
Divide your message into sections instead of memorizing every word
Connect physical movements with sections to help trigger your memory
Take the first step before you feel completely ready

Emily now uses these tools beyond the stage. “I’ve become a better speaker, a better listener,” she says. She encourages all women to study public speaking, because even if we never take a stage, it’s a part of learning to share your true self each and every day, and honoring what others bring to the space.

Your voice becomes stronger through use

Finding your voice comes from noticing when you mirror others, practicing small boundaries, and speaking with both honesty and care. It also means connecting your message to an outcome that matters to you.

Where are you still adjusting your voice to match what others expect? Listen to the full episode to hear Candy and Emily tell their stories.

How an imaginary inheritance secured a $15 million loan

Earmark Team · September 21, 2026 ·

Banc of California gave Mary Carole McDonnell’s loan its lowest internal risk rating. The borrower on the other side of that “safe” deal had a 545 credit score, a history of check fraud, a judgment of roughly $2 million, and an injunction tied to an unpaid loan. News reports said her company failed to pay workers and vendors.

The bank’s own Bank Secrecy Act department recommended against the loan. Its chief risk officer thought the deal sounded fraudulent. The CEO warned executives, “If it is too good to be true, it probably is.”

The bank still advanced about $15 million.

In Episode 119 of Oh My Fraud, host Caleb Newquist traces Mary’s path from true-crime producer to indicted fugitive, using an inheritance story, attorney letters, and supposed bank records that no one independently verified.

Bellum made true crime—and projected success

Mary, also known as MC, built Bellum Entertainment Group as demand for inexpensive true-crime television surged. At its peak, Bellum reportedly had 80 shows and 180 episodes in production, including Corrupt Crimes, Motive to Murder, Murderous Affairs, and It Takes a Killer.

That volume required cash. In 2017, Bellum had to produce 26 episodes of Corrupt Crimes in six months. The showrunner considered the workload impossible and hired more producers, writers, editors, technicians, and commentators. More help also meant more payroll.

Outside the office, Mary looked successful. She lived in a 4,800-square-foot mansion, drove a Porsche, owned a 39-foot boat, and had her hair and makeup done at work each morning. As Caleb explains, in show business, “a person’s image is a form of currency.”

That image helped make her next story easier to believe.

Her imaginary fortune contained a painful piece of truth

Mary claimed she belonged to the family behind McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, which later became McDonnell Douglas and merged with Boeing. She said she was entitled to more than $80 million from a family trust worth over $400 million.

She was from Kirkwood, Missouri, near St. Louis, and her family did own a successful business. It was a corner grocery store that operated for 75 years. She wasn’t part of the aircraft family.

Her explanation for the trust’s secrecy included a real tragedy. Mary’s 11-year-old sister, Holly, was murdered in 1966. Mary’s loan documents claimed Holly had been kidnapped and killed, prompting a court order that prevented trustees from sharing information about the family fortune.

The transcript says there was no kidnapping or ransom. Holly was stabbed in her family’s yard by a 14-year-old boy she knew. The kidnapping story implied that the family was wealthy enough to attract an extortion attempt. It also offered a convenient reason lenders couldn’t inspect the trust.

The first practical lesson from this story is that an explanation for why evidence is unavailable isn’t evidence. In fact, restrictions on verification should increase professional skepticism.

Attorney letters turned one claim into apparent confirmation

Mary’s story gained credibility when attorneys repeated it. Tax and estate-planning attorney D. Matthew Richardson wrote in February 2013 that Mary’s trust assets were “quite substantial.” He reaffirmed the statement in May 2014 and later wrote that Mary’s share of a trust worth more than $400 million exceeded $80 million.

Those letters helped persuade prospective business partner Robert Chatham and later lenders. It doesn’t appear Robert knowingly participated in the fraud.

Attorney Barry Rothman then introduced Mary to Banc of California. Barry was already a bank client, and court records say he and Mary represented that she was heir to a large fortune with temporarily frozen trust assets. Again, there’s no evidence Rothman knowingly joined the fraud.

The problem is people treated these professionals’ statements as independent proof. An introduction created access, while the letters repeated Mary’s claim. Neither established that the trust existed.

The bank found the warnings but trusted the paper

Banc of California uncovered Mary’s poor credit, check fraud, judgment, injunction, and unpaid workers. Yet Mary supplied documents showing more than $28 million in a Northern Trust account. Because the loan appeared to be secured by cash, the bank treated her credit history as “largely irrelevant.”

The (enormous) problem was Northern Trust wouldn’t verify the account directly.

Mary told the bank not to call Northern Trust unless she or Barry joined the call. When the bank’s chief credit officer called independently, no one called back. Instead, the bank received two letters on Northern Trust letterhead. One confirmed the funds. The other demanded an end to verbal communication.

But Mary had emailed the bank the exact language that appeared in the first letter one day earlier. The second also repeated language she had supplied. The supposed independent confirmation came back in the borrower’s own words.

The bank funded the loan on February 1, 2018. Mary transferred $5 million to herself the next day. By March 5, the bank had released the entire loan. Four days later, a Northern Trust fraud examiner confirmed that Mary had no interest in the account. It belonged to someone else and had been closed since December 2017.

Her unpaid crew showed more skepticism than the bank

Bellum’s workers had already learned not to accept appearances. An unpaid cameraman kept an expensive camera as collateral. A homeowner held a producer’s Christmas tree hostage after Bellum failed to pay for a shoot. Filmmaker Aaron Cadotte, owed $2,000, created a website featuring Mary’s head on a pig’s body. Bellum wired his money five minutes before his deadline. He launched the site anyway to support other unpaid workers.

The humor masks a serious point: these workers reacted to the evidence in front of them. The bank had formal controls and experienced risk professionals, yet it released millions against collateral it could not authenticate.

Mary was indicted on December 12, 2018, for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, but by then she’d disappeared. The FBI publicized her fugitive status in December 2025 and said it believed she was in Dubai. As of the episode’s September 2026 recording, she remained at large.

Verification must be an action, not a formality

This case offers accountants and lenders four clear reminders:

Verify material documents directly with the issuing institution
Keep confirmation procedures independent of the person being examined
Investigate any attempt to restrict access to evidence
Resolve internal risk objections before releasing funds

Letterhead, referrals, and a polished image may support a claim, but they don’t prove it. For the full story of a true-crime producer whose strangest production happened off-camera, listen to the full episode of Oh My Fraud.

AI Is Rewriting the Economics of Accounting Software

Earmark Team · September 15, 2026 ·

Intuit just reported $21.4 billion in annual revenue, 14% growth, and about $4.5 billion in profit. Wall Street punished the stock anyway.

On Episode 503 of The Accounting Podcast, hosts Blake Oliver and David Leary examine why with Hector Garcia, a CPA, firm owner, and QuickBooks educator. They also speak with Britten Ratcliff, an accounting student and public member of the New Mexico Public Accountancy Board.

Their discussion points to a larger shift. AI is speeding up work inside accounting and tax software, but it’s also changing where pricing power, value, and competitive advantage come from.

TurboTax Faces a Pricing Squeeze

Intuit’s results don’t look like a crisis at first. TurboTax Live revenue rose 37% and now represents 53% of TurboTax revenue. But Intuit forecast only 9% to 10% companywide growth for fiscal 2027, with TurboTax revenue expected to grow just 2% to 3%.

Hector sees the stock decline as part of a broader market reaction to AI’s effect on software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies. Intuit’s price-to-earnings ratio fell sharply from its July 2025 peak, following a path similar to Adobe’s. “The market is reacting to the impact that AI has on SaaS,” he said.

There is also a direct pricing problem. Intuit acknowledged that it’s losing do-it-yourself filers to cheaper competitors. Price is now the leading reason customers leave TurboTax.

Blake estimated that an AI agent could complete a simple return using about 25 cents of tokens. That makes prices of $100 or more difficult to defend, especially when startups can use AI instead of rebuilding decades of rules-based software. David remained skeptical that millions of taxpayers will quickly abandon a familiar product for a chatbot, however. For many households, taxes are too important to make that switch casually.

Hector suggested a barbell strategy: offer more free filing at the low end while moving customers with greater needs toward premium help or Intuit’s small-business products. In his view, Schedule C filers could become customers for QuickBooks Payments and Payroll. He noted that QuickBooks generates about $12 billion in revenue, compared with roughly $5 billion from TurboTax.

That strategy connects with Intuit’s tests of QuickBooks Free and QuickBooks Lite. The free version allows a few invoices each month and encourages users to adopt payments. Both products can serve as stepping stones to the $38-per-month Simple Start plan.

Human-Assisted AI May Be Only a Bridge

Lower prices create another problem: human support is expensive.

Hector described a conversation with a TurboTax seasonal worker about her hours, pay, and time spent answering customer questions. His rough calculation suggested that a $100 return requiring 90 minutes of phone support leaves little or no margin.

A more sustainable model, he argued, could charge little or nothing for AI-based preparation. Customers would interact with a chatbot while tax professionals reviewed the conversation and return behind the scenes. Full access to a professional would cost much more.

“I honestly think it’s a bridge. I don’t think that’s a strategy,” Hector said of the current AI-plus-expert model. He expects a clearer split between low-cost automation and much more expensive professional service.

Thomson Reuters Is Building Around Trusted Data

While Intuit wrestles with pricing, Thomson Reuters is taking a different approach to AI. It purchased an open-weight model and trained it on 175 years of proprietary material from Westlaw, Practical Law, Checkpoint, and Reuters.

That paywalled content includes analysis created by subject-matter experts. Thomson Reuters also brought in partner-level practitioners to build grading standards. Lawyers spent thousands of hours comparing outputs, while 1,500 attorney editors helped identify errors.

The company reported a 0.914 score for following instructions. In deep research, the model scored 0.83 for factuality, compared with 0.65 and 0.68 for two leading models using the open web. This measure tested whether claims were supported by their cited sources.

“I want dumb AI, like AI that only knows accounting,” David said, summarizing the appeal. Blake offered a better label: a specialist that performs well in one field and declines tasks outside it.

For Hector, adoption comes down to two questions: Is client data safe, and are answers grounded in authoritative information? Yet quality alone may not be enough. He argued that professional AI should be built directly into tools firms already trust, such as Microsoft 365, rather than forcing accountants to connect and manage separate agents.

AI-Native ERPs Still Must Overcome Switching Costs

The same tension appears in the ERP market. Rillet raised $100 million at a $1 billion valuation with about 600 customers. During the same period, private equity firm Silver Lake reportedly pursued Workday at a $51 billion valuation.

David contrasted the valuations to show that major investors still see value in established systems. Hector added that Intuit Enterprise Suite reached $145 million in revenue within two years without raising outside capital for the product. He argued that Intuit, like Thomson Reuters, benefits from years of customer and transaction data.

Blake countered that companies won’t replace an ERP merely to get a better general ledger. They may switch if automation lets them avoid major hiring costs. Rillet’s fundraising announcement claimed that some customers operate large finance functions with only a few people or close their books in three days. The hosts noted that those claims had not been independently verified.

Tokens Could Become a Direct Cost

This leads to a new accounting question: How should businesses classify AI spending?

Three years ago, few companies had separate budgets for ChatGPT, Claude, or AI tokens. Hector said executives now want that spending to grow when it can reduce labor costs. He predicted that ERPs with strong built-in AI could win by replacing separate chatbot subscriptions.

He also argued that tokens may shift from fixed software overhead to a variable cost tied to sales and production. “All of a sudden, we have a brand-new direct cost that never existed,” he said. Blake suggested that accountants may need new cost accounting methods to track it.

Efficiency Cannot Replace Professional Development

The cost of automation is not limited to software budgets. Britten Ratcliff said young professionals worry that AI and private equity-backed efficiency efforts are eliminating the entry-level work that once taught people how accounting operates.

Reviewing last year’s audit file or completing basic analyst tasks may be repetitive, but those assignments build context and judgment. If firms automate them, they’ll need new ways to teach junior employees.

Britten sees a similar gap in accounting education. He took cost accounting before gaining any exposure to manufacturing, and he criticized homework systems that look little like real financial statements. Students need technical skills, he argued, but they also need to understand how businesses work.

That may be the episode’s central message. AI can lower costs and reshape software, but accounting firms still compete through trust, judgment, and business understanding. As Hector put it, the claim that AI can do everything accountants do is still a narrative, and the profession doesn’t have to surrender to it.

Listen to the full discussion on Episode 503 of The Accounting Podcast.

How to keep Intuit Experts from duplicating the work your firm already does

Earmark Team · September 15, 2026 ·

Alicia Katz Pollock wore her “Strange New Worlds” T-shirt from Scaling New Heights to record this episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast for a reason. QuickBooks Live is gone as a brand, and Intuit is restructuring how its employees help QuickBooks users.

As of July 29, 2026, Intuit Expert Services became a native feature within QuickBooks Online plans rather than a separate add-on. Dan DeLong of School of Bookkeeping and Matthew “Spot” Fulton of Parkway Business Solutions joined Alicia for this episode to examine the change.

Their central question is: Is this simply a new name, or is Intuit changing its role in clients’ books?

The new model focuses on businesses without accountants

QuickBooks Live offered assisted bookkeeping, cleanup, and full-service options. Intuit Experts has a narrower focus, covering onboarding new businesses, supporting AI-driven categorization, and reviewing books.

These services mainly target businesses without an accountant. Alicia estimated that about 70% of QuickBooks files have no accountant user attached. Accounting professionals may assume most businesses have bookkeeping support because that’s what we see in our own client lists. In reality, many owners sign up for QuickBooks and try to manage it on their own.

Intuit says its employed experts are QuickBooks-certified professionals with an average of 10 years of bookkeeping experience. Their work is meant to build a bridge to an accountant, not replace one. Beginning in January 2027, it expects the Intuit Pro Partner Accountants Program to match businesses with participating firms.

To understand where that bridge begins, however, we need to look at the services now included in QBO.

Three services move Intuit further into the books

Intuit introduced three ongoing Expert Services:

Books Check-In. An annual meeting with an Intuit bookkeeping expert to review the books, discuss AI-flagged issues, and help clean up the chart of accounts. It’s included with Essentials and Plus.
Smart Expert Categorization. AI-assisted transaction categorization with expert verification in the background. It’s included with Plus and is part of the Advanced service described below.
Expert Books Upkeep. Continuous automated bookkeeping with expert validation and posting, regular accuracy checks, and quarterly review meetings. It’s included with Advanced.

As Dan observed, this looks like two services plus a package that combines them. The exact scope is still unclear. Does expert verification mean reviewing the AI’s suggestions, managing the bank feed, or correcting mistakes? Matthew asked, “Who fixes their errors?”

Pricing raised another open question. Alicia believes these features may help explain recent subscription price increases, but that was her interpretation rather than a confirmed pricing explanation from Intuit. If a business doesn’t use the services, Matthew asked, can it pay less?

Those unknowns make Intuit’s new controls especially important.

The controls depend on attachment and billing

Intuit promises, “For every client connected to an accountant, these services are disabled by default.”

For attached clients, Intuit says it will suppress marketing for overlapping services. That includes in-product prompts, emails, banner and web ads, dashboard messages, tests, and outbound sales.

Who can enable the services depends on billing:

On client-billed accounts, the option is hidden in the Settings. Either the client or an attached accountant can enable them. Clients who turn it on see a message advising them to check with their accountant before proceeding.
On firm-billed accounts, only the billing accountant can enable the services. The client sees a locked setting and must contact the firm.

Alicia argued that a warning isn’t the same as approval. She asked Intuit to require both the client and accountant to approve activation. Until then, firms should verify the settings themselves.

One control covers all three services. If multiple accountants are connected, the billing relationship determines who controls the setting. Accountants also receive read-only access to the Expert Hub, where they can see service progress, scheduled calls, and summaries.

Intelligent Onboarding creates a separate overlap risk

Intelligent Onboarding is separate from the three ongoing services. Every brand new QuickBooks customer can access setup support from day one, even when Intuit doesn’t yet know whether the business has an accountant.

The program expands onboarding support from 30 to 90 days and may include several expert calls. Intuit Experts can also help configure QuickBooks Payments, Bill Pay, and Workforce.

That could save firms hours of basic setup. But CAS practices need to be proactive: t could also duplicate a service you already provide, create a chart of accounts that doesn’t match your approach, or connect a client to Intuit products before you discuss alternatives.

Intuit’s goal is to complete the “foundational work” before an accountant meets with the client. Alicia pushed back on part of that idea. Refining the chart of accounts is usually the firm’s job.

The practical response is to define onboarding in your engagement letter and kickoff meeting. Tell clients what you handle, what kinds of questions they can send throught Intuit, what services they should avoid activating, and when you will review any work completed by Intuit.

Your firm needs to defend its boundary

Intuit acknowledged that QuickBooks Live “created friction between Intuit and accounting firms.” The hosts are cautious because Intuit previously promised not to market QuickBooks Live to accountants’ clients, yet firms still encountered that marketing.

This version has stronger safeguards, but firms should test them rather than assume they work. Start with this checklist:

Confirm every client is attached through QBO Accountant or Intuit Accountant Suite
Identify client-billed and firm-billed subscriptions
Review the Expert Services control in each client file
Coordinate access when multiple accountants are attached
Decide whether each service supports or duplicates your engagement
Explain the new options to clients before they activate anything
Watch the Pro Partner Accountants Program as its January 2027 launch approaches

Automation may take over more categorization and routine review. That leaves firms to handle judgment, interpretation, and client conversations—work software can’t do on its own.

Listen to the full episode for Alicia, Dan, and Matthew’s full discussion of the controls, unanswered questions, and next steps for accounting firms.

Alicia Katz Pollock’s Royalwise OWLS (On-Demand Web-based Learning Solutions) is the industry’s premier portal for top-notch QuickBooks Online training with CPE for accounting firms, bookkeepers, and small business owners. Visit Royalwise OWLS, where learning QBO is a HOOT!