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The Earmark Podcast

Why Military Experience Creates Exceptional Accountants

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What do submarine oxygen levels have to do with solving the accounting talent shortage? More than you might think. For Navy veteran Mark Steinhoff, the precision required to manage life-support systems hundreds of feet underwater created the perfect foundation for his accounting career. 

On a recent episode of the Earmark Podcast, Steinhoff shared how his military experience, where a single error could be catastrophic, prepared him for a profession where accuracy is essential.

The Surprising Parallels Between Military Service and Accounting

At first glance, maintaining life support systems on a nuclear submarine and balancing financial statements seem worlds apart. Yet for Mark Steinhoff, the transition felt surprisingly natural.

“The military is very structured. You’ve got that typical hierarchy, chain of command, everything’s procedural compliance. You’ve got to follow the rules,” Steinhoff explains. “And accounting is very similar. There’s a lot of rules, processes, guidelines, and regulatory compliance.”

Steinhoff served as a machinist mate auxiliary on the USS Alabama (the submarine featured in the movie Crimson Tide). His job required extraordinary precision. As he describes, “Everything you touch on the boat, if you want to take a bolt off, you have to document it. There are procedures you have to follow.” This rigorous documentation mirrors accounting’s fundamental requirement to record and verify every transaction.

The military’s verification systems also parallel accounting’s internal controls. Steinhoff points to the “two-party check” system used on submarines. “If one person wanted to go do work, they would go through independent verification, and then the other person would independently do it.” This approach is remarkably similar to the separation of duties in accounting, where different people handle different parts of a transaction to reduce errors and fraud.

The stakes in both environments are high. On a submarine, “There’s no option for mistakes.” A failed oxygen system means disaster for the entire crew. While accounting errors might not immediately threaten lives, they can certainly threaten livelihoods, affecting businesses, jobs, and investments.

Using Military Benefits to Get an Accounting Education

For veterans considering accounting careers, education is the bridge between military experience and professional opportunity. Steinhoff’s path shows how military benefits can make high-quality accounting education affordable, even at prestigious private universities.

Steinhoff left the Navy in June 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. With uncertain civilian job prospects, he decided to use his GI Bill benefits for college.

“They pay you a little stipend to pay your rent and get you through college. They pay for your books, and they pay for your tuition,” Steinhoff explains. However, many veterans don’t realize they can maximize these benefits through programs like the Yellow Ribbon Act, which allowed him to attend Texas Christian University (TCU), a private school with an annual tuition of about $50,000.

“Most of the time the GI Bill pays for public schools, but with the Yellow Ribbon, the school makes a deal with the VA to split the difference,” he explains. “The school covers 50% and the VA covers 50%.”

Steinhoff treated college as a “full-time job,” completing a double major in finance and accounting in three years. Now, he’s using additional state-level benefits to pursue an MBA at the University of Texas at Dallas.

“Texas has a program called the Hazelwood Act, which gives you another 36 months of tuition-free education at a public school,” he notes. This combination of federal and state benefits provides a clear pathway to meet the 150 credit hours required for CPA licensure.

Creating Value in Accounting Through Military Experience

While education provides the technical foundation, it’s in the workplace where veterans like Steinhoff discover their military background creates unique advantages in accounting roles.

“In a small company, maybe there aren’t processes or procedures in place,” Steinhoff notes. “Coming from that military environment, I could write a procedure, train people, and create those processes.” This skill is particularly valuable in growing companies where accounting systems may not have kept pace with business expansion.

Steinhoff’s current role at a water utility company shows how military expertise finds unexpected applications in accounting. “They liked me a lot because there are not many accountants who have worked on water systems,” he explains. “From a submarine, that was my whole life. I could tell you how a pump works, I could tell you how the valves work.” This combination of technical operational knowledge with accounting skills enables him to understand the organization’s financial and physical infrastructure.

The military’s emphasis on translating complex technical information into actionable intelligence also serves veterans well, as accounting evolves beyond compliance toward business advisory roles. “Accountants are expected to take data and translate it,” Steinhoff observes. “Veterans fit this role because business owners want someone who can take numbers and translate them into easy-to-understand language.”

For veterans considering this career path, Steinhoff acknowledges the transition requires courage. “It’s a leap of faith. When you’re getting out of the military, it’s a big challenge because it’s this whole different world.” But he emphasizes that the responsibility given to service members far exceeds what most civilians experience at similar ages.

“The military gives 18-year-olds more responsibility than any other jobs. They put me on a submarine working on things where other lives are at risk,” he notes. “If you could do that, you could do this.”

A Win-Win Solution for Veterans and the Profession

The accounting profession faces a talent shortage and needs more analytical, tech-savvy professionals who can translate financial data into strategic insights. Meanwhile, thousands of disciplined, detail-oriented veterans transition to civilian life annually, bringing with them the exact qualities the profession desperately needs.

Mark Steinhoff’s journey from maintaining submarine life support systems to managing accounting operations for a water utility shows the natural connection between military service and accounting work. The procedural rigor required to keep sailors alive underwater is the perfect foundation for the exacting standards of accounting.

For veterans thinking about their next career, accounting offers a structured environment with clear advancement paths that will feel familiar after military service. With education benefits through the GI Bill and state programs like the Texas Hazelwood Act, the required accounting education is affordable without accumulating significant debt.

For accounting firms and businesses struggling to fill positions, veterans are an untapped resource, bringing maturity, discipline, and transferable skills. Their experience with high-pressure situations, procedure development, and translating complex information aligns perfectly with accounting’s evolution toward more strategic business advisory roles.

The accounting profession isn’t just about numbers; it’s about creating systems that provide reliable information for critical decisions. Veterans spend years operating in environments where systems thinking and procedural discipline aren’t just professional requirements but matters of survival.

Listen to the full Earmark podcast episode to hear Steinhoff’s complete story and gain more insights on transitioning from military service to accounting. His journey offers a blueprint for how the accounting profession might find its next generation of leaders from those who’ve already proven their ability to perform when the stakes couldn’t be higher.

From Homeless to $20 Billion Deals: An Accountant’s Journey Through Automation

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Fifteen years ago, Devon Coombs was sleeping in his car. Skip ahead, and he’s helping negotiate $20 billion AI deals at Google Cloud. His story isn’t just another rags-to-riches tale—it’s a preview of accounting’s future.

I interviewed Devon on the Earmark Podcast, and what struck me wasn’t his remarkable turnaround. It was his pattern recognition. Devon lived through technology’s destruction of the music industry. Now he’s watching the same forces reshape accounting. The difference? This time, he’s riding the wave instead of getting crushed.

The Recording Studio That Technology Killed

At 18, Devon owned Antipop Records in North Hollywood. He’d grown up in foster care. His mother died when he was 15, and he never met his father. But he had talent and a passion for music, so he did what passionate people do: invested everything in professional recording equipment.

Then Logic Pro happened.

“My rates went from $50-100 an hour to competing with guys charging ten bucks,” Devon told me. “Musicians could record in their kitchen and get 90% of my quality.”

The 2007 recession started the bleeding. Technology finished it. Devon’s $100,000 studio became worthless overnight. He ended up homeless, sleeping in his car, trying to figure out what went wrong.

Here’s what he learned: Technology doesn’t destroy industries. It destroys intermediaries. Musicians who could compose, produce, and distribute music thrived with infinite digital instruments at their fingertips. Recording engineers and session musicians who only executed other people’s visions? They became extinct.

The Community College Revelation

While living in his car, Devon started taking business classes at Pierce College, a community college in the San Fernando Valley. He planned to become a music attorney. But accounting grabbed him instead.

“I was surprised by how much I liked doing the work,” he says. The profession also offered something Devon had never experienced: predictable career progression and financial security.

His first internship taught him an unexpected lesson. The CPA who hired him was successful despite being disorganized and barely keeping clients happy. “If this guy could make bank being this scattered,” Devon thought, “imagine what I could do if I actually tried.”

1,000 Cold Calls and One Big Bet

At Deloitte, first-year associates reconcile bank statements. Devon had other plans. He made 1,000 cold calls and emails to controllers across Los Angeles.

His pitch was brilliant in its honesty: “I’m new at Deloitte. I want to learn. Give me your time, and I promise you’ll get more attention from me than from any partner here.”

It worked. He landed GoGuardian as a client—one of the first ASC 606 implementations in the country. The partner told him it would never work. Nobody wins clients as a first-year associate.

Deloitte gave Devon a $100 bonus for bringing in a $100,000 client. That’s when he knew the Big Four model wasn’t for him. When Effectus Group offered to double his salary plus commission, he jumped.

Becoming the 606 Expert

ASC 606 was rolling out, and nobody understood it. The guidance ran thousands of pages. Most accountants waited for CPE courses to explain it.

Devon printed every page.

“I’d read 30 pages every night, then figure out how to apply it,” he explained. In two years, he completed over ten implementations across industries—software companies, call centers, and even nonprofits.

Six months into his new job, he won Automation Anywhere as a client. A multibillion-dollar unicorn choosing a boutique firm over the Big Four. Why? Because Devon knew 606 better than anyone.

“Put in six months of deep work on any technical topic,” he told me, “and you’ll blow everyone else out of the water.”

The AI Orchestrator Revolution

Today, at Google Cloud, Devon helps negotiate billion-dollar AI deals. But here’s what matters: He’s not just selling AI. He’s living the future of professional services.

“Agentic workflows,” he calls them. AI bots handle routine tasks while humans orchestrate the work. “You’ll have bots calling companies, and no one will know they’re bots. All those little tasks in between? Just bots talking to each other.”

It’s the music industry all over again. Technology eliminates executors and elevates orchestrators. The accountants who only know how to follow procedures? They’re the session musicians of the 2010s. The ones who can design systems, manage AI workflows, and apply judgment? They’re the producers.

Devon is now leaving Google for PCG (Principal Consulting Group), where he’ll build a practice around this orchestrator model. His goal: “better quality work with higher judgment applied with all my expertise and one-tenth the cost.”

Your Window Is Closing

Recording studios were given years of warning, but they ignored it. By the time musicians started canceling sessions, the game was over.

Accounting firms today are experiencing the same warning signs: clients questioning fees, staff leaving for tech companies, and AI tools handling basic bookkeeping. The script is playing out again.

But unlike Devon’s recording studio, we can see it coming. We can choose to be orchestrators instead of executors. We can build practices around AI enhancement instead of human grinding.

The transformation isn’t some distant future. Devon’s already building it. He’s creating an entirely new service model where CPAs orchestrate AI agents to deliver superior results at a fraction of traditional costs.

“The AI movement is our chance to add real value,” Devon insists. “But only if we lean in now.”

Listen to the full episode to understand how to position yourself for this shift. Because Devon’s journey proves one thing: Those who embrace disruption don’t just survive. They discover possibilities they never imagined existed.

The question isn’t whether AI will transform accounting. It’s whether you’ll be the orchestrator or become obsolete. Devon made his choice. What’s yours?

From Burnout to Blueprint: How One CPA Built a $200K Practice Working Just 15 Hours a Week

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When Erica Goode, CPA, became a mother, she found herself juggling late-night work sessions and hectic commutes. It took a toll on her well-being. “I was going to prove to everybody that working moms can do it all,” she recalls, “and I did it all. But it felt awful.”

Fast-forward a few years, and Erica now runs an accounting practice making over $200,000 yearly—on less than 15 hours of work per week. How did she do it? Through intentional constraints, deep specialization, and refusing to let burnout define her career.

Erica’s story, which she shared on the Earmark Podcast, offers a roadmap for accounting professionals who want to build financially rewarding practices without sacrificing quality of life.

Escape from Corporate Burnout

Erica’s career began at KPMG, where she moved up the ranks to senior auditor. She was then recruited to Walgreens in Deerfield, Illinois, where a demanding promotion collided with early motherhood. 

Even with on-site childcare, the constant scramble to manage deadlines and family obligations was a struggle. “I was always dragging my kids behind me to make a meeting, to get back home to make dinner, only to hop back online until 10:00. It was just this grind I didn’t want,” she says.

Feeling trapped, Erica took a demotion to escape the grueling schedule. Ultimately, she decided to leave Walgreens entirely and planned to become a stay-at-home mom. She never imagined running an accounting firm. When her boss suggested it after she gave notice, she remembers thinking, “That is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.” 

An Accidental First Client

Erica never planned to start her firm. It started when she offered to help the owner of her daughter’s Taekwondo studio with QuickBooks. “I had never seen QuickBooks because I’d always worked with huge systems like SAP or Oracle,” she says. But Erica learned quickly, and soon, a steady stream of referrals turned her “accidental” freelance gig into a bona fide practice.

Growth was slow by design. Balancing parenting with minimal childcare hours, Erica allowed her client base to expand only as her children’s school schedules opened up. “I literally was only growing as fast as preschool grew,” she jokes. This deliberate approach allowed her to refine processes at each stage instead of piling on hours.

Designing a 15-Hour Workweek

Erica’s top priority was to avoid the relentless schedule that had led to burnout. She set a strict 15-hour limit, working Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a mandatory one-hour lunch away from the computer. “That adds up to 18 hours, but I don’t count the lunch break,” she explains. “So I’m really working 15 hours or less.”

While this schedule might seem impossible, Erica credits well-documented standard operating procedures and intentional use of technology for optimizing efficiency. She also hired a non-US-based contractor as a senior bookkeeper. Together, they ensure bookkeeping tasks stay on track without Erica needing to handle every detail. “I want to be the reviewer and the exception-finder,” she says. “That’s where the real client value lies.”

Tech Stack: QuickBooks Online and Fathom

A big part of Erica’s efficiency stems from QuickBooks Online paired with Fathom. QuickBooks automates the bulk of data entry, while Fathom handles real-time reporting and forecasting. “Once I close the books in QuickBooks, Fathom syncs automatically and spits out a customized monthly report for each client,” she says.

She personalizes these reports for each of her 10 clients, highlighting the KPIs and trends most relevant to consultants. But the real game-changer is the forecasting feature. During monthly meetings, she and the client jump into Fathom to update forecasts on hiring plans, upcoming expenses, and potential new revenue. “Business owners love seeing a clear picture of how decisions today will affect their cash flow in six months,” Erica says.

Specialization: Consultants and Agencies Only

At the core of her approach is strict specialization. Erica focuses exclusively on consultants and small B2B agencies—no construction companies, no retail inventory. This uniformity keeps her processes consistent, allowing her to offer clear service tiers and simple pricing. She maintains three tiers:

  1. Bookkeeping ($500–$600/month)
  2. Mini CFO ($1,400/month)
  3. Fractional CFO (up to $5,000/month)

“There’s a huge gap for solopreneurs or small consultancies that need more than just bookkeeping but aren’t ready to pay $3,000 a month for a CFO,” she says. The middle tier solves that issue. Because she only accepts businesses operating within a well-defined niche, the bulk of her bookkeeping and forecasting tasks can be systematized.

The Power of Monthly CFO Meetings

Although she provides “done-for-you” bookkeeping, Erica finds the most significant client value comes from monthly CFO calls. “We’ll spend maybe 20% of the time reviewing the monthly report. Then the rest is what’s on the client’s mind—like, ‘I’m hiring two people. Will I run out of cash by October?’” she explains. Together, they plug those assumptions into Fathom so clients can see real-time outcomes.

“They get clarity on big decisions, whether it’s paying themselves consistently, timing a new hire, or maximizing retirement contributions,” she notes. And it’s precisely this hands-on advisory that justifies her subscription model. Even when clients weigh downgrading services, they quickly realize the CFO session is what they value most.

Why She Doesn’t Do Tax Prep

One key departure from many CPA firms: Erica does not handle income tax filings. Instead, she collaborates with clients’ existing tax preparers or refers them to an outside specialist. “I come in as the translator,” she says, acting as the liaison between client and preparer. By avoiding tax busywork, she preserves her bandwidth for strategic discussions and the recurring monthly engagements that truly move the needle for her clients.

Growing Slowly—on Purpose

Today, Erica’s firm earns around $200,000 in annual revenue, with a net of about $180,000. It took around five or six years to reach this point, largely because she refused to exceed her self-imposed 15-hour weekly limit or expand beyond her one contractor. “I know the formula to scale bigger,” she says, “but I also know that I enjoy my life more without adding complexities.”

A telling story: She once tried removing herself from capacity constraints and realized she risked falling back into the same burnout patterns she had fled. “I’m quick to fire if the client isn’t a good fit, and I stick to my niche,” she emphasizes. “I’m not looking to become a million-dollar firm with multiple CPAs. That’s just not the lifestyle I want.”

Rethinking Practice Success

For Erica, success means earning a healthy income without sacrificing time with her kids or her passions—like hiking in the vast national forests of Idaho. She’s proof that a smaller, highly specialized practice can be profitable and deeply rewarding. “I used to be afraid to say out loud that I only work 15 hours,” she confesses. “But now I see it inspires other CPAs who don’t want the 40- to 60-hour grind.”

Her advice is simple: start small, niche down, price for value, and automate relentlessly. If you’re willing to challenge traditional accounting firm norms, you can build a practice that prioritizes both client results and your well-being.

Learn More & Earn Free CPE

Erica shares more insights and tips on her podcast, Consultants and Money, where she offers free advice on everything from planning cash reserves to consistently paying oneself. 

Check out her interview on the Earmark Podcast to hear the full story of how she structured her 15-hour week. 

You can also earn CPE for listening! Register for the free CPE course on the Earmark app.

How to Use AI to Analyze Data and Draft Financial Reports in Minutes

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Imagine being able to turn 4 hours of tedious financial analysis into just a few short minutes, all while uncovering valuable insights you never knew were possible. For those in accounting and finance who often find themselves overwhelmed by spreadsheets and manual reports, this isn’t just a pipe dream—it’s becoming a reality today.

On a recent episode of my Earmark Podcast, I had a great conversation with Nicolas Boucher, who focuses on how artificial intelligence can be used in accounting and finance. We discussed how AI is no longer just a topic of theories and ideas; instead, it’s becoming a valuable tool that is changing the way people in finance do their jobs every day.

The Growing Adoption of AI in Accounting

The accounting field is undergoing a big change with the use of AI. Nicolas notes that in the past, only about 20% of accountants used this technology, but now that number has grown to around 50%. This increasing adoption indicates that more accountants are starting to embrace AI in their work.

“Every three to six months there is a new phase of adoption,” Nicolas explained to me. “Two years ago, almost nobody was using it… then six months after, you had 20-30% of people starting to use it for emails, but then the technologists started using it for financial analysis.”

This adoption happens in waves, with each new phase bringing more sophisticated applications. While early adopters began with simple tasks like drafting emails, many are now creating custom AI agents and analyzing complex financial data.

Practical Examples of AI in Financial Analysis

Cohort Analysis for SaaS Businesses

Nicolas demonstrated how a SaaS business cohort analysis—typically used to track customer retention rates over time—can be transformed from a 3-4 hour task into a minutes-long process.

By uploading a simple dataset with dates, customer IDs, products, and invoice amounts to ChatGPT with a brief prompt to “do a cohort analysis visually,” he produced a sophisticated heatmap visualization showing retention rates across different customer cohorts.

“If you never did it [manually], you will probably need one day because you will have so much trial and error,” Nicolas noted, highlighting the dramatic time savings.

Salary Distribution Analysis Using Box Plots

Perhaps even more valuable than time savings is AI’s ability to suggest visualization techniques that many finance professionals may never have considered. Nicolas shared a powerful example of ChatGPT suggesting using box plots for salary distribution analysis—a visualization method he hadn’t applied despite 15 years in finance.

“The first time I saw the output of the analysis of salaries… I was like, wow. This is actually the best way to show a distribution of salary. After 15 years of finance, I never used that,” Nicolas recalled.

The box plot clearly displayed salary ranges across departments, showing minimum, maximum, and outlier values in a way that averages alone could never reveal. This discovery was so impactful that Nicolas thought, “This is going to change all our lives.”

Automated Financial Reporting

Nicolas also demonstrated a tool called Concourse.io that connects directly with QuickBooks Online and NetSuite to automatically generate comprehensive financial reports.

The tool automatically generates a complete report with executive summaries, revenue analysis, cost analysis, and customizable sections—all with both narrative commentary and visualizations.

Overcoming Implementation Challenges

While AI’s potential for finance is clear, many accounting professionals have hesitated to adopt these tools due to four key concerns:

  1. Data confidentiality: Uploading sensitive financial information to third-party AI platforms
  2. Auditability: Verifying AI calculations and tracing how results were generated
  3. Processing limitations: Most AI tools cannot handle large financial datasets
  4. Scalability: The inefficiency of repeatedly prompting AI for the same analysis

Solutions for Data Security and Auditability

Nicolas demonstrated an ingenious workaround that addresses these concerns. After using ChatGPT to generate a visualization, he asks it to provide the underlying Python code that created the chart. He then copies this code to Google Colab, a free browser-based tool from Google that allows users to run Python code.

“Now it solves the confidentiality of data because you are not in ChatGPT, you are inside your Google environment,” Nicolas explained. “And for auditability, here I can see the source… It’s not random. It’s not like a black box. You can see all of it.”

For professionals who aren’t comfortable with code, Nicolas showed how to implement AI-suggested techniques directly in Excel. For example, after discovering box plots, he asked ChatGPT to provide step-by-step instructions for creating these visualizations in Excel using the “Box and Whiskers” chart option.

Ensuring Proper Data Protection

When selecting AI tools, Nicolas emphasized the importance of proper data security:

“Make sure your team is using it without fear of data security. These tools use the best standards in terms of data security. If you sign a contract with them, you can read the data security protocol and make sure you opt out for data training, which is normally standard.”

For those using ChatGPT, he recommends the Teams account, which has data protection built in, rather than the Pro account, which requires explicit opt-out of data training.

The Evolving Role of Finance Professionals

As artificial intelligence changes how we handle financial analysis, the work of finance professionals is also changing. Instead of taking away jobs, these new tools help professionals focus on more important tasks that add greater value.

“Instead of spending a week with five people building a report, it’s just going to be 30 minutes of work. Then you can reinvest that time analyzing which vendors are good or bad, and working with procurement to make some savings,” Nicolas explained.

This shift addresses a long-standing aspiration in finance. “We talk a lot about business partnering and adding value. But when people are behind their Excel files, they cannot do a lot of this,” Nicolas pointed out. AI tools free finance professionals from the technical burden of report creation, allowing them to focus on strategic interpretation.

The evolution comes at an opportune time for the profession, which faces staffing challenges. “You have less people coming into accounting jobs. You have many people retiring. The turnover is really high,” Nicolas noted. 

Organizations that adopt AI tools not only improve efficiency but also enhance their appeal to potential employees by offering more meaningful work.

Getting Started with AI in Finance

When selecting AI tools, Nicolas advised focusing on integration with existing systems:

“If you are already embedded in Microsoft—you use Outlook, SharePoint, Power BI, Azure—it makes sense to go with Copilot,” he explained. Similarly, organizations using Google’s ecosystem should consider Gemini. For smaller organizations without specific ecosystem requirements, ChatGPT provides a flexible solution.

For those looking to develop AI skills, Nicolas recommends following experts on platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube. “It’s crazy to see how much people can learn and implement in just two hours of training,” he says.

He also created a community called the AI Finance Club, where finance professionals can stay current on AI developments. “Every week we provide the most important content in the form of guides, masterclasses, or video courses where experts teach the best ways to use AI for finance.”

From Spreadsheet Specialists to Strategic Advisors

This isn’t just about getting new tools; it’s about a complete shift in how financial experts provide value to their companies.

These technologies are not just about saving time; they actually improve the quality of analysis while keeping data safe and accurate. Incorporating AI doesn’t mean losing control or risking the quality of data.

The professionals who will do well in this new environment won’t necessarily be the ones who are great at coding or become technology experts. Instead, success will come to those who know how to use these tools wisely—making good decisions while letting AI take care of routine tasks in financial analysis.

This change opens up a real opportunity to fulfill the promise of being strategic partners in business, a goal finance professionals have talked about for years. When they are free from making basic reports, finance experts can focus on analyzing insights and providing the valuable guidance that truly drives business success.

Did you find this article helpful? Listen to my full conversation with Nicolas Boucher on the Earmark Podcast for more practical examples and step-by-step guidance on using AI for financial analysis. Plus, you can earn free CPE for listening to the episode or watching the video with the Earmark app.

The Implementation Gap: Why Even Legitimate Tax Strategies Fail During Audits

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What’s the biggest mistake tax professionals make? Great ideas that never get implemented. That’s according to Jasmine DiLucci, a tax attorney, CPA, and enrolled agent who has built an impressive following of nearly 500,000 YouTube subscribers by debunking viral tax myths on social media.

I sat down with Jasmine for a conversation on the Earmark Podcast. We kicked things off by discussing the issue of false information about taxes that spreads on social media. Jasmine also highlighted an even deeper concern: even legitimate tax strategies can face serious issues if implemented incorrectly.

Why Social Media Fuels Tax Misinformation

Jasmine says one reason so many “loopholes” and sketchy strategies go viral is that true tax expertise rarely gets posted online. Skilled professionals are busy running firms, while less experienced creators spread half-truths. This leads to flawed tips on topics like clothing deductions or marking up the inside of a shirt with a tiny business logo, all to claim a tax write-off.

The clothing deduction test is a great example. The test has existed for decades, complete with court rulings stating clothes are only deductible if they’re unsuitable for personal wear. But many influencers ignore this, telling people to slap a hidden logo on their regular clothes. As Jasmine points out, these strategies often fail in an audit. Taxpayers who rely on them risk penalties and extra scrutiny.

Implementation Over Theory: The Real Reason Plans Fail

For Jasmine, the greatest pitfall is the implementation gap—the space between hearing a tax idea, reporting it correctly on a return and documenting what was done. 

She highlights the short-term rental loophole as a perfect example. While the idea is legal, most filers never produce the logs, election statements, or rental agreements proving they qualify.

“If it’s not on the return that way,” Jasmine says, “then what did we just do? Nothing.”

Clients often pay thousands for big-picture “plans” but fail to handle bookkeeping or gather the right records. By the time they’re under audit, there’s no backup for the deduction. Those clients face costly disputes with the IRS, sometimes losing deductions they could have secured with basic documentation.

The Shift in Responsibility: Why Clients End Up Holding the Bag

Misinformation creates tension between clients and professionals. Many taxpayers see social media videos telling them they can write off anything. Then, when their tax expert says “no,” it causes conflict. Some preparers cave and let questionable deductions slide. Others keep warning clients but never clearly explain the “why.”

During an IRS audit, that defense of “my tax preparer said I could” means little. The IRS holds taxpayers responsible for their returns. Jasmine notes that low-level auditors sometimes miss legal details, so a wrong deduction might slip by. But if a client’s case goes to appeals or tax court, illusions fall apart without real support.

Bridging the Gap with an Integrated Service Model

Jasmine’s firm avoids the implementation gap by offering an integrated approach: tax planning, accounting, and preparation, all under one roof. She insists on year-round contact, keeping detailed records, and ensuring clients follow the steps for valid deductions. Her team also handles IRS resolutions, so she knows firsthand where taxpayers slip up.

Working with a single provider can prevent the “blame game.” Instead of paying one person for theory, another for the return, and a third for bookkeeping, Jasmine’s clients get everything in one place. This structure helps them stay organized, meet documentation rules, and rely on correct returns from the start.

Scaling Through Delegation and the Right Tools

While her integrated model works, Jasmine admits it wasn’t easy to build. She did almost everything herself early on—sales calls, tax returns, and marketing. Eventually, she found experts who could handle each function at a high level.

She also credits technology for streamlining processes:

  • Canopy for practice management
  • CCH for tax software
  • Calendly for scheduling
  • Slack for team communication
  • Superhuman for email management

For tax research, she recommends the Bradford Tax Institute because it clearly cites legal authority. She warns that AI chatbots sometimes invent court cases, so relying on them can be risky.

Join Jasmine’s Free Community

Jasmine welcomes taxpayers and fellow professionals to her free tax community at actualtaxlaw.com. There, she shares detailed answers about IRS notices, audits, and new tax updates. Users can post questions or upload documents for possible video reviews.

Earn Free CPE for Listening to the Episode

Tax ideas don’t save you money if you don’t implement them correctly. Closing the gap between theory and execution can shield taxpayers from costly audits and give professionals a clear advantage. Whether logging short-term rental days or documenting a true business expense, proper follow-through matters more than any buzzworthy trick.

If you’d like to hear the full interview and gain more insights on best practices, listen to the full episode of the Earmark Podcast. You can also earn free NASBA-approved CPE by registering for the course on the Earmark app and taking a quick quiz to verify your learning.