The Accounting Disruptors40 min
From AI Hype to Accounting That Works: Lessons From Tech Week | Ep.29
Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri, hosts of The Accounting Disruptors, return from San Francisco Tech Week with a clearer picture of how AI is being…
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The Accounting Disruptors
Weekly analysis and long-form conversations with the leaders reshaping accounting through AI, automation, and better systems.
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Conversations with the people moving the profession forward.
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From AI Hype to Accounting That Works: Lessons From Tech Week | Ep.29
Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri, hosts of The Accounting Disruptors, return from San Francisco Tech Week with a clearer picture of how AI is being put to work in accounting. They…
AI in Accounting: Saving Time Is Only the Beginning | Ep.28
Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri, hosts of The Accounting Disruptors, explore why using AI isn't the same as transforming an accounting firm. They discuss uneven adoption across the profession, private equity's influence, and…
AI Is Rewriting the Unspoken Contract at Work | Ep. 27
Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri, hosts of The Accounting Disruptors, explore how AI is rewriting the psychological contract between professionals and their organizations. They examine research showing that AI can increase…
The Hidden Grief Behind AI Transformation | Ep. 26
Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri, hosts of The Accounting Disruptors, explore why the rapid adoption of AI can feel like a grieving process for accountants and organizations. They talk candidly about…
Remembering 9/11: What It Taught Us About Humanity at Work | Ep. 25
On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri, hosts of The Accounting Disruptors, step away from AI and accounting to reflect on where they were…
The Rallying Cry of Betrayed Accountants | Ep. 24
Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri, hosts of The Accounting Disruptors, unpack why most firms adopting AI right now are adding cost without changing anything about how the work actually gets done,…
Your Leadership Says AI is a Priority, but the Usage Data Tells Us Otherwise | Ep. 23
Only 10% of businesses are using AI for real, agentic work, even though 85% of accounting teams call it a strategic priority. On this episode of The Accounting Disruptors, hosts Paul…
Accountants: Stop Being So Passive. | Ep. 22
Hundreds of billions in AI infrastructure spend from Google and Microsoft aren't landing where you'd expect on the balance sheet, and Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri open this episode of The…
The AR Swivel Chair Problem ft. Caitlin Leksana
Accounts receivable doesn't get the attention accounts payable does, but it's the function that actually gets a business paid. In this episode of This Week in Accounting AI, host Paul Peterson,…
AI is Exposing Everything That is Broken in Accounting
Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri, hosts of This Week in Accounting AI, break down two client calls that show exactly where AI is changing accounting, and where it isn't. One client…
The Companies Waiting on AI Are Already Behind
AI is forcing organizations to rethink more than their technology. It's reshaping leadership, strategy, and the way people adapt to change. In this episode of This Week in Accounting AI, Paul…
AI Adoption Isn't About Technology. It's About Leadership, Policy, and People.
AI adoption isn't just changing technology. It's changing how organizations lead. In this episode of This Week in Accounting AI, Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri share lessons from an AI conference…
AI Won't Replace Your Culture. It Will Expose It.
Technology isn't the hardest part of AI adoption. Leadership is. In this episode of This Week in Accounting AI, Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri discuss why accounting firms and finance organizations…
Legacy Data, Lean Startups, and the Real Reason Stanford Students Walked Out on Google
When hundreds of Stanford students walked out on Google's CEO at commencement, most people filed it under "campus drama." Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri see it differently. In this episode of…
KKR, Baker Tilly, and the Wealth Transfer Nobody's Talking About — What PE Consolidation Really Means for Accountants
56% of CFOs say they've adopted AI. Only 7% say they're getting a return on it. This week, Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri open with that Gartner data, and make the…
AI Native Accounting Is The Three-Point Line - And Most CFOs are Still Playing Post-Up Ball
Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri just returned from four weeks on the road — BDO's firm conference in Vegas, an investor summit in San Francisco, Boston Tech Week, and NYC Tech…
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…
Power, Gatekeeping & Control in Accounting - And How Al Is About to Break It Open
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…
Audit Trails, Hallucinations & Job Security - What Accountants Actually Asked About AI
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:…
The Accounting Disruptors: Episode 6 | The Data Bottleneck — AI Tax Automation w/ Abacus
Cody Sugarman, co-founder of Abacus, joins Wiss CEO Paul Peterson and Tech Practice Partner Matt Barbieri to discuss how artificial intelligence is tackling the most overlooked bottleneck in tax practice —…
2 Myths About Al in Accounting That Are Holding CPAs Back (From Real Busy Season Data)
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…
Your ERP Treats Accounting as an Afterthought - Rillet Recon 2026 Takeaways
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…
Offshoring is a Bandaid, Not a Fix - How Al-Optimized Firms Win on Context Instead
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…
Tax Season Is Getting Worse - Not Better. Here's Why Al Hasn't Fixed It Yet
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…
Why Accounting Burns Out Its Best People - And How Al Finally 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…
Accounting Has a Soul Problem: 340K Departures, Burnout & What Al Changes
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…
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 Accounting Disruptors: Stop Calling It Back Office: Why AI Is Moving Accounting to the Front
Cody Sugarman, co-founder of Abacus, joins Wiss CEO Paul Peterson and Tech Practice Partner Matt Barbieri to discuss how artificial intelligence is tackling the most overlooked bottleneck in tax practice —…
Small Wins, Big Shifts: Rethinking Excel and ERP in the Age of AI
This week, Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri break down two buzzworthy a16z articles asking the questions everyone in finance is thinking: will AI kill Excel? And what happens to your ERP?…
The Accounting Disruptors Podcast: Episode 5 | The Grind Is Gone: An Inside Look at AI-Powered Accounting with Basis
What does it actually take to bring AI into a live accounting practice? In Episode 5, Wiss CEO Paul Peterson and Tech Practice Partner Matt Barbieri sit down with Transformation Lead…
Tribal Knowledge: The Hidden Barrier to AI Adoption in Accounting
AI tools are advancing fast, but is your accounting team actually ready to use them? In this episode, Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri dig into one of the most overlooked obstacles…
It's Not the Software's Fault
Everyone's asking how to implement AI. That's the wrong question. In Episode 1 of This Week in Accounting AI, Paul Peterson and Matt Barbieri get into what's really behind the gap…
The Accounting Disruptors Podcast: Episode 4 | Transforming Revenue Operations with AI
Your invoices go out late. Collections drag on for weeks. And 70% of your finance team is stuck doing billing instead of strategic work.Sound familiar?Here's the kicker: Most finance leaders think…
The Accounting Disruptors Podcast: Episode 3 | From 15-Day Close to 3-Day Close
Legacy ERPs have held finance teams hostage for decades. Clunky systems. Manual processes. 15-day closes that should take 3. Finance teams kept throwing more bodies at the problem because what else…
The Accounting Disruptors Podcast: Episode 2 | Building the Firm of the Future
📺 WATCH THE FULL SERIES: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu3WbduSvu9Rcw9yCikvO-z3k8JQKp0Kn🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with accounting innovators: @wisscompanyllp In Part 2 of this conversation, Basis AI co-founder Matt Harpe gets tactical about how accounting firms…
The Accounting Disruptors Podcast: Episode 1 | The AI Revolution in Accounting
Matt Harpe, co-founder of Basis AI, joins Wiss CEO Paul Peterson to discuss how artificial intelligence is fundamentally transforming the accounting profession. In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Matt reveals…
