Accounting Apps Podcast

Is AI Making Accountants Less Intelligent? AI is helping accountants and bookkeepers work faster, automate repetitive tasks and reduce cognitive load. But as AI moves beyond calculation and automation into writing, analysing, explaining, brainstorming and reasoning, an interesting question emerges: what happens to the thinking skills we developed by doing those things ourselves? In this episode of the Accounting Apps Podcast, I explore how AI may be changing the way accountants and bookkeepers think. I look at neuroplasticity, the “useful struggle” involved in developing expertise, and why professional judgement becomes even more important when AI can produce a polished answer in seconds. Technology has always allowed accountants to shift attention away from repetitive activities. Spreadsheets removed much of our manual arithmetic. Accounting software automated processes that once took hours. AI is another step along that path, but there is an important distinction between using technology to remove cognitive clutter and allowing it to do the valuable thinking for us. Key Takeaways 🧠 Neuroplasticity and accounting expertise: Repeatedly completing tasks such as bank reconciliations builds pattern recognition and experience. When we stop practising particular cognitive skills, the way we use and develop those skills can change. 🤖 AI can remove cognitive clutter: Summarising information, drafting routine correspondence, extracting information and preparing meeting notes are examples of where AI can reduce workload and create more space for professional thinking. 🔍 Don’t outsource the useful struggle: Investigating something that doesn’t look right, testing ideas and forming hypotheses are part of developing accounting expertise. Rather than immediately asking AI for an answer, spend time developing your own view first. 💡 Use AI to challenge your reasoning: There is an important difference between asking AI, “Tell me what’s wrong,” and asking it to test a hypothesis you have already developed. AI can act as a second set of eyes while you remain actively involved in the thinking. 🎯 Professional judgement becomes more valuable: Materiality, professional scepticism, ethics, context, relationships and knowing when something simply doesn’t smell right become increasingly important as AI produces more of the first draft. Episode resources and links: Debunking Brain Myths: What’s Really Holding You Back from Change with Sarah McKay https://podcasts.apple.com/bm/podcast/debunking-brain-myths-whats-really-holding-you-back/id792555885?i=1000700760179    Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392560878_Your_Brain_on_ChatGPT_Accumulation_of_Cognitive_Debt_when_Using_an_AI_Assistant_for_Essay_Writing_Task   Exam Study Expert https://examstudyexpert.com/dr-sarah-mckay/  Dr Sarah McKay home page : https://drsarahmckay.com/ (Neuroscience for real life, with a focus on women’s brain health. For women, professionals and organisations.)   If this episode helped you, the best way to support the show is to leave a review somewhere as it helps more people find us. And if you want to continue the conversation, come find me Heather Smith | Accountant and Storyteller on:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/  Accounting Apps newsletter: http://accountingapps.io/  Accounting Apps Mastermind: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting  X: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU

How a Monthly Calendar Audit Improves Productivity When was the last time you looked back at your calendar and asked whether all those meetings, commitments and hours were actually a good use of your time? In this episode of the Accounting Apps Podcast, I unpack the monthly calendar audit I use to understand where my time has gone, identify follow-ups that may have slipped through the cracks, and question activities that perhaps should not be there at all. My process combines Google Workspace, Google Calendar, Google Apps Script and Google Sheets to turn a month of calendar activity into something I can review line by line. Colour coding and categorisation help me separate personal activities, non-billable administration, speaking engagements, podcasting, writing, CPD and other commitments. The audit is not simply about productivity. It gives me distance from my calendar so I can consider my energy levels, protect productive hours, manage meetings more deliberately and ask whether the technology supporting my workflow still makes sense. Key Takeaways Audit where your time actually goes. Reviewing your calendar at the end of each month can highlight low-value commitments, non-billable work and meetings that took significant time without delivering meaningful outcomes. Use calendar colour coding and categorisation. Google Calendar categories make it easier to group activities and understand the balance between personal time, client work, administration, CPD, speaking, writing and other commitments. Protect your productive hours and energy. A calendar audit can reveal patterns around when you do your best thinking, whether meetings are consuming those productive periods, and whether late-night international commitments require additional buffer time. Use the audit as a second check for follow-ups. Looking back over meetings can prompt forgotten action points, unanswered requests, CPD that needs recording, projects that need finalising or conversations that require another follow-up. Audit the technology as well as the calendar. Calendly offers useful functionality such as meeting buffers and automated emails, but Google also provides appointment scheduling. Reviewing overlapping technology can identify opportunities to simplify workflows and reduce subscriptions. A calendar audit takes time. Mine can take two or three hours, but that is partly because I use the process to stop, think and review what happened during the month. It gives me an opportunity to ask some useful questions. Why did I take that meeting? Did anything come from it? Should it have been an hour, or would 15 minutes have been enough? Am I protecting my capacity and bandwidth? Is my calendar supporting the way I want to work? The goal is not to create the perfect calendar. It is to become more deliberate about where time and energy are going, recognise what is working, and make better-informed choices about what deserves space in the calendar next month. Episode resources and links: Descript, Camtasia, ChatGPT, Google Workspace, Google Calendar, Google Apps Script, Google Sheets, Calendly, Microsoft    If this episode helped you, the best way to support the show is to leave a review somewhere as it helps more people find us. And if you want to continue the conversation, come find me Heather Smith | Accountant and Storyteller on:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/  Accounting Apps newsletter: http://accountingapps.io/  Accounting Apps Mastermind: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting  X: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU   

Working overseas brings unexpected opportunities and challenges. Discover practical digital nomad lessons about connectivity, co-working spaces, travel, banking, medication, client meetings and making technology work anywhere. Technology and business transformation are not simply about making businesses more efficient. They can also enable us to work differently and create more flexible lifestyles. In this episode of the Accounting Apps Podcast, I’m recording from a capsule hotel at Gatwick Airport after spending a month in England, and sharing some of the practical lessons I picked up while working and travelling abroad. Digital nomading can sound wonderfully straightforward when you have a laptop and cloud technology, but the reality involves Wi-Fi, time zones, phone connectivity, banking, transport and plenty of unexpected situations. Some things worked beautifully. Others required a little improvisation. Here are some of the experiences and lessons that stood out. Reliable Wi-Fi and co-working can transform your productivity. After struggling with connectivity at my mum’s house, I spent a couple of days at a co-working space in Cheltenham. For £25 a day, I had fast Wi-Fi, a sit-stand desk, an additional monitor, good lighting, air conditioning, coffee and cake. More importantly, I could get through a significant amount of focused work. Technology makes international travel easier, but test what you depend on. International roaming through amaysim made staying connected relatively straightforward, while a Wise card provided another option for spending overseas. However, I also discovered that an Australian prescription app I expected to access was geo-blocked once I arrived in England. Being able to find prescription information through my health records helped me eventually organise an emergency supply through a Boots pharmacy. Working internationally means actively managing time zones and communication. Staying in England while working with people in Australia and New Zealand occasionally meant starting meetings at 4:30 in the morning. At the same time, being in the UK created opportunities to meet people face-to-face, attend industry events and record a podcast in the local time zone. Make room for real-world connections. I attended London Zero Con and Richard Sargent’s event in Bristol, where I met people I had known online for years, including Xero co-founder Gary Turner, whom I had been talking with online for around 14 years. I also found value in simply speaking with locals, asking for recommendations and connecting with people in co-working spaces. Digital nomading requires flexibility and a willingness to work differently. I stayed in pod and capsule hotels, travelled extensively by train, rented a car on my own for the first time and recorded this podcast from a tiny hotel room at Gatwick. Not every environment was comfortable or predictable, but having the right technology and being willing to adapt meant I could continue working while extending my time overseas. Digital nomading does not mean everything works perfectly wherever you open your laptop. There will be unreliable Wi-Fi, confusing transport, unfamiliar systems and unexpected detours. But technology gives us considerably more flexibility to navigate those challenges and continue working. For me, doing a few hours of work in the morning meant I could spend an extended period in England, spend time with my mum, connect with people in the accounting technology community and still keep things moving professionally. Sometimes the best approach is not waiting until you are back at your desk with the perfect setup. Charge your technology, find a workable space, stay open to the experience and make it work where you are.   If this episode helped you, the best way to support the show is to leave a review somewhere as it helps more people find us. And if you want to continue the conversation, come find me Heather Smith | Accountant and Storyteller on:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/ Accounting Apps newsletter: http://accountingapps.io/ Accounting Apps Mastermind: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting X: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU

Great client relationships start with curiosity. Discover how Louis Theroux’s interviewing techniques can help accountants listen deeply, ask simple questions and understand the person behind the numbers. Heather Smith and Alex Falcon Huerta explore lessons from Louis Theroux’s London Xerocon keynote. What can accountants and bookkeepers learn from one of the world’s most recognisable interviewers? Quite a lot, as it turns out. In this episode of the Accounting Apps Podcast, I’m joined by Alex Falcon Huerta to unpack Louis Theroux’s Xerocon London keynote and explore how his interviewing techniques translate surprisingly well into client relationships. We discuss listening properly, asking simple questions, allowing silence into conversations, understanding the person behind the numbers, and recognising the privileged position accountants and bookkeepers hold when clients trust us with their financial lives. Understand the person behind the numbers. Financial information only tells part of a client’s story. Understanding their family, ambitions, long-term goals and personal circumstances can help accountants provide more meaningful advice and support. Build trust through genuine human connection. Being present, making eye contact and listening carefully can strengthen client relationships. We also explore how recording and transcription technology can actually help us become more present rather than more distracted. Ask the simple questions and embrace silence. Louis Theroux’s approach reminds us that we don’t always need to demonstrate how much we know. Asking an obvious or seemingly naive question can uncover valuable information, while leaving a little silence can give clients the space to share something we might never have thought to ask. Recognise the responsibility that comes with financial trust. Accountants and bookkeepers often know things about clients that even their friends and family don’t know. That privileged access brings responsibility, from protecting confidentiality to helping clients understand cash flow, tax obligations, financial performance and the consequences of important decisions. Use conversations to uncover opportunities to help. Clients may not realise the breadth of services their accountant can provide. By listening to what is happening in their business and their life, we can identify opportunities around systems, processes, growth, technology, mergers, acquisitions and longer-term planning. What stayed with me from Louis Theroux’s Xerocon conversation was the importance of curiosity. Accountants and bookkeepers have extraordinary access to the real story behind a business, but numbers alone don’t necessarily tell us what our clients are trying to achieve. Sometimes we need to stop preparing the next question, listen to what is actually being said, and give people enough space to tell us what really matters. Alex and I also explore how technology fits into this increasingly human conversation. AI, meeting transcription and recording tools can support better client service, training and knowledge sharing, but they shouldn’t replace our judgement, empathy or curiosity. Perhaps one of the most useful lessons we can take from a professional interviewer is beautifully simple: listen more closely, ask better questions and get to know the human behind the numbers. Episode resources and links: Louis Theroux’s resources Website : https://www.louistheroux.com/ Podcast : https://www.louistheroux.com/podcasts Apps & Tools Mentioned: ChatGPT, Claude, Gmail, Streak, ApprovalMax, Dext, Apron, The Gap, Brief, Fathom, Clarity HQ, Bluedot, Loom, Notion   If this episode helped you, the best way to support the show is to leave a review somewhere as it helps more people find us. And if you want to continue the conversation, come find me Heather Smith | Accountant and Storyteller on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/ Accounting Apps newsletter: http://accountingapps.io/ Accounting Apps Mastermind: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting X: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU

Discover the biggest announcements from XeroCon London 2026, including Xero Force, Partner Hub, Smart Document Capture, AI-powered automation, and what's next for accountants.   At XeroCon London 2026, Xero unveiled a wave of AI-powered innovations designed to help accountants and bookkeepers work more efficiently while supporting the needs of increasingly complex businesses. In this episode, Heather Smith speaks with Diya Jolly, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Xero, about the company's latest product announcements, the thinking behind its AI strategy, and how these developments will shape the future of the Xero ecosystem. XeroCon London 2026 highlights: Xero celebrates reaching five million subscribers and unveils major product announcements, including Xero Force, Xero Ultra and the new Xero Partner Hub. Smarter practice workflows: Learn how Book Health, Month End Readiness, Auto Bank Reconciliation and Smart Document Capture use AI to reduce manual work and improve bookkeeping accuracy. Building for larger businesses: Discover why Xero Ultra has been introduced and how Xero plans to support businesses as they grow without requiring a move to enterprise software. The future of AI at Xero: Diya explains Xero Force, AI agents, practical automation, and how AI is being embedded across the platform to help accountants deliver greater value. Lessons from the Australian outages: An open discussion about the AWS infrastructure incident, what happened behind the scenes, and how Xero is strengthening platform resilience. Whether you're an accountant, bookkeeper or Xero user, this conversation offers an inside look at the strategy, technology and product direction emerging from XeroCon London 2026. It provides valuable context behind the announcements and practical insights into how AI and automation are set to transform accounting workflows in the years ahead.   Apps & Tools Mentioned: Xero, Xero Partner Hub, Book Health, Month End Readiness, Auto Bank Reconciliation, Smart Document Capture, Hubdoc, Xero Files, Xero Force, Xero Ultra, Xero Payments, AWS, Amazon Web Services, OCR, JAX, AI Studio, Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT   Episode resources and links: Diya Jolly Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/diyajolly/ Xero https://www.xero.com/   If this episode helped you, the best way to support the show is to leave a review somewhere as it helps more people find us. And if you want to continue the conversation, come find me Heather Smith | Accountant and Storyteller on:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/ Accounting Apps newsletter: http://accountingapps.io/ Accounting Apps Mastermind: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting X: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU