Blake and David dive into the concerning trend of small CPA firms conducting shoddy audits of large companies and SPACs, raking in big fees while facing minimal consequences for deficient work. They also discuss the latest accounting app funding news, the power of AI for crafting persuasive arguments, and the American Institute of CPAs' puzzling resistance to changes in CPA licensure requirements and touch on the growing importance of client accounting services for public accounting firms. Sponsors Cloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/cas Uncat - http://accountingpodcast.promo/uncatEarmark - https://earmark.app Chapters(00:38) - Blake is back from a conference in Atlanta (03:12) - The truth behind Trump's Truth Social SPAC audit (18:41) - AI startup Fieldguide secures $30 million in Series B funding (21:57) - FundGuard secures $100 million in Series C funding round (23:42) - BotKeeper launches BotKeeper Infinite (29:29) - Scientists find that AI is more persuasive than humans at changing people's opinions (37:41) - Formula 1 team using Excel to track car parts (39:34) - CAS is the fastest-growing service in Accounting Today's annual survey (41:34) - The AICPA warns about losing the 150-hour rule (48:46) - Send us an email and remember you can earn FREE CPE for listening to this podcast!   Show Notes Fieldguide Raises $30 Million to Combat CPA Shortage With AI https://www.pymnts.com/news/investment-tracker/2024/fieldguide-raises-30-million-to-combat-cpa-shortage-with-ai/ AI accounting startup raises $100M https://www.accountingtoday.com/articles/ai-accounting-startup-fundguard-raises-100m-in-new-funds On the Conversational Persuasiveness of Large Language Models: A Randomized Controlled Trial (PDF)  https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.14380.pdf?utm_source=www.therundown.ai&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=nvidia-s-new-ai-chip-competitor   The year CAS took over https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/the-year-cas-took-over-accounting Need CPE? Get CPE for listening to podcasts with Earmark: https://earmarkcpe.comSubscribe to the Earmark Podcast: https://podcast.earmarkcpe.com Get in Touch Thanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040. Sponsorships Are you interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus. Need Accounting Conference Info?  Check out our new website - accountingconferences.com Limited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessities TeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merch Subscribe Apple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcastsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAccountingPodcastSpotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/SpotifyPodchaser: http://cloudacctpod.link/podchaserStitcher: http://cloudacctpod.link/StitcherOvercast: http://cloudacctpod.link/Overcast ClassifiedsRoyalwise - https://royalwise.com/partnerForwardly - https://www.forwardly.com/ Classifieds Want to get the word out about your newsletter, webinar, party, Facebook group, podcast, e-book, job posting, or that fancy Excel macro you just created? Let the listeners of The Accounting Podcast know by running a classified ad. Go here to create your classified ad: https://cloudacctpod.link/RunClassifiedAd Transcripts The full transcript for this episode is available by clicking on the Transcript tab at the top of this page