Ben Ross, the founder of MyAdvisor.ai provided his perspective on the role of Artificial Intelligence upon the accounting industry. As part of his presentation he discussed various functions which machine technology performs better than humans, while contrasting those against human traits that only humans can demonstrate when dealing with other humans.
Ross believes that Artificial Intelligence will help accountants reach their potential as advisors, by harnessing the power of computers to assist with the calculations and insights. That's why his company, MyAdvisor.ai, is building upon two decades of breakthrough research into natural language generation to develop usable solutions for accountants that will convert QuickBooks numbers into words.
One of the highlights of today's Main Stage was the presentation by Intuit's Ariege Misherghi, Director of Product Management who presented a variety of product updates and announcements related to QuickBooks, QuickBooks Online-Accountant, and the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program. Among the QuickBooks updates the recently implemented progress invoicing feature was reviewed, along with the 'projects' features for QuickBooks. She also announced that full 'job costing' including labor costs would be available for QuickBooks within the year.
In terms of QuickBooks Online-Accountant new features like practice management offer accountants, bookkeepers and other users of QBO-A to stay organized and never miss a deadline with the workflow tools and project features being offered. ProAdvisors can expand their marketability by enhancing their profiles on the Find a ProAdvisor website based upon Intuit's statistical analysis of when the 1-million plus users of the website select a specific advisor. Intuit has also taken steps to insure that those listed on the website are in fact the persons reflected on the site by a recent requirement for identity verification. Intuit is offering Find a ProAdvisor profile and identity verification assistance at the Intuit booth at Scaling New Heights.
Other changes for QuickBooks ProAdvisors include the recent certification changes that offer a pathway for accounting professionals new to QuickBooks prior to undertaking certification, along with scenario based training and certification. A Re-certification examination, 'What's New in QBO' course and common certification renewal date have also been implemented within the last few months. Additional certification changes are in the planning.
Insightful Accountant will be covering more details on these topics along with several other presentations and details regarding the Main Stage presentations in the days and weeks to come.