← AICPA Personal Financial Planning (PFP)
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Hello, this is Neil Amato, this is.
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Alicia, this is April Walker, and I'm Kyle. We're just some of the team who work in front of and behind the mic to make podcasts like this one.
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On behalf of the more than two dozen association colleagues who record around 20 podcast episodes every month, thank you for spending time with us.
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And the reason we add this to our daily nine to five, that's very simple. It's you.
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To know that you are listening makes this all worthwhile. So we'd like to say thank you.
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Whether you're a casual listener, a dedicated show fan, or an accounting or finance professional trying this podcast out for the.
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First time, you make it all worth doing.
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So from all of us, your podcast makers here at the association for International.
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Certified Professional Accountants, to our community members worldwide in both the aicpa and in.
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SEMA, we like to wish you a festive end to 2025 and a great start to 2026. Thank you for listening. I'm Kerry Sinnett and this is your Personal Financial Planning podcast. Technology in financial planning is evolving faster than ever and nowhere is the conversation more urgent than with artificial intelligence. For CPA financial planners, AI promises efficiency, deeper insights and new ways to engage clients. But it also brings risk if we adopt without understanding. The opportunity lies in knowing how to tell the difference. To be able to choose wisely and continue learning as the field advances, today's guest is going to unravel that for us. Welcome to the AICPA's Personal Financial Planning Podcast. As the manager of the PFS designation, the Financial Planning credential exclusively available to CPAs, my role is to keep you informed, educated and connected to a premier community of thought leaders delivering trusted financial planning. We explore the full range of planning topics and the current events shaping our profession. If you're a CPA financial planner or simply want an inside look at today's topic of Cracking the AI Code for Planning, this podcast is for you. Today we're joined by Dr. Brianne Smith. Brianne has been helping clients plan for their financial futures for over a quarter century and manages both a CPA firm in financial planning and advisory practice and she is also an Accounting professor at Auburn University where she is passionate about making finance accessible to everyone and finding innovative ways to teach and learn. With her unique blend of practitioner and educator, Brianne brings a clear eyed perspective on what AI can and can't do for our profession. Dr. Smith, welcome.
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C
Thank you Carrie. I am really excited to be here for our conversation today.
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B
Awesome. Thank you for taking some time to join us, let me just dive into. Planners are intrigued by the idea of AI, but struggle to separate hype from genuine innovation. How should CPA financial planners think about the current landscape of AI tools? And what. What criteria help determine whether a tool is really truly powered by AI versus simply an automated software solution?
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C
This is a really good start to our conversation today because there is a lot of confusion about where AI lands in the software. I really think for CPA financial planners, we should really be thinking about the AI landscape in terms of workflows, not individual apps. As we proceed in trying to implement this in our practices, there is, you know, two ways to really look at the differences. Here is one. Automation is really rules. So we're following data through a workflow, a process, and then coming out on the other end with fixed steps and structured data. And then AI is really learned inference. So we're giving a system kind of general data ambiguity and then it's giving you back something you didn't give it. So in short, automation is following a script and AI gives you a paragraph that you didn't give it.
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B
And automation can be really helpful if you're doing the same thing over and over and you can teach the computer or the automation program. Do this for me. Whereas what I hear you saying is AI is really going to come up with something that maybe we didn't think about yet or is going to take the different parts of the puzzle and try to make it into a whole picture. Does that sound right?
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C
Yes. And I really do think they work well together, AI and automation along a workflow, which is why I think as CPA financial planners, we should be thinking about those workflows as a whole and utilizing automation where it fits the best and AI agents where they fit the best.
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B
Well, when you look across the full scope of financial planning, where do you see AI already making the most meaningful contributions to practice? And can you share some examples that move beyond just efficiency to show how AI might change the nature of advice, maybe even client trust or planning outcomes?
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C
I have seen a lot of different use cases for IT across practices, not only in the classroom and what teachers, accounting professors are teaching students, but then also what we're doing in practice and testing out. I see a lot of use of document intelligence. I'd like to put it in that bucket where we give AI a document like a statement or a tax return or even, you know, an estate planning document, and we get back a list or a summary and some insights about that document, and it gives us the ability to, you know, move on from what, what's just, you know, we spend a lot of time reading over meeting documentation I think is great for me in my practice I've really seen the benefit of AI and follow through on advice. So moving from documenting the meeting to what I promised and action steps directly into our CRM with due dates and, you know, planning doesn't necessarily have hard deadlines. So this really helps there. And one other exciting area that we are diving into here is AI and investment management. So implementing strategies, comparing strategies, building portfolios. Some exciting stuff because I can remember.
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B
Looking at statements from clients and sometimes they were only 20 pages, but sometimes they were 120 pages. And so AI will be able to analyze, summarize and give me as a planner the most important information that's coming from that. Can I trust it to tell me everything that's important in there? Do I also need to look at every detail of the statement? And until I feel comfortable with AI's work, how do I find that comfort level?
- [07:57]
C
You definitely have to be the supervisor of the technology. I give you an example of how I've used it for just giving it a document and then it returning some insights and then how I've supervised it and transitioned that into client interactions. A Morningstar report is something very common that a financial planner would be accustomed to looking at and a portfolio as a whole. So you can upload current client holdings into a Morningstar report. And it produces a lot of very technical jargon that clients don't understand. You can also not the average client, what's R squared? What's the Sharpe ratio, Alpha, beta, all those things. And you could also compare it to what your proposal is and allow AI to pull out some insights in client terms like client relatable tone and voice and give you an easier way to maybe explain some of those harder comparisons instead of just giving them a plain report. Here's this report versus this report. You can actually break it down in pros and cons. Of course you would have to look at it and if it says this one's better because of, you know, the Sharpe ratio, X, Y, Z, you would double check behind to make sure that that's actually accurate and be the supervisor of the answer.
- [09:26]
B
That sounds good. I love the idea though of even because I get so used to going, all right, the alpha's here, here's the R squared, you know. But the reminder just to put it into our clients terms and AI can help us do that in what is the most relatable fashion really brings us to that spot where we're client centered. And it's so interesting to have a technology, a non human tool that helps us relate more humanly to our clients. Now you've written about the importance of evaluating fit and risk and ROI when adopting AI. Can you explain how you recommend practitioners frame these trade offs? Especially when the tools themselves, they're still evolving. I mean, we are at the front end of I think the tool development and we may have unseen opportunities, but also unanticipated risks. How do we navigate that?
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C
This is really challenging for practitioners because we're really busy helping clients with giving them advice, keeping them on, on track to towards their goals. So it's hard to constantly be keeping up with technology and know which ones to implement. Where I like to start is the fit. So I look at where's a pain point that's holding me back, where's a road bump in my processes, what's really frustrating me in my practice. And then I do a very nerdy thing, which is I will either role map. So I'm mapping out my role and it's a particular responsibility I have that's slowing me down or I dive deeper into a workflow.
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B
Can I ask you a question? What is role mapping? That sounds very interesting, new to me. Tell me, how do I map my.
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C
Role as a CEO of my firm? I have many responsibilities that make this firm run and get clients the outcomes that they need. So that includes managing employees, managing deadlines, managing client schedules, my schedule. And so there are a lot of things as a advisor that I do that I probably shouldn't be doing that other people could do for me or support me. So when you roll map, it really is a visualization of what your responsibilities are. And I like to color them red, green and yellow. Green are the roles or the, the tasks I'm actually going to continue to do. Yellow is I will eventually pass that on to someone else. And red is I need to stop doing this and either delegate it or get a technology to do this for me.
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B
Got it. And that's where AI integrates into role mapping and the other things that you do to evaluate, continue to tell us how to best really integrate AI. That makes so much more sense now. It used to be, okay, what can I delegate to a junior person? But now it might be, yes, let me delegate to a junior and also give some tasks to AI and maybe even have a junior supervise the AI to make sure it's done. And then you are overseeing all of the work that gets done. But some of it you would have done before. And so now you get to clear some of the things off of your plate and put yourself in that place where you're doing the highest value role, if I heard you correctly. Is that right?
- [13:06]
C
Yes. And definitely AI can help free up time to do those high value things that we do for our clients. And role mapping is just a way to identify those points and then to start looking at solutions and AI included and how to incorporate those. It's, you know, a little bit overwhelming and all of the options available, you can't implement everything at one time and you shouldn't try to implement everything at one time but being a little bit more intentional about where you plug it into your processes.
- [13:41]
B
Thank you for taking a minute to explain that. A little bit deeper for me, that helps a lot. Let me take a minute to, for those listening, if you want to dive deeper in person into some of this information and really honestly elevate your practice the same way that Dr. Smith has done, join the AICPA and SEMA Personal Financial Planning Symposium January 21 through 23 in Nice Place San Diego. It's going to be perfect place to go in January where you can connect with top CPA financial planners. You get 17 and a half CPE credit, so that's fantastic in a short amount of time. And dive into advanced strategies including AI, estate tax and retirement. And also there's an early bird savings if you register before November 17th. Bria, now that we've paid the light bill, so to speak, here's. Here's a follow up question for you. Learning AI, it's not just about adopting a tool. It's about, I think I'm getting the picture, building a mindset that can grow with this technology. What does it look like for a CPA financial planner to develop genuine AI literacy? And how should they balance curiosity with caution as they integrate AI into their practice?
- [15:05]
C
Yes, well, genuine AI literacy is really being able to explain all those buzzwords and, you know, acronyms that we use around technology in plain English and then also being able to interact intelligently with the AI itself. So knowing how to prompt, knowing how to review and supervise the outputs and check behind it, and also knowing how to keep logs of what you're doing and an audit trail, if you will, for how you are actually using it for client purposes. And I think as far as how do we draw the line between caution and we want to learn it is you really look at it in two lanes. You've got the sandbox space where you can not generate Client facing materials or outcomes or advice. And you can just play with it and not use any specific client results or outcomes. And then you can also do the production side where we really are giving clients outcomes from using these tools. So with that involves communicating that, disclosing that, keeping documentation of what we've done and then also being humanly involved in the loop at all times and doing the final sign off and the supervision.
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B
Yeah, all of this reminds me of my early days, starting as an internal. I'm going to date myself a little bit here in the 1980s and my first job was to look at the microfiche, remember that? For client statements and aggregate the information, produce a report and give it to my supervisor. Using AI is not that much different, except back then when I started, it took me a week and a half to do that particular task. And it sounds like AI can do those kinds of tasks with much more speed. So professions that thrive over decades, whether it was using me as an intern in the early days or now AI, they, they tend to thrive when they find ways to marry research and training and day to day practice. And so what role should AI play in, in helping CPA financial planners remain future ready and what responsibility do practitioners have to continuously learn and adapt in this new environment?
- [17:42]
C
Yes, it's really challenging. And I would say that over, you know, my 25 years in practicing, I, I consider technology part of my job, staying in the know about technology. And I have never before had a more difficult time keeping up. And I am working really hard at, get really, really hard at it. And it includes research and teaching and also using it in practice. So it's, it's challenging.
- [18:10]
B
Dr. Smith, let me just say hearing that from you, you are, you've been doing it, you're in it, you teach it, and that it's hard for you makes me feel so much better as I put on the gloves for the very first time to try AI and see where it makes a difference and probably to our listeners as well, who are like, I don't know. And so continue encourage us how technology is always changing. This is just the new technology of the moment. We used to keep our clients on paper before, you know, we did it electronically. And this is, this is just the next phase of an important tool for us to use. Am I thinking about this correctly?
- [18:54]
C
Yes. And another exciting element of this is that we are really at a time where we're trying to bring up the next generation and the next generation is small coming up and we have this gap of need in our practices as well. And we can marry the use of technology along with the next generation of CPA financial planners at the same time, and it's really become a solution more for the workload as well.
- [19:24]
B
Yes, two big things from that one, we should know the technology and we should help new people coming into the industry to use the technology. You know, spoiler, they already are. And so we if we can get our arms around both of those things, it's going to be so valuable for our practice, for their experience, and for the profession as a whole going forward. Dr. Smith, thank you so much for sharing with our community of listeners and to you listening out there. If you're an advisor who wants to deliver premier financial planning with confidence, you can explore topics like this and explore everything that the AICPA PFP section has to offer. Just go to aicpa.orgpfp and for 269 a year, AICPA members get access to a library of technical guidance, webcasts, planning tools, and expert insights like we just talked about, all designed to help you serve your clients at the highest level. All right, and this part is near and dear to my heart. If you're a CPA with 3,000 hours of financial planning experience already, consider showing your expertise next to your name by obtaining the PFS credential@aicpa.org PFS this is our podcast together, and if this episode helped you in your practice, we'd be grateful if you shared it with your professional community. With Coming up on almost Gosh, wow. 500,000 downloads so far. The AICPA PFP podcast is helping to advance the profession one listener at a time. So thank you. This has been Carrie Sinnett for the AICPA Personal Financial Planning Division. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep earning trust through clarity, guiding with compassion, and delivering premier planning that elevates our profession.
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