It’s the final stretch for many practitioners - hang in there!
At the core of our mission is a simple but increasingly difficult challenge: helping the accounting ecosystem decipher signal from hype. Right now, there is far too much noise in the system, and it is making it genuinely hard for practitioners to feel confident in making informed decisions about AI.
Every week brings another wave of product announcements, webinars and posts claiming transformation. Some of it is real, and some of it isn’t. The problem isn’t just that the hype is annoying — it’s that it’s actively harmful. When business leaders can’t tell what’s working from what’s being sold to them, they either adopt the wrong tools with false expectations, or they disengage from the conversation entirely. Both outcomes slow progress.
So how do you spot hype from signal?
One of the noisiest patterns I keep seeing is inflated vendor claims based on results that were accomplished on a single customer or account. We’ve all seen the 99% accuracy, massive efficiency gains and huge ROI claims. I’m not saying that these numbers are fabricated, however, they’re almost never the full story. Rather, many times it’s a stat pulled from one customer account, over a short window, with a favorable dataset, and not a true benchmark of their overall results. To really sift through the hype and identify real progress, you must find out what the solution provider’s benchmark is, and details on the sample size behind the claims.
Tom Hood, who sits on our Advisory Council, adds an important layer here: the SEC is now actively scrutinizing “AI-washing” — vendors making inflated claims in marketing materials. This isn’t just a buyer-beware issue anymore. Any accuracy claim that you’re relying on to make purchasing decisions should have documentation behind it proving it isn’t misrepresented.
So when you see big claims, ask yourself these three questions (hat-tip to Stanford):
• What exactly is the vendor claiming? (e.g., “Our model achieves 99% accuracy in invoice processing”)
• What did they actually test? (e.g., “We tested on 500 invoices from one customer over 3 months”)
• Does the test support the claim? (e.g., Does testing on one customer’s invoices prove the system works for all customers?)
I asked our Advisory Council for their top tips on identifying hype, here’s some additional insights:
“It’s easy to spot hype when the product team doesn’t really understand accounting. Their experience is that they had to do a task for their business and thought it could be done better — but they don’t consult with accountants to make sure the results are accurate. Also, when asking the software questions, it gives you answers you would know anyway and isn’t providing additional value.” — Amy Vetter, B3Method
“Does it sound too good to be true? Be from Missouri, and ask them to show you! AI capabilities should be demonstrable, repeatable, accurate and ethical. Does the product have all of these attributes? Are wild claims of time savings advanced? Ask to the actuals and speak to the person who provided those numbers. This is a great time to apply the Russian proverb used by Ronald Reagan: TRUST, BUT VERIFY. You should start out by trusting the AI product’s claims, but do your due diligence.” — Randy Johnston, K2 Enterprises.
If you have other ideas or tips on how to spot hype, we’d love to hear from you. Comment on this Substack or in the LinkedIn feed.
I sat down with Kimberly Ellison-Taylor — past Chair of the AICPA, former senior leader at Oracle and KPMG, and active board member at U.S. Bank, Mutual of Omaha, and Marathon Petroleum. She also shapes the next generation of finance leaders through her work at Carnegie Mellon. Few people in the profession sit at the intersection of practitioner, executive, board director, and educator the way she does — and this conversation reflects all of it.
On the latest episode of the AI Native Accounting Podcast, we dive into:
• AI isn’t just a technology shift, it’s a governance shift
• What “credible” AI strategy looks like to Boards
• Why explainability is foundational to trust
• How firms should think about risk, investment and accountability
You can stream the full episode on your favorite podcast platform and CPE is available via Earmark. Here’s a link to the full episode on YouTube.
The 15th isn’t just about taxes, it’s also the nomination deadline for the 2026 AI Native Accounting Foundation Awards. We’re recognizing the practitioners and firms doing the real work: moving beyond experimentation, building responsibly, and setting a standard the profession can actually learn from. There are four award categories this year:
Firm Award - AI Implementation
Recognizes firms that have moved beyond experimentation to materially transform how work gets done using AI. Nominate now >>>
Firm Award - AI Strategy & Responsible Leadership
Recognizes firms that have thoughtfully designed and executed AI strategies, and began building frameworks for responsible governance of AI systems. Nominate now >>>
Individual Award - AI Workflow Innovation
Recognizes an individual who designed or championed a practical AI-enabled workflow that materially improved how work gets done. Nominate now >>>
Individual Award - AI Education & Training Excellence
Recognizes an individual leading meaningful education, training, or enablement efforts that go beyond tools — preparing professionals to work confidently with AI. Nominate now >>>
Self-nominations and peer nominations are both welcome. Submit at ainativeaccounting.org — nominations close April 15th.
We have three opportunities coming up, each one designed to bring the community together in a different way. If you’d like to be part of any of them, please shoot us a note.
Live Podcast Recording at Scaling New Heights
We’ll be recording a live episode of the AI Native Accounting Podcast on-site at the Scaling New Heights conference. It’s an unscripted, real conversation in front of a live audience — the kind of moment that tends to generate the most honest and useful content we produce. If you want to be in the room when it happens, reach out.
Award Presentations on the Keynote Stage
Monday morning at Scaling New Heights, the 2026 AI Native Accounting Foundation Awards will be presented to the inaugural winners. This is the first time we’re recognizing firms and individuals publicly at this scale — it’s a moment worth being present for if you are onsite at the event.
1st AINA Virtual Roundtable
Our inaugural virtual roundtable is a 90-minute, invitation-only conversation for firm leaders, Advisory Council members, and Strategic Partners. It runs on Chatham House Rules, that’s what makes people willing to be honest. This is the meeting to be in for the fastest way to understand what’s actually working with AI inside firms today.
Interested in participating in any of these events? Connect with us at ainativeaccounting.org and we’ll get you the details.
Everyone’s got enough email, so I’m not trying to add to your Inbox. But if you want to follow quality orgs and leaders who are actually worth the time, here are my recommendations this month:
1. State of AI Trust in 2026: Shifting to the Agentic Era — McKinsey
A sharp read on how AI trust is being redefined as we move from copilots to autonomous agents. McKinsey surveyed executives across industries and the findings are directly relevant to how firms should be thinking about governance and accountability right now. Worth reading alongside the vendor evaluation questions above.
2. The Neuron
A daily AI newsletter that stays practical and skips the hype. Good for staying current without spending an hour a day on it.
I may be biased — but for a bigger picture zoom-out on what’s actually happening in technology and business, this is gold.
4. Turing Post
Deeper dives on AI research, if you want to understand what’s happening under the hood (not just the product announcements) this is one of the better sources out there.
The AI Native Accounting Foundation is an independent non-profit initiative. Our work is made possible by support from our AI partners on a mission. One of our Strategic Partners is BILL.
BILL recently published two pieces of research worth reading if you’re thinking about where your firm stands on AI adoption:
1. AI Ambition in Accounting Firms: From Awareness to Action
2. The BILL AI Ambition Survey
Got a question or topic suggestion? Comment on Substack or connect with us on LinkedIn!
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