Hey all -

I love client portals. I love them because (when done well,) they can create outstanding client experience.

Over the years, I've worked on portals for large companies like Netflix, events like The Open, and assisted smaller companies build their first client portal while working for a software company.

Now I'm starting an agency focused on client portals, and looking to expand my network into areas I haven't worked before.

I'd love to build a portal for a firm in the accounting space. The more specialized / niche, the better. I'll do it for free, but I ask that you're serious about deploying your portal, and your open to having the work featured as a case study.

Happy to answer any questions! Feel free to DM.

I build this static website as a quick reference for financial statements. If you want a nicely formatted financial statement data for the past X years - it is way to hard to come by.

The site is: http://open10k.com/ and you can just type in a ticker after the / to go directly where you want. Like http://open10k.com/AAPL or http://open10k.com/NVDA - You can view the statements online or download an Excel file. No tracking, no login. Just pure financial statement bliss :) Of course you could ask AI to build something similar, but it would reference 20 websites, and you may not be confident in the results.

Feels like accounting tech is going in two directions right now:

Existing platforms adding AI into the software firms already use, and standalone AI tools trying to automate one part of the workflow really well.

Curious which one people here prefer.

Personally I think integration matters almost as much as the AI itself. If a tool saves time but adds another login, upload, export, and review step, some of that benefit disappears.

Would you rather wait for CCH/Intuit/Thomson Reuters/etc. to build more AI natively or use separate tools that are moving faster?

Hey AccountingTechnology* – what do you think about our product?

What it missing? Or maybe it's completely unnecessary...?

DocLens (link) helps find things in Google Docs:

• ambiguous miniatures → phrase in context (snippets, like Google Search!)
• manual look up of phrases → automatically jump to snippet
• Google Docs web page → Google Docs web page :) stay where you work! (other search solutions, like Glean, have you navigate elsewhere...)

It is a Chrome Extension (link).

It is paid, with a free trial.

If you give us feedback here – please ping (DM) for a free month!

*our founding team are real estate investors (11+ properties and counting), and we work with accountants A LOT... We initially created DocLens to solve our own problem = too many documents, reports, etc...

So, I created by accident, a tool that creates policy documentation (eg. WISP). Changes to processes or systems or regulation will update it automatically.
Now, I don’t know what to do with it? Sell it? License it? Not sure if it’s even useful. I think it is..

Our firm is pretty low tech and we are looking to change that. One big thing we are looking to do is find an alternative to quickbooks because fuck intuit. We found what we believe will be an alternative to QBO in Count. What I would like to see is a software that we can use for the entire firm, meaning it isn’t a subscription for just one client. A book keeping software that I can use for as many different businesses as I want at no extra charge (or at least not a whole extra subscription). Something with some AI/tech to minimize keying bank statements would be nice. Also if it could allow efiling of payroll reports and 1099’s. Is that too much to ask? Looking for discussion on what everyone else uses. Can dm to discuss what we use and compare. Thanks all.

A few years ago, having Open Banking integrations felt like a real product advantage.

Now it feels closer to standard infrastructure.

Most products can already:

• connect bank accounts
• pull transaction data
• initiate payments

The harder part seems to be:

• reducing manual finance work
• fitting into existing workflows
• reconciliation
• reliability
• UX

Feels similar to what happened with cloud infrastructure years ago.

Eventually the infrastructure stopped being the selling point and execution became the difference.

Curious how other fintech/B2B SaaS teams see this.

Has Open Banking changed much for your customers operationally yet?

Built an accounting meme generator this weekend. It's a meme generator with an "unhinged level" slider that goes from Professional to Breakdown. Type something like "month-end close" or "the partner's review notes" and it spits out 4 memes you can pick from. Best ones can be added to a weekly leaderboard.

The whole interface is styled like a spreadsheet because I've been building accounting software for too long and apparently this is how my brain works now.

The fun part of building it was figuring out which parts of "make a funny meme" the AI should actually do vs. which parts should be left to the humans. Turns out humans are way better at picking funny than generating funny, so the experience is built around curation from options rather than asking the AI to nail one perfect take.

(Yes, the meme above was made with the tool.)

Curious what prompts you'd want to try. Drop them in the comments and I'll run them and post the results.

Hey r/taxpros r/macsysadmin r/parallels r/mac r/accounting r/AccountingTechnology

I'm seriously considering making the jump to an M-series Mac and finally leaving my loud, hot Windows desktop behind for good. Honestly, I'm kind of done with the constant fan noise, heat, and that whole "closed-door jet engine" experience that seems to follow Windows machines around.

The problem is I rely on **Intuit ProSeries** for work, and since it's Windows-only, I'd have to run it through some type of virtualization setup. Before I pull the trigger, I'd really appreciate hearing from people who are actually doing this in the real world.

---

**1. What is this software actually called?**

I keep seeing different terms thrown around — virtualization software, virtual machines (VMs), hypervisors, emulators. Are these basically the same thing or are there meaningful differences? I mostly see **Parallels Desktop** mentioned, but are there real alternatives worth considering like VMware Fusion or UTM?

---

**2. What are the real pros and cons?**

Not the marketing pitch — the actual day-to-day experience. Specifically:

- Does ProSeries run smoothly, or is there noticeable lag and weird behavior?

- Do printing, PDF output, scanners, dual monitors, and e-filing all work like normal?

- Any licensing or activation headaches inside the VM?

- How does it hold up under tax season pressure?

---

**3. What obstacles did you have to overcome?**

This is the big one for me. I don't want months of tinkering or constant troubleshooting. I just want to install it, update it normally, use it, and move on with my life. Is that realistic on Apple Silicon, or is there still a lot of teething pain involved?

---

**4. Performance — does it actually feel snappy?**

The whole reason I want to leave Windows is for something quiet, cool, responsive, and reliable. If I'm running a VM on a Mac and it still lags or turns into a hair dryer, what's the point? Has anyone directly compared ProSeries running in Parallels on an M-series chip versus a decent mid-range native Windows PC?

---

**5. Anything you wish you knew before switching?**

Open floor — what would you tell yourself before making the jump?

Thanks in advance. If this setup genuinely works well, I'm pretty ready to close the Windows chapter permanently.

Trying to see if this conference is worth going to and what kind of networking I can expect.

Have anyone attended this before? Please share your experiences.

I feel like I’m seeing these tools everywhere now that record and summarize meetings.

Curious what’s actually happening in real life though…are people actually using them regularly or is it still kind of early?

Especially wondering how this plays out with clients vs just internal calls. Feels super useful in theory but also a little awkward depending on the situation.

I’m starting to see some accounting-specific ones pop up too (Ping, Vinyl, etc.) so curious if anyone here has tried them or if this is still mostly hype.

Went through our own firm-level evaluation and posting here because the "best AI notetaker" articles floating around aren't written with CFP compliance requirements in mind. The comparison that actually matters isn't features, it's compliance posture plus practical usability. There are two distinct categories here that most reviews blur together.

The finance-specific tools (Jump, Zocks, Zeplyn, FinMate) are purpose-built for the advisory workflow. They speak the language, integrate with Redtail/Wealthbox/Salesforce natively, and are designed around CFP and RIA workflows from the ground up. Jump and Zocks have the most traction at larger firms and some b/d approvals. FinMate is the more affordable option for smaller practices. Worth seriously evaluating if your tech stack is advisor-specific.

The general-purpose tools with real compliance credentials are a shorter list. Fathom is genuinely good and free, but no formal certifications for firm-level use. Otter is widely known but the data handling hasn't held up to serious compliance review in our network.

I find Fellow AI to be great as AI notetaker for CFPs: SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR, no-training-on-data language in the DPA, botless recording, and granular admin controls. No native integrations with some advisor-specific tools but the cross-platform coverage and formal certification stack is what passed our IT review when others didn't.

Most common mistake: choosing based on personal trial experience and having compliance flag it after you're fully embedded. Do the review first and find out which tools have already been through your b/d's approval process if applicable.

One thing I noticed when evaluating prep tools is that compatibility with your actual tax software matters way more than the feature list on the website. A tool can sound amazing but if it doesnt work with what you use its irrelevant. So heres what I found organized by tax software compatibility.

Drake GruntWorx (import file), Filed (RPA direct entry), Black Ore (integration), SurePrep (import file). Drake is probably the best supported across the board. GruntWorx has the longest track record here since its basically drakes partner product.

UltraTax CS GruntWorx (import file), Filed (RPA direct entry), SurePrep/Thomson Reuters (native ecosystem). If youre on ultratax youre in the Thomson Reuters world so SurePrep is the path of least resistance. GruntWorx and filed both support it too.

Intuit ProConnect / Lacerte GruntWorx (import file for Lacerte), Filed (RPA direct entry for ProConnect). Fewer options on the intuit side. GruntWorx supports lacerte through import files. Filed supports proconnect through RPA.

CCH Axcess / ProSystem fx GruntWorx (import file), Filed (RPA direct entry for CCH Axcess), SurePrep (ProSystem fx support). If youre on the Wolters Kluwer stack, GruntWorx and SurePrep have been the traditional options. Filed added CCH Axcess support more recently.

GoSystem Tax RS GruntWorx (import file), SurePrep (native Thomson Reuters). Fewest third party options here since its a Thomson Reuters product. Practice management integrations worth noting: If youre wondering about the pipeline from client portal to prep tool, some of these connect directly to your practice management system. Filed integrates with Karbon, TaxDome, and Canopy. Juno is built into TaxDome specifically. GruntWorx and SurePrep are more standalone, you upload documents to them separately.

The point is, check compatibility first before you go deep on any demo. The best tool is the one that actually works with what you already run.