Billie McLoughlin, Eriona Bajrakurtaj and John Toon go a little AI heavy this week, with an MCP for AML checks, a decision-making model from TypeSafe and a new AI-native ledger from Briefcase, plus a chat with its co-founder Reuben Steenkamp.
Billie welcomes Sage's free Period Review for MTD for Income Tax, and likes that Sage hasn't sold it as AI, but wishes it worked for clients on Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent too. Eriona expects to be asking clients the same questions every quarter regardless. John reckons the profession can be too precise, and Eriona shares the HMRC enquiry that came down to one missing £26 receipt.
Intuit has cut 17% of its workforce while revenue grew 14% and QuickBooks Online Accounting grew 23%. Eriona asks where that leaves UK accountants now the accountants' council has gone. John questions how much revenue really comes through the accounting channel, and Billie thinks price rises explain a lot of the growth.
DNA Payments has partnered with iwoca so merchants can borrow £1,000 to £1m from the DNA app. John asks whether borrowing to cover running costs is ever wise, Eriona talks business rates and 15% interest, and Billie wonders how many small businesses keep their books up to date enough for live-data lending.
Eriona welcomes Sodium's FuseSign integration and wants one core system running the work. Billie explains MCP through Firmcheck's launch alongside its FYI and Sodium integrations, and asks whether firms will let AI change AML records. Eriona wonders what happens to software brands nobody logs into, and John worries about being spread too thin.
John introduces TypeSafe's Jev, and Eriona asks how you tell a regulator "the AI did that". John then walks through Briefcase Ledger, compares it with Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent, and talks to Reuben Steenkamp about the launch at the Digital Accountancy Show.
Also covered: Vinyl launches calendar booking, Joiin raises €1.5m of non-dilutive growth capital from Gilion, and Caseware brings Verity agents to Excel and client requests, along with John's Angry Audit Manager.
00:00 Intro
01:12 Fishbowl
02:19 Sage Period Review for MTD
13:11 Intuit cuts 17% while revenue grows
20:42 DNA Payments and iwoca Flexi Loans
26:35 Sodium integrates FuseSign
28:16 Firmcheck launches an MCP
37:52 TypeSafe launches Jev
42:57 Briefcase launches Briefcase Ledger
53:27 Vinyl launches calendar booking
56:48 Joiin raises €1.5m
1:01:10 Caseware Verity agents for audit
1:06:43 Outro