Treat AI Like a New Hire

Send us your thoughts or what you want to hear more about! (https://www.buzzsprout.com/2238275/fa...) Why Treating AI Like a New Hire Beats Chasing Every Tool Treat AI Like a New Hire (Define Good, Episode 1 of 5) With Lera Kooper, Owner and COO of Accountability Services Most AI conversations start with the tool. This one starts with the job description. In this episode of Canopy Practice Success, host Luke Frye, CPA, Accountant in Residence at Canopy, talks with Lera Kooper, owner and COO of Accountability Services, about the rule that keeps her firm's AI adoption grounded: onboard a new tool the same way you onboard a new person. Lera explains why she hands AI the tasks that require the least professional judgment first, how she sets expectations and weekly check-ins the way she would for any team member, and why a year spent documenting SOPs turned out to be the real prerequisite. She also gets candid about one rollout her firm paused, not because the tool underperformed, but because no one owned the standard for how to use it. Her words: "we haven't had the resources to go in and define good in our use of that type of tool." The conversation also covers what changes when bookkeepers and staff accountants spend more time in front of clients, where automation still stalls today, and how small firms can use their speed to close the efficiency gap with much larger ones. If you're deciding what to hand to AI next, or trying to work out why your last rollout stalled, this episode gives you a practical order of operations from someone running it inside a fast-growing firm. What You'll Learn • Why Lera Kooper onboards a new AI tool the same way she onboards a new hire • How to sort which tasks belong with AI and which still need a person • What "defining good" means, and why documented SOPs make AI easier to trust • Why an AI rollout without a clear champion ends up on pause instead of in production • How AI meeting notes freed an admin to move into operations, workflow, and client experience • Why her bookkeepers and staff accountants sit in front of clients more than they did three years ago • What still has to happen with bank connections before bookkeeping is fully automated • How small firms can close the efficiency gap with large firms, and where technology stops being the answer Connect With Lera LinkedIn:   / lerakooper   Subscribe to Canopy Practice Success If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and follow Canopy Practice Success wherever you listen to podcasts.