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Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the accounting profession, but successful adoption requires more than implementing new technology. It demands thoughtful leadership, strong security practices, and a people-first culture that helps teams adapt with confidence.
In this session hosted by Ace Cloud Hosting, Winnie Hsu, CEO and Founder of NexGen Accounting and Vision 2 Reality Foundation, shares her perspective on leading accounting firms through the AI era.
From practical AI adoption strategies to cybersecurity best practices and change management, she explains how firms can embrace innovation while protecting client trust and supporting their teams.
Video Transcript
Poorvi: Hello everyone, I am Poorvi, joining you on behalf of Ace Cloud Hosting. We are an Intuit-authorized hosting service provider for accounting apps like QuickBooks, Tax Software, UltraTax, and Drake.
We have been serving accounting and CPA firms for the last 15 years. Joining me today is Winnie Hsu, founder of Vision 2 Reality Foundation and CEO of NexGen Accounting.
Winnie brings a strong people-first leadership perspective to the accounting industry. Her profile reflects a clear focus on accountability as a servant leader, which makes today’s conversation especially relevant as we discuss AI, leadership, and how accounting firms can guide their team through changes.
Winnie, thank you so much for being here. I’m really excited to have this conversation with you. To begin with, recently I heard that you came back from Get Connected by Intuit QuickBooks in Calgary.
Before we get into AI and leadership, I would like to hear about the experience itself. What was the energy like in the room? Were people excited, nervous, curious, or a mix of everything when AI came?
Winnie: Yeah, because this year’s QuickBooks Get Connected events, and I can see a complete shift compared with the last few years. And there are so many topics focused on AI, focused on how accounting professionals are able to deal with the AI transition.
And also, AI is so present in front of our faces. And no matter whether you like it or not, some people are 100% supporting it, and some people are a little bit hesitant. So, depending on where your position is, I can see there’s a leadership talk regarding this.
There’s also a technology talk regarding this. And there are also some people using AI, creating so many of their own small apps in their own firm to manage clients, manage calendars, and manage workflow.
I learned so much from this particular one, not only as a speaker with another field panel talking about how to control or work as a leader, what AI is actually helping us to be better leaders, to be more effective leading people.
And also, there are many other areas where you use AI to increase your workflow and efficiency and save your time and save clients’ time. So, I’m thinking AI actually has a positive impact for this accounting and financial professional field for sure.
Poorvi: True. That’s so interesting. And I think AI is not just a topic right now. It’s just a future thing that’s already a part of the accounting industry. So, in your session, you were talking about AI, like reshaping leadership in accounting. What was the biggest takeaway you wanted firm leaders to leave with?
Winnie: Most people today use AI to increase efficiency at work. And of course, as a leader, I use AI; I mainly use ChatGPT, and also because our firm uses Google Suite.
So, we have Gemini and use it internally, and we also need to control it. So, there are several things we, as our firm, were trying to do. And one is, of course, we don’t put any client information into AI because, right now, even though AI is super fun, super interesting, and helping us save time.
But at the same time, we’re not really sure behind the scenes who is controlling all the databases, all the information, and how they’re going to use the information, especially in the accounting and financial field.
And we have so much of our clients’ confidential information and our organization’s information; we’re not going to be able to compromise that. That’s a professional duty in this particular field.
So, that’s why we have rules: if anybody is using AI for their work, they can remove the client’s name, remove any sensitive information, and just the data they can feed in to ask questions or get some suggestions.
And also, sometimes you cannot trust AI 100% because not all the time they’re giving you the correct answers. So normally we check the source.
Even if the AI may be fine, say, hey, go here; this is the tax office. In Canada, we call them Revenue Canada. So, and we normally try to check their specific link regarding certain taxation, certain rules regarding how you do your financial statement or the questions.
And even when we check AI, we probably check a couple of different places, and then also check the original source because AI can only be good if you ask the right question.
That’s one thing I got from this particular event. Almost all the accountants there, all the speakers, they’re talking about needing to truly focus on protecting your client and also your own firm’s confidentiality.
Because that’s number one for our profession, especially, right? Because the client trusts us for their personal information and their business information, which is not supposed to be shared with other people outside their own company or the owners.
So, this is the one area I feel is that, of all the professionals we’re learning through this particular QuickBooks Get Connected event and also for helping leaders, actually many leaders are also thinking, oh, I can do my e-mail quickly. I can do my, you know, search quickly. Of course, AI can help us with all of those.
But actually our moderator in my panel, the moderator actually asked me, he said, ask your AI, how do you know, like what do you use AI the most for 2025?
So let AI give you a top three. You’re using it. So, actually, each of us did it. We realize, oh, the AI is actually helping me with strategic planning, AI is actually helping me think more deeply, AI is actually helping me argue with me for anything I’m thinking because I do have AI chat, and I basically just ask my AI to challenge me.
Always say you’re wrong, you know, like figure out the way why you’re wrong because even us as a leader, we all have biases, no matter how aware we have how much we wanted to not to, but we different ways growing up, right, We accepting different information, we watch different kind of resource and we have our own limited view for the world, for everything.
And so, I truly believe that this particular exercise is giving me even more awareness of my own biases and why I think that way, why thinking that way is the correct way, and then it’s easier for me to eliminate other things.
But AI actually challenged me. So, when you have you thought about this, have you thought about that? Have you looked at this particular situation from a different perspective?
And if you come from Asia, you may look at them differently; if you come from, you know, the Middle East, maybe you look at them differently; if you come from Europe, maybe you look at them differently than people from America.
Yeah, because of our cultural background, our upbringing, right. And all the news, information on the book we’re reading, they all give us a different kind of feedback. So, that part I truly learned as a leader for any organization: you have to be at the forefront of technology.
Not me. I’m the best; my younger staff are much better than me, but at least I know how to use it as a tool. So, I feel that if you ask me what AI is, for me, AI is more like icing on the cake. So, AI is an additional copilot for me. AI is more like an additional tool for me, almost like the old days.
My grandma saw the horse carriage, and later on she saw the train, and later on she saw the car, right? And later on, she saw airplanes, right. So, every single one is more like a tool helping us to go from A to B a little bit faster.
That’s it. Like, of course, they have many, many issues in AI, but I hope more good, honest, kind people use AI in a positive way for the world. That’s my personal wish.
Poorvi: Like seriously, it makes sense. Like the thing that you talk about, the human side of it is changing very much. And that is where human intervention is very important, right?
Many accounting professionals are still feeling anxious about AI. Some of them are worried about the roles changing, and some of them are very unsure about how quickly things are moving.
So, like when a team is feeling this way, what is the very first thing a firm leader should, like, address and calm them and their anxiety?
Winnie: They are people who really hesitate or have anxiety because they worry AI is going to take over some of their jobs. Because as financial or accounting professionals, we put our personal identity linked with our profession, right?
Because many people go out, if you ask, oh, what do you do? And people will say, I’m an accountant, or I’m a financial, you know, professional- more like that’s your personal identity already.
It’s like people ask me, you know, are you a Chinese? Yes, I’m Chinese, right? If they ask somebody else, they say, OK, I come from a different country, and that’s becoming our identity.
So, many of the professionals feel as if AI almost takes over their own identity. That’s why they’re more scared internally than just technology. But if they change their view, if they change their thinking, the AI is actually helping them become their robots, or they have become their assistants, or AI is helping them to make better, quicker work, you know, decisions.
And I think they will change their view. The AI is never going to take away from your identity, and the AI is also not able to take away who you are because AI is only there just as a tool to support. That’s basically how we try to teach in our firm because our firm has the oldest staff. Maybe they’re, you know, late 50s, and we always have younger staff in their early 20s.
And of course they’re, yeah, they view AI completely differently and how they are accepting it differently. So, it’s totally a mindset. It’s not like just pushing everybody to use it. We want everybody to feel comfortable in the areas where they can use it. And for my firm, most of our staff immigrated to Canada, so their English is not their first language.
So, AI actually helping them the most is to correct their spelling and maybe help them make their emails more professional or clearer about what they’re trying to say to their clients.
I think that’s a huge benefit for at least my firm because, like, that’s the first step for how our staff will use AI, and also AI can help us do research if something we’re not 100% sure about, but yeah, we sort of know, but not 100% sure.
And AI can help us find the true source. And then we, you know, dig into that source to find the information. Right now, I think our team’s biggest worry is that AI is going to remove some of the security or maybe try to get our clients’ information.
So, that’s why cybersecurity is a huge area. So, we pay attention, and even when we’re buying our professional insurance, we always add on cybersecurity insurance because it’s very important.
Doesn’t matter how much prevention we try to do, and if somebody has the, you know, evil heart, they try to hack in or try to do something to benefit themselves.
And we can’t really avoid that. Just no way we can avoid it. We’re all humans, right, and it doesn’t matter how much we do. But that’s why professional insurance in cybersecurity is quite important, and also having a trusted company managing the back end for any company. I think that’s also quite important for any firm, for any company, so they are able to do it.
So, I feel sad, and another thing is that every 3-4 months we try to redo the cybersecurity training for our team because there are different types of phishing emails now; there are different ways that people try to get you to open their attachment.
Even this morning before I talked to you, I received one text message on my phone that said this is the official, like the Service Canada, which is the official Canadian website or Canadian government website.
So, this is the official message or official notice from Service Canada. I deleted it right away. But, like these kinds of things, even normal people receive it.
They will say, oh, this is the official one; I’m going to click it; I’m going to download whatever they’re documenting- but they don’t have that awareness, right?
I mean, it’s not their fault. They were, you know, they got into the trap. So, we try to learn more. We try to introduce that kind of training, teaching in our firm and to help our team be prepared or at least aware.
Like, not just say, click it right, jump into it, and then all the wires, everything gets to your phone or gets to your computers.
Poorvi: Yeah, like I said, correctly said, AI has become such an important role in everybody’s life. But at the same time, security has been the biggest concern for everyone, right?
So, like I’ve seen, a lot of accounting firms are like dealing in the cloud, like tax service, so that you know, even if there is any attack, any security issue, and already like accounting firms are handling a lot of financial data of so many companies. So, it becomes very, you know, vulnerable for everyone to keep their data safe.
So how do you think like cloud integration will help accounting firms and, you know, keep their data safe? So, what do you think about?
Winnie: Yeah, this thing our company, because mainly we use QuickBooks Online and they’re very adamant about online security. Now they’re implementing so many different ways for us to log in.
We can’t really just log in anywhere we wanted to. And so, for our team, we basically ask them to designate a computer for work. And if they have personal computers, they can use another computer for their personal things, and/or they can use VPNs to make sure, because the location is somewhere.
And another thing is we all implemented two-way authentication. So, they have to make sure who you are. You try to log in to any online, you know, places that need to be confidential. Those were, like, the implementation ways we do.
But we do have other clients. They hire a cloud hosting company, basically hosting all their software, all their apps, all their logins, all their staff, you know, transactions, all the backups in their back end. And we also see some of our clients, they’re a bit bigger, and they need that kind of security.
So, there are two ways. Either you use a very credible company to download their software, or you can hire a cloud hosting company, and they’re able to help you make sure all your security is in place because they’re constantly upgrading; they’re constantly going to see what’s happening right now. Like, what do we need to do?
So, they’re the professional in that field, and like we’re telling our clients, you do what you do the best and let us do what we do the best, because nobody can be professional in every single field because we only have 25 hours a day.
Poorvi: So, in this conversation, you just talked about that there are two different age groups in your company.
And I’m sure, like the younger ones are very excited to use AI, like very often. And the older ones are quite hesitant about using AI, right. So, as a leader, like talking about AI in front of your people, how do you feel about them? Like, make them feel included rather than making them feel like they’re being forced into it.
Winnie: Because our company says the central value is people-centric. So, we always put people number one, no matter how much AI you have. And even in the future, you may have a robot doing laundry, cooking for you, doing everything in your house; nobody can replace a human relationship.
So, we always say that in our organization, humans are always #1. So normally, if you ask us what the priority in our company is, always our staff, number one; our client #2; our supplier #3; or, you know, all the suppliers of ours are number 3. And then shareholders #4; always that kind of a priority line.
And our staff always #1 because, in any organization as a leader, you have to think: no matter what business you do, even if you’re just a one-man show doing e-commerce or doing anything online, you need people.
You need people to design your product, provide your services. You need the people to service the people, right? You need people to give you, you know, apps and/or sell your product, right?
And so you’re never going to be eliminating people. So, it doesn’t matter. There are thousands or millions of types of businesses. Every single person is in the people business. That’s how I believe 120%.
Without people, without treating people with respect and also making them feel they belong in your organization.
They’re loyal. And why they’re loyal is not because of Winnie; they’re loyal. It’s because they feel happy, they feel respected, they feel they’re learning right. They’re doing something valuable for their client. That’s why they stay here with us.
So, I always put my staff #1 because I feel they’re my family; they’re the people who trust our company, trust me to come in here.
Otherwise, they could work anywhere else in the world, right? They don’t need to work, you know, in our company. So that’s how I constantly, always believe.
So, it doesn’t matter whether they’re old or young; they may have a different stage or different views on AI, and give them the space, let them test it using their own ways to use it.
So, we don’t use a special force to say, Hey, you have to do this way. Of course, there are some rules and procedures, but we don’t push all our staff. So, you have to be cookie-cutter to use this way.
But there are certain online apps that they have to learn, no matter whether they hate it or they love it, right? They have to learn, but otherwise how they utilize the AI and we give them the freedom to choose whatever is comfortable.
And if they have challenges, they say, hey, I really don’t want to learn this. I don’t have the mental capacity to learn this. And we have other staff in the team. They know better, and they can ask questions, right? They can get somebody to help. So, it’s a bit different in our small firm.
I know in the larger organization it’s a bit harder, but for our firm, only 10 to 15 staff, it’s much easier because we all know each other really closely, very respectfully, and anybody can open their mouths asking questions or asking for help.
So, I don’t know how to do this, and can you help me, right? So, they feel comfortable asking each other? I believe that’s the culture you create in a small company.
Poorvi: Well, it’s a really good culture that you have created in your organization. And I am sure that people would love to work with you any day, anytime, right?
And I just wanted to know, like, your performance started with AI; what are the small steps or use cases you can say begin with without overwhelming the team?
Winnie: We are encouraging them to be lifelong learners. So, no matter how smart you are, how many skills you have, how many years of experience you have in accounting, working in whatever profession you have.
And we’re encouraging to learn because even for myself, I’m in my early 60s, I have to learn how to use AI. I have to learn all the new apps. I have to learn what social media is. I have to learn what that’s going to affect our company or futures even.
I’m not a specialist in any of those areas, and I’m probably compared with many of my staff or the people I know; I’m pretty bad in those areas.
But I need to learn, need to understand what that’s going to have anything to do with my company, or maybe they can benefit the company moving forward.
So, it’s not me. You just push them away. So, hey, this is the area I don’t like. I’m not going to touch it. At least I put myself up there.
I take the courses, I went to the seminars, I went to online courses, and I register. I pay the money to learn because if you don’t learn, you basically are going to be eliminated economically, and no matter who you are, it doesn’t matter whether you like it or not.
And when we went from the horse carriage to the train, some people were scared of the train. They think a horse carriage is much better, but the train is going to be there, whether you like it or not.
And when the cars start, the same things happen, right? Because the people say, oh, trains are going to be all in the world. And then eventually more and more people use cars, and the train service has to change. They’re not carrying people that much anymore. They’re carrying more, you know, product, right?
So, they’re shipping different things, and the train business is not always going to be in the top position because there are new technologies coming up, and people want to be more convenient, quicker. So, everything is going to change.
And if, as a human being or even a business leader or business professional, it doesn’t matter which field you are, what business you are, if you don’t follow the train, follow the economic train going forward, you’re going to be left behind.
And it’s a hard fact. It’s sad for some people who are not willing to learn, hold on to their own ways of doing things. It isn’t really sad to see people; they’re super smart, they’re super hardworking, dedicated to their business.
But they just say, this is my baby, I’m going to hold it. I’m not going to change; I’m not going to implement. You’re not going to pivot. And we see so many of them totally bankrupt during COVID-19.
People already have that five-year or three-year experience. And now this AI train is going to come in much faster compared with COVID. That’s how I see it. Because if you’re following any development for AI, every single week there are new things coming up; there are new things they’re able to do.
It’s just mind-boggling, and they’re going home with like lightspeed. That’s for me to look at them. Of course, I thank my younger staff. It’s them encouraging me to learn. They will tell me we need to know this. Do you know they were doing this now? Do you know what the AI can do now?
And they were showing me what the AI can do. They were showing me what they were using it for. And that’s what’s so exciting because nowadays you just see all the new changes that AI can bring to humans’ lives.
Of course, there’s a good and a bad. Of course, just like any invention in the world, evil people always use it in a bad way.
Yeah, including the vaccines, including the whatever the, you know, the bombs or how they, how they learn how to, how to develop, like, explosions. You know, those kinds of things, right?
I mean, every single invention, every single discovery in human history for thousands, maybe millions of years, there’s always a good and bad, but it’s up to us to use it in a good way, in a positive way, to impact the world economically.
We’re helping our other clients to use it in a positive way. It’s up to each of us. That’s how I feel right now.
Poorvi: There is a risk. There is like for the leaders out there listening to you and listening to this conversation. What is that one practical thing they can do with their team to implement?
Winnie: I think at this point we probably were suggesting our team use the internal one, not the external one, right? So, if you want to use your personal ChatGPT, that’s OK.
You can search for restaurants, travel, right, or whatever you want to, or where to buy the best clothing or shoes you want to look for; do those comparisons.
But if it’s related to our client’s work, related to accounting rules or taxation rules, those are best used in the controlled environment, either within your organization or checking the official link, official website, and not just trusting AI.
Even I make mistakes, and sometimes I just Google it and see something coming out from AI, trusting it. But actually, maybe not true, right? Because AI can only do so much and can only do whatever the information is there. So, I feel it’s more like you register the actual things.
Poorvi: Just a last question, like what kind of firm do you think will adapt best as AI becomes a normal part of an accounting firm?
Winnie: It is to try to remove your fear because AI is not going to replace your job. AI is going to help you increase your professionalism and increase your value. So just thinking, if each week you’re working 40 hours, you’re earning like $40 an hour.
And how about you, each week only working 30 hours, you’re earning $50 an hour, right? Yeah. So, if you compare that, you don’t reduce your income. It’s more like you reduce your time to earn that particular income.
It’s good for everyone with their family, with their personal life. I believe especially for young people, they don’t want to work all the time, right? Not like our generation.
We always work hard. Our parents teach us. As long as you work hard, you study hard, be a good student, and then go to school and then get your degree and then go to get a job, and you can make it in this world.
I mean, today’s world is not the same. And I believe many, many people want to have more time with their family, with their loved ones, or with their personal hobby.
They don’t want to work 60 hours, 80 hours per week, and they would much rather work 20 hours, 30 hours a week and then have more time off for their own personal life. I believe AI is capable of giving us that choice, but each of us has to be on the cutting edge of learning.
If you just stop there, hoping AI is going to help you reduce your working hours, increase your hourly rate, it’s never going to happen because you need to learn to be a better professional, better service to your clients, better service to your Coworkers, to your organization before you’re able to achieve that personal goal as well as the company goal.
Poorvi: It’s a beautiful note to end on. Thank you so much for joining and sharing your experience from Calgary to your thoughts on how firm leaders can approach AI. More clarity, empathy, and confidence.
This was really a valuable conversation, and I’m sure many accounting leaders will find it useful as they think about their teams, their culture, and the role of AI in the future of their firm. Thank you so much for joining us again. Thank you so much.
Winnie: Yeah, because I like to end this conversation by also introducing my nonprofit organization, which I started about four years ago.
It’s a community. It’s right now; the community is also online. It’s a free community called Vision2Reality. And later on, you probably can add the link into your post. And, you know, all the people can access it.
It’s a free online community. And for anybody with an entrepreneur’s dream they want to just start their own business. They want to start their side gig, and they’re able to join in to learn from the professionals and access the resources.
Especially, our focus is on newcomer entrepreneurs and also university student startups and entrepreneurs. Because many of this group of people wanted to have a side gig, they wanted to be able to create something even if they have a full-time job, or maybe they just don’t want to have a full-time job. They would much rather just be on their own to create something.
Poorvi: Thank you so much for joining me today, actually,
Winnie: Yeah, thank you for this session. I’m really enjoying sharing all the free resources with everybody who has a dream to be financially independent or financially free. Thank you. Yeah.
Poorvi: Thank you very much.
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