Ramp, a spend management solutions provider, released a new solution within 24 hours in direct response to recent advances in AI image generation that make it easy to create extremely convincing fake receipts that could be used for financial fraud. 

Dave Wieseneck, an “expert in residence” at Ramp who administers the company’s own instance of Ramp, noted that faking receipts is not a new practice. What’s changed is that, with the recent image generation update from OpenAI, it has now become much easier, making what may have once been a painstaking effort into a casual thing done in minutes.

“So while it’s always been possible to create fake receipts, AI has made it super duper easy, especially OpenAI with their latest model. So I think it’s just super easy now and anybody can do it, as opposed to experts that are in the know,” he said in an interview. 

Rather than try to assess the image itself, the software looks at the file’s metadata for markers particular to generative AI systems. Once those markers are present, the software flags the receipt as a probable fake. 

“When we see that these markers are present, we have really high confidence of high accuracy to identify them as potentially AI generated receipts,” said Wieseneck. “I was the first person to test it out as the person that owns our internal instance of Ramp and dog foods the heck out of our product.” 

While the speed at which they produced this solution may be remarkable, he said it is part of the company culture. The team, especially small pods within it, will observe a problem and stop what they’re doing to focus on a specific need. They get a group together on a Slack channel, work through the problem, code it late at night and push it out in the morning. 

Wieseneck conceded it is not a total solution but rather a first line of defense to deter the casual fraudster. He compared it to locking your door before going out. If the front door is unlocked, a person can just stroll in and steal everything, but will likely give up if it is locked. A professional criminal with tons of breaking and entering experience, however, is unlikely to be deterred by a lock alone, versus a lock plus an alarm system plus an actual security guard. 

“But that doesn’t mean that you don’t lock your door and you don’t add pieces of defense to make it harder for people to either rob your house or, in this case, defraud your company,” he said.

This isn’t to say there’s no plans to bolster this solution further. After all, the feature is only days old. He said the company is already looking into things like pixel analysis and textual analysis of the document itself to further enhance its AI detection capabilities, though he stressed that they want to be very confident it works before pushing it out to customers. 

“We’re focused on giving finance teams confidence that legitimate receipts won’t be falsely flagged. So we want to tread carefully. We have lots of ideas. We’re going to work through them and kind of solve them in the same process we’ve always done here at Ramp,” he said. 

This is likely only the beginning of AI image generators being used to fake documentation. For instance, it has recently been found that bots are also very good at forging passports.

AI fraud ascendant

This speaks to an overall trend of AI being used in financial crimes which was highlighted in a recent report from financial and risk advisory solutions provider Kroll, which surveyed about 600 CEOs, chief compliance officers, general counsel, chief risk officers and other financial crime compliance professionals. What they found was that experts in this area are growing alarmed at the rising use of AI by cybercriminals and other bad actors, and few are confident their own programs are ready to meet this challenge. 

The poll found that 61% of respondents say use of AI by cybercriminals is a leading catalyst for risk exposure, such as through the generation of deep fakes and, likely, AI-generated financial documents. While 57% think AI will help against financial crime, 49% think it will hinder (Kroll said they are likely both right). 

“The rapid-fire adoption of AI tools can be a blessing and a curse when it comes to financial crime, providing new and more efficient ways to combat it while also creating new techniques to exploit the broadening attack surface — be it via AI-powered phishing attacks, deepfakes, or real-time mimicry of expected security configurations,” said the report. 

Yet, many professionals do not feel their current programs are up to the task. The rise in AI-guided fraud is part of an overall projected 71% increase in financial crime risks in 2025. Meanwhile, only 23% rate their compliance programs as “very effective” with lack of technology and investment named as prime reasons. Many also lack confidence in the governance infrastructure overseeing financial crime, with just 29% describing it as “robust.” 

They’re also not entirely convinced that more AI is the solution. The poll found that confidence in AI technology has dropped dramatically over the past two years: those who say AI tools have had a positive impact on financial crime compliance have gone from 39% in 2023 to only 20% today. Despite this, there remains heavy investment in AI. The poll found 25% already say AI is an established part of their financial crime compliance program, and 30% say they are in the early stages of adoption. Meanwhile, in the year ahead, 49% expect their organization will invest in AI solutions to tackle financial crime, and 47% say the same about their cybersecurity budgets. 

To help combat AI-enabled financial crime, Kroll recommended companies form cross-functional teams that go beyond IT and cybersecurity and involve those in AML, compliance, legal, product and senior management. Further, Kroll said there has to be focused, hands-on training with new AI tools that are updated and repeated as the organization implements new AI capabilities and the regulatory and risk landscape changes. Finally, to combat AI-related fraud, Kroll recommended companies maintain a “back to the basics” approach. Focus on fundamental human intervention and confirmation procedures — regardless of how convincing or time-sensitive circumstances appear.

It’s no secret that more and more CPAs are offering financial services to their clients. 

In fact, financial planning questions now have a greater emphasis on the CPA exam than ever before. I find that encouraging. But if you think true financial planning is all about investments and annual returns, think again. 

Financial advisors are no longer hanging their hats on portfolio performance. They’re moving toward the holistic approach to wealth management, an approach that goes beyond financial services to account for any factor that touches a client’s financial life. The holistic approach recognizes that financial health is closely intertwined with physical, emotional, mental and social wellbeing. I’m guessing this wasn’t covered in your accounting school curriculum.

To move into this area successfully, you’ll have to do more than crunch the numbers and plug in investments. Clients and strategic partners will evaluate you based on how well you can really listen to clients and empathize with them. Those attributes are now more important than your advanced math skills, technical skills, and knowledge of the Tax Code.As Clayton Oates, founder of QA Business, wrote in the foreword of my new book Holistic Guide to Wealth Management (CPA Trendlines), “Empathy is an area we have only just begun to explore in our profession. It’s about the art of asking questions and listening. It’s about discovering new circumstances in your client’s business and personal life that were previously not discussed. Shared discovery helps create a genuine and lasting connection with your clients.”

In the introduction, Seth Fineberg, founder of Accountants Forward, explained that as a CPA, you are your clients’ most trusted guide. “You are the one who has been helping them in their financial lives the longest,” he wrote. “And even if your client tells you they already have a financial planner, it’s worth reaching out to that planner and potentially collaborating with them as part of your service to ensure that your client is getting the best possible advice. That’s because every single year, you know what they owe in taxes and why.” 

According to Fineberg, accountants know intimately where their clients’ spending goes and may already offer basic ways for them to save on taxes. In short, “the trust is there. The data is there. Why aren’t you helping them more?” he askedI began to ask myself the same thing as I started making deeper inroads into the accounting profession. Thanks to advances in technology and increasing affordability of a virtual family office model, you can provide your clients with access to a wide range of services. Experts can be brought in as needed to provide specialized knowledge about accounting, tax, estate planning, insurance, legal, philanthropic planning, investment and administrative matters. Best of all, the experts don’t have to be in-house on your full-time payroll. Again, as the client’s CPA and most trusted advisor, you direct the relationship and remain the central point of contact. 

Estate planning to cement client relationships

When it comes to providing the family office level of care, estate planning comes top of mind. On a recent podcast I hosted, Andreas Mazabel, head of advisor sales at Trust & Will said firms that are proactively adopting estate planning are finding it a powerful way to deepen relationships and better connect with their clients’ values and the extended family’s values. He believes advisors who are not incorporating estate planning into their practice are losing clients to firms that do.

“One thing we continue to see is that clients looking for advisors want complete holistic planning,” said Mazabel. “They tell us: ‘I don’t want to go to three or four different offices to get all of my stuff done. I want to go to one trusted source who really understands my goals and my gaps and can help me build a complete plan around that.” 

Mazabel said that for many years as an advisor, his focus was on building up a client’s assets. There wasn’t much emphasis on protecting those assets or transferring them tax-efficiently to NextGen or the causes they believed in, he noted. Like Mazabel, I’ve long believed you can connect generations with estate planning. It’s a great retention tool as well as a great prospecting tool. And thanks to online estate planning tools like Trust & Will, technology streamlines the process for clients. In the past, advisors would refer clients to an estate attorney and hope they’d show up. Once there, clients would have to endure uncomfortable conversations about health care directives, powers of attorney, and death. Now they can do it from the comfort of home and have an advisor walking them through the process. By making it easier for the advisor to be involved directly in the estate planning process, Mazabel says it’s much easier to hold clients accountable for following through. 

Trust & Will’s research has found that when a person comes to set up an estate plan on the platform without a financial advisor, there’s about a 25% chance they’ll go through the process and complete it. But when they come through a financial advisor, the completion rate goes up to 75%. That’s one of the many advantages of having a trusted advisor. 

When you consider that 55% of Americans don’t have any estate documents and only 31% have a basic will, according to Trust & Will’s 2025 Estate Planning Report, I can’t think of a better argument for the power of accountability.

Speaking of statistics, my good friend Michael DiJoseph, a senior strategist at Vanguard Investment Advisor Research Center, has long studied and quantified the value that a skilled advisor brings to clients vs. clients who don’t use financial advisors. Vanguard celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Advisor Alpha Study, which has consistently shown that skilled advisors add a full 3% (300 basis points) annually to a client’s portfolio. How? By holding them accountable to their plan and helping them avoid rash, wealth-eroding decisions during times of market volatility or personal stress. Over those 300 basis points, Vanguard believes 200 of that “alpha” comes from behavioral coaching, which could include trust-building activities such as estate planning. 

According to DiJoseph, the higher the level of trust a client has in their advisor, the more likely they are to make a referral. DiJoseph’s team has taken it a step further and looked into the three main components of trust. Emotional trust was by far the most important component:

• 17% of respondents rated “functional trust” (building portfolios, doing financial planning, etc. as the single most important type of trust. 
• 30% of respondents rated “ethical trust” (advisors’ interests are aligned with theirs vs. trying to sell them something) as the single most important type of trust.
• 53% of respondents rated “emotional trust” (softer skills: actively listening; asking good questions; treating clients like people, not portfolios) as the single most important type of trust.

From my standpoint, these stats are very welcoming for a profession that hangs its hat on trust. As I discuss throughout my book, working toward that ROR (Return on Relationship) is about developing emotional trust with clients and having a greater connection with them. That’s how you can introduce estate planning into your holistic type of offering to clients. Even better, it can increase revenue and provide clients with much appreciated peace of mind.

For forward-thinking CPAs, estate planning isn’t just an add-on service; it’s a cornerstone of relationship-centered wealth management that clients increasingly expect from their most trusted advisor. Build your ROR today!

The Internal Revenue Service reportedly intends to reinstate thousands of probationary employees who were fired after two courts ordered it to do so.

IRS acting commissioner Melanie Krause announced in a conference call Wednesday that approximately 7,0000 fired employees would be able to return to work by April 14, a day before the end of tax season, according to the Federal News Network. The IRS also sent out an email to the employees, who the Trump administration began firing in February.

“You are receiving this email as one of approximately 7,000 probationary employees who were separated from service and have been reinstated in compliance with recent court orders,” said the email. “At this time, while you remain on administrative leave, you will soon receive instructions for how to return on full-time duty by April 14.”

The employees will be able to get back their identity badges, computer equipment and workspace assignments and will be allowed to temporarily take advantage of telework if office space isn’t available for them. However, employees are also being given the option to not return to work at all.

“If you wish to not return and voluntarily resign from federal service, you should send an email to [email protected] as soon as possible,” said the email. Please know that outside employment does not necessarily prevent you from returning to work. If you have secured outside employment and wish to continue with the outside employment while re-employed with the IRS, you must submit an outside employment request to your manager.”

The IRS had placed many of the fired employees on paid administrative leave in order to comply with a federal judge’s order in California requiring employees at the Treasury Department and five other government agencies to be reinstated. However, the judge later ruled that putting the fired employees on paid administrative leave wasn’t enough to comply with his preliminary injunction. Another judge in Maryland on Tuesday ordered 18 federal agencies to reinstate workers in 19 states and the District of Columbia. The National Treasury Employees Union and other unions have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration over the firings and an executive order eliminating collective bargaining rights.

Some IRS employees have reportedly been using the time on paid administrative leave to search for other jobs, which could help fill the ranks of accounting firms and other businesses searching for talent.

Joseph Perry, national tax leader and managing director at the accounting and professional services firm CBIZ, has been seeing more resumes coming in from IRS employees.

“We actually have an uptick in resumes,” he recently told Accounting Today. “In fact, I was connected by a business leader to somebody that is still working for the IRS, but is not going to be there too much longer, and he’s exploring other options. So there is going to be, I think, an uptick in many companies. The IRS has really good, talented people that are going to come back into industry, that are going to be very useful to firms like our firm, CBIZ, to bolster our ability to service our clients in an effective way and be able to do that. It’s pretty interesting, right? We’re one of the top 10 firms. As it relates to firms that may be in the top 25, I would tend to think it’s a unique opportunity for them to pick up somebody that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to pick up, somebody with talent and experience, and that probably would lead to them providing services that they otherwise wouldn’t have.”

Staffing companies have seen some interest, but the uncertain state of the various federal court cases may have been keeping people on the sidelines. “It’s still a bit early to tell if there’s been a significant increase in interest from former federal employees in the private sector accounting and tax space,” said Brandi Britton, executive director of finance and accounting practice at the staffing company Robert Half. “While we do see candidates with federal experience, it’s difficult to immediately distinguish between those transitioning directly from federal roles and those who have federal experience as part of their broader career background. What we do know is that finance and accounting leaders are facing ongoing skills gaps and are actively seeking candidates to fill in-demand roles. A few notable skills gaps include finance and FP&A, financial reporting and tax expertise.”