Gen Z + AI Are Changing Accounting Firms

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December 26, 2025

The Friday Lowdown ⬇️

If you're new around here, every day or so I share the 4-5 best accounting insights I saw in the past 24 hours.

I scroll. so you don't have to.

Merry Christmas, you filthy animals. Hope it was a good one. Let’s get into it.

🤯 WTF of the Day

Accounting Firms Are Sleeping on Gen Z

Firms say they can’t find good talent.

At the same time, they’re ignoring what Gen Z is actually good at.

Most firms still hire Gen Z like they’re junior data entry clerks. Do the boring work. Learn slowly. Don’t touch clients yet. Meanwhile, Gen Z accountants already know AI tools, cloud systems, dashboards, and how to explain numbers in plain English.

So when firms force them into outdated roles, Gen Z either checks out or leaves. The talent is there. Firms just aren’t using it.

Source: Ledger Lowdown 

Investors see ANOTHER return on Masterworks (!!!)

That’s 3 sales this quarter. 26 sales total. 

And the performance?

14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8% → The three most representative annualized net returns.
(See all 26 at Masterworks.com)

Masterworks is the biggest platform for investing in an asset class that hasn’t moved in lockstep with the S&P 500 since ‘95.

In fact, the market segment they target outpaced the S&P overall in that time frame.*

Not private equity or real estate… It’s contemporary and post war art. Crazy, right? 

Masterworks investors are typically high net worth, but the point is that you don’t need to be a capital-B BILLIONAIRE to invest in high-caliber art anymore.

Banksy. Basquiat. Picasso and more. 

80+ of the world’s most attractive artists have been featured.

  • 511+ artworks offered

  • $67.5mm paid out as of December 2025

  • $2.3mm+ average offering size

Looking to update your investment portfolio before 2026?

*Masterworks data. Investing involves risk. Past performance not indicative of future returns. Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd

🍿 What’s poppin in accounting

AI Won’t Save Your Firm. Leadership Will.

AI isn’t the real problem for accounting firms. Confusion is. Some firms are frozen waiting for the perfect plan. Others are buying every tool in sight without fixing how they lead or work.

The firms actually winning are doing the boring stuff first: clear leadership, tight processes, and people who know how to think.

AI only works when the basics are solid. Clean workflows make AI faster. Messy ones make chaos. The best firms use AI to cut grunt work, train people to advise, and work closer with clients.


🕵️‍♂️ The Audit

Are you an outlier or the industry standard? Vote in our new weekly pulse check, and we’ll share the results next issue.

New Poll ⬇️

Assessing the damage

What was your total holiday spend this year

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 📊 Weekly Trend Chart

Wikipedia Still Wins When Big News Hits

Charlie Kirk’s Wikipedia page was the most viewed English article of the year. The day after his assassination, people were hitting the page about 170 times per second. That’s almost 15 million views in a single day from pure “wait what just happened” curiosity.

That pattern showed up everywhere. Deaths, politics, true crime, and buzzy TV shows dominated the top pages. Despite chatbots and AI summaries, Wikipedia still does what it’s always done best. When something big breaks, it’s the fastest way for millions of people to get caught up in five minutes or less.

#😂 Meme of the Day

me writing the newsletter 😂 😂 


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