ATL273

ATL273 — Reinventing Your Practice with Advisory

With Guest Nancy Sperry of Sage Program: Accounting Technology Lab Episode: ATL273 Release date: September 4, 2026 Hosts: Randy Johnston and Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA Guest: Nancy Sperry, Senior Vice President of U.S. Partner Sales, Sage Approximate runtime: 33 minutes Primary topic: Using trusted AI, agentic automation, and the Sage partner ecosystem to move accounting professionals from transaction processing toward higher-value advisory work.

200-Word Episode Summary

In ATL273, Randy Johnston and Brian Tankersley talk with Nancy Sperry, Senior Vice President of U.S. Partner Sales at Sage, about how AI can help accounting firms and finance professionals reinvent their practices around advisory services. Sperry argues that AI adoption in accounting depends on trust: systems must be explainable, auditable, secure, controllable, and subject to human approval. That “glass box” approach can reduce the time professionals spend validating transactions and manipulating data, freeing them to interpret results, advise clients, and look forward instead of backward. The discussion explores Sage Copilot, finance and close agents, partner-built agents, and a future agent marketplace where solutions created for one client may be reused across the Sage ecosystem. The hosts and Sperry also examine how AI could accelerate micro-vertical specialization in industries such as construction and nonprofit organizations, while integrations and Model Context Protocol connections may reduce dependence on traditional middleware and point solutions. The episode closes with Sage’s broader platform strategy, including Sage Intacct, Sage HCM, and acquired products, and with a clear message for firms: advisory growth will require both AI-enabled productivity and disciplined governance, security, accountability, and human oversight as firms redesign workflows and deepen trusted relationships with clients today.

Key Takeaways

Trust is the gating factor for accounting AI. Explainability, auditability, approval workflows, security, and accountability matter as much as model capability. Advisory becomes more practical when the mechanical work shrinks. Automation can move professionals away from manipulating data and toward interpreting what the numbers mean. Finance will not become autonomous overnight. Sperry notes that only a small portion of finance functions are autonomous today; confidence must be earned through reliable results and controls. Agents create a new partner opportunity. Sage partners may be able to build agents for specific client problems and then distribute reusable solutions through a broader marketplace. Industry specialization can get much deeper. AI and agent builders may allow firms to move beyond broad verticals such as construction into highly specialized micro-vertical workflows. MCP and cross-system agents can change the technology stack. Agents that work across systems such as CRM, payroll, and ERP could eliminate some traditional integration layers—but also introduce new security concerns. Advisory becomes forward-looking. The opportunity is to spend less time looking through the rearview mirror and more time helping clients see through the windshield. Human oversight remains essential. The accountant, CFO, or advisor remains responsible for consequential decisions even when AI performs more of the underlying work. Sage is broadening the platform around finance, HR, payroll, expenses, construction, forecasting, practice management, and other adjacent workflows. The strategic opportunity is bigger than efficiency. AI can change the relationship between the accounting professional and the client by making interpretation, specialization, and continuous advice economically feasible.

Catchy Quotes and Video Locations

Times are based on the supplied transcript and may shift slightly if the published video contains a different intro, edit, or advertising insert. 00:55 — Nancy Sperry: “AI is the most exciting and really going faster than either of those two kind of major changes.” 04:34 — Nancy Sperry: “Anything that is explainable and that I can click through and see the result… gives a lot of confidence.” 06:48 — Brian Tankersley: “When the math’s not mathing, it’s not good for anybody in accounting.” 08:24 — Nancy Sperry: “I see it being a really big revolution in the relationship.” 10:37 — Nancy Sperry: “Turn the headlights on and see into the future.” 13:36 — Nancy Sperry: Partners can “solve real business problems that are really critically important to that client.” 15:58 — Randy Johnston: Advisory is “looking out the windshield as opposed to looking in the rearview mirror.” 20:44 — Nancy Sperry: “Partners are the intersection of that for us at Sage.” 26:26 — Nancy Sperry: Sage’s “glass box approach” is designed to provide confidence, control, oversight, and accountability. 31:39 — Nancy Sperry: AI creates an opportunity for partners “to just create amazing outcomes.”

20 Social Media Posts

Accounting advisory gets a lot easier when accountants stop spending most of their time manipulating data. ATL273 explores how trusted AI could shift the profession toward interpretation, judgment, and forward-looking advice. #AccountingTechnology #Advisory #AIinAccounting What does trustworthy AI actually mean for an accountant? Explainable. Auditable. Approvable. Secure. Accountable. Nancy Sperry of Sage joins ATL273 to explain why those controls matter. #AIGovernance #Accounting #Sage “When the math’s not mathing, it’s not good for anybody in accounting.” Brian Tankersley sums up one of the profession’s biggest concerns about blindly trusting AI output. #AIinAccounting #CPA #AccountingTech AI should help accountants spend less time looking in the rearview mirror and more time looking through the windshield. That is the advisory opportunity explored in ATL273. #AdvisoryServices #FutureOfAccounting The best accounting AI may not be the model with the flashiest demo. For regulated financial workflows, auditability, security, controls, and human approval may matter more. #AIGovernance #RiskManagement What happens when an accounting technology partner builds an AI agent that solves a difficult problem for one client—and can then offer it to hundreds more? ATL273 explores the emerging agent marketplace opportunity. #AgenticAI #AccountingTechnology An AI agent does not have to solve every accounting problem. A highly specialized agent that solves one expensive recurring problem really well may be far more valuable. #Automation #CPA Construction is not one market. Nonprofits are not one market. AI may allow accounting firms and technology partners to specialize far beyond traditional verticals into micro-vertical workflows. #Advisory #VerticalMarkets The future accounting technology stack may contain fewer traditional middleware products. Agents and MCP connections increasingly allow systems to communicate and execute work across platforms. That creates opportunity—and new security risks. #MCP #Cybersecurity #AI Advisory is not simply another service line. AI could fundamentally change the client relationship by giving accountants more time to interpret what happened, explain why it matters, and recommend what comes next. #TrustedAdvisor #Accounting Nancy Sperry says partners are critical to Sage’s AI strategy because they sit where software meets the messy reality of the customer’s business. That may make partners some of the most important AI innovators in accounting. #Sage #PartnerEcosystem Imagine building an AI agent for one unusual client workflow, refining it until it works, and then turning that intellectual property into a reusable solution. That is a very different business model for accounting technology consultants. #AgenticAI #Innovation AI can compress the journey from question → analysis → decision. But faster decisions only create value when the underlying data, controls, and reasoning can be trusted. #FinanceTransformation #AIGovernance Sage calls its approach a “glass box.” Accountants can see how the system reached an outcome instead of being expected to trust an unexplained black-box answer. That distinction matters in regulated workflows. #ExplainableAI #Accounting If automation handles more transaction processing, reconciliations, extraction, and validation, the accountant’s scarce resource increasingly becomes judgment. ATL273 examines what that means for advisory practices. #FutureOfWork #CPA The interesting question is no longer simply, “Can AI automate this?” A better question is: “What higher-value work can our people do once it does?” #AdvisoryServices #Automation #Accounting ERP, payroll, CRM, HCM, expense management, forecasting, practice management—the finance stack keeps expanding. Agents may provide a new connective layer across all of it. ATL273 looks at where Sage believes this is heading. #ERP #AgenticAI Technology partners have spent decades customizing software for clients. Agent builders could turn that same problem-solving expertise into reusable digital workers—and potentially a new source of recurring revenue. #PartnerChannel #AI Trustworthy AI is not just a technical requirement. It is a business-model requirement for accountants whose professional relationships depend on clients trusting their numbers and recommendations. #TrustedAdvisor #ProfessionalJudgment AI will change accounting faster than cloud computing did, according to Nancy Sperry. The firms that benefit most may be the ones that pair aggressive experimentation with equally serious attention to security, governance, controls, and human oversight. #AccountingTechnology #AIinAccounting #Sage

Products, Services, Companies, and Social Accounts

Product names are grouped under their parent company when a separate official product account is not appropriate. “Not verified” means an official account could not be confirmed confidently enough to publish without guessing.

Entity	Products/services mentioned	X	Facebook	LinkedIn	Instagram Sage Sage Intacct; Sage Copilot; finance agent; close agent; agent builders; proposed agent marketplace; Sage HCM; Sage 300; Sage Labs; construction and nonprofit solutions; Compass; AutoEntry; Criterion HCM; Fairsail; Brightpearl; Fyle; ForceManager/Sage Sales Management; Corecon; Futrli; GoProposal @SageNAmerica / @sagegroupplc Sage Sage @sageofficial - Microsoft Microsoft Copilot; underlying enterprise AI/compliance capabilities discussed by Brian @Microsoft Microsoft microsoft @microsoft - OpenAI ChatGPT @OpenAI @OpenAI OpenAI @openai - Anthropic Claude @AnthropicAI Not verified anthropicresearch Not verified - Google Gemini @Google Google google @google - Salesforce Salesforce CRM; example of an MCP-connected business system @salesforce Salesforce salesforce @salesforce - ADP ADP Payroll; example of an MCP-connected business system @ADP ADP adp ADP - Wolters Kluwer Professional accounting/tax technology; cited as another provider emphasizing trustworthy AI @Wolters_Kluwer wolterskluwer wolters-kluwer Not verified - Thomson Reuters Professional accounting/tax technology; cited as another provider emphasizing trustworthy AI @thomsonreuters @thomsonreuters thomson-reuters @thomsonreuters - LPGA Sage customer/partner example discussed in connection with specialized financial workflows @LPGA LPGA lpga @lpga_tour - ACT Construction Construction customer example as named in the transcript Not verified Not verified Not verified Not verified - CPA Practice Advisor Publisher of Accounting Technology Lab @CPAPracAdvisor cpapracticeadvisor cpa-practice-advisor @cpapracticeadvisor - Model Context Protocol (MCP) Cross-system AI integration protocol discussed by Randy N/A N/A N/A N/A } Suggested Hashtags AccountingTechnology #AccountingTechnologyLab #AIinAccounting #AdvisoryServices #TrustedAdvisor #AgenticAI #Sage #SageIntacct #AIGovernance #ExplainableAI #Accounting #CPA #FinanceTransformation #Automation #FutureOfAccounting #PartnerChannel #MCP #Cybersecurity #InternalControls #ProfessionalJudgment Newsletter / Website Teaser Can AI finally give accountants enough time to become the advisors clients keep asking for? In ATL273, Randy Johnston and Brian Tankersley welcome Nancy Sperry, Senior Vice President of U.S. Partner Sales at Sage, for a discussion about trusted AI, agentic workflows, advisory services, and the changing role of accounting technology partners. The conversation goes well beyond automation. Nancy explains Sage’s “glass box” approach to explainability, auditability, approval, security, and accountability; discusses partner-built AI agents and a future agent marketplace; and explores how AI could enable much deeper industry specialization. The larger opportunity is straightforward: automate more of the mechanical work so accountants can spend more time interpreting information, looking forward, and helping clients make better decisions. Suggested Promotional Graphic Primary headline: Reinventing Your Practice with Advisory Secondary line: Trusted AI, Agents, and the New Role of the Accounting Advisor Guest identification: Nancy Sperry Senior Vice President, U.S. Partner Sales — Sage Suggested visual callouts: TRUSTED AI • ADVISORY • AGENTS • MICRO-VERTICALS Best quote overlay: “Turn the headlights on and see into the future.” — Nancy Sperry Alternative humorous quote for social graphics: “When the math’s not mathing, it’s not good for anybody in accounting.” — Brian Tankersley Visual direction: Use Nancy prominently with Randy and Brian, with subtle imagery suggesting a transition from transactional accounting/data processing toward forward-looking analytics. A restrained Sage-inspired green accent would reinforce the guest/company connection without allowing vendor branding to overwhelm the ATL identity.