Who's writing this
A CPA who'd rather show the work than talk about disruption.
Sander Abernathy, CPA
I'm a CPA who got tired of the gap between how finance is talked about and how it actually gets done. "Forward Deployed" is borrowed on purpose — from the engineers who embed with customers and ship in the real environment instead of theorizing from a distance. That's the posture I take with AI in accounting: in the work, not above it.
Day to day, that means putting AI into the parts of finance nobody posts about — the close, reconciliations, controls, reporting — and keeping the parts that matter: traceability, judgment, and a signature you can stand behind.
One important distinction. Forward Deployed CPA is a content presence — my field log for building in public. It is not a CPA firm and doesn't offer regulated firm services. The actual client advisory work runs through my practice, Hundred Spires Advisory. Think of this page as the "how," and the firm as the "where it's delivered."
A few working beliefs
Ship, don't speculate
The interesting question isn't whether AI will change accounting. It's what's shippable this week, under real controls.
Judgment is the job
Automate the volume around the decision. The decision — and the signature under it — stays with a person.
Show the work
If a reviewer can't follow every step, it doesn't ship. Reviewability beats raw accuracy every time.