BILL

RIAs know the drill: offer bill pay to high-net-worth clients, and suddenly you're looking at an SEC custody exam. Here's the reframe: it's an exam, not an audit; it's conducted by an accounting firm you choose, and it mostly confirms practices you should already have in place. In this article, we break down why the exam exists, what it actually checks for, and how to prepare so it becomes a routine part of offering great client service instead of a roadblock. Have you been through one, or is it holding you back from offering bill pay? Tell us in the comments.

At our 2026 Accountant Partner Council, accounting professionals shared what advice they give clients about AI: ➡️ If you haven't started with AI, start dabbling now. ➡️ Find a strategic partner who can figure out the options on your behalf. ➡️ Begin with the tools you already use, and check whether their AI features help you get where you need to be. ➡️ Choose one problem or one clean workflow with a great data set. Prove it out, then scale. Thank you for sharing your expertise: Peter Yu, CPA, President, CPA By Choice, PA. David Sawatzky, CEO, Consero Global 🐻 Dan Luthi, Partner and COO, Ignite Spot Accounting Services Ambra Wellbeloved, Partner, Aprio

BILL CRO Jonathan Leaf joined host James Donovan CPA on the Accounting Leads Now podcast for episode 92, and one line summed up how most teams are getting AI wrong. Most people use AI to speed up old processes. Jonathan Leaf calls that optimizing the past. The real opportunity is rethinking the work itself. Across the BILL network: 500,000 customers, 9,500 accounting firms, and 1% of US GDP moving through it every year. Catch the full episode 👇 https://ow.ly/CETJ50ZTKpb

BILL CRO Jonathan Leaf joined host James Donovan on the Accounting Leads Now podcast, and one line summed up how most teams are getting AI wrong. Most people use AI to speed up old processes. Jonathan Leaf calls that optimizing the past. The real opportunity is rethinking the work itself. Across the BILL network: 500,000 customers, 9,500 accounting firms, and 1% of US GDP moving through it every year. Catch the full episode 👇 https://ow.ly/CETJ50ZTKpb

AI is giving finance teams back an average of 21 hours a week, according to BILL research. CFO Rohini Jain's recent Forbes byline argues most teams are wasting that gift. 🎁 Her point is to not just work faster. Use the time to build judgment, deepen relationships with the business, and grow people who can operate across functions, not just one narrow specialty. One BILL client proves it. A three-person finance team now supports nearly 200 client accounts through automation, with no added headcount. Read her full piece for details: https://ow.ly/Cjf450ZTKHV

Stephen P Rhodes, CFP®, CEO and Co-Founder of Signify Wealth, is raising the bar in financial planning industry. He joined the Financial Planning Podcast for a conversation about what truly comprehensive, personalized financial planning looks like and the philosophy behind the practice he built. 🛠️ What's one service you've added to your practice because your clients genuinely needed it? Tell us in the comments and read the article for details.

Every day. That's the answer to how often we process A/P for our clients. Will use Bill.com and have been for over a decade. Bills come in, and we code them within 24 hours (including the program or grant they belong to.) A second person on our team reviews the coding. Then you approve it. Always. If cash is healthy, we pay approved bills every day too. Vendors get paid fast, and they remember that. Or we schedule payments 5 days before the due date, so the cash stays in your account longer. When cash gets tight, we slow payments down on purpose. And you hear from us before anything changes. No checks to sign, no papers to file away. This is a 100% paperless process. That's the difference between paying bills and managing them. The full process and an FAQ are on our blog. Link in the comments.

Non-profits and education orgs do some of the most meaningful work in our communities. Their finance teams deserve tools that match that mission. The reality is that AP is still one of the most manual, time-consuming jobs in finance. For teams already doing more with less, every hour spent re-keying an invoice is an hour not spent on their mission. Starting today, BILL is embedded in Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT® through its Payment Assistant platform. Nonprofit and education finance teams are now powered by BILL to manage their vendor payments, approvals, and reconciliation. And they never have to leave the system they trust. Less time on process. More time on purpose. https://lnkd.in/gw6NH26d Mandeep Singh Michael Brunsten

Cyberattacks are moving faster—and finance teams are a top target. ⚠️ This October, during #CybersecurityAwarenessMonth, BILL is offering free content to help you understand the threat landscape, fight payment fraud, and build a security-first culture across your organization. Earn up to 4 CPE credits for eligible sessions. The first session starts October 1st, register today: https://ow.ly/BHfq50ZQnu4

Say hello to Kelly Greenauer (she/her)! 👋 Kelly works remotely at BILL and says the job has taught her to manage without authority and collaborate closely with teammates in engineering, product, and the People team. "I can still work when I need to work but still be fully present for my family," she says. Interested in joining #LifeAtBILL? Check out our open positions: https://ow.ly/Byp550ZRENB