Jennifer
Host · UpTax Podcast Room
David Alvarez
fractional CFO · Chicago, Illinois
AI Tax Preparation vs. Hiring an Accountant: Which Scales Your CPA Practice Faster?
A Chicago-based fractional CFO explains how switching from hiring plans to UpTax's AI tax preparation and offshore review model doubled his firm's capacity while saving six figures.
Press play below — energetic intro, then the conversation, with a live audio-reactive waveform.
Jennifer
Host · UpTax
David Alvarez
fractional CFO · Chicago, Illinois
Press play — energetic intro, then the conversation
In this episode
A Chicago-based fractional CFO explains how switching from hiring plans to UpTax's AI tax preparation and offshore review model doubled his firm's capacity while saving six figures. In this episode of the UpTax Podcast Room, host Jennifer sits down with David Alvarez, a fractional CFO who runs an outsourced-CFO and accounting firm in Chicago, Illinois. They get into how he actually runs the practice day to day — managing 60 business clients — where the hours disappear during busy season, and the question every growing firm is asking right now: is it smarter to build an offshore team, or to automate tax preparation with AI? It's a candid, practical conversation for any CPA, EA or accounting firm owner who wants to add capacity without piling on fixed headcount.
“Thanks for having me on the show, Jennifer. I'm excited to talk shop today, this is a topic I've got a lot of opinions on.”
“A colleague mentioned it, and honestly I was skeptical at first. AI tax preparation sounded like a buzzword. But I figured let's just try it on a handful of returns and see.”
What we cover
- How David Alvarez runs an outsourced-CFO and accounting firm — and where the real hours go each season
- The busy-season bottleneck: document intake, data entry, and review
- Offshore team vs. AI — the honest cost comparison for a US firm
- How AI tax preparation drafts a return before a person ever touches it
- Adding capacity without hiring another accountant or bookkeeper
- What changed for his practice after automating with UpTax
Key takeaways
1Capacity is the real constraint — not effort
Firms like David Alvarez's aren't short on hard work; they're short on hours. The win is removing the manual data grind so the team spends its time on review and advisory work instead of keying numbers.
2AI drafts, humans decide
UpTax's AI tax preparation reads the documents and drafts the return, with an offshore review layer checking the work. David Alvarez's team still reviews, signs and files — nothing goes out without a professional's sign-off.
3Offshore isn't the only way to scale
Recruiting, training and managing an offshore team carries real cost and overhead. Automating the preparation step can add the same capacity for less — and without the hiring.
4Source-linked numbers earn trust
Every figure traces back to the exact document it came from, so reviews are faster and the file is defensible under scrutiny.
About the guest
David Alvarez
David Alvarez is a fractional CFO who runs an outsourced-CFO and accounting firm in Chicago, Illinois, managing 60 business clients. Like most firm owners, he's spent years wrestling with busy-season capacity — which is exactly why his take on AI tax preparation is worth your time.
Questions firms ask
What is “AI Tax Preparation vs. Hiring an Accountant: Which Scales Your CPA Practice Faster?” about?
A Chicago-based fractional CFO explains how switching from hiring plans to UpTax's AI tax preparation and offshore review model doubled his firm's capacity while saving six figures. It's aimed at CPA, EA and accounting firm owners deciding how to scale without adding fixed headcount.
Does UpTax file returns for the firm?
No. UpTax is AI tax preparation software — it drafts the return and an offshore layer reviews it, but the firm always reviews, signs and files. A licensed professional stays in control the whole way.
Is AI tax preparation cheaper than building an offshore team?
That's the heart of this episode. For many firms, automating the preparation step adds the same capacity as an offshore team — without the cost of recruiting, training and managing people.
How can I try UpTax for my practice?
Book a short demo at uptax.ai and we'll show you how UpTax prepares a real return end to end — from raw documents to a reviewer-ready draft.
Topics
Run your firm on AI tax preparation
See how UpTax prepares a real return end to end — from raw documents to a reviewer-ready draft — so your team adds capacity without hiring.
Book a demo
Automate Your CPA or Tax Practice with UpTax.ai
Reduce up to 90% of human effort.
Book a demoSOC 2 · human sign-off on every return
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