what it means for ai’s next phase in accounting.
“the future of the profession is accountants and agents working together,” kuramoto says.
by seth fineberg
for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
“managing partner-in-residence” is not a standard role in accounting, and that was the first point of friction when kenji kuramoto was asked to explain his new job at basis, the accounting ai agent company. what does that actually mean?
the answer goes beyond one hire. it points to a shift now underway in accounting: artificial intelligence is moving out of experimentation and into operations, and firms are not yet prepared for what that requires.
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basis, at getbasis.ai, says that kuramoto, founder of cloud pioneer acuity, joined full-time to help firms transition to ai-enabled operations, working directly with customers and shaping the product. the company made clear this was not a symbolic role. “kenji isn’t here to advise from the margins,” ceo matthew harpe says. “he’s a full-time member of this team… creating the product with us.” kuramoto is embedded with the company, not observing from the outside.
basis is positioning its platform as a set of “agents” that complete accounting workflows across client accounting services, tax and audit. “the future of the profession is accountants and agents working together,” kuramoto tells 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间.
basis has the characteristics of a company moving past early-stage development. it has raised more than $100 million at a valuation exceeding $1 billion and says it works with roughly 30 percent of the top 25 accounting firms. the product exists. the capital is in place. the question is no longer whether the technology can perform tasks, but whether firms can integrate it into their operations.
that is where friction appears.
the lesson from cloud adoption
accounting firms do not reorganize workflows or staffing models based on product demonstrations. they change when they trust the outcome. kuramoto’s value is not technical. it is operational credibility. he spent two decades building acuity into one of the most prominent cloud-native firms before its 2025 sale into the sorren platform. he has run a firm, scaled it and exited it. he understands how partners make decisions.
what basis gains is someone who can translate the language of ai into the language of firm economics. that means billing models, staffing ratios and client delivery, not model performance or feature sets. it is less about selling technology than about enabling change.
the timing of the move reinforces that interpretation. kuramoto is stepping out of a scaled, consolidated firm into a venture-backed ai company. that is not a lateral transition. it is a directional bet. “i’ve spent my entire career in accounting,” he said. “today our profession is facing the most exciting opportunities it has ever seen.”
the reference point is implicit. the last structural shift of this magnitude was cloud accounting. that transition followed a pattern of skepticism, gradual adoption and eventual normalization. firms that moved early built advantages in pricing and service delivery. those who waited were forced to catch up.
connecting product and practice
kuramoto appears to see ai as the next iteration of that cycle, but with broader implications. cloud changed systems. ai is positioned to change labor. it reaches into who performs work, how it is priced and how it is delivered.
the interview underscored how unsettled that transition remains. the questions returned repeatedly to practical issues: what happens inside firms, who uses the system and what changes when it is deployed. those questions are still not fully answered, which reflects the stage of the market.
adoption is uneven. some firms are experimenting. some are evaluating. a smaller group is deploying. basis’s traction among large firms suggests early penetration at the top of the market, but not broad saturation across the profession. the demand now is for proof, not promise.
the shift is evident in how ai is being evaluated. the question is no longer whether it can perform accounting tasks. it is whether it can be trusted to do so within the structure of a firm. that places the emphasis on implementation, not capability.
kuramoto’s role is to operate in that gap. he is positioned between product and practice, observing how firms work, translating those workflows into product requirements and helping firms apply the technology in real settings. it is an iterative function rather than a consultative one.
the shift firms can’t ignore
taken together, the hire and the context around it point to a broader transition in the industry. the bottleneck has moved from technology to adoption. trust has become more important than features. the competitive arena is shifting inside the firm, into workflow ownership and process design. ai is being framed not as software but as labor, a participant in the work rather than a tool supporting it.
that framing has direct implications for how firms are structured and how they compete. as with earlier technology cycles, early adopters are likely to shape pricing, delivery models and client expectations. others will follow those patterns rather than define them.
the open question is whether firms are ready to make that shift. accounting remains a conservative profession built around accuracy, risk management and client trust. introducing ai into core workflows challenges each of those elements.
that tension explains why the role itself required explanation. it also explains why the conversation continues to center on practical outcomes rather than technical potential.
on to the execution phase
kuramoto did not join basis to endorse a product. he joined because the problem has changed. the first phase of accounting ai was about building tools. the next phase is about changing how firms operate.
basis is betting that advantage will not come from better models alone, but from firms that can integrate those models into the way work is actually performed. kuramoto’s role sits at that intersection, translating possibility into practice.
the fact that it still needs to be explained is the clearest indication of where the industry stands: beyond curiosity, but not yet at full adoption, moving into a phase where execution will determine the outcome.
transcript
seth fineberg
what is your official role at basis, and what was behind that, what’s and what what’s. what does it mean?
kenji kuramoto
sure the official role is managing partner in residence, which i know is a little bit of a odd name in what we we really believe the key part of this role is to do, is to help be the voice and bring the voice of the accounting profession back inside of basis. and we believe that’s important, just because as basis is really helping build agents that are going to be working with accountants, we see that, i think many people are now seeing the future of the workforce of the accounting profession being great accountants and agents working side by side. they want to they wanted to have someone with lived experience who sat in the seat as a firm leader, who’s been an accountant, pretty much every different type of accountant in the industry working in a as a staff accountant myself. they want that experience to be embedded inside of the profession, and someone who has the ability to keep bringing and going out and bringing not just the experience, but also the feelings of what it’s like to be an accountant in this world right now, back into basis. we believe that it’s going to make us a better and better company, if that is a core part of what i’m doing, and that that voice has a seat at the table inside of basis.
seth fineberg
so explain the rule to me what is ultimately your duties going to be, and you know the end goal therein,
kenji kuramoto
yeah, i the duties are going to be at the core of it is we need to, and want to build trust within the accounting profession. i mean, everyone who works in it wants to, whether you’re selling a point technology solution, or, in our case, a much more, i guess, pervasive, almost colleague or team member working alongside of the accounting profession. this is new to everybody. is how do we build trust with accountants? and i think that comes from again, knowing that the accounting profession, knowing that their thoughts, experiences, feelings matter inside of a company, and they want me to bring that in. i think as we start seeing the way that the accounting world starts changing with this new technology, basis is going to be right at the very front of that, just with the fact of what we’re building, the amazing colleagues i’ve got there who work in machine learning and engineering, that i can also be bringing much of that experience back out to the profession and holding conversations about, how is everybody changing in terms of the workforce? so i’ll be. acting as a bridge between basis and accountants back and forth is really at the core, essence of what i’ll be doing that may do things like inform, inform the way that we build the product that is more beneficial to the way that accountants work, that could be out there going and asking and holding more forums of whether it’s accounting firm leaders or with actual users, staff, people working alongside of agents and finding out what’s working what’s not. because as good as the technology is and will continue to be. it’s only as gonna be as good as we as accountants adapt around it and kind of get a chance to work with it. so that’s what i’m there to, kind of bring, is that piece in there to establish trust within the accounting profession. that trust doesn’t happen overnight. you don’t just show up and say, trust me, it takes time. i think it means us bringing, having, being in conversation on a very, very regular basis with the profession.
seth fineberg
so give a scenario of how you would work with a firm that doesn’t work with basis, and one that already is, yeah,
kenji kuramoto
good, good question. so he doesn’t work with basis. i’ll tell you that so far, i have been jumping in with the our go to market team, our sales team, on some of their calls, just to listen to and hear what that sounds like from people who are interested in basis or curious about it, and i act as more of a fly on the wall, just to listen to how accountants hear or either regard our initial demos, what their feedback is about it. so those are people who are kind of in that middle stage of more being curious about it. they’ve taken a step, and we’re starting to interact with them. i’ll jump to the other end, to where it looks like i’ve been in my first few weeks there, i’ve been on site at a client site where we are deploying it. same thing, sitting there with the accounting firm leaders and the staff as they are being onboarded onto it, and so observing and listening for anywhere there we’re seeing big wins or points of friction or concerns, and just having candid conversations about what that feels like, all the way to the other side of the spectrum, where there are those who haven’t interacted with us yet, and i’ll be very heavy out this year on the conference circuit, which i typically am anyway, because i love being around my people, the other accountants, but really holding conversations, starting to talk about and show that some of the capabilities, not like a sales team loop, but really having conversations and talking to other accountants about, where are they in terms of ai, how they feel about it, what are they seeing things are working well? what do they wish was working better? and so that’ll just be more of a form of engagement within the community. that’ll certainly happen live in conferences, but there’ll be some opportunities to to do that online interact. we’re looking at holding some other forums to allow people to come and just give some real candid feedback about what they think they need in their firms to be successful in this new world of ai. so there’s a lot of different places across the spectrum of actual customers, me being working with them, and just understanding how it’s going. those who are currently in, like, exploratory phase, talking to our go to markets team, and me listening, and then early on, those who haven’t met with us yet, and all that behind that really is, i’m trying to pick up the sentiment. how are how are accountants doing? what are they worried about? what are they excited about, and making sure that our team, who are builders, who are excellent builders and technologists, are keeping those sentiments in mind. they have a very, very clear understanding of what it’s like to walk in the shoes of an accountant in this day and age when things are moving so fast, right?
seth fineberg
and what about the ones that you are currently working with? obviously, you’re working with, i don’t know if you’re willing to release the number of firms you’re currently working with.
kenji kuramoto
yeah. i mean, there’s 30, 30% at the top 25 i believe is the current number. i think we can pull that off the site. and there’s quite a long line of it’s, it’s a very quickly growing number of not just. just firms in the top 150 who are showing interest, and many coming on board. there are a lot too below that level, and we have a strong interest as well in not just the big firms, but the smaller firms as well. it was originally engineered around the the needs for very high level security, and just the really more complicated workflows in many cases and number of different practice lines for the big firms, the team at basis felt like, let’s start there and really put it those paces at the high level for firms. but let’s also make sure there’s a roadmap to get into smaller firms too, and that will people will be seeing that emerge here over the next few months. so smaller practitioners, and we have some early beta customers from the smaller firms as well too, that we are putting through there.
seth fineberg
and what are you doing with them, these existing firms that you’re already working with.
kenji kuramoto
right now, i’m most well doing a meeting with i
seth fineberg
personally figured it was around a dozen or so by now, just in terms of raw numbers, we don’t have to publish that, but yep, yep.
kenji kuramoto
in many cases, i’m heading out on site to meet with leadership. sometimes we’ve had, we’ve had some hosted here with existing clients, teams coming to new york city. see basis, which is really fascinating in that we are an all in new york in person space, so office, and we’ve been hosting sessions with some of our clients here in office, so spending time with all levels of the firm, from the firm leadership all the way down to those staff, people who will be really day to day, engaging with basis. and so i’ve been interviewing them, speaking with them candidly, and then doing the same thing. now i’ve done one here in new york. i’ll also be doing some traveling here in the coming weeks, of going out on site to be kind of boots on the ground, asked doing some of those same interviews with all levels of the accounting firms, just about, not only, how are we doing at basis, but what all? what overall, does their does their strategy look like for ai, how do they believe that’s going to reshape the way their firm works in the coming years, from the leadership level all the way down to the comfort level of staff people, and having that direct conversation with them too. because i think it’s just as important that we make sure that the staff who are being impacted have a very representative voice again at the table. so yeah, lots of interviewing, lots of speaking directly and interacting with other accountants.
seth fineberg
what do you believe you personally bring to the table here? knowing you know you’re you’re talking about your experience level, you’re sorry. you’re talking about all the things that you’re doing for the firms that don’t work with you, the firms that do work with you, everything in between being more public facing. what about your own experience do you feel you’re bringing to the role?
kenji kuramoto
what’s interesting is it’s it to me, it’s just the lived experience of being an accountant, and again, i’m one of the older folks in the profession. i guess technically, i’m entering my fourth decade in the accounting profession, which is wild, and that’s everything from being a staff accountant at a big firm to leading i was at a big six and a global firm i worked in. i started, founded a firm, started a firm, you know, led it exited. i worked as a controller, and cfo in in house. and so i’ve, i’ve lived all the different roles. and i think that that’s what’s helpful here, is because there’s a lot of there have been so many moments over those many decades of joy, of challenge, of frustration, of scar tissue and of just deep gratitude that i have a tremendous care for the profession. and i think you could ask people who know me that i really do care about this profession. i care about seeing it thrive, not just because there’s so many people that i love in the profession. i am completely convicted that, honestly, our world operates better with accountants. we need more great accountants in this world from a firm, i’m sorry, from a financial and economic impact standpoint, we’re going to need more and more, and so we need to make sure that, again, there’s strong representation. and so i just have a very deep empathy, very, very deep empathy with. in the profession, because i’ve been part of it for so long, and i’ve so to me, it feels like a great opportunity, because it’s hard to accumulate those years and all those experiences, if you haven’t just walked in our shoes before as an accountant, and i have yet, i also feel so but i’m honored by the fact that basis and the crew would want me to kind of step up and represent. i’ve been a representative of the accounting profession in a few other ways, right in the past, certainly on various councils of many of the the great technology platforms that we all work with. i’ve always been honored to do those. i’ve whether it’s in speaking and in communicating with other accountants and bringing people together, i’ve always enjoyed doing that. i really enjoy speaking on behalf of the accounting profession, and i’m not sure if i want this part in there, but i mean, i think, i mean, between you and me, seth, there was nothing more impactful to me. and randy and i have talked a lot about it. of we know when i was asked to speak on behalf of the community at josh lance’s funeral, that to me, i remember that, yeah, that’s
seth fineberg
i wasn’t there, but i remember
kenji kuramoto
is just when i think about things that mean a lot to me, the fact that i got to represent my peers and my professional colleagues in a place that mattered the most, that his family and those who loved him could understand what josh meant to all of us was such a tremendous honor. i didn’t take it lightly. and this is the same thing with this too. i don’t take it lightly. in fact, i do feel the weights of our profession, of my all of my friends and peers and colleagues on this. but it’s a great responsibility to hold too it means a lot. it’s at a point where it’s very meaningful, and so that’s why i again, that all ties back to just a lot of lived experience of being in this role for in my fourth decade of being an accountant, and then also being very, very fortunate that i have a very vast network of peers in the space who we all talk very candidly together about the things that we’re excited about in the profession, the things that concern us in the profession. and i want to bring those things inside, because these, whether it’s basis or any other technology or agentic company, this is going to be part of our life going forward, and i want to make sure we’re all represented well, so that’s a big responsibility, but i’m excited that basis has given me that chance to participate in it. excellent. and finally, kent,
seth fineberg
what are your views on where basis is at and can potentially go, because i know you didn’t take on this role lightly. yeah, you might have even had other tech companies. no, i didn’t hold in your ear at at some point, like you even mentioned that you’ve, you’ve sat on advisory councils for some of these other platforms as well. yeah, helping
kenji kuramoto
guide them. interestingly enough, one thing that was very helpful for me after being a firm owner and leader and then ultimately exiting it was i got to take about a year off, and i think that wasn’t my design or plan. i wasn’t sure what i was going to do next. but that year off, i think creating a little bit of space and separation. i didn’t hop into something right away. i took i took time to think, and i think it brought forth and showed me opportunities that looked very, very different. and yes, i had a lot of great opportunities potentially out there, but when this showed up, and i had met the founders, matt and mitch, a number of years ago, and i really liked what they were imagining building, and they were on the very early parts of that and when i reconnected with them, after a year where i was no longer responsible for running a firm, i was taking time to consider what was happening in this space from a broader perspective. and i re connected with matt and mitch. i i was so struck by how much progress they’d made since i talked them last, and the fact that they’d honestly been so quietly working so diligently to kind of bring about many of the things i’ve been thinking about were actually proving to be reality in in basis, again, i’ve been an active angel investor and sat on a lot of advisory councils, and this was the first time i’ve looked at something and thought this felt miles ahead to me. it was really in a spot that had been so carefully considered and built so into. potentially for for accountants that i honestly couldn’t get it out of my head. i couldn’t i just kept thinking about it, and i kept interacting over quite a long time period with matt and mitch, to where, ultimately those discussions just were becoming more interesting and more interesting that we all felt like discussions and thought process are great. it felt like it was time to get off the sidelines. i just i had been on the sidelines and in a very enviable place where i could think clearly and independently from anything else i was doing, and it just felt like too interesting of a time for the profession and what was being built at basis, to continue to sit on sidelines. and so yeah, made made a made a made that decision to join up with them, to take on this initiative and responsibility, to represent the profession, to uproot my family and move from a place that we built the life in, up to the very exciting city of new york, it felt like it was that amazing of an opportunity in this important of a time in the profession, to where that leap was well worth it.
seth fineberg
finally, kenji, what do you say to the people who have heard of basis, they know basis, and this is kind of tied into where basis is at. the folks who really just want to get a very top level understanding of what does basis do for accountants?
kenji kuramoto
sure, i think what does it allow them to do? yeah, i think the best way to think about what basis does is consider it as it’s providing more capacity to accounting firms. it’s if you try to think about it in the historical context of, hey, what part of my tech stack does this fit in? it doesn’t fit very neatly, because it really isn’t a point solution, like we’re used to thinking of it. what it really is is these are as wild as this sounds. this will be a colleague for us in the future, and i think people are seeing things like claude and other things happening recently today, where they’re going, gosh, i’m seeing this ai move beyond a thought partner and a research tool towards it’s taking action on things. and so what i would say is basis was specifically built to take actionable long form steps, just like a colleague could inside of an accounting firm. it was purpose built for accountants and accounting firms, and so think of it as a colleague, as this colleague that you’re going to be working alongside with. and that’s the way to really think about it is competing with. i always view basis as it’s competing with the shortage and supply that we have of fellow accountants. we don’t have enough of we have too many retiring. we don’t have enough of them coming in the profession. we’re only seeing more and more work come our way. we’re going to need these agents to work alongside of us, and that’s what basis is providing specifically, purposefully only for the accounting profession that can work across many of the different tasks we do. so, whether it’s in cas or audit or tax, basis is going to be really a colleague for accounting firms of the future.
seth fineberg
excellent. kenji, thanks so much.