Why Sage Is Building Its Own AI Instead of Just Plugging In an LLM

June 19, 2026

51 min

In this episode, Doug and Matt sit down with Taylor Brown of CLA to talk about Sage Intacct’s latest release, and why Sage is building AI into the product itself instead of plugging in a generic LLM.

Accounting Artificial Intelligence Release Notes Sage Copilot Sage Intacct

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About this episode

Why Sage Is Building Its Own AI Instead of Just Plugging In an LLM

In this episode, Doug and Matt sit down with Taylor Brown of CLA to talk about Sage Intacct’s latest release, and why Sage is building AI into the product itself instead of plugging in a generic LLM.

Taylor is a CPA and a director in CLA’s digital practice. She spent years as a Sage solutions consultant and still teaches accounting at UT Austin. They walk cash management, three-way matching, the Financial Intelligent Agent, the MCP AI gateway, and the fixed asset and audit trail updates.

Taylor’s accuracy warning is the one to hold onto. AI gets accounting wrong 30 to 40 percent of the time, which is why a foundational understanding still matters when Copilot, MCP, and customer-built agents show up in the workflow.

They close on crawl-walk-run change, what to do after a release, and the dad joke.

CHAPTERS

Listen to learn more about

(00:00) Meet Taylor Brown
(01:45) Can Teachers Do
(03:09) Accounting Paths Beyond Big Four
(04:57) Why Release Notes Matter
(05:32) Cash Tracking AP AR
(07:03) Three Way Match Upgrades
(08:50) Cash Is King Lessons
(12:16) Finance As Profit Center
(13:49) AI Copilot Enters Finance
(14:26) Training AI For ROI
(16:10) Sage Copilot Deep Dive
(19:51) Why Build Sage AI
(22:47) MCP And AI Gateway
(23:13) MCP Use Cases And Data
(25:25) MCP Access And Licensing
(25:56) MCP Licensing Questions
(27:17) Agent Marketplace Gatekeeping
(28:12) How Agents Get Sold
(29:38) Why Agentic AI Matters
(30:11) Customer Built Agents
(31:38) Worst AI Misuse Risks
(33:47) AI Accuracy in Accounting
(35:26) Fixed Assets Release Focus
(36:04) SFAM vs SIG Evolution
(37:52) Reversals and Audit Trail
(40:01) Splitting Assets Efficiency
(40:58) CIP and Migration Advice
(43:58) International Release Differences
(46:05) One Thing to Do Next
(48:21) Crawl Walk Run Change
(49:48) Dad Joke Sendoff

Related Industries

SaaS
Financial Services
Technology
Corporate Finance

Speakers

Doug Lewis
Host | Consultant
LinkedIn

Matt Lescault
Host | CEO, Lescault & Walderman
LinkedIn

Taylor Brown
Guest | CLA
LinkedIn

Related Resources

FAQ

Questions from this episode

What is an LLM in this episode?

A generic large language model you'd plug in. Sage is building AI into Intacct instead of dropping one of those in.

What is MCP?

The MCP AI gateway in this release. The connector layer for Copilot and customer-built agents.

What is three-way matching?

Checking a purchase order, a receipt, and an invoice against each other. It's in the release walkthrough with cash management.

What is the Financial Intelligent Agent?

A named Sage AI agent in this release, sitting next to Copilot and MCP.

IN THIS EPISODE

Host

Doug Lewis

Managing Director at The Visionary Group

Host

Matt Lescault

Founder & CEO at TydeCo

Guest

Taylor Brown

CPA

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Why Sage Is Building Its Own AI Instead of Just Plugging In an LLM