David Zasada, Intuit | Intuit Connect 2026

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0:06Welcome to Intuit Connect 2026. We're coming to you live from Las Vegas. I'm Allison Kozak alongside principal analyst in residence, Kristof Bertrand, and we've got a a really great lineup today. Yes, absolutely. And there's so much going on with the eye. I mean, the world is changing and the job of accounting is changing, financial advisors, etc. There their opportunity is to really evolve with it and I think Intuit is going to

0:31help with that. I agree. All right, let's get to our first guest. We've got David Zasada. He's a vice president of education and corporate responsibility. Welcome to the Cube. Thanks for having me, Allison. I appreciate it. So, talk me through your role. Sure. My role as vice president of education and corporate responsibility really is all about bringing Intuit's mission to power prosperity around the world to life. So, we spend a lot of time working with the next generation to help better prepare them to be successful both personally and

0:59professionally. I'm sure that that's changing as AI is entering the picture, right? 100%. Yeah, the types of skills that are needed today versus in the past are really different. That's causing students to be prepared differently, educators to understand how to prepare students differently, and really drives increased importance to be working with industry to understand what the changing

1:18needs are. So, how has Intuit been working with the education market, you know, previously? And what do you think is the problem your new accounting Futures program is actually solving? Yeah, so, you know, Intuit has spent the last 40 years helping our customers become financially capable and confident. And about 3 or 4 years ago, we started to think about how can we

1:38help the next generation do the same. So, we invested in creating a program called Intuit for Education. So, that is the overall umbrella program. And it started with offering personal and entrepreneurial finance courses for kids in high school and in higher education. And everything we do, we do for free. Our mission in education is ultimately to help kids cross the graduation stage financially literate, capable, and confident so they're prepared both personally and professionally for success. And really about a year ago, we started working more with educators in higher education around accounting programs and kind of what the needs are. At the same time, of course, we care an awful lot about the

2:19accounting industry. So, we were hearing from the accounting industry about changes taking place in that industry. And we saw a gap. The gap was that students weren't being prepared for the changes taking place in the accounting industry. That led to the creation of our our new program. And the new program, the Accounting Futures program, includes curriculum. It includes certifications. And most importantly, it also includes a connection to industry to ensure that they're hearing directly from those in the industry and what the

2:46needs are. Right. And I want to double click on that because it fundamentally changes the role of an accountant, right? We're talking about this earlier. As we're preparing this conversation, what does it mean today or what does it mean in the near future to be an accountant or a CPA? Uh so, could you help us understand that

3:04a little better? Yeah, so really what it means is changing, especially for the entry-level roles. So, students, you know, historically would you know, would go to school and you know, they might learn an awful lot about tax and audit and some of the basic process-oriented, you know, uh you know, skills that'll be necessary to be productive day one working for an accounting firm. Well, that's kind of changing with AI because AI is really it has multiple benefits, but in particular for um accounting firms, AI is helpful in really automating those kind of process, repetitive tasks. So, that means for those who are entering the workforce in the accounting

3:44industry, you know, they're being expected to do something a little bit different now. They need to really hit the ground running and provide more value in client advisory services roles. And that is a segment of an accounting firm's business that's really on the rise because of that. So, it's allowing them to have time to focus more on actually communicating and coaching

4:04their clients on how to be successful. And what what more are accounting firms telling you that they need to to get new graduates sort of in gear for this so that you know, that they weren't necessarily looking for 5 10 years ago. What more are you hearing? Yeah, that's a great question. You know, number one, of course, students coming out of college need to be AI fluent. So, AI fluency skills, number one, um just because of how often that's how much that's being used. But, they also need to have durable skills. So, and by durable skills, we're talking about strong communication skills, good problem-solving skills, being able to

4:36show judgment, because as the work that even students who are graduating and going into an accounting firm, you know, I mean, from day one, they're going to start getting more involved in the client advisory services. That type of work is different. You're not just sitting in front of the computer the whole time. You actually have to start to develop a relationship with the client. You got to be able to communicate with them, and you got to be able to help, you know, help them analyze the information that they're getting. So, the the durable skills are even more important than they ever were before. And for this generation, you

5:08know, that really takes some effort. So, our curriculum that we've created in the Accounting Futures program has specific modules around AI fluency, around these durable skills that we're talking about, etc. So, there's today in the industry a well-documented shortage of of skill sets in students for the accounting profession, which, you know, used to be maybe not the most exciting compared to other jobs, to be

5:34honest. At the same time, He would He I think he disagrees, but go ahead. Okay. It is changing, because it turns out, and maybe AI's helping, it turns out that it is becoming pretty fundamental in helping businesses now, small businesses, mid-size businesses, an area that Intuit is looking into also. It's helping tremendously. So, can you help us understand exactly this this this interaction, this sort of new new job, new dimension that is very very important for a lot of businesses, especially in in North

6:11America, but across the world really? Yeah, you really touched on a couple of things there. First of all, you know, there has actually been a decline in the number of students who are electing an accounting major. And part of that is, you know, is out of fear that AI will be taking the types of jobs that they they at least think that they would be doing in an accounting firm. Um, and then there's also kind of this stigma to some degree where, you know, some students

6:36just don't think accounting is cool. Accounting is cool. I've but my fiance is is a CPA to CFO, and she'll tell you that no day is the same in which she enjoys the most is actually working with her clients and actually advising them on how to be successful. So, that's really the shift that's taking place, you know, with the you know, with the emphasis on client advisory services is helping to prepare the next generation with the skills needed to be

6:59successful in that kind of a role. And if I may just double-click on that, um, I think you you mentioned advisory like three or four times already, and to me that's I think fundamental in the shift for the profession, for the skill sets, and for the opportunity. Um, what do you provide as as an organization? Is is maybe the the product itself providing some level of of support or resources? Uh, you have multiple products, obviously, but I'm I'm very curious about that because advisory is also a personal skill set,

7:29an interpersonal skill set. Yeah, absolutely is. You know, within the products that Intuit offers, we provide, um, you know, tools through Intuit Intelligence to be able to, you know, um, assess with providing advisory type of uh uh uh type of work. You know, into it, we really believe it's it's not just about AI, it's about HI. So, for us, it's artificial intelligence and human intelligence. And and that's one of the things that we you know, want to emphasize with students as well. So, while, you know, it's important for them to have AI, you know, fluency skills, they have to also understand they have to have a balance

8:05with human intelligence as well. And that's because even with all that AI can offer, you know, a client or or an accountant, what's important to remember is from a client perspective, they still want to have a relationship with someone. They want to actually have a conversation with someone who can advise them on the data that AI is giving them on how they can grow their business and how they can be successful. So, it's really you know, that's one of the the other things that we'll emphasize with students who are determining whether or not to pursue a career in accounting is number one, it's actually a very

8:36exciting time. You know, AI may be um, you know, taking some of the the tasks that are more repetitive and taking those over, but it's opening up a whole another class of jobs with client advisory skills and that's growing. And those are better paying jobs than even the entry level. So, it's you know, it's an exciting time right now in the in the industry, I think personally. And you know, it with my own kids, I've coached them as they're figuring out what career they want to pursue, it's you know, the accounting industry is is a great

9:08industry to you know, to consider. One key part of Intuit's Accounting Futures program is bringing practicing accounting professionals directly into the classroom, right? So, why is connecting education more closely with the profession itself especially important right now? It's important to both of them. So, the Accounting Futures program was actually developed in collaboration with both educators and actually professionals from industry. And the reason is because both are struggling. So, from a accounting firm perspective, as they're trying to hire new talent, they're realizing, you know, what, you know, as students are coming out of college, they just don't necessarily have the skills necessary to hit the ground running. So, they have to

9:46invest a lot of time in essentially re-training them. From an education perspective, educators struggle because they're not always sure what exactly the needs are as they're trying to help their students become career-ready. So, the more that we can bring those two those two groups together, the better view educators will have on what the skills are that are needed for kids to get a job right out of college and more the benefit for the accounting firms who

10:11are looking to hire good talent. Well, so so, let's talk about that. And so, how do you give students this sort of hands-on, you know, AI experience? And more importantly, I think there's also a question of judgment that comes in. I mean, we know AI is great, but it's not always perfect and there is a a level of of of a judgment call that you have to

10:28make. We talked about that earlier. How do you have students understand and discern when to leverage the tool, when to maybe think twice about things, when to really grow with it? Yeah. It's This is a really important part of the Accounting Futures program is this ability to actually have a connection with industry both from a mentoring perspective, but also from being able to utilize real-life scenarios. So, the way that we do that in the program is first of all, we give them access to real-world tools. So, they you know, they utilize QuickBooks and all in Apple Intelligence within QuickBooks to actually do case studies that are

11:06based on real-life scenarios. Those real-life scenarios come from accounting firms. So, and that hasn't always been the case. So, educators, you know, have used case studies in the past, but many educators in higher education took the academia route. So, they may not have even ever worked at an accounting firm. So, by bringing in accountants to help consult on what are real-world type of of studies that a student would actually have to deal with and then work on

11:35those, you know, in a group setting. That helps them start to essentially build the skills around judgment, etc. And also how to work in a team. Yeah, and the reps of that help, of course, it helps build that judgment, right? That's correct. Yeah. And then we actually layer on top of that micro-internships. So, it's important for for students while they're in college to start to actually work on like real real work. And so by partnering with industry, we make available hundreds of internships that kids can take advantage

12:06of. Yeah, just a little clicking on that, I think that's very important because I'm hearing a lot of students are struggling with trying to find an internship and they feel that, you know, they send resumes and it's they don't really know who's looking at them. So, I think that's really very interesting and certainly a great feature that you're you're offering as a an organization and

12:24for mentorship as well. Yeah, and you know, we've certainly like a full semester internship is the traditional model. People get excited about that. It's a lot to ask of an accounting firm to be able to find these types of internships. So, these micro-internships that we're putting together, it might only be 10 hours where they actually work on on a real client's problem in collaboration with, you know, a trained, you know, accounting professional, of course, but where they actually get to see like real life kind of problems and work on those and they get paid for

12:54those as they do it. So, how do you make sure the program is accessible to students from all back all backgrounds? Yeah, so we do that a couple ways. First of all, like everything that we do with Intuit for Education, you know, all the curriculum programs, supporting training is all free. So, we don't charge for any of it because we really want to make sure that we maximize you know, availability to all who want to access it. And and the other thing is we make the accounting features program very adaptable. So, whether you're a smaller college or a larger college Um, regardless of the type of accounting

13:27program that you're actually teaching at your school, regardless of whether it's a four-year university or community college, all of which serve different demographics, we make sure the program's adaptable. So, the modules in our curriculum, you can pick and choose whichever ones make the most sense for your program. You know, we've got that connection to industry, which can could really show up in different ways, you know, from bringing an accounting professional into the classroom to actually speak to the class, to getting them involved in developing these case studies, to hosting micro internships, but it's not a one-size-fits-all program. So, that actually ultimately ensures that acts there's access for

14:01all. And uh, you know, we're Intuit Connects 2026. It's kind of an interesting year. Uh, I'm sure there are lots of changes uh, that uh, you're hearing from partners and from some of your customers. What are your thoughts about the event? What's the vibe? And and what should be the takeaway for people who

14:19are who are here? Well, it's incredible energy everywhere around Intuit Connect. So, whether it's in the sessions that I was in yesterday to the exhibit hall that we're in here, you know, to the keynote which was just so inspiring. Um, you know, it's you know, I would just say that the energy is great. And in our world, from an education perspective, it has been the same. So, we hosted a half-day workshop on Saturday where we brought in educators from universities all around the country um, who were able to spend time talking with uh, professionals from accounting firms and kind of talk about this program, the Accounting Futures program,

14:53and what's working and how we could even build on it and improve on it. Um, and you know, and that was really energizing and reinforced the power of the program. And then yesterday we were in a panel, you know, and and on the panel there were, you know, educators from different universities in the audience, of course, were accounting firms. And the whole topic was how do accounting firms give back to higher education? How do they support the next generation? And I was amazed at how much energy they had and how willing they were to um, you know, to engage and talk about how they can give their time because it

15:23benefits them as well. Not only does it, you know, support the next generation, David, so great talking with you. Thanks for taking the time to stop by the Cube. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. And you're watching the Cube, the leader in live technology coverage and in-depth expert analysis. We'll be right back.