You don't need to memorize everything. You need enough expertise to know when AI is right and when it isn't. Inner Circle shows you how to put the two together and build a firm that gives you your time back. We show you the tools we built in a working tax firm, then build yours with you, one step at a time.
Current member? Reserve at your member price →
A very limited group. We keep each group small on purpose so every member gets real face-to-face time with our team. When this group is full, it closes.
For the professional who has never used AI, and for the one who thinks they already know it.
The firms that only sell this work will be replaced by the software. The professionals who can judge it, and build the systems that do it, will not be.
“I can't be a medical doctor by having no education and just talking to AI.”
Bobby Bodner, CPA, EA, MS Tax
Most of the room has never used AI for client work. Some think they already have it figured out. Inner Circle meets each member on the step they are on, and the next step is always one you can take that month.
Your first conversations with an AI model, on questions that carry no client data. What it is good at, and where it is confidently wrong.
Start here if you have never opened ChatGPT or Claude.Give the AI your firm's own instructions and reference material, so its answers follow your rules every time, not its guesses.
Start here if you use AI but start from scratch each time.Let the AI read your redacted documents, your email and your files, with read-only access, so it works from facts and cannot change anything.
Start here if you already have AI drafting for you.Scripts and tools that do the work, with guardrails in code that block the AI from anything it must never touch, and your review before anything leaves the firm.
Start here if you think you are already an expert.Written instructions the AI reads before every task
What it is blocked from doing, enforced in code
Scripts that do the repetitive work
Nothing leaves the firm without your sign-off
Your clients trust you with their Social Security numbers, bank accounts and returns. Before any AI reads a client document in your firm, you will have built each of these pieces yourself, one at a time, in the sessions, and tested each one before you add the next.
Every file that comes in lands in one place, named and filed to the right client on arrival.
Which model, which hardware, and how to run it with the internet off.
Identifiers found and boxed, numbers cut to the last four, the original never changed.
A second check that refuses to write any file it finds a number in, so a miss is caught, not shipped.
Rules enforced in code that stop the AI from opening an original, and mask any number before it sees it.
Anything the gate catches goes into a queue, and it is cleared only when the redaction is fixed and tested, so the same miss cannot happen twice.
These are tools Bobby built and runs in his own practice, shown here as demonstrations on fictional clients. Each one gives the firm hours back and makes the client's side easier: fewer questions, faster answers, nothing to chase.
For you: the books close the same way every month without anyone keying transactions. For the client: one plain question when something is unclear, answered from their phone.
Every transaction line stays readable, so the AI can still code the books. The client’s address and account numbers do not.
Hi Dana, quick one: the $214.37 Amazon charge on Oct 14. What was this purchase for?
Printer ink and paper for the front desk.
Bank rules post every transaction; anything unknown becomes one question to the client.
Payroll entries, review, client questions, answers posted, period closed, in the same order.
Which statements are on file, which are missing, and where balances do not tie.
Any bank statement PDF, even a scan, into a file QuickBooks can import.
For you: the withholding actually taken is compared with what the year needs. For the client: a new hire is a few plain questions, not a form packet.
Wages and withholding stay readable. Each employee’s SSN comes down to the last four and home addresses are boxed.
Each run is pulled in automatically, so estimates and officer pay stay sized to the real year.
The owner's year split into the roles they fill, priced at local wage data, replacing a paid subscription.
Home office, mileage and phone submitted with support; reimbursement worked out by quarter in one signed PDF.
For you: every estimate, every quarter, every client on one screen. For the client: one message with exactly what to pay, when, and where, and a confirmation that it was received.
Every box amount stays readable for the return. The EIN and the partner’s SSN come down to the last four, and both addresses are boxed.
A branded cover page, a plain-English summary and a signature packet with every field placed.
Each document matched to its form and line on day one, so the missing pieces are asked for once.
Every book-to-tax adjustment laid out, tied to the return, and posted back to the books.
A stronger model that did not do the work re-checks every authority, figure and state rule.
For you: every notice has one record, with proof of what was sent and a follow-up date. For the client: they forward the letter and hear what happens next, in writing.
The notice, tax year, amount and due date stay readable, so the AI can draft the response. The SSN and mailing address do not.
All 51 jurisdictions, verified from each state's own law, with a workpaper for the file.
Federal deadlines worked out automatically, with weekends and holidays moved to the next business day.
Every client's state filings, annual reports and renewals in one calendar.
For you: calls, projections and replies drafted from your own records and your own voice. For the client: faster answers that sound like you, because they are yours.
Message histories go through a text redactor before they are used. The client’s goals and questions stay; logins and phone numbers become a label.
Rental and real estate clients log each task the day they do it, with a running total against each test.
Numbers pulled from the books, never retyped, and the build stops if a table does not foot.
Each recorded call matched to the client and filed with notes and action items.
Drafts written from your own past messages to that client, needing fewer changes each time.
Take what you like from any software, remove what you don’t, add what your firm needs, and stop paying someone else to run it forever.
There is a lot of AI being sold to tax firms right now. This is not that. We teach you to be self-sufficient with AI, so you become irreplaceable.
This isn’t an upsell. Tax School members asked us to teach it, and after the difference it has made in our own firms, we felt it was our duty to offer it.
What’s perfect for our firm is different from what’s perfect for yours. We show you what we built, and you turn it into exactly what your firm needs, safely and in compliance.
If AI does the work of two or three hires at $60,000 to $80,000 a year each, $2,000 a month to learn how to set it up is the smallest number on this chart.
Not the best employee for everyone. The best employee for you, doing exactly what you want it to do.
Three live calls every month, on top of the Tax School classes twice a month. Every call is recorded, so you can watch a build again when you reach that step.
What we're using, what's working, and how to put it in your firm.
Bring your firm's questions on AI, systems and software, in a very limited group.
Once a month, Mande walks through a real client situation from her firm: what came up, how she handled it, and what she would do differently. Then the floor opens for questions about the client side of the practice: pricing and raising fees, scope creep, difficult conversations, setting expectations, and firing a client when it's time.
Starting copies of the tools we demonstrate, with the guide to adapt each one to your firm.
In Austin, Texas, late October or early November, after 6 months of Inner Circle membership.
Every class, the white papers, the Law Library and IRS continuing education credit: the tax knowledge that tells you whether the AI is right, the part no software can replace.
6-month minimum. Open enrollment starts Monday, November 23.
Open enrollment starts Monday, November 23. A very limited group, first come, first served. When it is full, it closes.
Reserve your spotWant to talk it through first? Book a call with Mande.
Sign in with your member email to reserve at your member price. The payment goes on the card already on your membership.
Reserve at your member priceMembers get the first seats. If seats remain, we open the cohort to everyone. Tell us about your firm and we will be in touch.
Pick a time for your call with Mande. If none of the times work, email mande@bodnerandclark.com and we will find one that does.
Book the call with MandeOpen enrollment starts Monday, November 23. When you reserve, you pay $2,000, which is your first Inner Circle month. It is not an extra fee. When the cohort starts in January 2027, that month is already paid.
Tax School, from the day you reserve: every class, the white papers, the Law Library, Case Law and IRS continuing education credit. Inner Circle sessions begin with the cohort in January.
Yes. Inner Circle has a 6-month minimum. After that it continues month to month until you cancel.
Only if we do not run the cohort, in which case everyone who reserved gets their first month back in full. Otherwise it is your first Inner Circle month, and the seat is held for you.
A very limited group, on purpose, so every member gets real time with Bobby and Mande. Seats go in the order they are reserved. When the cohort is full, it closes until the next one.
Members reserve at a member price: sign in on the members site to see it. You keep Tax School at the rate you pay today until January, then Inner Circle replaces it, so there is one membership and one bill.
Yes. The first session starts with the basics: talking to your computer instead of typing, and recording your meetings so you never take notes again. Every step after that builds on the one before it.
Yes. Book a call with Mande and she will walk you through it and answer your questions.