More time with clients, without adding headcount
Gilbert CPAs is a 42-year Sacramento CPA firm with a 15–18 person tax team. Facing a shrinking pool of new licensed talent, it moved preparers into review roles and sent first-pass 1040 prep to Magnetic instead of hiring around the gap. By Tax Chair Keith Glen’s account, returns come back in 2–4 days, and all of the firm’s 1040s will go through Magnetic in the 2027 filing season.
Firm
Gilbert CPAs
Location
Sacramento, CA
Returns
900+ a season
Tax software
CCH Axcess
At a glance
2–4 days
turnaround, especially valuable during extension season
All
1040 returns going through Magnetic in the 2027 filing season
Facing a shrinking pool of new licensed talent, Gilbert moved existing preparers into review roles instead of hiring around the gap.
The challenge
Less talent, less client facetime
Gilbert CPAs has practiced in Sacramento for 42 years. Keith Glen, the firm's tax chair, has been with the firm for 20 years and a partner for 10, leading a tax department of three partners, three managers, and seven to ten staff and senior associates, a team of roughly 15 to 18 depending on the season.
Keith describes Gilbert's approach to technology as "cutting edge" without being "bleeding edge," willing to try new things, even when they don't always work out. That openness became necessary: fewer new candidates have been entering public accounting at the entry level, and firms increasingly compete for the same experienced managers. Rather than wait out the shortage, Keith saw it as a reason to look for new tools, and to ask new hires to do something different: get upskilled onto review work faster than a traditional prep-to-partner career path allows.
"We're going to be asking [new hires] to do something different. We're essentially upskilling them on a much more rapid timeframe than the traditional path."
Keith GlenTax Chair, Gilbert CPAsThe solution
A measured pilot, not a leap of faith
In Keith's words, Gilbert takes a "trust but verify" approach to AI. Rather than rolling Magnetic out across the board, the firm started with a deliberately mixed pilot batch: some straightforward returns, some complex ones (multiple states, K-1s, rental properties), and everything in between.
That pilot gave way to a full engagement for the 2026 tax season, and Gilbert is planning to route substantially all returns through Magnetic starting with 2026 returns filed in 2027. One moment in particular is why Keith says he was sold: a complex K-1 Magnetic prepared correctly, footnotes and all.
"I was blown away by how accurate it was. It was equal parts terrifying and awesome. That's when I thought: we have to use this product."
What changed on Gilbert's team
More time for advice, less for the minutiae
With prep and much of first review off the team's plate, the firm can spend more time on what Keith calls "quite honestly the fun part": advising clients on their situation, not just filling in boxes on their return.
First-pass prep now runs through Magnetic
Staff who used to prepare 1040s now review Magnetic's drafted return, filling in anything missing (a K-1 the firm prepared internally, for instance) and clearing it for e-file before it reaches a manager or partner.
An independent check that wasn't there before
Every return now also gets reviewed by a licensed EA or CPA on Magnetic's side before it reaches the firm. Keith calls that real, if intangible, value: it "does give us some satisfaction that it was looked at by… another human being."
The results
What changed for Gilbert CPAs
By Keith's account, returns typically came back in a couple of days, even at peak season, and extension season included. That let Gilbert produce a meaningful estimate right away, instead of waiting weeks for a preparer to reach the file.
Gilbert now sends "almost everything" through Magnetic and is planning to make that the standard for substantially all returns starting with the 2027 filing season, all without adding headcount to its 15–18 person tax team. The freed-up time is going back into the client relationships Gilbert's team says are the reason clients stay.
"It allows us to focus less on the minutiae of preparing the return and more on delivering good insights and advice, because that's really what clients want. That's quite honestly the fun part."
Keith GlenTax Chair, Gilbert CPAsWhy Magnetic, not more hires
Gilbert didn't respond to a shrinking talent pool by competing harder for scarce hires, or by handing its existing team a new AI copilot to run themselves. Magnetic is an AI-powered 1040 completion service, with a licensed professional reviewing every return before Gilbert's own team ever sees it. That's what let preparers move into review work faster than hiring and training new staff ever would have. It also freed up time for the clients Gilbert was hired to serve in the first place.
"I would say try it. I think you'll be impressed."
About Gilbert CPAs
Gilbert CPAs is a 42-year, full-service CPA firm in Sacramento, California, offering tax, attestation and audit, and outsourced accounting services. Its tax department of roughly 15 to 18 people includes three partners, three managers, and seven to ten staff and senior associates.
FAQ
Questions about Gilbert CPAs’s results
How did Gilbert CPAs handle a shrinking pool of new tax talent?
Instead of competing for scarce hires, Gilbert moved existing preparers into review roles and sent first-pass 1040 preparation to Magnetic. Every return is reviewed by a licensed EA or CPA at Magnetic before it reaches Gilbert’s team.
How fast does Magnetic return prepared 1040s?
By Keith Glen’s account, returns typically came back in 2–4 days, even at peak season and during extension season.
Does Magnetic work with CCH Axcess?
Yes. Gilbert CPAs prepares returns in CCH Axcess. Magnetic also works with Drake, UltraTax CS and Lacerte.
