AI for accounting firms
Where AI speeds up an accounting firm's work, and where a qualified accountant still signs off.
Clients hire an accounting firm for a signature they can rely on. AI is useful for the drafting and document work around that signature. It never prepares a return, gives advice or signs anything on its own.
Five real workflows
Where AI actually helps.
- 01
Collecting and organising client documents
Extracts figures and details from documents clients send you, such as receipts, statements and invoices.
- You keep
- Checking every extracted figure against the original document before it's used.
- Try this week
- Take one client's recent set of documents, ask for the figures extracted into a table, then check every line against the originals.
- 02
Draft correspondence with clients
Drafts routine emails, such as document requests and reminders, from your notes.
- You keep
- Anything that gives advice, states a figure, or commits the firm to a position.
- Try this week
- Draft one routine reminder email from your usual template, then check it before sending.
- 03
First-pass review of figures
Compares figures you provide against a prior period or a client's records, and flags what's changed.
- You keep
- Investigating every flagged item and deciding what it means.
- Try this week
- Give it one client's current and prior-period figures, ask what's changed, then check the flags yourself.
- 04
Client reports and summaries
Turns a set of figures into a plain-language summary for a client who isn't an accountant.
- You keep
- Every figure in the summary, and the interpretation, which stays yours.
- Try this week
- Take one recent set of client figures and ask for a plain-language summary a client could read in two minutes.
- 05
Internal knowledge and training
Drafts internal notes or training material explaining a rule or process, from source material you provide.
- You keep
- Checking the explanation against the actual rule or standard before your team relies on it.
- Try this week
- Pick one rule your team asks about often and draft an internal explainer from the actual guidance.
Handle with care
Rules for accounting firms, not fear.
- Client financial data
Client figures, account numbers and tax details stay inside tools your firm has vetted and approved for that data, under your client confidentiality obligations.
- The accountant signs off
AI drafts and organises. A qualified accountant checks every figure and signs every return, statement and piece of advice, as your professional standards require.
- No AI advice
AI never gives tax or accounting advice to a client directly. Anything it drafts toward advice is reviewed and delivered by a qualified person.
- Professional standards
Use of AI in client work follows your regulator's and professional body's guidance, including what must be disclosed to clients.
Where to start
The right size of first step.
30-day AI Sprint
From $7,500
Client work runs on documents and deadlines that repeat every period. A 30-day Sprint builds and tests one real workflow, such as document intake, with your team and your controls in place.
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