AI for accountants
In January, an accountant spends half the day chasing records — a statement, an invoice, a receipt — from clients who reply the following week, and the other half answering « when will my accounts be ready » and « which document do you need exactly ». The task that costs in a practice is that: collection and questions, not the review, which stays with the accountant and must.
The tasks we remove first in this industry
What this industry pays when nothing moves.
Ranges, not promises. They come from tasks we meet in this industry and orders of magnitude we measure in the survey — yours may fall outside, in either direction.
What we remove, and what we leave.
Each task is described with what the agent takes on and what stays with a person. If the second column is empty, we have not understood the industry.
Collect records and chase clients
What the agent does
From the list of records expected per client and period, it requests, chases at the right time, files what arrives and flags what is missing before the deadline.
What stays with a person
Classifying a record. It notes that a receipt is there or not; how it is treated, the accountant decides.
Answer clients at first level
What the agent does
« Which document do you need », « where are my accounts », « when is my payment due »: it answers from the file and the practice calendar, citing.
What stays with a person
Any question calling for advice — tax, payroll, business. It informs; the accountant advises.
Prepare engagement letters and standard documents
What the agent does
From your templates and the client file, it pre-fills engagement letters, confirmations and letters, and submits for signature.
What stays with a person
The signature. A practice document commits its responsibility; a person reviews and signs.
Prepare working papers
What the agent does
Before review, it gathers records by cycle, flags what is missing, prepares first-level reconciliations and lists the differences to look at.
What stays with a person
The review and the entries. It prepares a list of differences; no entry is posted or approved by it.
Keep watch on tax and payroll changes
What the agent does
It reads the sources you designate and flags what affects your clients or templates, with the exact excerpt and the date.
What stays with a person
Interpretation and advice. It alerts; the accountant decides.
No entry is approved, no tax advice given by an agent.
An accountant’s sign-off carries professional responsibility for the accounts, and tax advice commits the client. The agent collects, files, pre-fills, prepares lists of differences and reports file status. It posts no entry, approves none, and hands over as soon as a question calls for a view. The diagram below shows where its reach ends.
« Which document » and « when » are in the file. « Should I » and « can I » are advice — and always go right.
Ten systems, one survey, one system opened at a time — the one with the shortest payback. Read the full method, or go back to the AI agency page.
What we open it with, and why here.
The choice of tool comes last, and it is reversible. But in this industry, three constraints keep coming back and steer the choice before we even start.
It reads what your software exposes — clients, records, deadlines — and writes where it allows. It replaces nothing, and does not touch the ledger.
It lives in each accountant’s head. Written once, it sends chases at the right time without anyone thinking about it.
Every chase and reply is traced. What was said to a client is checkable — and is never advice.
What we hear in this industry, before we start.
Our clients ignore chasers. A machine won’t change that.
A chaser at the right time, with the exact list of what is missing and a link to upload, gets more than a generic email in January. And the accountant no longer spends days writing them — they call the three clients who truly do not reply.
Preparing reconciliations — isn’t that already accounting?
It is matching: this statement and this invoice correspond, that line has no record. The entry, its account and its approval stay with the accountant. The agent produces a list of differences, never an entry.
How long before it is useful?
The survey of the ten systems is delivered within 72 hours. Opening the first system takes two to six weeks. In a practice, better to open in October so it holds in January.
The areas where we are called most for this.
The same tasks, in neighbouring industries : AI for solicitors, AI for HR, AI for banking.
We will tell you which system to open first.
Describe the task that costs you the most. We will tell you what is feasible, how long it takes and what it costs. If the answer is no, you will leave with the two reasons why.