# AI for accountants — records and questions, never a posted entry > What an agent takes on in an accountancy practice: collecting client records, first-line client answers, engagement letters, preparing working papers. What it never does: approve an entry or give tax advice. **Version HTML :** https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/ai-accountants **Langue :** en-GB --- AI by industry # 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. [Request the survey](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/contact) - **5 tasks** documented below - **1 limit** no entry approved, no tax advice - **Every chase** goes at the right time, with the exact list - **2 to 6 weeks** before the first system opens The cost ## 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. **Changing nothing** - Accountant time per client on chasing : **3 to 6 hours a year** - Client files complete by the planned date : **1 in 2** - Client questions per day, per accountant : **8 to 15** - Time to answer a client : **1 to 3 days** - Engagement letter prepared in : **45 min to 1 h 30** - Accountant hours per month given back to review : **0** **The practice system, opened** - Accountant time per client on chasing : **30 minutes of follow-up** - Client files complete by the planned date : **4 in 5** - Client questions per day, per accountant : **2 to 3, the real ones** - Time to answer a client : **minutes** - Engagement letter prepared in : **10 minutes of review** - Accountant hours per month given back to review : **20 to 40** Five tasks ## 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. 01 ### 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. 02 ### 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. 03 ### 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. 04 ### 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. 05 ### 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. What we do not do ## 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. **The method, in one sentence** Ten systems, one survey, one system opened at a time — the one with the shortest payback. [Read the full method](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/#methode), or go back to the [AI agency](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/) page. The tools ## 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. **Your practice software, as it is** It reads what your software exposes — clients, records, deadlines — and writes where it allows. It replaces nothing, and does not touch the ledger. **A record list per client and period** It lives in each accountant’s head. Written once, it sends chases at the right time without anyone thinking about it. **A log the client and your regulator can read** Every chase and reply is traced. What was said to a client is checkable — and is never advice. The objections ## 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. Where this industry concentrates ## The areas where we are called most for this. [**Birmingham**AI agency in Birmingham](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/ai-agency-birmingham)[**Manchester**AI agency in Manchester](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/ai-agency-manchester)[**Edinburgh**AI agency in Edinburgh](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/ai-agency-edinburgh) [**All locations**see the full map](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/locations) Related industries The same tasks, in neighbouring industries : [AI for solicitors](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/ai-solicitors), [AI for HR](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/ai-hr), [AI for banking](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/ai-banking). First call — fifteen minutes ## 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. [Request the survey](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/contact) [Write to the agency](https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/contact) --- ## Autres langues - fr-FR : https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/ia-expert-comptable.md - en-GB : https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/en/ai-accountants.md - de-DE : https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/de/ki-steuerberater.md - es-ES : https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/es/ia-asesorias-contables.md - it-IT : https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/it/ai-commercialisti.md - pt-PT : https://agence-intelligence-artificielle.eu/pt/ia-contabilistas.md