.png)
Every accounting conference I go to now seems to have AI everywhere.
AI bookkeeping.
AI tax.
AI financial analysis.
AI email.
AI meeting notes.
AI everything.
And I'm excited about it. Clearly. I built an AI financial platform.
But I also run an accounting firm, which means I don't care very much whether something has “AI” stamped on its homepage.
I care whether it saves my team time.
Does it help us serve clients better?
Does it eliminate something we're currently paying a talented human to do manually?
Does it make the client experience better?
And, probably most importantly, would my team actually use it?
Those are very different questions.
So if you're an accounting firm trying to figure out which AI tools are actually worth paying attention to, here's how I would look at the market.
This is probably the most obvious category.
Accounting teams spend an enormous amount of time processing routine financial activity.
Think:
Transaction categorization.
Receipt collection.
Coding.
Reconciliations.
Bill processing.
Data entry.
Exception identification.
These are exactly the kinds of repetitive workflows where technology can make a meaningful difference.
The goal shouldn't necessarily be completely eliminating the bookkeeper.
The better question is:
How many clients can one excellent bookkeeper manage when software handles more of the repetitive work?
That's where the economics get interesting.
A bookkeeper who can manage 15 clients instead of 10 doesn't just save a few hours.
You've changed the capacity of the department.
And when you're trying to scale an accounting firm, capacity matters a lot.
This is the category I care the most about.
Accounting firms have historically spent a ton of time preparing financial information and surprisingly little time interpreting it with clients.
We reconcile everything.
Close the month.
Prepare the P&L.
Prepare the balance sheet.
Maybe create a dashboard.
Then somebody still needs to sit down and ask:
What actually happened here?
That's where AI can be incredibly useful.
Imagine connecting a client's accounting system and having technology help surface:
Now the accountant isn't starting with a blank P&L.
They're starting with a list of things that may deserve their attention.
That's a very different workflow.
And importantly, the accountant still decides whether the observation matters.
AI provides the starting point.
The professional provides the judgment.
That's the category CFOly was built around.
This one is obvious for CPAs.
Tax research can consume an unbelievable amount of time.
Finding relevant guidance, reading through rules, comparing interpretations and determining how something applies to a particular situation can turn a seemingly simple question into an hour-long project.
AI can dramatically accelerate the research process.
But—and this is a giant BUT—
tax professionals still need to verify the source material.
If you're giving a client tax advice based solely on something an AI chatbot confidently told you, we need to talk. 😂
The real value is research acceleration.
Instead of spending 45 minutes figuring out where to look, technology can help you get to the relevant authority faster.
Then the CPA does what the CPA is supposed to do:
Review.
Interpret.
Apply judgment.
This may be one of the easiest wins for an accounting firm.
How many meetings happen every week?
Client calls.
Team meetings.
Sales calls.
Tax planning meetings.
Financial reviews.
Onboarding calls.
Now multiply that by every person in your organization.
AI meeting tools can record, summarize and pull action items from those conversations.
That means fewer handwritten notes.
Fewer forgotten follow-ups.
And fewer moments three weeks later where everyone is asking:
“Wait. Who was supposed to do that?”
Been there.
Accounting firms write an absurd amount of email.
Sometimes you are basically explaining the same concept 40 different ways.
Why did I owe taxes?
Why doesn't profit equal cash?
What is depreciation?
What documents do you need?
When will my financial statements be ready?
Can I buy this vehicle?
Why is my balance sheet weird?
AI can help accountants draft clear client communications much faster.
But this is another place where I think the human needs to stay firmly involved.
Your clients know your voice.
They know how you communicate.
Nobody wants an accounting relationship that suddenly sounds like a customer service robot.
Use AI to accelerate the first draft.
Then make it sound like you.
Every growing accounting firm eventually develops the same problem.
Somebody knows how to do something.
But nobody knows where that somebody wrote it down.
Maybe it's in Slack.
Maybe it's in Google Drive.
Maybe it's in an SOP.
Maybe it's in someone's head.
Maybe Kayla knows.
Maybe Devon knows.
Maybe Ashley definitely explained it seven months ago and nobody remembers where. 😂
Internal AI search can become incredibly valuable because it allows employees to ask questions across the firm's own procedures and information.
Instead of hunting through folders:
“How do we onboard a new dental bookkeeping client?”
“What is our month-end close procedure?”
“What package includes bill pay?”
“What information do we need for an S corporation return?”
That is a huge opportunity for growing firms.
This category will become increasingly important.
Think about everything surrounding the actual accounting work:
Tasks.
Deadlines.
Emails.
Documents.
Client requests.
Workflow.
Capacity.
Assignments.
Follow-ups.
AI should eventually help firms answer questions like:
Which clients are stuck?
Which deadlines are at risk?
Which employees are overloaded?
What client requests have not been answered?
What's waiting on the customer?
That isn't futuristic.
That is where accounting practice technology is going.
I would not start by buying ten.
Pick the biggest bottleneck.
If bookkeeping capacity is killing you, start there.
If client meeting preparation takes forever, solve financial review.
If your team loses hours documenting meetings, solve meeting notes.
If tax research is consuming senior-level time, look at tax research.
If your firm has 60 employees and nobody can find anything, solve internal knowledge.
Then measure the result.
Did it actually save time?
Did employees use it?
Did the client experience improve?
Did capacity increase?
If not, cancel it.
Software is not valuable because it has AI.
Software is valuable because something in your business works better after you install it.
I don't think the future accounting firm has no accountants.
I think it has incredibly leveraged accountants.
The bookkeeper processes more clients.
The senior accountant reviews more work.
The controller spends more time advising.
The CPA spends less time researching basic questions.
The partner spends more time with clients and less time preparing for them.
And technology handles a growing percentage of everything that happens before professional judgment is required.
That is the part I think accounting firms should be paying attention to.
Not:
“Can AI replace my accountants?”
But:
“What could my accountants accomplish if technology gave them half their time back?”
That's a much more exciting question.
And it's exactly the future we're building CFOly for.
I talk to a lot of accounting firms, and there is one thing I hear over and over again:
Read More
I may get myself in trouble with accountants for saying this, but here goes:
Read More
QuickBooks Is Full of Answers. Most Business Owners Just Don't Know Where to Look.
Read More