AI automation for accounting firms.
Get your staff out of document chasing, organizer follow-up, and rebuilding the same month-end reports. I build the automation inside the tools you already use, at a fixed price, with a person approving anything that reaches a client.
Free 30-minute review. You leave with the two workflows I'd automate first and a ballpark cost.
Five workflows worth automating first.
These are the jobs with the most repetition and the least judgment in a 10–50 person firm. The assessment times each one in your firm before anything gets built.
Client document collection
W-2s, 1099s, brokerage statements, and K-1s arrive in pieces across email and the portal. Staff rename, file, and track what is still missing by hand.
Each upload is identified, named to your convention, and filed to the right client folder. The checklist updates itself, and a reminder for anything missing is drafted for staff to approve.
Organizer and engagement letter follow-up
Someone works a spreadsheet of who hasn't returned an organizer or signed an engagement letter, and sends the same nudge dozens of times.
Status is tracked per client, and personalized reminders go out on a schedule you set, stopping the moment the client responds.
Month-end client reporting
Bookkeeping and advisory staff rebuild the same package every month: export, paste, format, write the summary.
The package assembles from the same exports, with first-draft commentary for the accountant to edit and approve.
Client inbox triage
Questions, documents, and "where's my return?" emails land in shared and personal inboxes. Some sit for days.
Incoming email is sorted by client and request, routed to the right person, and routine status questions get a drafted reply for staff to send.
New-client intake
A prospect fills in a form or sends an email, and someone retypes it into your practice-management system and sets up the engagement.
Intake details arrive in your system as a clean record, with the engagement letter drafted and the document checklist ready.
Document intake, step by step.
Example build · fictional 20-person firm · not a client result
Most firms start with document collection, because it has the most repetition and the clearest before-and-after. Here is how that build works.
- 01
A client sends documents
By email or through your portal, in whatever order and format they arrive.
- 02
Each file is identified
W-2, 1099-B, K-1, mortgage statement: AI reads the document type, tax year, and client.
- 03
Named and filed
Renamed to your convention and saved to the right client folder in your own storage.
- 04
Checked against the list
The client's document checklist updates, and anything still missing is flagged.
- 05
Follow-up drafted, staff approves
A reminder for the missing items is drafted in your firm's voice. A person reviews it before it is sent.
Scope and price are fixed in the assessment, and the build is measured against the time your team spends on it today.
Book a Free Workflow ReviewWhat It Costs.
Start with a free review, then a one-week assessment. You'll know exactly where AI saves your firm time and what it costs to build, and the assessment fee counts toward your first build.
Workflow Review
30 minutes with me. You leave with the two workflows I'd automate first and a ballpark cost, whether or not you hire me.
Book the free reviewWorkflow Assessment
One week. I map how client work moves through your firm, time every step, and hand you your top three fixes with a fixed price for each. Credited in full to your first build.
Your time: a 60-minute kickoff with a partner and three 30-minute staff conversations. If I don't find at least 5 staff-hours a week we can win back, you don't pay.
Start with the assessmentAutomation Build
One workflow automated inside the tools you already use: document intake, organizer follow-up, month-end reporting, or inbox triage. Price fixed before work starts.
Includes training your team to run it, 30 days of fixes, and a 90-day measurement against your baseline. Any software costs are itemized in your quote.
Talk about a buildMonthly Support
I monitor and fix what I built, and review the hours it saves with you each quarter. New workflows are quoted separately. Month to month.
Ask about supportExample, not a client result: a build that saves 8 staff-hours a week at a $50 loaded hourly cost pays back $5,000 in about 13 weeks.
Built around your calendar.
Before busy season
Run the assessment in a quiet week and have a first build live by mid-December, so January starts lighter.
During busy season
Nothing new goes live unless you ask for it. Support keeps what is already running working.
After the deadline
The best time to fix what busy season exposed, while the pain is fresh and the calendar is open.
Your clients' data never becomes my data.
Your clients trust you with their returns, their books, and their Social Security numbers. Here is how I keep that trust intact.
Built in your accounts
Automations run in your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace and your practice tools, under your admin control.
Business-grade AI only
Paid AI services whose terms exclude training on your data, never free consumer chat tools. Your assessment names the exact services and links their terms.
A person approves anything client-facing
Every drafted email, request, or report waits for your staff to sign off before it reaches a client.
Fits your security plan
Each build ships with a one-page data-flow sheet you can file with your Written Information Security Plan (IRS Publication 5708).
NDA first
I'll sign yours before we discuss any client details.
You own everything
Code, prompts, and accounts are yours. Leave any month and keep it all.
Bryan Engel, PMP. More than 20 years running IT programs where deadlines, audits, and sensitive data weren't optional. You work with me directly, from the first call to the finished build.
Accounting Firm Questions.
Does this work with our practice-management and tax software?
Usually, at least in part. Most 10–50 person firms run some mix of Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, QuickBooks, and a practice-management or portal tool. The assessment starts from your stack, and if a workflow can't be automated cleanly inside it, I'll tell you rather than sell you new software.
Is it safe to use AI with client tax data?
It can be, if it is set up deliberately. Automations run in your own accounts, use paid AI services whose terms exclude training on your data, and keep a person approving anything client-facing. Each build ships with a data-flow sheet you can file with your Written Information Security Plan (IRS Publication 5708).
Do we need client consent under IRC Section 7216?
It depends on what the automation does with tax return information and where that information goes. During the assessment I map exactly where client data flows, so your firm can decide with your own compliance lead or counsel whether consent is needed. I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice.
What should we automate first?
Usually the work with the most repetition and the least judgment, which in most firms is document collection and follow-up. The assessment times each candidate in your firm, so the first build goes where the hours actually are.
Will this get in the way of tax season?
No. Assessments run in a quiet week, and nothing new goes live during busy season unless you ask for it.
What does it cost?
A $1,500 one-week assessment, credited in full to your first build. Builds start at $5,000 at a fixed price, and support starts at $750 a month, month to month. If the assessment doesn't find at least 5 staff-hours a week we can win back, you don't pay for it.
We're a 6-person firm. Is this for us?
Possibly, but honestly, firms under about 10 people often get more from turning on the AI features in the tools they already pay for. Book the free review and I'll tell you which camp you're in.
Let's Talk.
Tell me what's eating your team's week. I'll tell you honestly whether AI can fix it, and what it would cost. Happy to sign your NDA first.