What should an accountancy firm automate first with AI?

Where does an accountancy practice lose its chargeable time?

Accountancy is one of the most process-heavy professions there is, and much of the process is not billable. A new client needs an engagement letter that matches the services agreed, customer due diligence and an AML risk assessment under the Money Laundering Regulations, and a letter of authority to deal with HMRC. Existing clients need chasing, often several times, for bank statements, invoices and the questionnaire that should have come back weeks ago.

Then comes the compliance work itself. Year-end workpapers need a lead schedule, supporting analysis and review notes for each area. Management accounts need commentary that explains the movements, not just the numbers. Self assessment season concentrates the chasing, the checking and the client queries into a few weeks. Every one of these involves the same kind of assembly: gathering what the client sent, matching it to what the file needs and writing it up in the firm's format.

Firms supervised by ICAEW, ACCA or ICAS also need to show their work. Quality reviews and AML monitoring visits ask for evidence that procedures were followed on each file, and producing that evidence afterwards is slow.

Why is so much accountancy work done twice?

The information usually exists already. The client's details sit in the practice management system; the bookkeeping sits in cloud software; last year's file shows what was needed. But the engagement letter is typed from a template and edited by hand. The records request is written fresh each year. The management accounts commentary starts from last month's version and is corrected line by line.

The result is double handling at every stage. A manager reads the bank feed to understand a movement, then writes that understanding down for the client, then writes it again in the review notes. A trainee builds a workpaper, then rebuilds it when the partner's review points arrive, because the file did not show where the figures came from.

Which accountancy processes make the strongest candidates?

• Onboarding and engagement letters. One intake drives the engagement letter, the AML checks, the risk assessment and the authority forms, so nothing is typed twice and nothing is missed. See client onboarding and scope documents.
• The records chase. Requests are generated from what the file actually lacks, sent on a schedule, and replies are sorted into the right place so staff act only on what has arrived.
• Management accounts commentary. The movements are read from the ledger and a draft commentary is written in the firm's voice, ready for the manager to refine. Client reporting explains the method.
• AML and quality evidence. The file records who checked what and when, as the work happens, so a monitoring visit is a retrieval exercise rather than a rescue. See compliance evidence.

Where must a qualified accountant stay in control?

Wherever there is professional judgement or a regulatory decision. The rebuilt process does not decide whether a client passes due diligence, whether a transaction is suspicious, what the tax treatment of an item should be or whether accounts give a true and fair view. It prepares, drafts, prompts and records. People decide.

The controls mirror the firm's existing review hierarchy. A preparer, a reviewer and where needed a partner each see the draft at their stage, with the source of every figure and statement shown. The money laundering reporting officer keeps sole responsibility for suspicions. And no letter, return or report goes to a client or to HMRC without a named person's approval.

What does it change for partners, managers and trainees?

Partners review consistent files and spend less time rewriting other people's work. Managers stop writing the same commentary from scratch each month. Trainees spend their time learning to analyse rather than learning to format. And busy season becomes a matter of reviewing drafts instead of producing everything under pressure.

To cost the current way, take the weekly hours each fee earner spends on these tasks, multiply by headcount, by your charge-out rate and by 46 working weeks. The unbillable hours calculator does it for you, and the audit points to the process to start with.

How does the 30-day rebuild work in a practice?

We spend the first week with the people who run the chosen process, from administrator to partner, and map every document, check and handoff. Two weeks of building follow, on the firm's own letters, workpaper formats and procedures, tested on live client files. The fourth week trains the team and puts it into use, and 30 days of support follow go-live.