Regional accounting firm · ~45 staff
Staff were using three AI tools on client tax data with no rules in place.
Staff had adopted three different AI assistants on their own, and two of them could reach client financial data. Partner reporting lived in a dozen spreadsheets that one person rebuilt by hand every quarter.
Representative profile. Figures are illustrative.
The work
What we did, and why
The firm first asked us why partner reporting took a week every quarter. The cause was a chain of a dozen spreadsheets, each refreshed by hand by the same person. While tracing that chain, we found staff pasting client financials into whichever AI assistant they preferred, to draft the commentary that went with the numbers.
We dealt with the AI tools before the reporting. The partners adopted a policy that sets rules for each kind of client financial data. The AI security and governance assessment, which lists every AI tool in use and what each one can reach, found three. One was approved under the new policy, and the other two were retired, with the accounts closed and the exports deleted.
With the rules in place, the applications assessment checked the firm's practice-management, tax, and billing systems and confirmed that all three could be connected directly. The reporting dashboard now draws on them in the firm's own Microsoft cloud account. The twelve quarterly spreadsheets were replaced one at a time over the first two months of maintenance.
The result
Where the company stands now
Partner reporting now comes from the dashboard instead of the spreadsheet chain, and IT spend is reviewed every month. The next automation on the plan replaces the manual client onboarding checklist.
For leadership
What changed for the people running it
The managing partner reads one dashboard on Monday morning rather than waiting for a quarterly spreadsheet. Client data no longer leaves the firm through a personal AI account.
This is a representative profile, drawn from the kinds of companies we work with. Figures are illustrative. We publish named results only with a client's written permission.
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Which client data may staff use with AI now?
The policy sets a separate rule for each kind of client financial data. Of the three assistants staff had adopted, one was approved and two were retired. Client data no longer leaves through a personal AI account.
What replaced the chain of spreadsheets?
Partner reporting now comes from the dashboard in the firm's own Microsoft cloud account. The old chain was a dozen spreadsheets one person rebuilt by hand each quarter.
Next step
Your company would start with a written assessment.
Every engagement on this site began by writing down what the company already ran. You keep the assessment whether or not you hire us for the work that follows.