An accounting-firm office with dual monitors during a systems review

Regional accounting firm · ~45 staff

Tax season copilots, zero policy.

Staff had adopted three different AI assistants on their own, two of them touching client financial data. Partner reporting lived in a dozen hand-built spreadsheets refreshed by one person, quarterly, by hand.

Accounting firm · engagement Active

Unapproved AI tools 3 → 0 1 approved, 2 retired

Systems connected 3 practice, tax, billing

Reports replaced 12 quarterly spreadsheets

Next automation Q4 client onboarding

Representative profile. Figures are illustrative.

The work

What we did, and why

The firm did not come asking about AI rules. It came asking why partner reporting took a week every quarter. The answer was the spreadsheet chain. That chain was also where the unapproved AI tools had crept in. Staff were pasting client financials into whichever assistant they liked to draft the commentary.

The advisory review settled the rules first. The partners adopted a policy with clear rules for each kind of client financial data, and the AI security and governance assessment put names to the three tools in use. One was approved under the policy. Two were retired, with the accounts closed and the exports deleted.

Only then did the applications assessment run. Practice management, tax, and billing could all be connected directly. The base dashboard pulled them into the firm's own Microsoft cloud account, and the twelve quarterly spreadsheets were replaced one at a time over the first two months of maintenance.

What we did

AI Use Policy written and adopted by the partners, with rules for each kind of client financial data
The assessment flagged the two tools reaching client data; one approved, one retired
Applications assessment mapped the practice-management, tax, and billing systems for connection
Base dashboard set up in the firm's own Microsoft cloud account

The call we made

Money first: the two assistants touching client financials were settled before anything new was connected, and the dashboard read the tax and billing systems before we touched the onboarding checklist.

Where they are now

Ongoing watch · automation plan

Services used

Where they stand

The outcome

Partner reporting comes from the dashboard, not the spreadsheet chain. IT spend is reviewed monthly. The next automation on the plan replaces the manual client onboarding checklist.

For leadership

What changed

The managing partner reads one dashboard on Monday instead of 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.

More profiles

Light manufacturer · ~120 staffReporting was three exports reconciled by hand. Professional services firm · ~30 staffThey asked for automation and needed a foundation first. Multi-site healthcare practice · ~60 staffPatient data was being entered into a public AI tool. Regional nonprofit · ~25 staffGrant reports took a week, though the data was already available. Regional insurance agency · ~70 staffTwo Microsoft accounts, one renewal, and Copilot waiting. Regional wholesale distributor · ~90 staffA capable IT firm with no one directing its work. Regional construction firm · ~180 staffThe IT director left mid-project, but the project continued.

Your turn next

The same method, applied to your systems.

Every engagement on this site started with a written assessment of what the company already ran. Yours starts the same way, and the assessment is yours to keep either way.

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