AI for accountants · Sydney

AI for accountants: spend tax time on the numbers, not the chasing

In most practices the busiest weeks are spent asking for things. Bank statements requested three times, receipts arriving as phone photos, workpapers assembled by hand before anyone can think about the return. I help accounting and bookkeeping practices turning over one to ten million take that load off, one small step at a time, with the accountant signing off every number.

Start a conversation How it works

Where an accounting practice’s week actually goes

Talk to a partner in a small practice and the story barely changes from year to year. The technical work is under control. The work around it is not: a client who has been sent the same document request four times, a BAS held up by one missing statement, engagement letters that went out late or not at all, and a work-in-progress report nobody quite trusts.

None of it is hard. All of it is constant, and it lands on accountants whose time is what you sell, in the same few months every year. That is exactly the kind of work AI is now good at: reading what the client sent, checking it against what was asked for, drafting the follow-up in your tone, and putting a short list in front of a person to approve.

This is not about a new practice platform. You keep Xero Practice Manager or Karbon, FYI, Class, Xero or MYOB, and your shared drive. The job is to connect AI to what you already run, so the collecting, sorting and first-pass preparation is done for you and your people review it instead of assembling it.

What I’d take off your plate first

Usually Xero Practice Manager or Karbon for jobs, FYI for documents, Xero or MYOB for client ledgers, Class for SMSFs, and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for everything else. I connect AI to those, rather than asking you to replace them.

Client document chasing at tax time

Each client’s checklist built from last year’s file, what has arrived read and ticked off, and a polite, specific reminder drafted for what is still missing. The office approves the batch instead of writing forty emails.

Workpapers prepared from source documents

Statements, invoices and receipts read and sorted into your workpaper template, with reconciling items and anything unusual flagged for the accountant. The review starts from a prepared file, not a folder of PDFs.

BAS preparation

Coding queries, missing receipts and odd transactions pulled out of the ledger before the BAS is prepared, with a draft question list for the client. The accountant still reviews and lodges.

Engagement letters and onboarding

Engagement letters drafted from the agreed scope in your template, sent for signature once checked, and new client details set up in the practice manager without anyone retyping them.

Billing and work in progress

Draft invoices assembled from time and fixed fees against each job, write-offs flagged before they happen, and overdue fees followed up on a schedule. Partners see a WIP report they actually trust.

Client email and ATO correspondence

The inbox triaged by client and job, ATO letters read and summarised against the right client, and routine questions answered in a draft the accountant can send in one click.

And the admin every office has

The same work turns up in every practice: email, spreadsheets, documents, and a Microsoft or Google setup that grew without a plan.

Invoicing and accounts payable

Supplier bills read, coded and matched to the order or the job before they reach Xero or MYOB. Mismatches drafted into an email for someone to approve. Overdue invoices chased politely, on a schedule.

Email that answers itself, nearly

The inbox triaged each morning, routine replies drafted in your tone, attachments filed to the right folder, and a short list of what actually needs you today.

Spreadsheets you stop rebuilding

The weekly report that someone copies and pastes together every Monday, produced before you arrive, with a sentence on why the number moved.

Documents and slides

Proposals, letters, reports and board slides drafted from your own templates and your own past work, so the first draft is eighty per cent there rather than a blank page.

Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, set up properly

Shared drives that make sense, permissions that match who you are now, and AI connected to mail, calendar and files the same way for everyone instead of five people doing it five ways.

Project and job tracking

Status updates written from what actually happened in email and the job system, tasks pulled out of meeting notes, and a morning brief per person of what is due.

How it works: audit, roadmap, implementation, training, support

Sold one step at a time. Each step is quoted before it starts, stands on its own, and you decide after each one whether to take the next. Most businesses your size go from the audit to a working, trained setup in three to six months.

Audit

Two weeks, fixed price. A map of every system you run, a ten-minute staff survey, a few five-minute screen recordings of the work that eats the week, and short conversations with the people who run the business. It costs your team minutes, not hours.
Roadmap

A ninety-day plan written from what the audit found: which processes first, ranked by admin removed against cost and risk, which AI plan and accounts your team should be on, and a two-page policy on what may go in. Every item has its own price.
Implementation

I build the first one or two automations inside your own Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, connected to the systems you already run. AI drafts, a person approves anything that leaves the building, and it runs beside the manual way until you trust it.
Training

Your team learns on their own work, not on demos. One standard setup for everyone, a short session per group, and one-to-one time with the two or three people who will carry it once I step back.
Support

A light monthly retainer: one call, a one-page summary, fixes, and the next routine your team worked out promoted into something the business runs. I read the AI news so your people do not have to.

Use AI without handing over your clients’ data

An accounting practice holds a great deal of other people’s private lives: tax file numbers, bank statements, payroll records, family trust deeds and the full financial picture of every client. None of it needs to leave your own systems for AI to be useful.

The work happens inside your Microsoft or Google tenant and your practice software, on a business AI plan that does not train on your data, with company accounts for every person who uses it. Nothing goes into a free chatbot, and anything that goes to a client or the ATO waits for an accountant to approve it.

The basics, every time

Company accounts on a business AI plan, never personal logins. Business plans do not train on your data.
AI connected to your own Microsoft or Google tenant, so files stay where they already live and access is revoked in one place.
A two-page policy your team can actually remember: which accounts, what may go in, what never does.
Everything I build lives in your accounts and is logged. I work from a staff login, not the master key.

Where most start

A typical first project: tax time document chasing

Most audits in a practice land on the same quick win. Each client’s list of what is needed is built from last year, what arrives is read and ticked off, and reminders for the rest are drafted for the office to approve in one batch. It runs beside the manual tracker for a few weeks until you trust it. From there, workpaper preparation is usually next.

Where I work

Based in the Sutherland Shire. In person across these areas, remote everywhere else in Australia.

Sutherland Shire

Cronulla, Miranda, Caringbah, Sutherland, Gymea and around.

Southern Highlands

Bowral, Mittagong, Moss Vale, Exeter, Robertson and around.

St George

Hurstville, Kogarah, Rockdale, Sans Souci, Bexley and around.

Eastern Suburbs

Bondi Junction, Double Bay, Paddington, Woollahra, Randwick and around.

Frequently asked questions

Will AI prepare and lodge returns for us?

No. It collects, sorts, reads and drafts, so the accountant reviews a prepared file instead of building one. The judgement, the sign-off and the lodgement stay with the registered professional, where they belong.

We use Xero Practice Manager (or Karbon, or FYI). Do we need to change?

No. The point is to connect AI to what you already run. Most practice tools have a way in, and where one does not, I start from exports and switch to a proper connection later, so a slow vendor never holds the project up.

Is it safe to put client financial data through AI?

On a business plan inside your own tenant, set up properly, it can be. Company accounts only, no training on your data, access matched to who works on which clients, and a short written policy on what may go in. Your own professional obligations decide where the lines sit.

Is this worth it for a practice our size?

If tax time means weeks of chasing and your seniors are assembling workpapers instead of reviewing them, almost certainly. The audit will tell you honestly, and if tidying your existing checklists would do the job, I will say so.

How much of my team’s time does this take?

Minutes, by design. Ten for the survey, ten for an optional screen recording, an hour with the key people. Whoever runs operations spends two or three hours across the first fortnight.

Do we have to commit to the whole thing?

No. Every step is quoted on its own and you decide after each one. Plenty of businesses take the audit and one project, and stop there until they see it working.

Are you tied to a particular AI vendor?

No. I lead with Claude because I think it is the strongest all-rounder for business work today, and I work just as happily with Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT or Gemini if that is what your team already uses. Everything is built so the model is one part you can swap.

Questions accountants ask me

ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot: which should my business use?

Pick one and standardise, on a business plan. If your business lives in Outlook, Teams and SharePoint, Copilot is the natural start; if you want the strongest all-rounder for writing and documents, I lead with Claude; ChatGPT is a sound choice too. All three can connect to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace now.

Do I need an AI policy for my small business?

Yes. If your team uses AI at work, and most already do, you need a short written policy. Two pages is enough: which accounts to use, what may and may not go in, who checks AI output before it leaves the building, and who to ask.

Does ChatGPT or Claude train on my business data?

Not on their business plans: ChatGPT Business and Enterprise and Claude Team and Enterprise do not train on your data by default. On free and personal plans they can, unless each person turns it off, which is why business use belongs on a business plan.

Free or paid ChatGPT and Claude: what’s the difference for a business?

For a business, the difference that matters is control, not smarter answers: business plans keep your data out of training by default, put the accounts under company management, and let an admin decide which systems AI can connect to. Free and personal plans do none of that.

Is it safe to put client data into ChatGPT or Claude?

On a business plan with company accounts, it can be: ChatGPT Business and Enterprise and Claude Team and Enterprise do not train on your data by default. On a free or personal account, treat it as unsafe for client information, which is also what Australia’s privacy regulator recommends.

We’re on Microsoft 365. Should we just use Copilot?

Often, yes, at least as the place to start. Copilot Chat comes with Microsoft 365 business plans, and the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot is the version built to work across your own email, files and Teams. But Claude and ChatGPT can also connect to Microsoft 365 now, so you are not locked in.

Can my boss read my AI chats?

On a work account, assume yes if the business has a reason. Day to day there is usually no screen where a manager reads your chats, but on Claude Team the organisation’s primary owner can export its data, conversations included, and larger plans add compliance tools built for exactly that.

How do I start my day with AI?

Give it a short briefing document about your job and open every day with the same request: read my briefing, then show me today from my calendar and inbox. Close the loop with a short daily note, and within a few weeks the assistant knows your work.

My staff are using their own AI accounts. Should I ban it?

No. A ban rarely stops it and always hides it. Give your team one approved AI tool on a company account, write down what may go into it, and ask people to move across. Keep one firm rule: company logins and client information never go into a tool the business has not approved.

Will AI take my job?

In most small and mid-sized businesses, not soon. AI takes over tasks, such as the drafting, the matching and the chasing, and the job changes around what is left. Whether that is good for you depends on what your employer does with the time, which is why the owner should say it out loud.

What is an AI connector, and why does it matter?

A connector links an AI assistant to a system you already use, such as your email, calendar or shared drive, so it can find and read things itself. It matters because without one you are the connector: copying text in and pasting answers out.

Running a practice and doing the admin at night?

Tell me what you run, how many people, and what eats the most time. I will tell you honestly whether an audit is worth it.

Tell me about your business

Tell me what you're dealing with

Three lines is plenty. I reply personally, usually within a day, and the first call is free.