Following on from financial services and construction, the next industry in the series is accounting.
The question here is the same:
“Which AI workflows actually make sense to start with?”
For firm owners and partners, the pressure is structural. Margins are capped by billable hours, compliance keeps increasing, and it’s getting harder to hire and retain good admin support. A lot of valuable time is spent on work that clients don’t directly see or pay for.
For employees, the challenge is volume. Large amounts of repetitive, admin heavy work sit with pressure to always being doing more. The work is necessary, frequent, and often spread across inboxes, spreadsheets, and systems.
Below are the accounting workflows we typically recommend starting with, and how to frame them depending on who you’re speaking to.
Accounting workflows to start with
1. Standard documents and template emails
Filling out engagement letters, confirmations, standard forms, and drafting routine emails.
Exec focus: Faster turnaround without increasing headcount.
User focus: No more copying, pasting, and hunting for information.
Common users: Administrators, Business Support, Personal Assistants.
2. Inquiry handling across inboxes
Managing internal and external requests, finding answers, taking action, and logging activity.
Exec focus: Better responsiveness and consistency.
User focus: Less inbox chaos and repeated answers.
Common users: Office Managers, Senior Administrators, PAs.
3. Bookkeeping and data entry
Entering transactions, categorising data, and keeping records up to date.
Exec focus: Reduced cost and less reliance on hard to hire roles.
User focus: Less repetitive data entry.
Common users: Bookkeepers, Junior Finance roles, Admin support.
4. Tracking client information
Updating spreadsheets or systems with client data used across multiple workflows.
Exec focus: Fewer errors and better visibility.
User focus: No more updating the same data in multiple places.
Common users: Administrators, Business Support, PAs.
5. Case activity and audit trail logging
Recording actions, updates, and communication across systems for compliance.
Exec focus: Lower compliance risk and stronger audit trails.
User focus: Less manual logging and duplication.
Common users: Compliance Officers, Office Managers, Administrators.
How to position this
As with the other industries, framing matters.
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With partners and firm owners: increased capacity to bill more hours, reduces cost to deliver work, and complete work quicker for clients.
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With day-to-day users: lead with less admin, fewer interruptions, and easier work.
Next up in the series: another industry. Let us know which one you’d like us to cover next.