By Eric Rachlin and Tony Cord

Over the past year, accounting firm leaders have invested significant time and energy engaging with peers, gurus and vendors to immerse themselves in AI. As tax season ends, now is the time for learning and deciding pathways to take firms forward. We estimate that this year a record number of firms will make significant decisions around their technology strategy – with some form of AI as an inevitable component, if not centerpiece. In short, the future is now for AI in the accounting profession!

Where to start?

Accounting firms looking to adopt generative AI, agentic AI, predictive AI or conversational AI
should consider starting with practical, low-risk applications such as automating document
review, drafting client emails, or summarizing meeting notes. Simple starting points allow any firm to quickly realize efficiency gains, build internal confidence, and instill a culture of
knowledge sharing and bottom-up innovation. Just setting up an evaluation of whether AI can complete a task should be viewed as a worthwhile investment.

Some Examples:

• A small firm uses ChatGPT to help draft quarterly financial summaries for clients, saving hours per report.
• A regional CPA firm tests an AI document-review tool to quickly identify key terms in lease or vendor agreements.
• An individual employee starts using AI to generate and summarize internal meeting transcripts and, from these, generate action items for their team.

Managing expectations and change – the people part of the equation

AI adoption hinges on people and processes, not just technology. Leaders must manage employee expectations, clearly communicating how AI will enhance—not replace—their roles.

Firm leaders should establish internal champions, create informal “AI prompting sessions” and transparently communicate their plans for integrating AI. This essential strategy helps reduce anxiety, fosters buy-in, and positions AI as a positive force for empowerment and growth. It also establishes the expectation that accounting professionals, not technology providers, should be the true AI experts within their domain.

Some Examples:

• PwC’s “prompting parties,” where staff practice using generative AI in a casual, collaborative environment.
• A mid-sized firm appoints junior accountants as AI “power users,” tasked with sharing tips internally.
• Hosting regular AI Q&A sessions or “lunch-and-learns” to openly discuss opportunities and concerns.

Determining need for capital investment – what’s it cost?

AI investment varies widely, from modest spending on targeted SaaS solutions to major firmwide platform transformations. Most small and mid-sized firms should initially consider practical, cost-effective AI copilots or point solutions – tools for automated tax research or client communication – rather than costly bespoke solutions. It’s also important to invest in modern firm-wide best practices around documents, data, and communication. For example, ensuring client data is well organized and work is tracked in API-accessible software will set firms up for success as more AI solutions become available.

Some Examples:

• A firm starts with an affordable SaaS-based AI solution like Canopy for tax research and filing assistance or ChatGPT Teams for general purpose document summarization.
• Implementing practice management software with robust APIs (e.g., Karbon, Jetpack Workflow, and others) to enable easy future AI integrations.
• Budgeting explicitly for initial AI experiments (e.g., $5–10k for licenses and training) before scaling further.

Training and development – who gets upskilled, how and by whom?

AI adoption sets the stage for upskilling across all firm levels. Senior leaders need strategic and operational awareness of AI’s potential and risks. Managers and experienced staff require practical training on tools, testing, and process redesign. Junior staff need to be encouraged to develop and share practical AI skills. Across all levels, teams need to work together to compile both external and internal resources. AI tools can empower people at every level to focus on higher value work.

Some Examples:

• Firm leaders attend strategic AI workshops hosted by the AICPA or industry consultants.
• Managers complete vendor-provided tutorials, like CPA.com’s GenAI Toolkit, and lead internal training sessions afterward.
• Junior staff share prompt-engineering tips or AI tool hacks on an internal Teams channel or weekly stand-up meetings.

Moving from time to value measures for revenue generation

AI will significantly reduce manual work, challenging the profession’s traditional hourly billing model. Accounting firms should proactively transition to value-based pricing – where feasible – aligning fees with the outcomes and efficiencies AI creates. Firms should proactively communicate with clients, highlighting tasks and outcomes, rather than hours worked, to smoothly transition to this new model.

Some Examples:

• Move toward fixed-fee pricing for tax preparation services by clearly communicating the work being done (both before and after engagement) instead of time spent.
• Implementing monthly fixed-fee packages for recurring accounting or bookkeeping tasks, marketed as AI-enhanced premium services.
• Developing advisory service packages priced based on target client outcomes, such as tax savings identified or improved financial forecasting.

Repurposing unleashed productivity for enhanced client experiences and executive support

By automating routine tasks, AI frees accounting professionals to focus more strategically on client relationships and executive decision-making support. Firms should deliberately reinvest time savings into proactive advisory services, deeper client engagement, and improved internal strategic reporting. Practical examples include providing more frequent, AI-driven client insights, rapidly generating customized financial reports, or offering higher-touch advisory services previously limited to larger clients.

Some Examples:

• Automatically generating monthly client financial summaries/dashboards, providing personalized insights previously too costly or time-consuming.
• Increasing quarterly strategy meetings or touchpoints with clients, supported by AIgenerated analysis highlighting areas for improvement.
• Delivering proactive, tailored reports to client executives, using AI analytics to quickly identify business risks or opportunities.

Don’t get left behind

For the past several years, there has been a convergence of critical talent shortages, succession issues, lack of prior tech investment, minimal business development motion, and the arrival of outside capital to the accounting profession. These forces set the stage for massive change as experienced beginning in 2023, accelerating during 2024, and promising to mushroom this year and next as AI is embraced by firms across the Top 300 (and beyond) as an essential tool. The question for leaders is clear: What moves are you and your firm making to go from “average to amazing”?

About the Authors 

In 2021, Eric Rachlin left Amazon, which had acquired his prior technology startup in 2017, returning to the world of startups, backed by Jazz Venture Partners of San Francisco, and committed to explore the transformative potential of language-aware AI. Dr. Rachlin’s co-founding of Count Technologies Holding Company in February of 2023 was rooted in the belief that AI workflows are most valuable when they are built and deployed within existing businesses. At Count, Eric is relentlessly committed to developing AIpowered tools that align with the needs of financial services employees and clients.

In the past 16 months, Tony Cord has met with dozens of CPA firm Managing Partners, CEOs and leadership teams discussing their growth plans, use of AI, and sharing Count’s differentiated strategy to build a modern financial services leader – these included local, regional, national and global firms from the Top 200 ranks. The readiness of firms for deployment of modern tech stacks and AI has varied incredibly – but the common thread is virtually every firm will need to choose their pathway in the very near term, or face extinction. 

Rachlin and Cord can be reached via email at: eric@withcount.com and tony@withcount.com