Accounting firms are under more pressure than ever. Margins are tight, staffing shortages persist, and client expectations continue to rise. In this environment, many accounting leaders are looking to artificial intelligence to address these issues. In fact, this AI accounting report found that AI reduced time spent on manual tasks by up to 70%. However, while most know about the potential of AI, few accounting firms know how to incorporate AI in accounting in ways that deliver real value today.
The good news: you do not need to wait years for this technology to mature. AI is ready to support your firm right now. Here are five practical ways your firm can start benefiting today.
1. Preventing Revenue Leakage
Revenue leakage is one of the most silent but costly problems in firms. When left unchecked, missed billable hours, scope creep, and underpriced engagements add up quickly. AI platforms can flag these issues in real time, giving partners the chance to address them before profitability suffers.
For instance, Qounts’ QAI (Qount Artificial Intelligence) is constantly looking for revenue gaps that staff may naturally miss, giving your firm peace of mind that you’re maximizing your profit.
As one Qount customer explained:
“(Qount) allows us to know everything that is going on in our firm at our fingertips at all times and make sure all the gears are functioning as they should.” — Eric Joern, Partner, Kaizen CPAs + Advisors
That is the kind of real impact that protects margins before revenue has the chance to slip through the cracks.
2. Enhancing Accuracy and Reducing Errors
Accuracy is central to the profession. Even small mistakes can carry major compliance or reputational risks. AI tools can scan thousands of data points, detect anomalies, and surface inconsistencies within seconds.
This level of accuracy reduces costly rework while helping firms meet compliance obligations with confidence. The result is less time spent double-checking and more time delivering the value to clients that only humans can provide. This is a huge benefit during busy season.
Humans bring judgment, creativity, and context, but AI shines at analyzing vast amounts of data quickly. With AI, firm staff can have their work instantly reviewed for inaccuracies, providing an additional safeguard for compliance and reducing review time.
3. Automating Time-Consuming Tasks
Too much of an accountant’s day is still consumed by routine, manual work. Data entry, reconciliations, categorization, and reminders drain valuable hours that could be better spent elsewhere. Accounting workflow automation powered by AI can handle these repetitive tasks with minimal oversight.
The outcome is clear and immediate: teams reclaim capacity and reallocate time to higher-value services such as advisory, client strategy, or business development. Firms that embrace automation early free their staff from the monotony of low-impact tasks while improving overall efficiency.
4. Strengthening Client Insights and Advisory Services
Moving beyond compliance creates opportunities to provide deeper insights and expand client relationships. AI makes this shift easier by analyzing data at scale, spotting trends, and surfacing new opportunities.
From cash flow forecasting to industry benchmarking, AI helps firms anticipate client needs. For instance, an AI tool can alert the accountant that their clients’ technology expenses have drastically increased, armed with this insight, the accountant can then flag this to the client and make additional recommendations. This adds value to the engagement and opens new revenue opportunities for the accounting firm.
5. Improving the Client Experience
The impact of AI goes beyond efficiency and profitability. It also improves the human side of the profession. Staff gain time for more meaningful work, onboard clients faster, and develop new skills by using advanced tools. This leads to greater staff contentment and retention.
Clients see the benefits as well. Faster turnaround times, smoother onboarding, and increased satisfaction. For example, using Qount, a firm can measure their clients’ sentiment, empowering them to react accordingly and better the clients’ experience or even identify happy customers to request reviews from! Firms that use AI to track client satisfaction can identify issues before it leads to lost clients and revenue.
The benefits of AI are no longer conceptual. They are here today. Firms can protect profitability, improve accuracy, automate workflows, unlock insights, and deliver a better experience for both staff and clients. At the same time, AI is not a one-time fix. Using it effectively requires an ongoing and dynamic approach.
Want to learn more about how your firm can adopt AI to modernize tax and accounting? Watch our free on-demand webinar: The Intelligent Firm: Leveraging AI to Modernize Tax & Accounting.
