AI automation for CPA and accounting firms.
ClearGuide helps CPA and accounting firms clean up one coordination-heavy workflow around client portals, shared inboxes, organizers, PDFs, spreadsheets, practice management tools, and tax/accounting systems without replacing professional judgment.
Work still gets stuck before the system of record.
Firm work often slows before the expert review starts: organizers are incomplete, W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, bank statements, payroll reports, vendor invoices, IRS notices, engagement letters, portal uploads, and client emails all need to be chased, sorted, summarized, or routed.
Messy intake
Requests arrive through email, forms, portals, PDFs, spreadsheets, and notes that need structure before review.
Exception drag
Missing details, stale files, inconsistent fields, and unclear owners slow the work before someone can make a decision.
Review still matters
The goal is not autonomous decisioning. It is cleaner information and better handoffs for the people responsible.
Start with one queue your team already feels.
The best first automation is narrow enough to trust, visible enough to measure, and useful enough that the team wants to keep using it.
Track client emails, bank statements, payroll reports, approvals, explanations, spreadsheet trackers, and missing monthly-close items so CAS teams can see what is received, missing, or blocked.
Compare organizer responses, portal uploads, email attachments, W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, IDs, prior-year context, and client notes to draft a missing-item list and follow-up message for staff review.
Summarize uploaded or mailed notices, pull key dates, classify the intake issue, identify missing context, and route the item to the right tax-resolution or client-service owner.
Organize vendor invoices, approvals, W-9s, payment questions, duplicate or missing backup, GL coding notes, and client follow-up drafts before bookkeeping or controller review.
Turn inquiry forms, proposal details, signed engagement letters, payment or billing setup notes, and early client emails into a kickoff brief, first-request checklist, and next-step email draft.
Organize source documents, email context, checklist gaps, spreadsheet tie-outs, scan outputs, and reviewer notes so managers and partners spend less time reconstructing file status.
A client invoice arrives with missing context. Here is what the accounting team receives.
Vendor invoices, W-9s, purchase or service backup, approval emails, coding guidance, and payment questions often arrive across client inboxes, portals, and accounting systems.
A vendor invoice arrives
The accounting team gathers invoice and approval context from monitored inboxes, secure uploads, portals, and client systems.
The invoice is extracted and checked
The system creates a structured invoice record, applies the client workflow, and surfaces issues that need attention.
The accountant and client approver resolve exceptions
Vendor setup, coding, tax treatment, fraud review, payment timing, and final release remain with the accounting team and authorized client approvers.
An approval-ready invoice moves forward
The team receives a complete review packet, visible exceptions, and a documented path into the client accounting system.
Inbox attachments • client rules scattered • approval chase • repeated rekeying
Structured invoice • visible exceptions • documented approval • accounting-ready handoff
We work around the systems you already use.
ClearGuide is not trying to replace the operational system of record. We map the workflow around it, reduce manual prep, and keep review points clear.
Examples of systems we design around. ClearGuide is vendor-agnostic and is not claiming a formal partnership with these providers.
AI supports the work. People keep the judgment.
ClearGuide keeps final decisions, approvals, professional judgment, and sensitive exceptions in the hands of the responsible team.
Kept as a human-owned review point, approval, or responsibility.
Kept as a human-owned review point, approval, or responsibility.
Kept as a human-owned review point, approval, or responsibility.
Kept as a human-owned review point, approval, or responsibility.
Kept as a human-owned review point, approval, or responsibility.
Questions to answer after you watch the workflow.
The AP demonstration is one example. These answers cover workflow choice, multi-client fit, data handling, and how a focused pilot would be evaluated.
Does accounts payable have to be our first workflow?+
No. Accounts payable is the demonstrated example because it shows intake, rules, exceptions, and approvals clearly. A firm could instead begin with monthly close requests, missing tax documents, notice triage, onboarding, or another recurring queue based on volume and operational friction.
Can this support different client systems, rules, and approval paths?+
Yes, within a deliberately scoped workflow. A pilot maps the selected clients’ inboxes, portals, accounting tools, business rules, exception routes, and approvers, then validates where shared patterns and client-specific variations belong.
How are client financial documents and access handled?+
Access should be limited to the systems and files required for the workflow, with approved representative data, clear retention expectations, and role-based access and review points defined before launch. Security and compliance requirements are part of pilot scoping.
How would we measure an accounting-firm pilot?+
Agree on a baseline for one queue—such as follow-up touches, review-preparation time, exception turnaround, approval-cycle time, and internal status questions—then compare results without changing who owns professional judgment or final approval.
See where AI can reduce the manual work around your cpa & accounting firms workflow.
ClearGuide can help you map one practical workflow, define the review points, and decide whether a focused AI build is worth it.