AI for accounting firms
AI can take invoice preparation, WIP follow-up, payment matching and client onboarding off your team’s plate. Fixed Labs builds these workflows inside the systems your firm already runs, then runs and improves them every month. We work with established accounting, tax and advisory firms doing $5M+ in revenue.
A first workflow
We measure
Invoices drafted per billing cycle, minutes per invoice, and days from month end to invoices out.
Today
Billing staff pull time, WIP and engagement terms from several systems, then build each invoice by hand at month end.
With AI
The workflow drafts each invoice from approved time and engagement terms, applies the firm’s billing rules and flags anything unusual.
Who approves
The billing manager or engagement partner approves every invoice before it goes to the client.
Built around systems like
We work with established CPA firms, including client accounting services (CAS) practices and private-equity-backed accounting platforms. Most are established firms doing $5M+ in revenue. Our contacts are usually the managing partner, COO or firm administrator, CFO and IT director. Common triggers are a busy season the team barely finished, a billing backlog, or an acquisition that brings new systems.
Hours leak into work nobody can bill. Staff re-key time and engagement terms to build invoices by hand. Unbilled WIP ages while partners are busy with client work. Payments arrive without remittance detail and sit unapplied. Preparers chase the same missing documents again and again. Each gap lowers realization, slows cash collection and keeps good staff on clerical work.
From a CPA firm engagement
For one accounting firm we spent two weeks with the invoicing team, wrote down its billing rules and exceptions, and put invoice preparation on a supervised AI workflow. Across the next three observed weeks it completed 513 invoices at about six minutes each, against the team’s estimate of 15 minutes by hand. Staff still approved every invoice before it went out.
Ask how the billing workflow was scopedWorkflows
Today
Billing staff pull time, WIP and engagement terms from several systems, then build each invoice by hand at month end.
With AI
The workflow drafts each invoice from approved time and engagement terms, applies the firm’s billing rules and flags anything unusual.
Who approves
The billing manager or engagement partner approves every invoice before it goes to the client.
We measure
Invoices drafted per billing cycle, minutes per invoice, and days from month end to invoices out.
Today
Managers scan WIP reports for aged unbilled time and chase partners by email when they find a free hour.
With AI
The workflow reviews WIP every week, lists aged unbilled time by engagement and sends each owner a short, specific follow-up.
Who approves
Partners decide what gets billed, held or written down. The workflow reminds and records, and it never adjusts WIP.
We measure
Aged unbilled WIP, days from work done to invoice, and realization by engagement.
Today
Staff match client payments to open invoices across deposits, checks and portal payments, then post them by hand.
With AI
The workflow matches each payment to its open invoice, prepares the posting and sets aside short pays and unapplied cash.
Who approves
Accounting staff approve each posting batch. Anything that does not match cleanly goes to the billing manager.
We measure
Unapplied cash, payments posted within the week, and staff time spent on cash application.
Today
New clients are set up by hand in the practice system, and staff chase missing documents through long email threads.
With AI
The workflow creates the client and engagement records, sends the document request list and follows up until each item arrives.
Who approves
A manager approves each new engagement setup. CPAs and preparers decide what the return or project needs.
We measure
Days from signed engagement letter to work ready, and open document requests per client.
A first engagement
Most firms start with invoice preparation or WIP follow-up, because the rules already exist and the hours are easy to count. A first workflow usually reaches production in three to six weeks, built with your billing manager, a sponsoring partner and your IT lead. A person approves anything that reaches a client or moves money.
We work inside the software your team already uses. No rip-and-replace.
Discover
Walk the billing cycle from approved time to invoice sent, and count the hours at each step.
Review WIP and AR aging to see where unbilled time and unapplied cash pile up.
Map client onboarding, engagement letters and document requests across your practice system and client portal.
Mark every step that needs professional judgment, so it stays with a CPA or licensed staff member.
Build and run
Write down the firm’s billing rules and exceptions with the billing team before anything is built.
Build inside Karbon, CCH Axcess, QuickBooks Online or whichever system holds the work today.
Test on real invoices, payments and client files with your staff, then run supervised before full volume.
Send partners a monthly exception report and review results with firm leadership.
Start with invoice preparation, WIP follow-up and payment matching, because they already follow written rules. Each one eats staff hours every month and shows up in numbers partners already watch. Client onboarding and document collection often come next, along with a monthly exception report for partners. We rank candidates by hours spent and how settled the rules are. Anything that needs professional judgment stays with your people.
A first workflow usually reaches production in three to six weeks. The range depends on how quickly we get access to your systems and how settled your rules are. Billing with documented rules moves fastest. A workflow whose rules live in one manager’s head takes longer, because we write them down first. We plan go-live around busy season, not in the middle of it.
Each workflow has a fixed build fee and a monthly fee to run it. We quote both after discovery, once we know the systems involved, the volume and how much review the work needs. You see the full price before any build starts. The monthly fee covers monitoring, fixes and updates when your rules or software change.
No. CPAs and licensed staff keep every judgment call: tax positions, audit conclusions, write-downs and client advice. AI takes the repetitive preparation and follow-up around that work, such as drafting invoices, chasing documents and matching payments. Your people review the output and approve anything that reaches a client or moves money. The goal is to give hours back for client work and backlog, not to replace your team.
Each workflow gets only the access it needs, through accounts your firm controls. We document what each workflow can read and change, and your IT lead or provider reviews that design during discovery. Client files stay in your practice and document systems. Sensitive steps, such as sending to a client or posting a payment, need a person’s approval. Specific data terms go into the agreement.
A 15-minute discovery call. We learn how the work runs today and tell you honestly whether AI can take it on.
Book a discovery call