AI consulting · Professional services
AI consulting for accounting, consulting and advisory firms
Native helps accounting, consulting and advisory firms put AI agents into the non-billable work that eats busy season: client intake, document collection, engagement letters and status questions. Agents prepare and chase, and partners and staff keep every professional judgement. Firms get the first agent live within weeks and return hours to billable work within the first season.
Featuring insights fromShaun Devan · Founder & CEOUpdated · 3 min read
Where AI has an impact in professional services
Client intake
New client details captured once and entered into practice management, the tax platform and the portal.
Needs lists
Engagement-specific document lists built from your own checklist and organizer.
Document chasing
Requests and follow-ups sent on cadence, with each upload named, checked and filed.
Engagement letters
Letters drafted from the current template, with any changed terms flagged for review.
Workpaper preparation
Trial balances, schedules and supporting documents organised before the preparer opens the file.
Client status questions
Where is my return and what do you still need answered from the practice system.
Proposals and reports
Proposals and status reports drafted from past work and project records.
Client research
Cited briefs on a client's company and market before the first meeting.
Where the hours go in a professional services firm
A firm sells expertise, but much of each engagement is administration. A new client's details are typed into practice management, the tax platform and the portal. A business engagement needs twenty or thirty documents, chased one email at a time. Engagement letters are rebuilt from last year's copy with clauses carried forward unread.
None of that is billable, and all of it peaks at the same moment as the real work. Agents take on the administration so busy season stops depending on seven-day weeks.
What agents prepare, and what stays with partners and staff
| Work | Agent | Partners and staff |
|---|---|---|
| Client intake | Captures details once and fills every system | Accepts the client |
| Document requests | Builds the needs list from your organizer and chases on cadence | Approves the first request |
| Engagement letters | Drafts from the current template and flags changed terms | Reviews and signs |
| Status questions | Answers from the practice system with the source cited | Handles anything advisory |
| Professional judgement and sign-off | Never involved | Decides |
Needs lists and document chasing
Agents build each client's request list from your own checklist and organizer for that engagement type, so an individual return, a business return and an advisory project each get the right list. Requests go out once a person approves them, follow-ups run every few business days, and each upload is named, checked and filed against the engagement.
Staff see what is outstanding on every file at a glance. Clients get one clear list instead of a string of separate emails.
Consulting and advisory firms
For consulting firms the same agents prepare proposals from past work, draft status reports from project records, and turn workshop notes into structured findings. Research agents build cited briefs on a client's market before the first meeting.
Firms that sell AI work to their own clients also use Native to build the delivery capability itself: forward-deployed engineers who build alongside your consultants and train them to run the work. See how we work.
What an AI engagement with a firm looks like
We start with one workflow your staff dread every season, usually intake or document collection, and map it in two weeks against your practice management and tax systems. The first agent is live within weeks, ideally before the next deadline crunch. Engagement letters, status questions and reporting follow, and everything is built in the firm's own accounts with staff trained to run it.
Case study · A regional accounting and advisory firm
An accounting firm took the administration out of busy season.
Native helped a regional accounting and advisory firm put agents on client intake, document collection and engagement letters. Intake takes minutes instead of hours, documents arrive without staff chasing them, and the firm returned about 1,500 staff hours a year to client work.
The challenge
Staff typed each new client into three systems, chased twenty to thirty documents per business engagement by email, and rebuilt hundreds of engagement letters from the previous year's copies. All of it landed in busy season, on top of the billable work.What we built
- An intake agent that captures client details once and fills the practice management system, tax platform and client portal.
- A collection agent that builds each needs list from the firm's organizer, sends the approved request and follows up every few business days.
- A letter agent that drafts each engagement letter from the current template and flags any terms that differ from the firm's standard.
The result
Busy season ran on fewer late nights, files reached preparers complete, and partners stopped finding old clauses in new letters.Frequently asked questions
How are accounting firms using AI?
Mostly on the work around the engagement: client intake, document collection, engagement letters, workpaper preparation and status questions. Preparers and partners keep every professional judgement.
What does an AI consultant do for a professional services firm?
An AI consultant maps where non-billable time goes, then builds agents that take on that work inside your practice management, tax and document systems. Native's forward-deployed engineers stay until the agents run in production and your staff can run them.
Can AI chase client documents?
Yes. Agents build the request list from your organizer, send it once a person approves, follow up on cadence and file each document as it arrives.
When should a firm start an AI project?
Ideally a few months before busy season, so the first agent is live and tested before volume peaks. A first workflow typically takes weeks.