We built a UK accountancy firm the system its practice runs on. Onboarding, AML checks, the work board, deadlines, timesheets, billing, VAT reviews and the client portal sit in one place, and the team has used it every day since the summer.
The firm ran its work from spreadsheets and the task manager in its accounts software, and much of it lived in people’s memories. The partners wanted three things from a new system: no missed statutory deadlines, client context written down where everyone could find it, and compliance evidence that built up as people worked.
Corporation tax payment dates were the deadline most often missed, and nothing brought every statutory date for every client together.
The accounts software chained tasks so rigidly that work stopped whenever one step ran late, and the team stopped relying on it.
A new client could reach the team with little more than a name. Discovery notes were typed up by hand, and AML evidence sat in several places.
Every client, job and deadline is in one system the whole team works from. Staff see their own work and the board for the firm. Clients get a portal for requests, documents and signatures, plus links that work without an account for things like accepting a quote or signing a letter.
Xero, Companies House and the firm’s AML provider are connected, so records and figures arrive in the system instead of being retyped.
A prospect is filled in from Companies House, including its officers and people with significant control. With the client’s consent, the discovery interview can be recorded and transcribed, and the notes are pre-filled for the accountant to check. Quotes go out with up to three options, and the engagement letter is built from versioned templates with only the schedules for the services quoted.
ID documents, credit checks and a risk assessment on the firm’s own money-laundering questions run in order, with live checks through the firm’s AML provider. Question sets are versioned, so an old assessment always shows the questions it was answered against. Clearance from the outgoing accountant is requested through a link.
Each job is a client, a service and a period, and moves through stages grouped into five columns on the board. An audit waits until its accounts are done, and only a partner can pass the final sign-off. Reviewers raise points for the preparer on the job itself. The board shows each person’s load from their hours and booked leave, and people decide who does what.
Confirmation statements, year ends, corporation tax returns and payments, and VAT quarters are tracked for every client. The system checks Companies House for filings, so a job closes when its accounts are filed. Corporation tax reminders only go to companies with an unpaid amount recorded.
Time is valued at charge-out rates, and time that looks outside the quoted scope is queued for review. Quoted fees, work in progress and billing sit side by side, invoices are matched from Xero, and a Friday reminder goes to anyone with missing time.
Xero has no API for UK VAT returns, so the system works out the nine boxes from the client’s transactions and reconciles them with the trial balance.
AI does narrow jobs here: answering questions, drafting, transcribing interviews, and checking VAT lines and year-end movements.
Staff can ask the assistant about clients, deadlines, work in progress, compliance, captured emails, the firm's knowledge base and Xero from any page. The chat is read-only, its web searches are limited to official sources, and it drafts emails and letters for staff to send themselves.
In the workspace, the assistant can create tasks, move or allocate jobs, log time and update contact details. Each change stops on a card for someone to approve, or reject with a reason. It can't send email, file anything, pass a partner sign-off, touch compliance or HR records, or approve its own actions.
The AI can only see Xero figures when the firm switches that on, and the switch is checked when a tool is offered and again when it runs. Client files are treated as untrusted input, and every model call has limits on steps, tokens and time.
The system can email clients about chasers, quotes, engagement documents, year ends and corporation tax. Each of those emails starts switched off, an admin turns them on one at a time, and every change is audited.
The system holds money-laundering records, tax figures and staff HR files, so much of the engineering limits who can see and change what.
Staff see what their role allows. HR records have their own access levels, and every grant of access is audited.
The test suite covers the workflows, permissions and integrations, and runs without touching any outside service.
Xero, Companies House, AML checks, AI and transcription each sit behind a switch with a stand-in, so the system can be developed and tested without live keys or client data.
Changes go to an audit log. Staff sign in with two-factor authentication or passkeys, and stored Companies House codes and Xero tokens are encrypted.
Client data from Xero is refreshed every night, and any sync or VAT review that fails is retried every hour.
Each document is linked to every client and person it relates to, kept for seven years, and never hard-deleted.
Call
We talked with the partners about how the practice ran, and where work and deadlines were getting lost.
Brief
A written brief split the work into phases, starting with onboarding, AML, deadlines and tasks, with security part of every phase.
Proof of concept
Every outside service had a stand-in, so the firm could try real workflows before anything live was connected.
Validation
Staff tested each area and sent their changes through a feedback button in the system and a ticket board.
Production
The team has run its work on the system every day since the summer.
Next
The current phase looks at what the system can take on from the practice manager’s role, and what still needs a person.