Automation for accounting firms
Automation for accounting and CPA firms
Accounting firm automation connects your practice management, document portal and email so clients get organizers, reminders and status updates without staff chasing them by hand. Dravik builds it for US CPA and accounting firms with 20 to 500 people, starting with a $199 fixed-price audit: a 30 minute call plus a written plan.
$199 fixed price, 30 minute call plus a written plan. Full refund if it isn't worth it
Common tools we build on
- Karbon
- Canopy
- TaxDome
- CCH Axcess
- UltraTax CS
- Drake Tax
- QuickBooks Online
- Xero
- SmartVault
- Microsoft 365
Common systems in accounting firms. We build on the stack you already run.
The problem
Where the hours go in accounting firms
Accounting firms do most of their year's work in a few compressed windows, and the bottleneck is rarely the accounting. It is getting documents out of clients, knowing which returns are waiting on what, and answering the same status question by email many times a day during busy season.
Firms usually already own the right tools: a practice management system, a client portal, tax software and a file store. They just do not share information well. Staff copy client details between systems, rebuild checklists every year and keep a separate spreadsheet to track who has sent their documents. That spreadsheet is the sign that automation would help.
What we automate
Workflows worth automating for accounting firms
- 01
New client onboarding
A signed proposal creates the client in your practice management system, opens the right jobs for the services sold, sets up portal access and sends a welcome email with what to upload and by when, instead of a manager setting each piece up by hand.
- 02
Organizer and document collection reminders
Each client gets the right organizer or document request list for their engagement, followed by scheduled reminders that stop the moment the documents land in the portal. Staff see a live list of who is still missing what, without maintaining a spreadsheet.
- 03
Engagement letter renewals
Before each season, engagement letters for returning clients are generated from last year's services and fees, sent for e-signature in bulk, and the unsigned ones are flagged for a partner, so work does not start on a return without a signed letter.
- 04
Return and job status updates
When a job moves from in progress to review to ready for signature, the client gets a short status message automatically. That cuts the stream of where-is-my-return emails during the busiest weeks and gives staff time back for actual review.
- 05
Monthly close for bookkeeping clients
For client accounting services, recurring close tasks are created each month, bank feed exceptions and missing receipts are requested from the client automatically, and a simple close checklist is tracked per client, so nothing depends on one bookkeeper remembering.
- 06
Billing and collections
Invoices go out when jobs complete or on a recurring schedule, payment reminders follow on a set cadence, and overdue accounts are surfaced to the responsible partner before the next engagement starts.
The business audit
Find the workflow costing your team the most hours
The audit maps your repeat work, checks which of your systems can connect, and ranks what to automate first in your business.
$199 fixed price, 30 minute call plus a written plan. Full refund if it isn't worth it
Your stack
Built on the tools accounting firms already use
We work on top of your practice management and portal, usually through their APIs or a workflow tool like Zapier, Make or n8n. Desktop tax software often has limited integration options, so we automate around it rather than inside it. Client financial data and tax documents stay in the systems you already secure; automations pass status and identifiers, not full files, wherever possible.
- Karbon
- Canopy
- TaxDome
- CCH Axcess
- UltraTax CS
- Drake Tax
- QuickBooks Online
- Xero
- SmartVault
- Microsoft 365
Where we start
What the audit looks at first
The audit usually looks first at document collection and status updates, because that is where busy season time disappears. A typical first build is automated organizer delivery with reminders that stop when documents arrive, plus a staff view of what is still outstanding per client.
- 01The call30 minutes on how your business runs, the tools you use and the growth you are after.
- 02ReconWe study your workflows, your site, your rankings and how AI assistants describe you and your competitors.
- 03The written planA ranked list of what to fix or build first, with a fixed price for anything worth building.
- 04Your callKeep the plan and run it yourself, hand it to your team, or have us build it.
What you own
Everything we build is yours.
- Every workflow and integration, in your own accounts
- Written documentation of what each automation does
- Admin access to every tool, ours removable at any time
- A person in the loop wherever a judgment call is needed
Automation questions from accounting firms
We already use Karbon or TaxDome. Why would we need more automation?
Those tools have strong built-in automation, and many firms use only part of it. The audit often finds work that can be set up inside the tool you already pay for. We only build connections between systems where the built-in features stop.
Can you automate around desktop tax software?
Usually around it rather than inside it. Desktop tax programs offer limited integration, so we automate the steps before and after, like document collection, status updates and e-signature, and leave preparation in the software your staff knows.
How do you handle client tax data?
We keep sensitive documents in the systems you already secure, scope automations to the minimum data they need, and sign an NDA before we start. If a workflow touches regulated data, we flag it in the audit and plan around what your security setup allows.
When is the best time to start?
Outside busy season, so changes are tested before the rush. The $199 fixed-price audit takes a 30 minute call and gives you a written plan you can schedule around your own deadlines.
How much does automation cost for accounting firms?
It starts with a $199 business audit: a 30 minute call plus a written plan of what is worth automating. If something is worth building, you get a fixed price for it before any work starts, and you own everything we build.
Keep reading
More on automation
Related
Start with recon
Find the busywork your team should stop doing by hand.
Book the audit. We will tell you plainly which workflows in your business are worth automating, which are not, and the fixed price for anything worth building.
- A 30 minute call about how you run
- A written plan ranked by impact
- Yours to keep, even if you never hire us
$199 fixed price, 30 minute call plus a written plan. Full refund if it isn't worth it