For accounting and bookkeeping firms
Tax IDs, payroll, bank and card details, and the figures behind every return. Pasting a client spreadsheet into a personal chat account to fix a formula is the most common way that data leaves the firm.
Engagement renewals, client security questionnaires and insurance applications now include questions about AI: which tools, which accounts, and whether client data goes in. A firm that answers from memory gives a different answer each time.
Under deadline, staff reach for whatever tool is fastest, including personal accounts and new browser extensions. Rules agreed in the quiet months are the ones that hold in March and April.
A summary of a client’s numbers or a drafted client email that goes out unchecked is the firm’s work. Most firms write one rule first: every AI-assisted figure is checked against the source before it is shared.
Harbor Lane Bookkeeping is a fictional six-person firm whose staff started using AI chat tools on their own. See its gap summary, its AI usage policy draft and its 90-day checklist.
Open the Harbor Lane sample →List your firm’s AI tools for free, then turn the list into a register, a usage policy and a staff card with the kit.
Free · about 10 minutes
Five questions about your AI tools and the client data that goes into them. See where to start and your next three steps.
List your AI tools →$49 · one-time
List every AI tool your team uses, decide what data can go into each one, and turn those decisions into a short usage policy your staff sign.
See the kit →$197 · one-time
The AI register plus SOPs, client onboarding, KPIs and a weekly ops review, in your own spreadsheets and documents.
See the bundle →Operational templates and guidance, not legal, tax or compliance advice. Whether a law or a client contract applies to your firm is a question for your attorney.