Artificial Intelligence
Practical AI for finance and accounting work, introduced with the controls, review steps, and documentation a CPA firm expects.
Overview
Artificial intelligence is already showing up in accounting departments, often before anyone has decided how it should be used. Pease Bell helps finance teams take a measured approach: identify the repetitive, rules-driven work where AI tools can save time, put guardrails around data and access, and keep a qualified person responsible for every output. As a Top 200 CPA firm offering audit, tax, and advisory under one roof, we look at AI through the same lens we apply to any process that touches financial records: accuracy, traceability, and control.
Our AI work has two sides. For finance and accounting teams, we help evaluate, pilot, and roll out AI tools for tasks such as reconciliations, invoice processing, variance commentary, and reporting. For tax, we use AI-assisted review to add another check on returns before they are filed, with CPAs making the final judgment. In both cases the goal is fewer manual steps and fewer errors, not replacing professional review.
How We Help with AI
AI Readiness Assessment
We review your current close, reporting, and transaction workflows to identify where AI tools are a realistic fit, where the data is not ready, and where manual review should remain.
Use-Case Prioritization
We help rank potential AI use cases by effort, risk, and expected time savings so your team starts with a small number of practical projects instead of a long wish list.
Tool Selection and Pilots
We help compare AI features in your existing accounting software and standalone tools, then structure a limited pilot with defined success measures before any broader rollout.
Controls and Governance
We help design review steps, access restrictions, and documentation for AI-assisted work so outputs can be traced, checked, and explained to auditors, lenders, and management.
AI-Assisted Tax Review
We use AI tools as an added layer of review on tax returns, flagging inconsistencies and items for follow-up, while CPAs remain responsible for every conclusion and signature.
Team Training and Adoption
We help your staff understand what the tools do well, where they make mistakes, and how to review AI output so new processes are used consistently after go-live.
Explore Artificial Intelligence
Challenges We Help You Address
- ✓Staff using AI tools informally with no policy on data or review
- ✓Unclear which accounting tasks are a good fit for automation
- ✓Concern that AI output cannot be explained to auditors or lenders
- ✓Pilots that stall because success was never defined
- ✓Pressure to adopt AI without adding risk to financial reporting
Frequently Asked Questions
How can AI be used in accounting?
AI is most useful in accounting for repetitive, high-volume tasks: matching transactions during reconciliations, extracting data from invoices and receipts, drafting variance explanations, and flagging unusual entries for review. It works best when the underlying data is clean and a qualified person reviews the output. AI is generally not a substitute for judgment on estimates, revenue recognition, or other areas that require professional skepticism.
Is it safe to use AI with financial data?
It can be, with the right controls. Before using any AI tool with client, payroll, or financial data, organizations should understand where the data is stored, whether it is used to train the vendor’s models, who has access, and how outputs are reviewed. A written usage policy, vendor due diligence, and role-based access are practical starting points for using AI without creating new data or reporting risk.
What is AI-assisted tax return review?
AI-assisted tax return review uses software to scan a prepared return and its supporting data for inconsistencies, missing items, and unusual figures compared with prior years or source documents. The tool produces flags; a CPA evaluates each one and decides whether a change is needed. It is designed to add another layer of checking to the normal review process, not to replace the preparer or reviewer.
Does AI replace the need for an accountant?
No. AI can reduce time spent on data entry, matching, and first-draft analysis, but someone still has to understand the business, apply accounting and tax rules, evaluate the output, and take responsibility for the result. In practice, AI tends to shift accounting staff time from manual processing toward review and analysis rather than eliminate the role.
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