The Three AI Questions Every Firm Should Be Asking This Year
For those firms wanting AI but not knowing where to start, these questions help shift the conversation from “What tool should we use?” to “How can we actually use it well?”
AI isn’t a project. It’s a capability. And the sooner your firm starts thinking that way, the better equipped you’ll be for what’s next.
Everyone’s talking about AI. Few know what to do with it.
It’s one of the most common things we hear from firm leaders:
“We know AI matters. We just don’t know where to begin.”
Totally fair. Most accounting firms aren’t short on interest—they’re short on clarity. What to automate, who should lead it, where to start… it’s easy to get stuck circling the idea instead of making progress.
But here’s the mindset shift that unlocks real movement: AI isn’t just another tech project. It’s a capability.
And once you start thinking about it that way, the questions change. The opportunities open up. And momentum builds.
So if you’re ready to start, or you’re somewhere in the middle and looking to refocus, here are three questions worth asking across your firm.
1. Where could AI extend my team (not just replace manual work)?
Yes, AI is great at grunt work. But that’s not the ceiling, it’s just the floor.
The real value is in what it unlocks: time for deeper thinking, sharper advisory, smoother month-ends. The ability to scale without overloading your people. Not replacing the team, but giving them more time and better tools.
Good starting points could be parts of your work that are predictable, rules-based, or repetitive? Or where do you need faster turnaround without sacrificing accuracy?
2. Do we have the data foundation to support smart, secure AI?
AI is only as useful as the data it can access and trust.
If client info lives across inboxes, spreadsheets, and siloed systems, AI won’t be able to do much with it. Worse, you risk feeding it inconsistent or outdated info. This doesn’t mean you need to overhaul everything tomorrow. But it does mean taking a good look at where your key data lives, and how you’re managing it.
Maybe think about core processes (month-end, reporting, reconciliations), are they standardized? Also, who owns data hygiene across the team? Is client data easy to access, interpret, and secure?
3. Who’s guiding our AI strategy, and what’s the plan?
AI doesn’t need to be perfect to be powerful. But someone needs to steer the ship.
At a lot of firms, AI is still a side experiment. Maybe one partner’s exploring tools, or someone in ops is running pilots behind the scenes. That’s a start, but to really get value, it needs leadership and direction.
Not technical leadership, but strategic leadership.
So maybe ask yourself, is this part of your broader firm strategy, or an isolated initiative? Do you have shared language around how you use and assess AI? Are you measuring what’s working and what’s not?
You don’t need all the answers to get started.
But you do need a direction.
If you’re asking these questions, you’re already ahead of most. AI doesn’t need to be overwhelming or abstract. Start with where you are, think about where you want to go, and find the right partners to help along the way.
We created Leading with AI as a practical framework to help you turn these questions into decisions, and real results. Whether you’re experimenting or scaling up, it’s built to meet firms where they are.
Want to dig in? Grab the framework, or reach out if you want to see how Archie fits into your firm’s approach.
