AI Assistant for Accountants: 7 Best Options (2026)
It is the second week of March. Eleven clients still owe you bank statements, four have emailed “any update on my return?”, and the only slot left for a new-client call is 7pm on Thursday. None of that is accounting. All of it lands on you.
The quick answer: the best AI assistant for accountants running a small practice is Carly. It chases clients for documents, answers status emails from your own Gmail or Outlook, books calls around your deadlines, onboards new clients and nudges overdue invoices while your laptop is shut. Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. A human virtual assistant is still the right call for phone work, for an anxious client who needs a person, and for anything you cannot describe in advance.
This page is about the admin around the practice. For software that does the books, see AI tools for accountants and AI tools for bookkeepers.
Assistants for accounting practices, compared
| Option | Type | What it takes off you | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | AI assistant | Document chasing, status emails, scheduling, onboarding, invoice reminders, month-end follow-ups | Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month |
| Karbon | Practice management with AI built in | Email triage and work tracking inside Karbon | Team plan $59 per user/month, billed annually |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | AI inside Outlook and Excel | Summaries and drafts when you ask | From $21 per user/month, paid yearly, added to Microsoft 365 |
| Fyxer | AI email assistant | Inbox sorting and draft replies | About $30 per user/month, less on annual billing |
| Belay | Human, US-based, managed | A matched assistant, with bookkeeping services alongside | Quote only |
| Time Etc | Human, US-based, hourly | General admin by a dedicated assistant | $390/month for 10 hours |
| Magic | Human, remote, weekly billing | A dedicated assistant at 20 or 40 hours a week | $270/week for 20 hours |
1. Carly: the assistant that chases the documents so you don’t
Carly does the admin a good practice administrator would do, from inside the accounts you already use. You set it up by describing what you want in plain words: “On the 3rd of each month, email every bookkeeping client who has not sent last month’s statements, remind them again on the 6th, and give me a list of who is still missing on the 8th.” There is no flowchart to build.
Document chasing. This is the job that eats tax season. Carly keeps a checklist per client in Google Sheets or Excel, emails each client only for the items they still owe, files attachments as they arrive, ticks them off, and escalates to you when someone has ignored three reminders. Emily Parker, who runs a four-person bookkeeping firm, has not written a “just following up on those statements” email since February.
Status emails. “Has my return been filed?” “When will the accounts be ready?” Carly checks where the job stands in your tracker and replies in your voice. Replies go out from your own Gmail or Outlook address, so the client sees you. You choose which replies wait for your approval, and anything that reads like a request for advice comes to you.
Scheduling around deadlines. CC Carly on a thread and write “Carly, find us 30 minutes before the 15th.” It checks your calendar, protects the blocks you have set aside for prep work, proposes times and sends the invite. For new enquiries, set up a booking page that closes itself off in your busiest weeks.
Client onboarding. When a prospect signs the engagement letter, Carly sends the welcome email, the intake questionnaire and the document list, creates the client in your tracker, and reminds them two days later if nothing has come back.
Invoice reminders. Carly watches QuickBooks or Xero for your own overdue invoices and sends a polite nudge at 7 days, a firmer one at 14, and tells you at 21. Here is the build.
Month-end follow-ups. Missing receipts, unexplained transactions, unapproved draft accounts: Carly sends the open questions, collects the answers and hands you one summary.
It runs on events, not on you remembering to open an app. A new email, a signed letter, an overdue invoice or a date on the calendar sets it off, at 6am on a Saturday if need be. Build the recurring jobs as workflows and give the jobs that need reading and writing to an AI agent.
Carly connects to thousands of apps. For an accounting practice that usually means QuickBooks, Xero, Gmail or Outlook, Google Calendar, Excel or Google Sheets, Karbon, TaxDome, Canopy, Stripe, DocuSign, Dropbox and Slack. Check your own stack here.
Best for: sole practitioners, bookkeepers and small firms that want the client admin handled this week, without hiring.
Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Get started.
Limitations: it works from instructions, so the first hour goes into telling it how your practice runs. If clients mostly phone you, Carly Phone is available: book a call with the team.
2. Karbon: AI inside your practice management tool
Karbon is practice management software for accounting firms, with shared email, work templates, a client portal and AI features that summarize threads and draft replies.
Best for: firms of five or more that want one system for work, email and client requests.
Pricing: Team plan at $59 per user per month billed annually, or $79 monthly.
Limitations: it is a platform you move the whole firm onto, priced per seat, and its AI helps inside Karbon only. Client reminders run from templates you build per job type, and scheduling, your own invoice chasing and anything outside Karbon are still yours. Carly works alongside it and handles those.
3. Microsoft 365 Copilot: help inside Outlook and Excel
If your practice runs on Microsoft 365, Copilot sits in the apps you already have open. It summarizes a client thread, drafts a reply when asked, and explains a formula in Excel.
Best for: Outlook and Excel firms that want drafting help in place.
Pricing: Microsoft lists Copilot Business from $21 per user per month, paid yearly, on top of your Microsoft 365 plan.
Limitations: it waits for you. Users report that it drafts well but does not notice that a client has gone quiet, send the third reminder, or book the call.
4. Fyxer: inbox sorting and draft replies
Fyxer sorts incoming mail into categories and leaves draft replies in your voice, in Gmail or Outlook.
Best for: partners who want a cleaner inbox and are happy to press send themselves.
Pricing: the Starter plan is listed at about $30 per user per month, with a lower rate on annual billing.
Limitations: it stops at the draft. It does not track which documents a client still owes, watch QuickBooks or Xero for overdue invoices, or run a month-end checklist, which is where a practice loses its hours.
5. Belay: managed US assistants, with bookkeeping on the side
Belay hires US-based assistants, matches one to you and assigns a success consultant to the relationship. It also sells bookkeeping services, so its people know the vocabulary. Our Belay review covers contracts and onboarding.
Best for: established firms that want an experienced person answering clients and no hiring work.
Pricing: not published. You get a quote on a sales call.
Limitations: cost and commitment. It is a lot of assistant for a sole practitioner who mostly needs reminders sent.
6. Time Etc: a US assistant by the hour
Time Etc matches you with a dedicated US assistant and sells hours in monthly blocks, with unused hours rolling over.
Best for: a practice that needs ten hours a month of varied help: phone calls to clients, chasing HMRC or the IRS on hold, event and travel bookings.
Pricing: $390/month for 10 hours ($39 an hour), down to $36 an hour on the 60-hour plan.
Limitations: ten hours is about 30 minutes a working day, and your assistant works set hours. You will also need to think about what client data they can see.
7. Magic: a remote assistant billed weekly
Magic supplies a dedicated remote assistant at 20 or 40 hours a week and bills weekly.
Best for: firms with a steady pile of process work: data entry, portal uploads, inbox sorting.
Pricing: $270 a week for 20 hours, $540 a week for 40 hours.
Limitations: twenty hours a week is the floor, and you become the manager who writes the procedures and checks the work.
AI, human, or both
Split the practice admin into two piles.
Repeatable: the document request, the second reminder, the status reply, the onboarding packet, the invoice nudge, the month-end question list. It is the same email with a different name on it. This is what Carly is for. The $35 entry point is less than one hour of a US assistant’s time.
Judgment: a client in tears over a tax bill, a call to a revenue office, a new engagement with odd terms. A person wins here.
Many owners end up with both. Josh Whitfield, a chartered accountant with a three-person practice, has Carly running document chasing, bookings and late-invoice reminders, and pays a part-time assistant a few hours a week for phone calls and the awkward clients. The QuickBooks virtual assistant guide and virtual assistant pricing guide have the human-side math.
How to pick
- Your evenings go to chasing documents, answering status emails and fitting calls around deadlines: go with Carly. It is the fastest to start, the cheapest to run, and it acts the moment something happens.
- You want one platform for the whole firm’s work and email: Karbon, with Carly doing the chasing next to it.
- You only want help drafting: Copilot if you are on Outlook, Fyxer on either.
- You need a person for a few hours of varied work: Time Etc.
- You have 20 or more hours a week of process work, or want a long-term right hand: Magic or Belay.
Not sure how your practice would set it up? Book a call with the Carly team.
FAQ
What is the best AI assistant for accountants?
For the admin around a small practice, Carly. It chases documents, answers routine client email from your own address, books calls, onboards clients and reminds late payers, and it connects to QuickBooks and Xero. Tools that do the bookkeeping itself are a different category, covered in AI tools for accountants.
Can an AI assistant chase clients for documents?
Yes, and it is the best first job to hand over. Tell Carly what each client owes and by when. It sends the request, follows up on the schedule you set, files what arrives and tells you who is still outstanding. Describe it as a workflow and it runs every month.
Is it safe to let an AI assistant email my clients?
You set the limits. Most practices start with Carly drafting and a person approving, then let reminders and booking replies go out on their own. Tax or accounting advice stays with you. If your firm has specific compliance requirements, talk to the Carly team first.
Does it work for bookkeepers and chartered accountants too?
Yes. The admin is the same for a bookkeeper closing the month, a CPA in tax season or a chartered accountant working to Self Assessment and VAT deadlines. Carly works with Xero and QuickBooks and runs to whatever dates you give it.
How much does a virtual assistant for accountants cost?
Human services run from $390 a month for 10 US hours with Time Etc to $270 a week for a 20-hour remote assistant with Magic, and more for a managed service such as Belay. Carly has free Zapier-style workflows, with AI agents from $35/month. More figures: virtual assistant statistics.
Will an AI assistant replace my admin staff or me?
It replaces the chasing, not the people. The evidence in will AI replace accountants points the same way: the admin goes first and the judgment stays. A practice manager with Carly spends the day on clients, not reminder emails.
More: AI tools for bookkeepers · AI automation tools for QuickBooks · AI tools for tax professionals · AI assistant for small business · Best AI virtual assistants for small business · Best virtual assistant companies · AI-trained virtual assistants · Virtual secretary for small business
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