When I talk to clients about AI, many say they’ve dabbled but don’t really see where it fits in. I get it—I’m just a regular old (emphasis on old) accountant, not a tech guru. But after some experimenting, reading, and plenty of YouTube tutorials, I’ve found AI to be a serious time-saver.

At Axia, we lead Accounting Advisory and Outsourced Accounting practices, giving us deep visibility into how clients manage their day-to-day operations. A core part of our job is improving and automating those processes.

Here are a few real ways we’re using AI in practice—no coding background required:

📄 SOP Documentation
We all know SOPs are essential—but creating them? That’s another story.

Here’s how we make it easy:
During client onboarding, we record a process walkthrough via Zoom or Teams and generate a transcript. We feed that into a chatbot (we use OpenAI’s ChatGPT Teams license, which keeps data private), and ask it to draft a detailed SOP. We can even add video clips to generate screenshots. What used to take hours now takes minutes—and the output is great for training and continuity.

📊 Creating Complex Journal Entries
Need to pull data from multiple sources, reconcile it, format it, and get it upload-ready?

AI is surprisingly good at this. With the right prompts, it can read Excel files, PDFs, and other documents, and output a polished JE file. There’s a bit of trial and error at first, but once it’s dialed in, it saves real time.

🤖 Creating a Process Automation
Once we’ve documented a process or created a sample journal entry, we ask the chatbot: “How could we automate this?”

It often comes back with a plan using RPA (for data extraction), Python (for formatting), and AI (for classifying or reconciling data). It even writes sample scripts to guide implementation. You don’t have to be a developer—but it helps to have a tech-savvy team member.

📚 Technical Accounting Research
Even the most experienced accountants need to consult the literature from time to time. AI can help you get there faster.

Feed in a set of facts and a chatbot can quickly identify the relevant guidance, apply it to the situation, and draft a technical memo—complete with background, citations, and conclusions. It can also draft disclosures or notes to the financials.

Of course, you still need to verify its output, but I’ve cut hours off my research and documentation process using this method.

🧾 Account Reconciliations
Have large volumes of data to reconcile? AI makes it a lot easier.

We’ve dropped in GL data and subledger exports and asked the chatbot to identify mismatches. In one case, a client’s subsidiary AP ledger didn’t match the GL. The chatbot found transactions missing on each side—no formulas required.

Yes, you could use VLOOKUPs or ERP modules to do this too—but in many cases, this method is faster and more flexible.

🧠 Using AI in ERP & Finance Systems
Most finance systems now include AI features—but few clients are taking advantage of them.

For example, Sage Intacct offers a Financial Review tool that automatically highlights variances between periods and budget, and helps you drill down to investigate. It’s a great example of AI quietly doing work in the background that used to eat up hours of time.

Final Thought: It’s Not About Replacing Accountants—It’s About Elevating Them
We’ve found that even small experiments with AI can help you reclaim hours, reduce manual effort, and produce more consistent, higher-quality outputs. You don’t need to be a developer. You just need to be curious.

📩 Thinking about how to get started, or want to swap ideas? Reach out to us on LinkedIn or contact me directly at JHannan@axiacpas.com.