Sample deliverable · Chapter 01 / 03
This is a complete sample of the written brief a $999 AI Opportunity Review produces — for Calder & Finch LLP, a fictional regional accounting & advisory firm. Chapter one: how the review ran and what we inventoried.
Calder & Finch's review ran the same shape every AI Opportunity Review runs: a 30-minute discovery call, a 1-week analysis window, and a 30-minute readout with this written brief.
Calder & Finch runs a capable, busy practice on a modern stack — and still loses roughly 55% of staff time to document chasing, rekeying, drafting, and status updates. We documented 14 workflows across tax, audit, and client accounting services, and found nine opportunities where AI handles the repetitive layer while your people keep the judgment calls. The three easiest wins are boring, low-risk, and worth 38 hours a week combined. This brief shows where the hours are, what to fix first, and what each fix is worth.
Interviews: managing partner · tax practice lead · audit senior manager · CAS lead · firm administrator · marketing & client-intake coordinator.
Four systems, walked through end to end — plus the inbox-and-spreadsheet layer that actually holds the practice together day to day.
| System | Official role | How it actually runs today |
|---|---|---|
| Karbon | Practice management, tasks, client work | Work items created for ~60% of engagements; status for the rest lives in email threads and two partner-owned spreadsheets |
| QuickBooks Online | Client books (CAS) | 41 client files; uncategorized-transaction queues cleared manually every Friday |
| CCH Axcess | Tax prep & workflow | Trial balances re-keyed from QBO exports by hand; no import mapping maintained |
| SmartVault | Client document storage | Naming conventions drift by preparer; staff search email attachments first, vault second |
| Outlook + Excel | “Everything else” | Client doc-chasing, engagement-letter approvals, and close status all coordinated by hand in inboxes and trackers |