A Quarter's Work in One Week: What Becoming an AI-Native Executive Does for You

 

Think about the project that has been sitting on your list since spring. The one everyone agrees is important. The one that keeps losing to client work, deadlines and the inbox.

Now imagine it done by Friday.

That's what we teach in my new workshop, Becoming an AI-Native Executive: how to get a quarter's worth of executive-level projects done in one week. But this post isn't about the how. It's about what it does for you. Because becoming an AI-Native Executive is a value add for you, for your business, for your employer and for your future.

First, what a week can look like

Say the project is redesigning how your firm onboards new clients. Normally that's a quarter of meetings, drafts and good intentions. Led the AI-Native way, the week can look like this:

• Monday: define the outcome and what done looks like. AI turns your notes into a clear project plan.
• Tuesday: map today's process. AI drafts it from your checklists and emails, and you mark what's broken.
• Wednesday: design the new version. AI drafts the welcome email, the document request list and the first-90-days checklist. You make the judgment calls.
• Thursday: test it on one real client and fix what doesn't work.
• Friday: present the results, with a one-page brief AI helped you write.

AI does the drafting, organizing and first passes. You do the thinking, the deciding and the leading. That's the difference between automating a task and leading a project.

1. What it does for you

You stop being the person who does the work and become the person who leads it.

• Your time back. When a quarter of work fits in a week, the other eleven weeks open up for the things only you can do.
• Confidence with AI. Not "I tried ChatGPT once." A repeatable process you use every week, with any LLM (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot).
• Finished projects. There's a special kind of satisfaction in crossing off the thing that's been haunting your to-do list. 😄

2. What it does for your business

If you own a firm, every project you finish is a step forward that usually gets pushed to "next year."

• The growth projects finally happen: a pricing review, a niche, a referral program, a better client experience.
• More capacity without another hire. Your best people spend less time on first drafts and more time on clients.
• A team that follows your lead. When you lead with AI, your team learns to do the same.

3. What it does for your employer

If you work at a firm or a company, this is how you become the person they can't imagine losing.

• You bring finished executive-level work, not just completed tasks.
• You show results. A clear one-page brief for your managing partner or manager on what changed and what it saved.
• You become the go-to person on AI, which is exactly the person firms are looking to promote right now.

Here's the math your employer will like: if you earn $100,000 a year, a quarter of your time is worth $25,000. Getting a quarter's worth of work done in one week pays for itself many times over.

4. What it does for your future

AI won't replace the people who lead it. That's the whole point.

• A skill that goes where you go, to this firm, the next one, or your own.
• The ultimate value add: leveling up what you offer a company. Not just doing the work faster, but leading the work in a way most people can't yet.
• A head start. The people learning this now will be the ones teaching it in two years.

My take: the question isn't whether AI will change your job. It's whether you'll be the one leading that change, or the one it happens to.

Become THE AI-Native Executive

BECOMING AN AI-NATIVE EXECUTIVE: MY ONE-HOUR FOUNDING WORKSHOP. We teach how to get a quarter's worth of executive-level projects done in one week. Live in the platform. $1,000, with a money-back guarantee: if it doesn't deliver, you get your money back.
Save your seat
Want your company to cover it? Email me with COMPANY and I'll send you a short note you can forward to your manager or partner. Questions first? Email me with WORKSHOP.

Not ready yet? Start free

• The AI-Native Leadership Academy, FREE through 2027 (regularly $1,000). A 10-minute lesson every morning, and every leader at your firm can join. The partner offer ends November 30: Join free
• Claim a FREE AI agent: https://aiaccounting.legacysbc.com/claim-agent
• Join our FREE community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1024923770013348
• Lead a firm of 10 to 100 people? Grab 15 minutes with me and tell me which project you'd finish first.

Here's to becoming THE AI-Native Executive, for you, your business, your employer and your future.

Yvonne

What the Top Accounting Firms Have in Common (and Where AI Fits)

 

I spent some time this week studying 100 top accounting firms in the U.S., the firms Accounting Today ranks as the best places to work. The list reports more than names: headcount, staff turnover, days off and paid holidays for every firm.

I wanted to know what the top firms actually have in common. Here’s what the numbers say, and where AI fits in.

1. You don’t have to be big to be great

63 of the 100 firms have 100 employees or fewer. Thirty-six of them have fewer than 50. The smallest firms on the list have 15 people.

So if you lead a 12-person or a 40-person firm, this list is about you. Being a great place to work isn’t a big-firm perk.

2. People stay

The typical small firm on the list (15 to 49 people) reported 6% voluntary turnover. Midsized firms (50 to 249) came in at 8%, and the large firms at 9%.

Six small firms reported zero voluntary turnover: Bormel Grice & Huyett, The Swanson Group, Hawaii Accounting, Lilling & Co., PAAST and The Accountants for Creatives. Nobody chose to leave. In this profession, that’s remarkable. Congratulations to all six.

3. They give people their time back

About 1 in 5 firms on the list offer unlimited paid time off. Among the 63 firms with 100 people or fewer, more than half give 20 or more days off a year, or unlimited. And the typical firm adds 10 paid holidays on top.

Time is the perk. Not ping-pong tables. Time.

The catch: time off only works if the work fits in the week

Here’s the part nobody puts on the poster. You can’t give people 20 days off, keep turnover at 6%, and still bury everyone in busy season. Something has to give, and usually it’s your best people.

The firms that make this work have found ways to take the repeating work off people’s plates, so the hours left go to the work that needs a person: the review, the judgment calls and the client conversations.

Where AI fits

This is exactly what AI is good at in an accounting firm. Here’s what I teach my team to hand off first:

1. The chasing. Document requests, missing statements and the polite follow-ups nobody enjoys writing.
2. The first drafts. Reconciliation exception notes, month-end checklists, client report summaries and engagement letters. AI drafts, a person reviews.
3. The repeat explanations. The same five client questions every month, answered clearly and checked before they go out.

None of it replaces your people. It gives them back hours, and hours are what these firms turn into lower turnover and real time off. AI does the typing. You make the judgment calls.

One more thing the best firms do: they learn together. One person experimenting with AI doesn’t change a firm. A whole team learning the same way does.

Start free, with your whole team

THE AI-NATIVE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY, FREE FOR YOUR WHOLE FIRM. Regularly $1,000 a person a year. Through my partnership with Humans+Agents, every leader at your firm can join free for the rest of 2026 and all of 2027: a 10-minute lesson every morning, 36 live sessions a year, and a ready-to-run deck to teach each lesson to your team. The partner offer ends November 30.
Join the Academy free

Want to go further? On the same page, the AI-Native Black Belt Academy tab shows something I haven’t seen anywhere else: one person’s price covers your entire firm. See every level

And our FREE stuff is still here

• Claim a FREE AI agent. Growing too? Pick the LinkedIn Connection Engine to bring in more of the right clients: https://aiaccounting.legacysbc.com/claim-agent
• Ready for more growth agents? The Practice Growth Bundle has 14, including referrals and reviews, lead magnets and niche messaging.
• Join our FREE community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1024923770013348
• Lead a firm of 10 to 100 people? Grab 15 minutes with me and tell me what’s eating your team’s week. No pitch, just your questions.

Source: Accounting Today’s Best Firms to Work For rankings, as reported by each firm. Turnover is voluntary turnover; days off are PTO days or combined vacation, sick and personal days after one year.

Here’s to building firms people never want to leave.

Yvonne

File With 2026, Plan With 2027: The New IRS Tax Numbers (and the Mistake Almost Everyone Makes)

 

The IRS released its 2027 inflation adjustments this month, and my inbox lit up. Clients asking if their refund just got bigger. Bookkeepers asking if they need to redo every tax projection tonight.

Short answer: no. Here’s why, what changed, and where the real planning conversation is.

The one thing almost everyone gets wrong

These are 2027 numbers. They do not apply to the return your clients file in April 2027. That’s a 2026 return, and it uses the 2026 numbers. The new figures apply to income earned starting January 1, 2027, on a return filed in early 2028.
File with 2026. Plan with 2027.

That one line matters the moment someone times a gift, a bonus or a retirement contribution against the wrong year. It’s the first thing I teach anyone on my team who talks to clients about taxes.

The brackets: same rates, thresholds up about 3.2%

The rates didn’t change. Every threshold moved up for inflation. For 2027 (taxable income, meaning after the deduction, not gross pay):

• 10%: up to $12,800 single, up to $25,600 married filing jointly
• 12%: over $12,800 single, over $25,600 married
• 22%: over $52,025 single, over $104,050 married
• 24%: over $109,125 single, over $218,250 married
• 32%: over $208,325 single, over $416,650 married
• 35%: over $264,550 single, over $529,100 married
• 37%: over $661,375 single, over $793,650 married

Standard deduction for 2027: $16,600 single, $33,200 married filing jointly and $24,925 head of household. For 2026 it was $16,100 single and $32,200 married filing jointly.

What that’s actually worth

Same income, standard deduction, 2026 tax vs. 2027 tax:

• Single, $75,000: $7,670 vs. $7,390. Keeps $280.
• Single, $120,000: $17,570 vs. $17,290. Keeps $280.
• Married, $150,000: $15,340 vs. $14,779. Keeps $561.
• Married, $250,000: $37,468 vs. $36,779. Keeps $689.

Not life changing. But this is how the tax code keeps a raise that only matched inflation from quietly nudging someone into a higher bracket. It’s working in your clients’ favor, and that’s a nice thing to be able to tell them.

The other numbers clients will ask about

• Child tax credit: $2,300 per qualifying child (up from $2,200), with $1,800 refundable (up $100). Two kids: $4,600 in 2027 vs. $4,400 in 2026.
• Annual gift exclusion: $20,000 per recipient (up from $19,000). A married couple can give $40,000 to the same person.
• Estate tax exclusion: $15,480,000 for 2027 (up from $15 million).
• Health FSA: $3,500 contribution limit, $700 maximum carryover for plans that allow one. If a client runs an FSA, that’s a plan document update.
• Earned income tax credit: up to $8,496 for families with three or more qualifying children (up from $8,231).
• Adoption credit: up to $18,250 (up from $17,670).
• Foreign earned income exclusion: $137,300 (up from $132,900).
• Employer-provided childcare credit: the cap rises to $515,943.67 (up from $500,000). Worth a mention to any business client that helps employees with childcare.

Where the real planning conversation is

Nobody needs to act this week. These are inflation adjustments, not a change in the law. But four conversations are worth having in November instead of December 30:

1. Clients near a bracket edge. Thresholds moving up 3.2% can change whether it’s smarter to pull income into 2026 or push it into 2027. That’s a real decision, and it’s far easier to make now.
2. Gifts. Waiting until January buys $1,000 more room per recipient. Across several kids or grandkids, that adds up, and it costs nothing to ask first.
3. Payroll and benefits. FSA limits change for 2027 plans. But W-2 and 1099 season in January is still 2026 numbers.
4. The big one: April is still a 2026 return. If a client hasn’t looked at 2026 yet, that’s where the attention goes right now. 2027 can wait until January.

How AI turns this into an afternoon, not a weekend

Here’s what I teach my team: don’t retype new figures into twenty spreadsheets. Give an AI agent your client list with projected 2026 income, plus the 2026 and 2027 figures, and ask it which clients sit within a few thousand dollars of a bracket edge, and what pulling or pushing $10,000 would do for each one.

You get a short list of the clients worth a call, with the math already laid out. AI does the typing. You make the judgment calls.

One rule before any number goes into client work: check it against the official IRS release. An agent is only as good as the figures you hand it.

The agents I’d use for this

THE YEAR-END PACK: 8 AI agents for $49 (buy 7, the 8th is on us), through December 15. Works with any LLM (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot).
#93 Tax Planning and Year-End Strategy (the pull-or-push decision) · #30 1099 Prep and W-9 Chaser · #80 Year-End W-2 and 1099 Reconciliation · #121 Depreciation Schedule Builder · #51 Adjusting Journal Entries · #90 Budget and Annual Operating Plan Builder · #287 Year-End Giving Statement Builder · and #29 Month-End Close, on us.
Get the Year-End Pack for $49

More ways to get ready for 2027

• Serve a niche? Our full industry bundles ($249) include Childcare & Daycare, Church & Clergy, Farm & Ranch, Trucking, HOA & Condo, Manufacturing and more. See all the bundles
• Childcare clients? The new Childcare & Daycare Accounting Bundle ($249) includes a Year-End Childcare Payment Statement Builder for the statements parents ask for in January.
• Coming soon: the Home Services & Trades Accounting Bundle for HVAC, plumbing and electrical businesses.
• Want to learn to run AI on your own work? Start FREE AI Skills. No cost, no catch.
• Try one agent first: claim a FREE AI agent.
• Talk it through with people who do this work: join our FREE community.
• Questions? Grab 15 minutes with me. No pitch, just your questions.

File with 2026. Plan with 2027. And if anyone tells you the new numbers change this April’s return, send them this post.

Yvonne

BIG NEWS: The AI-Native Leadership Academy Is FREE for You Through 2027 (Regularly $1,000)

 

I’ve been waiting to share this one. 🎉

Legacy SBC (AI for Accounting) is now a partner of Humans+Agents, and that means I can invite you into the AI-Native Leadership Academy for FREE. It’s regularly $1,000 a year. Through my invitation, it’s free for the rest of this year and all of 2027.

THE SHORT VERSION: 10 minutes a day, a great business framework every morning, three ways to run it with AI, and live sessions three weeks of every month. Regularly $1,000 a year. FREE through 2027 with my invitation. Join while the partner offer is open.
Join the Academy FREE

Why I’m so excited about this

Most AI training teaches you prompts. That’s useful, but it’s not what keeps owners and leaders up at night. The real question is: what does AI mean for how I run my business?

That’s exactly what the Academy teaches. And as someone who just admitted (on my mom’s birthday, no less) that teaching is the part of my work I love most, I can tell you this is how I’d want to learn it.

How it works: 10 minutes every morning

Every morning, a new ten-minute animated video teaches one framework from one of the world’s best business books. A framework is a set of steps you can run on your own work and get a result. Each day of the week has its own track:

• Monday: Leadership
• Tuesday: Strategy
• Wednesday: Sales
• Thursday: Cyber Defense
• Friday: Marketing
• Saturday: Innovation & Growth
• Sunday: Productivity, Habits & Mindset

Week by week, you learn how the best ideas apply across every part of a business, not just the one you run today. New books are added as they come out.

Three ways to run every framework

This is my favorite part. Every lesson shows you three ways to use the framework:

1. Pre-AI: run it the way the book tells you. It works, but it can take weeks.
2. AI Arbitrage: run it ten times faster with AI. Research that took weeks takes an afternoon. Result: lower expenses.
3. AI-Native: run it so your customers get far more value for every dollar, with services you couldn’t offer before because they took too many people. Result: more revenue.

Picking which way to run it is the leader’s job now. That’s the decision the Academy helps you practice.

Live sessions three weeks of every month

Your Academy year includes a seat in This Week in AI Leadership, live with Humans+Agents founder Steve Cunningham, three weeks of every month. That’s 36 live sessions a year. Each one follows the same rhythm:

• Learn: a 10 to 15 minute briefing on what changed in AI this week and why it matters.
• Apply: a prompt you run on your own business.
• Collaborate: a breakout room with leaders from other companies.
• Execute: you leave with a plan to try it over the next week.

Bring your team (they’re free too)

Every leader at your company can join free. And every lesson comes with a ready-to-run deck, so you can walk your own team through it on your real work in about twenty minutes. For accounting firms, that’s a built-in way to grow your people every single week.

BONUS: joining also gives you the AI Skills Black Belt free for a year: nine sessions that each leave you with a finished piece of your own work, made with AI.

Who’s behind it

Humans+Agents has trained more than 100,000 leaders over the last decade, and more than 10,000 leaders from over 1,000 companies to use AI productively in the last three years. They run the same method inside their own business first, and report operating expenses down 49% and revenue up 97%.

How to join (it takes two minutes)

1. Create your free account on the Academy page. Name, work email and a password. That’s it.
2. Your first lesson arrives the next morning, sent to your work email.
3. Join a live session that week.

Don’t wait on this one. Join while the partner offer is open. Once you’re in, it’s yours free for the rest of 2026 and all of 2027.
Join the AI-Native Leadership Academy FREE

And our FREE stuff is still here

• Claim a FREE AI agent for your accounting work: https://aiaccounting.legacysbc.com/claim-agent
• Join our FREE community and tell us you joined the Academy: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1024923770013348
• Questions? Grab 15 minutes with me. No pitch, just your questions.

I can’t wait to learn alongside you.

Yvonne

My Mom Said I Should Be a Teacher. I Didn’t Listen (Until Now).

 

Today is my mom’s birthday. She passed away in February 2019, and every year this day brings back one thing she used to tell me.

“Yvonne, you should be a teacher.”

She said it more than once. And every time, I did what daughters do best: I smiled, nodded, and did something else entirely. I went into accounting. I became a CFO. I built a business. Teaching was what other people did.

Here’s the funny part. Look at what I actually spend my days doing now.

• Writing these blogs, so a bookkeeper somewhere can understand AI agents without a computer science degree.
• Showing my team how to test an AI agent before they trust it.
• Answering a new bookkeeper on LinkedIn who asks, “How do I get my first client?”
• Running a community where people ask questions and help each other, for FREE.

That’s teaching. All of it. And it turns out it’s the part of my work I love most.

Mom was right. I just took the long way around to find out.

What I’ve learned about teaching (the long way)

Since I’m finally listening, here’s what years of explaining numbers to people have taught me about teaching anything, AI included.

1. Nobody learns from the expert who makes them feel small.

The best teachers make you feel like your question was a good one. I try to remember that every time someone asks me what an “agent” is. Every expert was a beginner once, usually not that long ago.

2. Plain words beat impressive ones.

If I can’t explain a reconciliation, or an AI agent, to someone in two sentences, I don’t understand it well enough yet. Jargon is usually a sign the teacher is nervous, not that the topic is hard.

3. People learn by doing, not by watching.

You can read about AI all day. The moment it clicks is when you try it on your own work. That’s why we give away a FREE agent: not as a sales trick, but because nobody learned to ride a bike from a brochure.

4. Let them make mistakes where it’s safe.

Practice on a made-up client before a real one. Test the tool on work you already finished. A good teacher builds a safe place to get it wrong, so getting it right later feels earned.

5. The best part is watching it land.

There’s a moment when someone says, “Oh, that’s all it is?” I live for that moment now. I think Mom knew I would. She just knew it long before I did.

For anyone who has a “Mom was right” of their own

Maybe someone told you that you should do something, and you brushed it off. Maybe it’s teaching. Maybe it’s advising clients instead of just doing their books. Maybe it’s finally trying the AI thing everyone keeps talking about.

It’s not too late to listen. I’m proof.

If you want to learn alongside us: our FREE community is full of people asking good questions and answering each other. No question is too basic. That’s the whole point.

• Want to try AI on your own work? Claim a FREE AI agent. It works with any LLM (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot).
• Have a question you’ve been afraid to ask? Grab 15 minutes with me. No pitch. I promise I’ll make it feel like a good question.

Happy birthday, Mom. You were right. I’m listening now.

I love you, Mom.

Yvonne

Year-End Is Coming: 8 AI Agents That Make December Lighter

 

Every year it’s the same story. November feels calm, then December shows up with 1099s, W-2s, depreciation, year-end entries, tax planning meetings and next year’s budget, all due at once.

Here are the 8 AI agents I’d want on the team before December 1. For each one: what it does, and one thing you can start this week.

NEW: The Year-End Pack. All 8 agents below for $49 (buy 7, the 8th is on us), through December 15. Get the Year-End Pack

1. 1099 Prep and W-9 Chaser

Flags vendors with missing, expired or mismatched W-9s, drafts polite (and then firmer) chase emails, and builds the 1099 filing package when January arrives.

Start this week: send the first W-9 chase now. Every W-9 you collect in November is one less phone call in January. Use vendor codes in AI tools; keep SSNs and EINs in your secure system.

2. Year-End W-2 / 1099 Reconciliation

Ties the annual payroll register to W-2 totals and the four quarterly 941s, ties vendor payments to 1099-NEC totals, and produces working forms and transmittal summaries for review.

Start this week: reconcile Q1 to Q3 now, so December only has one quarter left.

3. Tax Planning and Year-End Strategy

Turns a client’s entity, income and goals into a prioritized list of tax-saving moves, with estimated impact, action steps and deadlines, so you walk into the planning meeting with a real plan.

Start this week: book planning meetings with your top 10 clients before December fills up. Rates, limits and elections are entered and checked by you, never assumed.

4. Depreciation Schedule Builder

Builds or rolls forward a fixed-asset schedule (straight-line, declining-balance and MACRS), from a CSV, a spreadsheet or last year’s schedule.

Start this week: ask every client for a list of equipment and vehicles bought this year, with dates and invoices.

5. Adjusting Journal Entries Agent

Recommends the entries that happen after reconciliation and before close (accruals, prepaids, depreciation, deferrals and reclasses) with debits, credits, memos, reversing instructions and a review checklist.

Start this week: list the recurring adjustments for each client so December’s entries are a checklist, not a scavenger hunt.

6. Month-End Close Agent (the one on us)

Runs the whole close: a checklist you can customize, recurring entries, variance flags at your materiality threshold, and a close package with sign-off lines. December’s close is the big one, and this keeps it the same as every other month.

Start this week: run it on October’s close so it’s second nature by December.

7. Budget and Annual Operating Plan Builder

Turns last year’s actuals and a few assumptions into a clean 12-month budget, with revenue, costs and net by month, and every assumption written down.

Start this week: offer clients a January budget session. It’s an easy advisory add-on, and they’ll thank you in March.

8. Year-End Giving Statement Builder

For churches and nonprofits: builds year-end giving statements with the totals and the acknowledgment wording a donor needs, ready for your review. A giving statement is a tax document, so the wording matters as much as the numbers.

Start this week: confirm the donor list and addresses now, before the December giving rush.

Where the human always stays

• Every number that gets filed. The agents build the draft; you review and sign off.
• Every tax rate, limit and election. Entered and checked by you, never hard-coded.
• Every client-facing word. Read it once out loud before it goes out.

Every agent opens in your browser, connects to nothing, and works with any LLM (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot).

Get all 8

The Year-End Pack: 8 agents for $49, through December 15. 1099 Prep and W-9 Chaser, Year-End W-2 / 1099 Reconciliation, Tax Planning and Year-End Strategy, Depreciation Schedule Builder, Adjusting Journal Entries, Month-End Close (on us), Budget and Annual Operating Plan Builder and Year-End Giving Statement Builder.
Get the Year-End Pack for $49

• Want to try one first? Claim a FREE AI agent.
• Join our FREE community and share your year-end checklist: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1024923770013348
• Need the full set for your niche? See all the bundles.
• Not sure where to start? Grab 15 minutes with me. No pitch, just your questions.

Here’s to a December with fewer surprises and more sleep.

Yvonne

Test It Before You Trust It: A 20-Minute Checklist for Any AI Agent

 

Here’s what I teach my team before anyone uses an AI agent on real client work: test it first, on something where you already know the answer.

You wouldn’t hand a new hire your biggest client on day one, and you shouldn’t hand one to an AI agent either. You check the work first.

This is the same 20-minute test my team runs on any AI agent, ours or anyone else’s, before trusting it with real work.

WANT ONE TO PRACTICE ON? Claim a FREE agent, then run this checklist on it this week.

The 20-minute test

Minutes 0 to 5: Set up a fair test

1. Pick a task you finished recently. Last month’s bank rec, a document chase you already sent, a close checklist you already ran. You know what the right answer looks like, so you can grade the agent.
2. Make a fictional twin of the client. Swap the name for a code (“Client 12”), round the numbers, keep the shape of the problem. No Social Security numbers, EINs, account numbers or health information, ever.
3. Plant three errors you already know about. This is the best trick on the list. In a bank rec test, slip in a duplicate deposit, an uncleared check and a bank fee nobody booked. Now you’re not wondering if the agent is good. You’re checking whether it found your three.

Minutes 5 to 10: Run it like a new hire

1. Give it only what a new hire would get. Fill in the facts the agent asks for and nothing more. A good agent asks for what it needs: the period, the threshold, what’s missing.
2. Watch what it asks you. If it never asks about something important (a deadline, a materiality threshold, the tone for a client email), that’s a gap you’ll need to cover yourself.
3. Time it. Write down how long the draft took versus how long the task took you last month. That number is the whole business case.

Minutes 10 to 20: Grade the work

1. Did it find your three planted errors? All three is a pass. Two is “useful with review.” One or none, and it’s not ready for that task.
2. Compare it to your finished work. Same totals? Same conclusions? Anything it added that you missed? (This happens more than you’d think.)
3. Try one edge case. A missing statement, a negative balance, a client who ignored the first two emails. Good agents handle the messy version, not just the tidy one.
4. Check what it assumed. Tax rates, legal rules and thresholds should be entered and checked by you, not quietly built in. If it “knew” a rate, verify it.
5. Ask: would I send this? Read the client-facing parts out loud. If you’d be comfortable sending it after a light edit, it passed.

Five red flags

• It invents numbers instead of telling you something is missing.
• It wants your bank or software login to “make it easier.” Our agents never connect to anything; you stay in control of the data.
• It hard-codes tax rates or legal rules with no way to see or change them.
• It never shows its work. You should be able to see why it flagged what it flagged.
• It sounds sure about everything. Real work has judgment calls. A good agent marks them for you.

Decide where the human always stays

Even after an agent passes, pick your checkpoints in advance so nobody has to decide in the moment. A simple rule that works for most practices:

• A human always reviews anything with a dollar amount, anything a client will read, and anything that gets filed.
• The agent can run unreviewed on internal prep: checklists, first drafts of notes, follow-up schedules and to-do lists.
• Re-test every few months, and any time the agent, the law or your process changes.

Write those checkpoints down once. Now your team can use the agent with confidence instead of guessing how much to trust it.

A quick example

Say you test the Document Collection Chase Agent. Your fictional client is missing three documents, the deadline is in ten days and the client ignored your first email. A passing result gives you a ready-to-send email that lists exactly what’s missing, a firmer follow-up, a schedule for the next two weeks and phone talking points. You check the dates, change one sentence to sound like you, and you’re done. That’s a pass, and now you know exactly what to review every time.

Your scorecard

1. Found all three planted errors?
2. Matched (or beat) your finished work?
3. Handled the messy edge case?
4. No hidden rates, rules or logins?
5. Would you send it after a light edit?

Five yeses: put it to work, with your checkpoints. Three or four: use it with closer review. Fewer: try a different agent for that task.

Start FREE

• Claim a FREE AI agent and run this test on it: https://aiaccounting.legacysbc.com/claim-agent
• Join our FREE community and tell us how your test went: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1024923770013348
• See every bundle and the agents inside: https://aiaccounting.legacysbc.com/pro-bundles
• Want a second pair of eyes? Grab 15 minutes with me. No pitch, just your questions.

Your turn: what’s the first task you’d test an AI agent on? Tell us in the FREE community. Every agent we build works with any LLM (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot), so you can test with the one you already use.

Here’s to agents that earn their spot on the team, one test at a time.

Yvonne