Where this industry usually has AI opportunity
Start with work that repeats often, has a recognizable input and output, and can be reviewed before it affects a customer, candidate, client or financial record.
| Workflow | Why assess it | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Document intake | High-volume files need routing, naming and extraction. | Exception review. |
| Invoice & expense extraction | Structured fields can be captured from documents. | Validation before posting. |
| Client request follow-up | Recurring missing-document reminders consume time. | Human review for sensitive cases. |
| Workpaper preparation | First-pass summaries can reduce manual compilation. | Accountant owns conclusions. |
| Meeting follow-up | Actions and document requests recur across engagements. | Approve external messages. |
Prioritize repeated operational work, not novelty
Count how often the workflow occurs across the whole firm, how many people touch it, how long it takes, and how frequently exceptions appear. A modest improvement to a daily cross-team workflow is often worth more than an impressive demo used twice a month.
The best first pilot often removes the repetitive middle of a workflow while keeping judgement and irreversible actions human-controlled.
Example: invoice intake
The exact boundary should depend on the data available, error cost and approval requirements. Start narrow enough that quality can be measured against the current process.
What not to automate first
- Final tax, audit or accounting conclusions without qualified review.
- Automatic posting when source data is inconsistent or exceptions are common.
- Unbounded access to client financial systems.
- Using generative output as authoritative evidence.
- Automating client communications that carry regulatory or professional commitments.
How to start
Select one workflow that happens every week, measure its current frequency and duration, define the smallest useful AI-assisted step, and run the pilot with explicit approval and exception rules. Compare time, quality and rework after the pilot—not just model output quality.