By Josh Chapel, Founder and CEO of Mana Accounting and Advisory
Our firm has a focused niche of serving startups and law firms by acting as their in-house finance team. From bookkeeping and payroll to bill pay and tax, we take a holistic approach to client finances—always with the goal of delivering actionable insights, not just numbers. As the firm grew, the tools we were using couldn’t keep pace. QuickBooks and Zoho could handle the basics, but often left our team buried in manual work, including:
- Creating and managing transaction rules
- Categorizing line items one by one
- Cleaning up messy historical data
Reporting was another pain point. Clients wanted clear takeaways–what to do with the numbers–not just templated spreadsheets.
The fact is our team wasn’t struggling with complex work—they were stuck in time-consuming, repetitive tasks. Cleanups dragged on. Categorization required constant manual input. Onboarding new clients slowed everything down, and clients wanted better answers, faster.
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Onboarding new clients often came with another layer of added friction: Each setup meant chasing credentials, hand-holding through every step, and wasting valuable time before any real work could begin.
I’ve always been an early believer in AI’s potential and have been following Digits long before it became available to accounting firms. Once Digits became available to accounting firms, it felt like a perfect match. Do your own diligence and find a system that works best for your firm.
With an AI-enhanced firm management system, clients who don’t yet have an accounting platform in place, we now recommend exploring AI-enhanced firm management platforms. They can help set clients up faster and ensure they benefit from AI-driven accuracy and automation from day one.
Impact and Results
Now that our firm has embraced AI firm management, cleanups that took hours now take minutes. Transactions come in already categorized, no rule-building required – and clients can connect their accounts without hand-holding. Plus, client reporting finally looks and feels as sharp as the insights inside it. The AI platform quickly became a time-saver and confidence booster for our small but growing team.
First, however, we realized immediate and concrete improvements in efficiency.
Efficiency Gains:
- Cleanups that used to take entire afternoons now take minutes.
- PDF bank statements are uploaded directly into our system for instant processing.
- Accurate AI-driven categorization out of the box. No rule-building required.
- It saves us up to five hours per client project, freeing our firm’s team to focus on higher-value work.
Second, the platform was easy to use, so there was no time-consuming training for our staff.
Easy Adoption: With only three team members, simplicity was key. For us, Digits delivered.
- Staff described the platform as intuitive, modern, and far less intimidating than legacy tools
- Minimal training was needed—the team quickly gained confidence and consistency across clients
Third, we improved our client experience.
Better Client Experience: Client onboarding is now fast and friction-free. With just an invitation and a few clicks, new clients connect their accounts without needing extra guidance.
- No more credential-chasing or setup delays
- Clients receive beautiful, interactive dashboards with smart charts and widgets—now enhanced by AI-driven automation for even faster insights
Most importantly, using an AI client and firm management system has freed our professional staff to focus on conversations and insights instead of just getting accurate numbers.
AI is the driving force reshaping the profession. Tools like Digits will reduce tedious manual work, pushing accountants toward higher-value analysis and strategy. For us, that means expanding our advisory services—even for base clients—by providing deeper insights alongside accurate numbers. This is the future of accounting.
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Tags: Artificial Intelligence, artificial intelligence and accounting, artificial intelligence and accounting firms, artificial intelligence and business expenses, artificial intelligence and compliance, artificial intelligence and firm management, artificial intelligence and pricing, artificial intelligence and small business, client onboarding, Firm Management
