Imagine a business owner looking for a new accounting firm. They’re expanding into multiple states, considering acquisition and need more than just tax prep.
A few years ago, they might have asked a colleague for a referral, searched Google, visited several firm websites and scheduled a few introductory conversations. Today, they might ask ChatGPT, “What accounting firms specialize in helping mid-sized businesses navigate mergers and acquisitions, tax strategy and multistate expansion?”
Within seconds, they receive a list of firms, explanations of their specialties and recommendations about which ones might be the best fit. Would your firm make that list? And if it did, would AI accurately explain why a prospective client should choose you?
That’s a different challenge than getting your website to rank on Google’s first page. And the accounting profession needs to start taking it seriously.
Your reputation has a digital interpreter
Accounting firms spent decades building reputations through relationships, referrals, technical expertise and exceptional client service. Those fundamentals haven’t changed. But how prospective clients discover and evaluate that expertise changed. Traditional search engines help people find information. AI-powered search experiences go a step further, pulling information from multiple sources, comparing options and generating recommendations based on a user’s specific needs.
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Instead of searching for “CPA firm near me,” a prospective client describes their business, industry, challenges and goals and asks AI which firms might be best equipped to help.
So you might have an incredible team of professionals who specialize in a particular industry or service and have decades of experience helping clients solve complex challenges. But if your digital presence doesn’t clearly communicate that expertise, AI won’t recognize it when evaluating firms for a recommendation. And that’s a potential business development challenge.
Being found isn’t the same as being recommended
For years, firms invested in search engine optimization (SEO) to increase website visibility, attract traffic and generate leads. A technically sound website, relevant content and a strong digital presence are still important foundations. But visibility alone no longer tells the whole story.
You can publish dozens of articles without being recommended for the services you want to grow. If another firm with a smaller digital footprint clearly communicates its industry specialization and client experience, AI recommends it in response to a specific buyer question.
Of course, AI recommendations aren’t always accurate or consistent. Different platforms can generate different answers, and even the same question can produce different results over time. That’s why firms need to understand what these systems say about their businesses, rather than assuming established reputations automatically translate into AI visibility.
What does AI know about your firm?
In conversations with marketing and growth leaders across the accounting profession, firms clearly recognize that AI is changing how prospective clients discover and evaluate their services. But understanding what to do about it is another challenge entirely.
We’ve spent years thinking about how to get our firms found online. Now we need to ask what AI knows about our firms, and whether that information is strong enough to earn a recommendation.
Before we can influence how AI represents our expertise, we need to understand what it’s already saying about us.
Try opening ChatGPT or another AI platform and ask it to describe your firm, its service offerings, and what makes it different. Here are a few questions to try:
- What industries does our firm specialize in?
- What types of clients would benefit most from working with us?
- What differentiates our firm from our competitors?
- Which accounting firms would you recommend for a business facing a specific challenge in our area of expertise?
- Why might a prospective client choose one of our competitors instead of us?
Pay attention to more than whether your firm appears in the response. Is the information accurate? Does it reflect your current capabilities? Does it recognize your areas of specialization and your strongest competitive advantages?
And perhaps most importantly, does it describe the firm you’re trying to become?
If your firm invests in expanding advisory services, building an industry niche, or attracting a different client profile, how you communicate your expertise to the market should reflect those priorities.
If AI describes your firm primarily through legacy services or outdated positioning, it shows a disconnect between your growth strategy and your digital presence.
The expertise gap
Accounting firms have deep expertise. Your partners understand industry challenges, identify emerging risks and help business owners navigate complicated decisions every day. But how much of that expertise is visible on your firm’s website?
Does your advisory services page explain the specific business problems your team helps solve? Do your industry pages demonstrate a meaningful understanding of the clients you serve? Are there case studies, examples, expert perspectives and other credible evidence supporting your firm’s claims?
Or does your website rely on familiar phrases about personalized service, trusted relationships and comprehensive solutions? Those qualities aren’t wrong. But when nearly every firm makes similar claims, it’s tough for prospective clients (and AI) to identify meaningful differences.
Before you publish more content, make the expertise you already possess easier to discover, understand and evaluate. That means bringing marketing, business development and your firm’s subject matter experts together to answer the questions prospective clients ask. It also means backing claims with credible evidence instead of expecting someone to take your word.
Client success stories, clearly defined specializations, professional credentials, original insights and consistent information across reputable external sources help build a clear picture of your firm’s capabilities. They won’t guarantee an AI recommendation, but together, they strengthen how your firm communicates its value to people and the systems those people use to research potential providers.
Five questions to ask right now
Here are five questions to bring to your next leadership meeting.
- Do we know how AI describes our firm? Start testing. Use multiple AI platforms and realistic questions your ideal clients might ask. Look for patterns, inaccuracies and missing information.
- Does AI recommend us for the services and industries we want to grow? Focus on the specific services, specializations and client challenges that align with your firm’s growth strategy.
- Can prospective clients find credible evidence of our expertise? Review your digital presence. Demonstrate what makes your firm different rather than simply saying you’re different. There’s a big difference.
- Are marketing and business development aligned with the firm’s growth strategy? Your marketing team needs to understand where the firm is going. Positioning, content and digital investments should support those priorities.
- How will we measure progress? Track whether your firm is mentioned, recommended and described accurately across a consistent set of buyer questions. Look for trends over time rather than drawing conclusions from a single AI response.
The goal is to understand where your digital reputation supports your firm’s growth strategy and where there’s room to improve.
Your next referral might not come from a person
Relationships and personal referrals still play an important role in business development. Trust is fundamental to our work, and technology won’t replace judgment. But AI is another way prospective clients research their options.
Clearly articulating who you serve, what problems you solve and why your experience makes you a credible choice is more than a marketing adjustment. You must align the reputation you’re building, the growth opportunities you’re pursuing, and the information available to prospective clients.
Your next client may ask AI who to hire. Will AI have enough credible information to explain why your firm deserves to be considered?
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Heather Robinson is the marketing manager and a facilitator with Boomer Consulting.
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