Advisory is a top priority for the profession, and for good reason. In fact, the 2025 Intuit QuickBooks Accountant Technology Survey found that 79% of accountants expect demand for strategic advisory work to surge, and advisory work is projected to grow by 38% in the next year.
The message is clear: compliance alone won’t secure your future. But there’s one big barrier: time. AI agents can change that. They free up capacity, surface actionable insights, and create space. But what exactly are AI agents, and how are they different from the AI tools you may already be using?
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What Are AI Agents?
ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are great tools, but they require a lot of handholding. You have to prompt these tools, verify responses, and hope updates don’t disrupt your workflow. AI agents turn the tables by offering autonomous assistants that are built with domain context and are action-oriented.
For example, your agent may:
- Reconcile transactions
- Surface anomalies
Like any good team member, these agents learn and improve over time. That means, the more you use them, the smarter and more tailored they become to your workflows.
Depending on what software you utilize, you may already have access to agents. For example, if you’re a QuickBooks user, check out their Bank Feed and Accounting Agent. These agents are designed with the functionality to take an uploaded bank statement, extract transactions and then compare them to what’s already in your feed to verify them.
QuickBooks is also embedding agentic capabilities into Payroll and Payments to catch errors earlier and surface cash flow insights automatically, freeing up capacity for higher-value work.
Many firms are already applying AI-powered workflows to boost efficiency and create space for advisory conversations. Kelly Rohrs, CPA, shared, “We don’t use any agents yet, but we use software like ChatGPT, notetakers, Fyxer, and Keeper, which sit on top of QuickBooks Online and check for anomalies.”
Her experience reflects a broader trend: firms layering in lightweight AI tools to flag issues earlier and lay the foundation for more advanced agentic capabilities and deep advisory conversations.
Automation is one thing, but agentic AI moves beyond the basics of automation and into decision support. You stay in control, but you can get more done, faster, which makes the shift to advisory far more achievable.
How AI Agents Enable the Shift to Advisory
Your time is at a premium. Accountants report spending 40 to 45 hours a week in the office, but busy seasons often demand 60-70+ hours a week. Adding advisory services means either working longer hours (and risking burnout) or freeing up time for higher-value tasks.
AI agents make the latter possible by handling repetitive but essential work. For example, you can introduce a payroll or payment agent that reminds employees to submit data, corrects errors, and enters information into the right fields.
You can review the data before processing, ensuring accuracy and timely payroll. These agents also flag anomalies, reducing manual work and error risk.
The time you save can be redirected to client conversations and advisory work.
AI Agents Surface Insights
Automation is only as valuable as the data that it produces. Agents go beyond adding data for you to review; they also surface insights to reduce the risk of errors and spot anomalies. Your agent may take your bank feed and:
- Spot irregularities in the data
- Suggest categorizations based on historical data
Insights reduce your workload by reviewing the data for you. If data needs closer review, these transactions are highlighted so that you know what tasks deserve your immediate attention.
Accountants who use AI agents to surface insights enter meetings with actionable, timely information that clients want from their accountant. You can also use this data to reach out to clients proactively when something looks off with their numbers.
Your conversations become easier when you choose the right AI agents to support you.
AI Agents Support Advisory Conversations
Time spent just getting conversations started with clients can often prevent firms from moving into advisory. True advisory work means spotting opportunities and risks and then providing a clear blueprint for moving forward.
AI agents make this easier by suggesting practical next steps, such as:
- Identifying cash flow opportunities
- Proactive tax strategies
- Scenario planning
Imagine using a finance agent that analyzes a client’s financial data to pinpoint how you can keep the client on track to reach their goals, highlights variances and creates forecasts, all while you focus on other high-value tasks.
Agents provide the critical nudge and support that firms need to make advisory services a core offering.
AI Agents Assist, Not Replace, Accountants
In my work with firms, I’ve seen that succeeding as a strategic advisor with AI requires a fundamental mindset shift. One must realize AI isn’t here to replace you, but to assist and enhance what you and your team can do. It can be helpful to think of it like a new hire, and ask, “What do I need it to achieve?”
Your agents extend your professional capacity rather than diminish your expertise.
Accountants still need to bring human skills to the table:
- Empathy
- Interpretation
- Trust-building
Firms that integrate AI agents will scale into advisory faster than those that overlook this opportunity. Accountants who lean on these tools will become even more valuable to the firms they work for.
Overcoming Challenges
Of course, you can’t expect to make this shift to leveraging AI overnight.
The most common challenges I see are resistance to change, uncertainty about where to begin, and a tendency to underestimate the cultural shift required within the firm.
My advice is to start with a single, well-defined use case, such as automating bank reconciliations and use that as a proof point. Once teams see the efficiency gains firsthand, adoption often grows organically.
Accounting is Moving Beyond Compliance, and You Must Follow
AI agents help firms move beyond compliance faster and with greater success. You can make the leap more tangible by using agents that free up time, surface insights and guide advisory conversations.
Accountants who embrace AI agents will future-proof their roles as strategic advisors.
For firms that feel hesitant about stepping into advisory, my advice is simple: start small, but start. Pick one process to transform with agents, free up that time, and reinvest it in deeper client conversations. You don’t need to have it all figured out on day one; however, staying still isn’t an option if you want to stay relevant.
Your choices today reduce your risk of being left behind while allowing you to focus on high-value work that more clients are starting to demand.
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Katie Thomas, CPA is a 40 under 40 CPA Practice Advisor recipient, Top 50 Women in Accounting recipient, and the owner of Leaders Online, where they help accounting and B2A (business to accounting) professionals increase their impact, influence, and income through thought leadership and digital marketing.
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