Is there a ChatGPT for accounting?
Yes and no. General assistants like ChatGPT can draft emails, explain a standard and summarise a document, and accounting platforms are building similar assistants in. For an Australian practice, though, the real question is client data. The Tax Practitioners Board says entering client information into an AI tool can count as disclosing it to a third party, which needs the client's permission.
Updated
What a general assistant is good and bad at
It is good at language: first drafts, plain-English explanations, reformatting a messy list. It is bad at your books. It has no access to the ledger, can state a wrong treatment confidently, and keeps no record a reviewer could check. Treat its output as a draft from someone who has never seen the file.
The confidentiality line
The Code of Professional Conduct (Tax Agent Services Act 2009, s30-10(6)) says you must not disclose information about a client's affairs to a third party without the client's permission, unless you have a legal duty to. The TPB's July 2026 guidance on artificial intelligence applies that to AI. Depending on how a tool is configured and used, entering client information into it can be such a disclosure. The OAIC separately recommends that organisations don't enter personal information, particularly sensitive information, into publicly available generative AI tools.
What firms use instead
The firms getting value use AI that works inside their own systems, under their access controls, with a record of what it did. AgentConnect runs agents against the practice's own systems. Anything client-facing waits for an accountant's approval, and every action is logged. Whether client permission is still needed depends on your configuration and engagement terms, which is exactly the point the TPB guidance makes, so settle it before you start.
Go further
- AI for Accounting Firms: where AI lands in a practice, and the governance that comes with it.
Sources
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