Accountants don't need more tools - they need capacity. That's where AI is starting to help.

If you read the AFR's latest Top 100 Accounting Firms coverage, a few things jump out straight away: firms are busy and stretched; good people are hard to hire and harder to keep; and clients want faster answers and clearer advice.

None of that will surprise anyone working in an Australian firm right now.

For years, the answer has been to add more people, add more apps, or send more work offshore. That's helped a bit, but it hasn't fixed the core problem - there's still too much work and not enough time. This is where AI is starting to make a real difference. Not as a magic solution, but as a quiet extra set of hands in the background.

The real problem: not enough hours in the day

What we're hearing from partners and managers aligns with the AFR Top 100 Accounting Firms article — and it leads straight into the familiar pressures: inboxes are overflowing; reviews take longer than they should; seniors spend time answering the same internal questions; and important client work gets squeezed around compliance deadlines.

It's not that this work isn't valuable – it's that too much of it is repetitive, manual, and hard to delegate. AI can't fix everything, but it can take a decent chunk of that work and make it faster, easier, and more consistent.

How accounting firms are actually using AI

Annecdotally and accordinng to the artcile, the most valuable AI for accounting firms today is straightforward and practical. It delivers clear benefits in areas such as:

Tidying up communication
Turning long email chains and attachments into a short summary with "here's what this is about" and "here's what we need to do next".
Helping with first drafts
Drafting a starting point for emails, workpapers, file notes, letters and advice – so the reviewer can edit instead of starting from scratch.
Making sense of documents
Pulling out key details from financials, agreements or client documents so the team doesn't have to read every single line.

The big shift is that AI is becoming a natural part of how work gets done. Previously, it just felt like an extra platform to log into and an annoying extra step.

Why we built Dojo for accounting firms

There are plenty of general AI tools out there. The problem is, they don't really fit how accounting firms work specifically, or the risks they carry.

We created Dojo because we've been hearing:

"We don't want staff pasting client data into random tools."
"We need a clear record of what AI did and who used it."
"We want something that understands our kind of work, not just generic questions."

So Dojo is built with a few simple principles:

It's designed around accounting work
Things like engagement letters, workpaper notes, reconciliations and client emails aren't "edge cases" for us – they're the main event.
It fits into what you already use
The goal isn't to give your team yet another system. It's to let them use AI alongside the tools and documents they already work in.
It respects firm risk and quality
We care a lot about where data lives, what's logged, and how partners can see what role AI played in a piece of work. Our platform leaves an "AI trail" so you're not guessing.
It supports people, it doesn't replace them
We're not trying to replace accountants. We want to free them up from low value grind so they can spend more time on judgement, conversations and advice.

Where accounting firms are getting value right now

Here are a few practical ways we're seeing Dojo make a meaningful difference across everyday accounting processes.

1. Clearing the noise in email and tasks

Teams are using Dojo to summarise long email threads into a few key points; suggest a clear, plain English reply (that a manager can quickly edit and send); and turn messy notes into a simple task list. This doesn't remove the need for judgement, but it saves a lot of mental energy and time.

2. Making reviews and documentation easier

Dojo helps draft file notes and explanations for common issues; tidy up workpaper narratives so they're clearer and more consistent; and give juniors a better idea of what "good" documentation looks like. Our clients are saying that the work is still theirs, but it feels more consistent and takes less time to clean up.

3. Sharing knowledge more widely

Every firm has a few people everyone goes to with tricky questions. AI can't replace that experience, but it can capture good answers and approaches as you go; make them easier to reuse across the team; and reduce the stream of basic questions landing on senior staff every day. Over time, this builds a more reliable base of knowledge inside the firm.

What "good" AI adoption looks like

The firms that are getting AI to stick are doing a few things well:

They pick a couple of clear use cases and start there.
For example: "let's focus on email + workpapers" rather than trying to do everything at once.
They involve partners early.
To shape how AI fits with quality, risk and client promises.
They involve key employees early.
To determine where AI can assist in their everyday work
They explain the "why" to the team.
People need to know AI is there to help them, not to monitor them or put their jobs at risk.
They measure real outcomes.
Time saved, less rework, quicker responses, happier staff. The use in-bult analytics to monitor this.

At AI Dojo, we support this entire AI journey for accouting firms. From determining which specific business areas to target: to which tools would are most useful for this firm: to regular trainings: to providing in-platform usage analytics.

Looking ahead: We're optimistic!

The AFR Top 100 Accounting Firms article is a reminder that all accounting firms are competing for good clients, good employees and a sustainable way to grow.

AI won't decide who wins. But used well, it can create breathing room in busy teams; shorten turnaround times; make complex things easier for clients to understand; and give partners more time to think and plan.

At AI Dojo, we're optimistic because we're already seeing this play out in the following ways: firms getting through peak periods with less burnout; younger staff getting better support and examples; and partners spending more time on relationships instead of inbox triage.

This is the type of future we're building for with AI Dojo: a future where accountants can focus on the work that really matters.

If you're not sure where to start

If you've read the AFR coverage and thought: "We know we should be doing more with AI, but we're not sure what that actually looks like." .... you're not the only one.

We spend a lot of time making sure firms have a simple AI starting point in Dojo: a couple of clear processes, sensible guardrails, and an easy way to see if it's actually helping.

If you'd like to see what that looks like in your own firm, you can now jump straight in with a free trial of Dojo, invite a few team members, and test it on your own real work. You can try it in your own time.