For accounting and CPA firms

Automate year-end file preparation

Move from client books to a review-ready file with less fetching, matching, re-keying and hunting for support.

We build and run the automation alongside the working-paper and tax software you already use. AI reads and drafts. Deterministic software calculates and reconciles. Your accountants keep every judgment call.

Book a 25-minute intro call See the flow
Explore: The flow Area by area What we don't do Your systems FAQ

Most of a year-end file is preparation, not accounting

A compilation or year-end engagement has a small core of professional judgment wrapped in a large amount of mechanical work. Somebody imports the trial balance and checks it balances. Somebody maps the accounts that are new this year and checks the rest still land in the right place. Somebody ties the balances to statements, rolls forward the schedules, and keys the same numbers into working papers and then into tax software.

That work is done by expensive, trained people during the busiest part of the year. It is also repetitive, rule-bound and full of information that already exists somewhere else in the file.

The opportunity is not to let AI make accounting decisions. It is to automate the preparation around those decisions so preparers spend their time on exceptions and managers spend theirs on review.

This page covers the preparation itself. Getting the documents in (collecting, chasing and sorting them) comes first, and it's on our accounting firms page.

From client books to a review-ready file

Six stages. Stages marked with a gate are where a preparer, manager or partner makes the call.

Inputs

Client books (QuickBooks Online, Xero, spreadsheets)Sorted client documentsPrior-year file and context
  1. 1

    Documents and books in

    Client documents arrive already split, classified and filed by the collect, chase and sort steps. The trial balance comes in from QuickBooks Online, Xero or a spreadsheet.

    AI sorts documents; software imports the books

  2. 2 Human gate

    Trial balance checked and mapped

    The export is balance-checked and compared with last year. Accounts mapped last year keep their mapping; new and renamed accounts get a suggestion.

    Rules first, AI suggests, preparer confirms

  3. 3

    Tie-outs and roll-forward checks

    Bank, loan, AR and AP balances tied to statements and support. Opening balances checked against last year's closing. Every difference carried as a number with a source.

    Software ties out and records provenance

  4. 4 Human gate

    Schedules and proposed entries

    Prepaids, accruals, amortization and loan schedules calculated, with proposed adjusting entries and their support attached.

    Software calculates; preparer approves entries

  5. 5 Human gate

    Explanations and questions

    Variances explained from ledger activity. Anything that didn't tie, map or reconcile becomes an exception, and client questions are drafted in one batch.

    AI drafts; preparer edits and decides

  6. 6 Human gate

    Review package and handoff

    A file where every number has a source and the open judgment calls come first. Checked figures then move toward your working-paper and tax software.

    Manager and partner review and sign

Outputs

Review-ready file with provenance on every figureException and question listChecked data for your working-paper and tax software

What gets prepared, area by area

The flow is the same for every file. This is where it gets specific: what the automation prepares in each part of the balance sheet, and what stays your call. Your firm's procedures decide the details.

Bank and cash

Automated

  • Tie the ledger balance to the year-end statement balance
  • Identify outstanding items and calculate the difference, not estimate it
  • Check cutoff around the year-end date
  • Record the statement, page and line each figure came from

Your call

How to treat unexplained differences and stale items.

AR, AP and subsequent activity

Automated

  • Compare sub-ledger totals to the control accounts
  • Match subsequent receipts and payments to year-end balances
  • Flag old balances, credits and items with no subsequent activity

Your call

Whether an allowance is needed, and what to do about old balances.

Prepaids and accruals

Automated

  • Calculate prepaid balances from invoices and coverage periods
  • Build accrual support from post year-end invoices and recurring costs
  • Carry the calculation, source and difference into the working paper

Your call

Which accruals are worth booking.

Fixed assets and amortization

Automated

  • Roll forward the continuity schedule: openings, additions, disposals, closings
  • Pull additions and disposals from the ledger with the supporting invoices
  • Run amortization and capital-cost calculations using the rates and policies the firm sets

Your call

Capitalization decisions, useful lives, classes and rates. We apply the firm's policy; we don't interpret tax law.

Loans and interest

Automated

  • Tie loan balances to lender statements
  • Recalculate interest for the period and compare with the ledger
  • Split current and long-term portions from the repayment schedule

Your call

Covenant questions, classification, and anything the statement doesn't explain.

Shareholder and tax-support schedules

Automated

  • Assemble shareholder loan and related-party activity from the ledger
  • Prepare the supporting schedules the tax preparer needs, with sources attached
  • Check the figures agree across the books, the working papers and the tax input

Your call

Tax positions and treatment. The automation prepares inputs; it doesn't take tax positions.

Every prepared figure carries its source

The point of a working paper is not the tickmarks. It is that a reviewer can get from any amount back to its source and the calculation behind it. The automation records that trail as data, for every figure it prepares.

A reviewer opens an item and sees the amount, the source document, where in that document it came from, the related ledger balance, the difference, the calculation, the draft explanation, any open question and who has reviewed it. Nothing is hidden in a cell comment.

Read: working paper automation and the evidence trail

Working paper item

Bank balance, operating account

Awaiting preparer
Amount (GL)
148,212.40
Source document
Bank statement, period ending year end
Locator
Page 3, closing balance line
Statement balance
151,412.40
Difference
3,200.00
Calculation
Statement less two outstanding cheques
Draft explanation
Cheques #4412 and #4415 cleared after year end
Open question
Confirm #4415 is not stale

Illustrative item. Figures are examples, not client data.

What this is not

Four things a partner will want to hear before anyone gets excited about AI in a file.

We don't replace your working-paper or tax software

CaseWare, TaxCycle and CCH iFirm stay your systems of record. We prepare what goes into them, use the imports and exports CaseWare and CCH iFirm support, and work alongside TaxCycle. We don't have native connectors for any of them, and we won't claim we do.

We don't replace professional review

The output is a better-prepared file, not a signed one. Accounting treatment, tax positions, adjusting entries and client conversations stay with your preparers, managers and partners.

We don't let AI do the arithmetic

Language models read, classify, extract and draft. Every calculation, tie-out and rule check is deterministic code, logged, with the source of each figure recorded.

We don't sell a packaged product

This is custom automation, built around your firm's files and systems after discovery, then operated and improved as a managed service. Practices differ; the build reflects yours.

The full split of work between AI, software and accountants is on the accounting firms page.

Built around the systems your firm already runs

Where a system has an API, we use it. Where it only imports and exports files, we work from the files. Nothing gets replaced to make the automation possible.

Practice management and documents

Financial Cents, SharePoint and OneDrive, Microsoft 365 and Outlook, client portals and email intake

Client bookkeeping and capture

QuickBooks Online, Xero, Dext, Sage 50, client spreadsheets and CSV exports

Working papers and tax

CaseWare Working Papers, Jazzit, TaxCycle, CCH iFirm and Intuit Pro Tax

What clients send

PDF bank and loan statements, scanned receipts and invoices, tax slips, Excel schedules, prior-year files

Don't see your tool? If it has an API, an export or an inbox, we can probably work with it.

How the engagement works

Not a subscription to a product. A managed service built around your process, priced in the open.

  1. Discovery Sprint

    We learn how your firm actually prepares a file

    A paid, fixed-price deep dive ($3,000 to $5,000 CAD) with the people who prepare and review engagements. We walk through real files and the systems involved, and you leave with a prioritized roadmap and build plan.

    Pricing and discovery

  2. Build

    We build the first step around your systems

    We usually recommend starting with the document side, then trial balance import and mapping. Fixed price, no hourly billing, 60 days of monitoring included. You see the output next to a file prepared by hand before it touches more clients.

  3. Operate

    We host, monitor and maintain it

    Managed Automation starts at $1,000 a month. The team that built it runs it. When a bookkeeping export changes shape or a client adds accounts, that is our problem to handle, not a ticket for your IT person.

    Managed Automation

  4. Improve

    We expand it season by season

    Each year-end teaches the rules something. Exceptions that keep recurring become automated steps. Firms that want a roadmap rather than a series of projects can add senior automation leadership.

    Fractional Chief Automation Officer

Year-end file preparation automation FAQ

The questions partners and managers ask first

What does "year-end file preparation automation" actually mean?
Automating the mechanical work between receiving a client's books and handing a manager a review-ready file: importing and checking the trial balance, mapping new accounts, tying balances to statements and support, rolling forward schedules, running calculations, drafting variance explanations and questions, and preparing data for working-paper and tax software. Professional judgment, review and client conversations stay with the firm.
CaseWare already carries our mappings forward. What is left to automate?
Less than people assume, but what is left is the fiddly part. Map numbers carry forward, so accounts that haven't changed are fine. The work is in the exceptions: new and renamed accounts, clients who changed bookkeeping systems or charts of accounts, files with no prior-year history, and checking that opening balances roll forward cleanly. Tie-outs, schedules and review preparation sit on top of that.
Does this work with CaseWare, TaxCycle or CCH iFirm?
Alongside them, not inside them. They stay your record for working papers and tax. The automation prepares checked data and support upstream, moves it toward CaseWare and CCH iFirm through the import and export options they provide, and prepares figures for your team to bring into TaxCycle. If a deeper integration is worth building for your firm, we assess it and scope it honestly.
Will AI be making accounting or tax decisions?
No. AI is used to read documents, classify them, extract facts, summarize ledger activity and draft text. Calculations, reconciliations and rule checks are deterministic software. Decisions about treatment, adjusting entries and tax positions are made by your professionals. The system surfaces exceptions; it does not resolve them on its own.
Our compilation files are not all the same. Can automation cope with that?
Yes, because we are not selling a template. Discovery starts with how your firm actually prepares files. The consistent mechanics (balancing, mapping, tie-outs, provenance) are automated, client-specific rules are configured, and anything that does not fit a rule goes to a person as an exception.
How do reviewers know where a number came from?
Every prepared figure carries its source document, a page or row locator, the related ledger balance, the calculated difference, the calculation used and any explanation or open question. That provenance is recorded as data, not as colour conventions in a spreadsheet, so a reviewer can trace any amount back to its source.
Where does client data live?
We map where data goes during discovery and document it before anything is deployed. Client data can stay in Canadian data centres when your firm requires it, and we can run AI models through private endpoints in a Canadian cloud region, on our infrastructure or yours, depending on what your firm needs.
How do we start without betting the whole year-end on it?
Start with a free 25-minute intro call. If there's a fit, a paid Discovery Sprint ($3,000 to $5,000 CAD) maps how your files move and picks the first step. That step is built at a fixed price, run on a handful of engagements with your team watching, and compared with files prepared by hand before it goes further.
Is this only for Canadian firms?
This page is written for Canadian public accounting firms doing compilation and year-end work. The preparation mechanics are similar elsewhere, and DigitalStaff works with clients in the United States as well.

Related reading: compilation engagements under CSRS 4200, requirement by requirement, what is still manual in trial balance mapping, and bank statement extraction for the PDF-only clients.

Start with a 25-minute call

Tell us what your year-end looks like and which tools you run. We'll tell you honestly whether automation would help, and if it would, what a Discovery Sprint would cover.

Book a 25-minute intro call See pricing

Fixed-price builds, no hourly billing  •  Client data can stay in Canada  •  Your accountants keep the judgment calls