By now, you’ve probably heard a lot about AI. You may be wondering whether we use it at True North Accounting, how we use it and what it means for your information.
At True North, transparency is a big part of how we work. And it’s one of the reasons why we built TNA Hub. We want our clients to have a clear view of their information and how we’re working with it.
So, we want to be open about how AI fits into our practice, where we use it, where we don’t and why.
At True North Accounting, we don’t charge clients for tax returns or a month of bookkeeping.
We offer our clients a solution: to keep the CRA off your back and help you minimize taxes.
A lot goes into this solution, but the benefit our clients feel is peace of mind that your business is meeting its CRA obligations. It means having a CPA who understands your business, your history and your goals. And it means having someone to call when something unexpected happens and you’re not sure what to do next.
That’s where having an accountant makes a difference. It's more than tax returns. It’s having someone who knows your business when a crisis hits or a CRA mail shows up in your inbox.
Software can process information, identify patterns and make some tasks faster. It can’t pick up the phone and talk through a complicated situation with you.
That’s the value of the relationship you have with your accountant.
Generative AI is good at predicting what comes next based on patterns in the information it has been trained on.
It’s similar to autocomplete on your phone. Your phone can predict the next word in a text message, but you wouldn’t hand it to your phone halfway through a conversation and say, “You can take it from here.”
AI is similar. It can be useful, but it doesn’t understand your business or know whether an answer is right.
These systems learn from huge amounts of information available on the internet. And yes, that includes Reddit. There’s good information on Reddit. There’s also sarcasm, outdated information, bad advice and people who are very confident about things they probably shouldn’t be confident about.
We think of AI more like an intern than a co-pilot. An intern can research, organize information and identify something worth looking at. But you review their work, provide context and make the final decision.
That’s how we approach AI.
Another thing to note: AI is only as useful as the information it has to work with.
AI is also only as useful as the information it has to work with. If your financial data is incomplete, inconsistent or poorly structured, AI doesn’t fix that. It’s the classic “garbage in, garbage out” problem.
Your data is the fuel, so making sure that data is accurate, organized and understood is still a big part of what accountants do. It’s one of the reasons why we built TNA Hub.
We do not use AI to prepare your bookkeeping or tax returns.
Our work isn’t heavily automated. We work with entrepreneurs with information that rarely arrives in a perfectly standardized format. Every business is also different.
Information might come through a system, email, spreadsheet, PDF or conversation. Making sense of this information requires judgement.
Quality matters too much for us to hand that responsibility to a machine. We also don’t offshore our accounting work. The people working on your business are local Canadian professionals who understand the Canadian tax and business environment.
We can’t simply automate how we collect information from clients, either. We need to recognize when something doesn’t look right, follow up when information is missing and ask questions based on what we know about your business.
Security is also critical. We’re careful about what information goes into any AI system. Your financial information is sensitive, and protecting it is part of our responsibility to you.
We use AI where it can help us serve you better.
AI can identify unusual patterns in financial information and flag them for our team to investigate. It doesn’t decide that something is wrong.
This gives us more time to focus on the things that deserve our attention.
AI can help organize tax research, summarize CRA positions and surface potential issues for our accountants to investigate.
We verify the information and apply our professional judgement. This helps us spend less time digging through information and more time thinking about what it means for your situation.
AI can help turn documents into structured, usable information. Less manual work means more time for analysis and client service.
AI can help prepare meeting agendas, organize notes and draft communications.
The goal isn’t to have AI communicate with you. It’s to make sure your accountant comes to a meeting prepared and leaves with a clear understanding of what needs to happen next.
Financial statements contain a lot of information, but spreadsheets don’t always tell the whole story.
AI can help us create clearer summaries, charts and visuals so we can explain what’s happening in your business more effectively.
Over time, we build up a picture of your business through your financial history, goals, industry, previous conversations and the things that matter to you as a business owner.
AI gives us new ways to organize and synthesize that information so we can come to conversations better prepared.
That’s where we see the real opportunity. Not simply doing the same work faster, but doing things we couldn’t realistically do before.
Our bigger goal isn’t efficiency for efficiency’s sake. It’s being more client-centric.
We know clients want three things from their accountant:
AI can help us deliver on all three, but only when it’s combined with human judgement.
That’s the thinking behind TNA Hub. Your information should be visible to you, managed properly by us and used to help us serve you better.
Technology should make the relationship better, not replace it.
We know technology will change. We expect it.
What won’t change is our role as your accounting partner.
We know your history. We understand your business. And when something goes sideways and there isn’t an obvious answer, we’re here to help you figure it out.
Professional accounting isn’t just about knowing the rules. It’s about applying judgement when the rules aren’t straightforward, when CRA guidance is unclear, when a situation is unusual or when the stakes are high.
AI can help us research a problem, organize information and spot things worth investigating. We’re the ones who decide what it means for you and your business.
We’ll continue adapting to new tools, a changing tax landscape and what our clients actually need. That adaptability is part of what you’re paying us for.
We want to be on the same page with our clients about your finances, your goals and how we work together.
AI is a tool in our hands. It isn't a replacement for the relationship we have with you.
We’re using it carefully and deliberately where it can help us do a better job for our clients. We’re not using it to replace the judgement, experience or human connection that make a good accountant valuable.
If you want to talk about what we’re doing with your data, your files or our process, ask us. The conversation is always open.
Want to learn more about TNA Hub or talk to your accountant about how we work? Get in touch with True North Accounting.
Read more about corporate tax and other topics that can help you manage your Canadian small business.