I want to share a number that keeps me up at night as someone who works with professional services firms every day.
18% of accounting firms use zero automation tools in their workflow. Zero. Manual data entry. Manual reconciliations. Manual follow-ups. In 2025.
Here is what I have seen happen to those firms — not as a warning, but as a pattern I have watched play out with real practices:
Year 1: They are fine. Clients are sticky. The team is used to the process.
Year 2: A competitor two miles away deploys AI for client onboarding, monthly close, and AR follow-up. Their senior staff spend 60% less time on prep work. Billing rates go up. Margins expand.
Year 3: That competitor starts recruiting. The automated firm offers better tools, fewer late nights, and more interesting work. Your best junior associates leave. Not for more money — for a better environment.
Year 4: Client attrition. Not dramatic. Subtle. Two clients say "we found someone faster." One says "our new CPA had everything set up in a week."
I am not predicting catastrophe. I am describing what is already happening to the 18%.
The good news: the gap is still closeable. But the window is shrinking.
The accounting firms winning in 2025 are not necessarily the best accountants. They are the fastest operators.
If you are managing a 5–50 person CPA or accounting firm and want to see exactly where AI fits in your workflow — we built a free assessment specifically for accounting practices at srl-sasame.com.
No pitch. Just a clear picture of where your hours are going and what you can get back.
--- *Diego García | CMO, SaSame*