Everything is about the AI now. But are how people really using AI in 2026, to get the most value out of everyday use. AI is not making decisions for us but speeding up our thinking. The value is not necessarily intelligence, it is time saved and clarity gained. For your firm, the real opportunity is not preparing returns a little faster, it is deepening client relationships and growing the advisory side of the practice efficiently without adding more pressure to a busy practice. The ten prompts below are quick ways to start using AI in your practice now.
- Speed up the draft, not the decision. "Summarize these three years of returns and flag changes in income, deductions, and filing status worth a question this season." You make the call, AI clears the runway.
- Translate complexity into plain language. "Explain this underpayment penalty in two short paragraphs a client can follow." Clarity earns trust, and trust drives retention and referrals.
- Compress long client material. "Condense this email thread and these notes into a summary of open items I can act on." The reported everyday win is time saved and clarity gained.
- Standardize intake. "From this prior return, list the documents to expect this year and draft a request email." Earlier intake means a calmer season.
- Close the growth blindspot. "Here is an anonymized list of client types and revenue. Suggest which segments would gain most from quarterly planning services." A few points of organic growth lift firm value far more than any efficiency saving.
- Turn data into advisory conversations. "Based on this profit and loss statement, propose three planning questions to raise with the owner before year end." This is the shift from preparer to advisor that compounds over time.
- Make your marketing work harder. "Draft three versions of an email to small business clients introducing a tax planning package, each in a warm professional tone." Firms in the research saw real lift from campaigns that AI helped generate and test.
- Strengthen retention. "Suggest a simple all year touchpoint plan to keep clients engaged between filings." Relationship depth is the kind of growth competitors cannot easily copy.
- Use AI as a sparring partner, not a genie. "Poke holes in my reasoning on this client's entity choice and tell me what I may have missed." AI is a mirror. Treat it as one.
- Guard against thinkslop. Give every research summary, citation, and client message your own run first, then your final judgment. AI can speed your thinking, it cannot own your professional responsibility, or your license.
The firms that pull ahead will not be the ones that quietly prepare returns faster. They will be the ones that use the hours AI returns to ask sharper questions, advise more deeply, and grow. Efficiency keeps the lights on. Growth is what you do with the time you get back.
Dr. Christine Gervais is a licensed CPA, using her skills to help businesses grow and achieve their fullest potential. Christine has a Master’s degree in accounting from Southern New Hampshire University in addition to holding her CPA license for over a decade. Notably, Christine is a nationally recognized speaker providing education to other CPAs on how to best serve clients as well as instruction on a wide variety of topics for business owners on how to maximize success. Christine prides herself on the value she can bring to clients with her extensive tax knowledge and provides strategic, forward-thinking financial strategies to help clients grow. When not behind her desk, you can find Christine spending quality time with her daughter and stepson or tending to the family’s excessively loved farm animals.
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