Accountants
Direct answer
Accountant and bookkeeper guides are about checked figures arriving from a client, not about a bot filing the return. Receipt rows and PDF data entry stay in a sheet until a person accepts them. A Monday digest can list what is waiting. The statutory record and the submission stay in software you already trust.
Small practices and bookkeepers who want clients to arrive with checked figures, not a chat transcript.
These guides do not replace bookkeeping software or a qualified accountant. They stop the Sunday-night photo pile and the "did we chase that invoice" question.
If you give a client the receipt playbook, tell them the model is a typist. You still review the rows. Do not connect a client's chatbot to their ledger with write access because a guide said it was possible.
Playbooks that fit
- Weekly admin digestn8n2–3 hours the first timeabout £0 licence if self-hosted, or about £17 for Cloud Starter/mo
A Monday admin digest with n8n
Use n8n to email you one Monday morning note: unread mail that needs a reply, the week's calendar, and invoices you have marked overdue. It is a reminder, not a manager. Start on n8n Cloud if you do not want to host a server. Not live-tested yet.
- Automate invoice chasingMake1–2 hours if the built-in reminder is not enoughabout £0, or about £7 if you outgrow the free plan/mo
Chase overdue invoices with Make drafts
Turn on the reminder feature inside the accounting software you already pay for. If that wording is too blunt, use Make to create Gmail drafts for overdue invoices and send them yourself. Do not let an automation mark invoices paid. This has not been live-tested.
- Data entry from PDFs and formsClaudeAbout an hour for the sheet, then a file at a time£0 to try, or about £15 for Pro monthly/mo
Data entry from PDFs and forms with Claude
Data entry from a PDF or a form is a row you check, not a file the model files. Claude can read the page into a sheet. If a figure is unclear, the cell stays blank and the original stays attached. The row is not your statutory record. Nothing here has been live-tested.
- Weekly client reportClaudeOne sitting to write the instructions, then the Friday you already report£0, or about £13 and £15 at the planning rate/mo
Draft a weekly client report in Claude
Draft a weekly client report by pasting figures you already trust into Claude and sending the prose yourself. On 25 October 2026 Free was $0, and Pro was $17 a month billed annually at $200 up front or $20 monthly, before tax. The model must not invent a number. This has not been live-tested.
- Automate email triageChatGPT45–90 minutesabout £0–£15/mo
Email triage for a small Gmail inbox with ChatGPT
Use Gmail labels and filters to sort a small inbox, then a ChatGPT Project to draft replies you still send yourself. It fits a sole trader under about fifty messages a day. Do not give the agent permission to send. This setup has not been timed in a live test.
- Receipts into bookkeepingClaude30 minutes to set up, then about half an hour a weekabout £0–£15/mo
Turn receipt photos into checked bookkeeping rows
Photograph each receipt and, once a week, ask Claude to read the date, supplier, and amounts into a row you check before typing it into your bookkeeping software. Always check the VAT. Do not give an agent write access. This has not been live-tested.
Questions
Can clients send receipts straight to an agent?
They can send photos to you. You decide what is pasted into a model. Do not give a client a public bot that stores their documents without a written arrangement.
Does this replace bookkeeping software?
No. Xero, FreeAgent, and the rest remain the ledger if that is what you use. These guides prepare a list. They do not post journals.
What should I tell a client about AI?
That a person checks the row, and that their documents are not used to train a public model if you have turned that setting off. The privacy note on the playbook is the longer version.