Over the past month, I’ve started to use AI tools such as ChatGPT more consistently across a number of areas within my day-to-day work.

This includes:

• Sense-checking accounting treatment
• Drafting and refining client emails, including building reusable templates for different client groups
• Capturing structured notes when reviewing areas such as VAT returns
• Sounding out ideas and approaches before firming them up

There hasn’t been a fundamental change in process, but there has been a noticeable improvement in efficiency.

More importantly, it has helped improve the quality of communication — clearer structure, tighter wording, and a consistent sense-check on spelling and phrasing.

For example, taking rough review notes from a VAT return and turning them into something structured and usable can now be done much more quickly than before.

Ground rules

To ensure this works properly in practice, I’ve set a number of clear ground rules:

• Client information is always anonymised before anything is shared
• Final judgement remains with me, particularly on technical matters
• Underlying reference points (for example, tax or company law) are checked rather than relying on a single output
• The tool is used to improve clarity and structure, not replace thinking — the ideas come from me
• Anything client-facing is fully reviewed and adjusted as required

It fits into the workflow rather than changing it.

It does not replace experience or judgement, but it does remove some of the friction from the day-to-day work and helps ensure outputs are clear, consistent and well structured.

This is still evolving, but it is already becoming a useful part of how work is delivered in practice.

Small changes, but they add up over time.

If you have any thoughts on this, or you’re using similar tools in your own work, I’d be interested to hear how you’re finding it. Feedback from clients and contacts is always useful as this continues to evolve.