The problem
Staff lose time reading back through long client threads before they can answer, then typing the same status updates and requests for missing items. If each of 4 staff spends 45 minutes a day on it, that's 3 hours a day, about 63 hours a month over 21 working days.
What the AI does
Karbon is practice management software for accounting firms with shared email built in. Its AI drafts and refines emails from a prompt, suggests quick replies, drafts an email from a task to report progress, and summarizes long email threads or a whole client into a short brief. Karbon says the firm's data stays within Karbon and isn't used to train AI models. Staff read and edit every draft, and anything that states a tax position is written or approved by a CPA, as IRS Circular 230's due diligence standards expect.
A worked example
A four-person CPA firm in Minneapolis serves about 150 business and individual clients and already runs its email and workflow in Karbon. Staff start using the thread summaries before replying and the AI drafts for routine updates and document requests.
Before
About 45 minutes a day each on reading threads and routine replies: 63 hours a month
After
About 35 minutes a day each: 49 hours a month
What it's worth
About $560£421€501A$808C$792 a month saved, against a $236£177€211A$341C$334 cost. That's 14 hours (10 minutes a day x 4 staff x 21 days) at an assumed $40£30€36A$58C$57 for a staff accountant hour. The cost is 4 Team seats at $59£44€53A$85C$83 billed annually, or $316£238€283A$456C$447 at $79£59€71A$114C$112 billed monthly. A firm already on Karbon pays nothing extra: Karbon says its AI is currently included in paid plans.
How to set it up
- Check that AI is turned on in the firm's settings; administrators can switch it off for the whole firm.
- Use the email summary before replying to any thread longer than a few messages, and check it against the latest email.
- Save the drafts that work as templates for the replies you send most: missing documents, return status, payment reminders.
- Set a rule: a CPA approves any email that gives tax advice or states a figure, deadline or position.
- Record Karbon and its AI in the firm's written information security plan (IRS Publication 5708).
What goes wrong
- An AI draft can get a figure, date or form name wrong with confidence. The sender checks every fact before sending.
- Karbon says its AI is included at no extra cost for now and that it will give notice of any price change. Budget for that possibility.
- The Team plan doesn't include automatic client reminders; those start on Business at $89£67€80A$128C$126 a user a month billed annually.
- Monthly billing is only offered to teams of 4 or more, so a smaller firm has to commit to a year.