AI accountants you can actually talk to: what an AI-native firm means for you

Most accounting firms now use some AI somewhere: a chatbot on the website, a tool that reads receipts, someone pasting questions into a public chat app. That is not what we mean by AI-native.

BPAG Accountants runs every part of the firm on one platform, Nagaris, built for Australian accounting firms. Your engagement, your ID check, your questions, your documents, your BAS, your meetings and our advice all live in one client file. AI drafts the routine work inside that file. A qualified accountant reviews it, fixes it where needed, and signs it off. Nothing goes to you or the ATO until a person has approved it.

This page explains what that means for you as a client, what you will notice day to day, where the limits are, and the questions people usually ask about privacy and accuracy.

What does "AI-native accounting firm" actually mean?

It means the firm was set up around AI from the start, rather than bolting tools onto old processes. In practice there are three differences.

1. One file, one platform. Everything about your relationship with us sits in one place: the engagement you signed, the questions we've asked, the photos you sent, the BAS workpaper, the notes from our last call. The AI can only be as useful as the information it can see, so we keep it all together.
2. AI drafts, people decide. Our AI agents prepare first drafts: a BAS workpaper, a research note on a CGT question, a reply to a routine tax question, a file note from a meeting. The draft is a starting point for a qualified accountant's review, never a substitute for it.
3. Every action is recorded. Every change is timestamped, so there is an audit trail of who did what and when, including who approved the AI's draft.

Our team is a mix of Chartered Accountants and CPA-qualified accountants, and BPAG is a registered tax agent bound by the Code of Professional Conduct under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009. None of that changes because a draft was prepared by software. The Tax Practitioners Board has published guidance on the use of artificial intelligence and the Code of Professional Conduct, and the principle is the one we already work to: the practitioner stays responsible for the work.

What will I notice as a client?

Less than you might expect, and that is the point. You won't be talking to a robot. You'll notice that things are easier to send, answers come back sooner, and you are rarely asked for the same thing twice.

If you want a person on the phone, ring your local office. That hasn't changed.

How does AI change the speed of my work?

The slow parts of accounting are rarely the thinking. They are the waiting: for a missing bank statement, for someone to find last year's file, for a reviewer to rebuild a number they don't trust. AI helps with each of those.

• Chasing paperwork. Questions go out by text or email with reminders that stop once you've answered. You don't get a 20-item list by email that sits unread.
• First drafts. A routine reply, a BAS workpaper or a year-end records request is drafted from your file in minutes instead of being started from a blank page. Our accountant then reviews it.
• Review. A BAS pre-lodgement check catches GST coding and label errors before a person looks at it, so the reviewer spends their time on judgement calls, not hunting.
• Research. On a technical question, a specialist agent prepares a structured first answer with the rules and sources. The accountant checks it against your facts and the law and decides what to tell you.

We won't promise a turnaround time on this page, because it depends on what you send us and how complicated your affairs are. What we can say is that the delays we hear about most, lost emails and work stuck with one person, are the ones this setup is built to remove.

Key point: AI makes the preparation faster. It doesn't make the review shorter. The review is the part you're paying for.

Does AI make my accounting cheaper?

Honest answer: it changes what you pay for more than how much.

We don't bill by the hour, so faster drafting doesn't mean a bigger bill for you or a smaller one by default. Our pricing is fixed: Compliance Essentials from $149 a week, Business Insights from $249 a week and Fractional CFO from $499 a week (all plus GST). What AI changes is how that fee is spent. Less of it goes on keying data, chasing documents and formatting letters. More of it goes on the work a senior accountant should be doing: reviewing your numbers, planning your tax before 30 June, and talking to you about cash flow, structure and growth.

If all you need is a simple individual tax return once a year, an AI-native firm may not change much for you, and a low-cost preparer may be all you need. Where it shows is in businesses with regular BAS, payroll, several entities or advisory needs, where the routine work is heavy and the time saved goes into advice.

Who checks the AI's work, and how?

A qualified accountant, every time. This is how it runs at BPAG.

1. The agent drafts. It works from what is already on your client file: your transactions, last year's return, your emails, the documents you've sent.
2. The draft waits for approval. Every change and every email the system prepares sits waiting until a person on our team approves it. It can't send, lodge or change anything on its own.
3. An accountant reviews. They check the facts against your situation, test the figures, and correct anything wrong or incomplete. For BAS work, every figure is traced back to the underlying transactions.
4. Sign-off and record. The accountant signs off. The action is timestamped, so there's a record of who approved what.
5. You get advice from a person. Anything that needs judgement, such as a structure decision, a tax position or an ATO matter, is explained to you by your accountant, not by the software.

The AI models themselves are tested too. Nagaris tests the major AI models on 112 Australian accounting questions and routes each question to the setup that does best, and publishes the results as the Nagaris AI Accounting Index. That is a useful check on quality. It is not a reason to skip the review, and we don't.

Where is my data stored, and who can see it?

Your client file is held in Nagaris, which stores client data in Australia on AWS Sydney servers. Nagaris is ISO 27001 certified, which is the international standard for information security management. Every action on your file is timestamped.

Within BPAG, your file is visible to the team that looks after you, so work continues when someone is on leave. Access and use are governed by our privacy policy.

Two honest points worth knowing:

• The AI models are provided by major AI labs. Nagaris states where your client data is stored. If the way AI providers handle data matters to you (it should), ask us and we'll walk you through what Nagaris publishes rather than give you a slogan. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's guidance on privacy and commercially available AI products is a sensible checklist for any firm you deal with.
• Using one platform is safer than using many. The bigger risk in most firms is client information scattered across personal inboxes, shared drives and free AI tools. Keeping everything in one secured system, with an audit trail, is the reason we work this way.

Our ID checks also support our anti-money laundering obligations. You can read how we approach those on our AML/CTF page.

What can't AI do in an accounting firm?

Quite a lot, and we'd rather tell you now.

AI also doesn't replace a solicitor or a licensed financial adviser. Legal documents such as wills and trust deeds are prepared by a solicitor, and financial product advice comes from an adviser with an Australian financial services licence. We brief them and work alongside them.

How is this different from a firm that just "uses AI tools"?

Mainly in where the AI sits and who controls it.

• Separate tools vs one file. A firm using a receipt app, a chat tool and an email inbox has your information in three places. Our agents work from one client file, so a draft reflects your whole history, not one email.
• Public chat tools vs controlled agents. Pasting your details into a public chatbot has obvious risks. Our agents run inside the practice platform, with approval steps and an audit trail.
• General answers vs Australian specialists. Our 80+ specialist agents were built for Australian accounting work: tax, super, state taxes, BAS, employment and client letters. They were tested on real client work at our own firm, where 54 of our people used Ask Nagaris nearly 2,000 times in two weeks. You can see the full list of our AI agents and what each does for you.

Is an AI-native accountant right for me?

It suits you well if:

• you run a business with regular BAS, payroll or several entities (company, trust, SMSF);
• you'd rather answer a quick text than log in to a portal;
• you've been frustrated by work stalling when your accountant is away;
• you want more time with a senior person on planning and less on chasing paperwork.

It matters less if your affairs are simple and you're happy with what you have. If you're comparing firms, our guide on how to choose an accountant has the questions worth asking any of them, including how they use AI and who reviews it.

What happens if I become a BPAG client?

1. Free strategy call. We look at what you have now and tell you plainly whether we're the right fit. If we're not, we'll tell you.
2. One engagement, signed on your phone. It covers every entity in your family group.
3. ID check. Through your bank (ConnectID) or a photo ID and selfie.
4. Handover. We collect your prior-year files and connect to Xero. If you're on another system, we can move you across to Xero.
5. Ongoing work. Questions come by text or email; drafts are prepared by our agents and reviewed and signed off by your accountant; advice comes from a person.

You can see what's included in each package on our accounting and bookkeeping services page, or talk to the office nearest you, such as our Sydney office on Clarence Street.

General information only, current as at 18 October 2026. It is not personal tax, legal or financial product advice and doesn't take your circumstances into account. Talk to us before you act. Where a recommendation needs a licensed financial adviser or a solicitor, we work alongside them.