AI in Action: Practical Use Cases from My CAS Firm

Read Time: 3:15 minutes

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Most of what you hear about AI in accounting sounds like hype: big promises about replacing staff or reinventing firms. However, within my CAS firm, the reality has been much more practical: AI is quietly becoming an assistant that clears routine work, allowing me and my team to focus on higher-value advisory conversations.

I’ve been layering AI into my CAS firm over the past year, starting with simple experiments and now testing more advanced use cases. Here’s how it’s working for us.

Upcoming Live Events that I will be at:

• The Kick C@$ Jam Sessions are for procrastinators to unite. A 55-minute weekly (Tuesdays at 2:30 PM CST) work sprint to knock out your “I’ll do it later” tasks in The Kick C@$ Community.

• All Things CAS Roundtable - Have you got a question, challenge, or idea about running and growing your CAS service? Join our live, unrecorded monthly roundtable in The Kick C@$ Community. A space to ask anything and hear what’s working (or not) from fellow CAS leaders in real time on the second Tuesday of every month at 3 PM CST.

• The CAS Quarterly Marketing Roundtable - Marketing a CAS firm isn’t one-size-fits-all. This live, unrecorded quarterly roundtable is your space to crowdsource ideas, check your strategy, and hear what’s moving the needle—from lead gen and niche positioning to referrals, content, and beyond. Join us on October 22nd at 1 PM CST in The Kick C@$ Community.

• Speaking at Intuit Connect on October 27th through October 29th.

Why CAS Firms Need AI Now

CAS is the future for firms that want to deepen client relationships and improve margins, but scaling it isn’t easy.

• Too much staff time is spent on routine tasks, such as drafting agendas or summarizing financials.

• Hiring is still a challenge. We can’t just throw more people at the problem.

• Most AI conversations in the industry feel vague, leaving firm leaders unsure where to start.

That’s why I’ve been testing AI in specific workflows. My goal is to see where it saves real time without sacrificing quality.

How I’m Using AI in My Firm

Marketing: Starting the Drafts for Me

By far the most significant use case so far has been marketing. I use AI as the starting point for drafting posts like this one and for social content. What used to take me hours now takes minutes. I still edit heavily to ensure it sounds like me, but AI helps me get past the blank page faster.

Auditing Itself: A Virtual Agency Approach

One of the biggest unlocks has been asking AI to audit itself. I’ll have one pass generate a first draft, then a second pass review it as an editor, then a third look at it as a strategist. It feels like moving a piece of content through an agency workflow, but it all happens in minutes. The quality improves, and I save hours compared to doing it manually.

Want to see more marketing real-world AI use cases?
Join us on September 17th at 1 PM CST inside the Kick C@$ Community, where Micky Deming, founder of Full Stadium Marketing, will walk us through how firms are using AI to accelerate marketing workflows.

Intuit’s Accounting Agent

As we discussed in the last issue, we’ve also started experimenting with Intuit’s Accounting Agent. My staff has found it to be a good starting point that shaves time off routine tasks. It isn’t perfect, but it’s been helpful as an “extra set of hands” in the background.

Client-specific Agent

The next piece I’m working on came from a conversation with Anderson Petergeorge of Quanto. He shared the idea of building individual agents for each client, which would be fed transcripts of past meetings, agendas, and financial information.

The vision is that these agents generate meeting agendas automatically, with routine talking points already included. That way, my team can spend more time ensuring the financial fluctuations make sense and thinking big-picture instead of spending prep time covering the basics. I see this as an unlock for scaling CAS, because it frees my staff to focus on where we add the most value.

My View: AI as an Entry Staff Member

The best way I can describe AI in our CAS workflows is as an entry-level staff member. It drafts, organizes, and summarizes, but it still needs review. Like any new hire, it gets routine work out of the way, allowing more senior people to focus on strategy and client conversations.

The firms that view AI not as a replacement, but as an assistant, are the ones going to find traction fastest.

Where I’m Headed Next

For me, AI is not about disruption. It’s about removing friction. Every time I find a workflow where AI clears routine tasks, I give my team more space to focus on delivering insights that matter.

If you’re curious where to start, here’s my challenge to you: pick one workflow this month: marketing drafts, meeting agendas, or financial summaries, and assign AI as your assistant. Track how many hours you save and what that time allows your staff to do differently.

The sooner you start experimenting, the sooner you’ll build an edge that compounds over time.

Thanks for reading, Luke Templin!

P.S. There are four ways I can help you grow your CAS offerings when you are ready:

1. Join my How to Start Offering Advisory Services Cohort.

2. Cannot wait until it starts? Check out the pre-recorded version here.

3. Join The Kick C@$ Community to grow your CAS offering alongside others doing the same.

4. Automated white-labeled financial digests for your clients with FinDaily.io