In early September, a sponsored post for Xero suggested business owners could stop paying an accountant and connect Xero to Claude AI instead. The UK influencer behind it said she had saved around £800 a month on management accounts.
Days later, Xero sent an automated analytics email straight to business users through Syft, rather than leaving advisers to talk clients through the figures. For many practices, it felt like a second attempt to go around them.
Xero removed the post and, on 10 September, its UK managing director Kate Hayward published a second apology. She said the messaging “didn’t reflect what I and we at Xero believe”, confirmed tighter controls over every influencer and affiliate relationship, and promised to be “more deliberate, more consistent, and more collaborative” with advisers.
Why it touched a nerve
The reaction was about more than one clumsy advert. Many accountants recommended Xero to their clients in the first place, so seeing the platform pay for a message telling those clients to drop us felt disloyal. It also said out loud something plenty of us have quietly wondered: will AI hollow out what we do?
I felt some of that irritation too. But after it passed, I found myself asking another question. If a chatbot can do it, was that ever the valuable part?
What the client was really buying
If that fee bought a monthly spreadsheet and little else, then technology should make it cheaper. That is good news for business owners, and accountants should welcome it rather than resist it.
Producing management accounts and giving management accounting advice are two different things. That is exactly why most of my clients work with me. They are not paying for a pile of documents. They pay for access to me, my expertise, and my time.
Think of it as a meal. The main dishes are what clients really come for:
- Peace of mind that nothing is being missed and deadlines are handled.
- Financial understanding, so the numbers make sense and decisions feel less like guesswork.
- Cash flow management and tax budgeting, so there are no nasty surprises when a bill lands.
The statutory accounts and tax returns are the side dishes. Essential, and done properly, but not the reason anyone sits down at the table.
Where an accountant adds real value
The better question for my profession is not “how do we protect our fees?” but “what can we do that a tool cannot?” For me, the answer looks like this:
- Looking ahead, not just back: Rolling cash flow forecasts show the pinch points months before they arrive, while there is still time to act.
- Tax planning that fits the person as well as the business: The right mix of salary, dividends and pension contributions, the timing of larger purchases, and claiming reliefs such as capital allowances where they genuinely apply.
- Plain English explanations: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax now covers sole traders and landlords with income over £50,000, and Companies House is phasing in identity checks for directors. Clients want someone to tell them what it means for them.
- Context for the numbers: Software can show that the margin has dropped. It takes a conversation to find out whether the cause is pricing, staffing, a supplier or one difficult client.
- A trusted sounding board: Before taking on staff, signing a lease, or talking to the bank, it helps to have someone who knows your figures and has seen other businesses face the same decision.
- Accountability. When HMRC asks questions, a qualified professional stands behind the work.
AI as an ally, not a rival
Ask an AI tool a simple tax question and the answer is sometimes acceptable. Push that into tax planning, restructuring or an unusual transaction and the gap between information and experience shows quickly.
I use cloud software and AI wherever it saves my clients time and money. The routine work gets faster, which frees more of my time for the conversations that move a business forward.
The advert got one thing right: nobody should pay a premium for work a machine can do. Where it went wrong was assuming that is all an accountant does.
If you are paying for deliverables and getting little else, it may be time for a different arrangement. Book some time with me, and let’s talk about what your numbers are really telling you.
