Demystifying AI agents for accountants – Everything you need to know

We’re increasingly seeing AI agents natively integrated into business platforms. A 2025 Gartner analysis predicted that a third (33%) of enterprise software platforms will include agentic AI by 2028, up from one percent in 2024.[1]

A good example of natively integrated agentic AI is Microsoft Copilot 365, which embeds AI agents into apps like Excel and Outlook. There’s also our Microsoft OpenAI-powered agent Access Evo, which comes built in to our all-in-one cloud native suite, Access Accountants Evo.

This integration of AI agents into software is seeing the technology rapidly adopted by Australian businesses. An Adobe survey found that adoption grew by 50% amongst 1,000 surveyed Australian businesses between March and June 2025 alone.[2]

Worldwide, Gartner predicts that AI agents will perform 15% of daily work decisions by 2028, up from zero percent in 2024.[3] 

Why are businesses adopting agentic AI?

Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, accounting firms have rapidly adopted generative AI tools. A 2025 Karbon study revealed that 64% of Australian accountants are using AI to write emails and guide their writing, while 41% are using it to automate their workflows.[4]

Standard generative AI tools, however, come with limitations. Because they’re not connected to your client records or internal systems, tools like ChatGPT can’t perform tax-related tasks specific to your clients. That is, unless you upload client data to the tool, which comes with obvious data security risks.

How agentic AI goes beyond standard AI tools

Agentic AI, on the other hand, is often integrated into your software and can access data from your internal systems, using it in a privately hosted environment to ensure it’s not shared with anyone.

For instance, Access Evo can access data from your accounting platforms, CRM or payroll software, to name a few sources, as well as from external sources like the ATO or Fair Work Commission.

Contextual data like this allows AI agents to automate workflows in the background without your input. It understands the objectives of your role, independently performs tasks in alignment with these, while monitoring and adjusting its own progress as your firm, its clients and external factors like ATO rules evolve.

But security must be paramount when dealing with sensitive tax, client and practice data. Powered by Microsoft OpenAI and ISO 42001 certified for responsible artificial intelligence management, Access Evo ensures no one outside your organisation will see the prompts, queries or information you input. We keep each customer’s information independently confidential and secure, unlike open AI models, where any information you input or ask it to reformat will be used to inform their models and will therefore be available to others to view.

So, how can AI agents help firms simplify accounting tasks and cut out manual, time-consuming processes? Let’s look at a few practical examples.

1. Quickly find out about tax changes 

One way AI agents work in the background without your input is by monitoring regulatory changes.

Access Evo, for instance, automatically tracks updates from the ATO and Fair Work Commission, and provides real-time, contextual explanations when rules change. This allows you to ask simple, natural language questions about tax changes, as shown in the video below.

2. Get instant answers to complex, client-specific questions

Because AI agents like Access Evo have access to all your client data, including their financial, tax and payroll information, you can get answers to complex accounting questions. You can take a look at the short video below to see what kinds of questions you can ask.

3. Easily find overdue lodgments and client documents

With agentic AI like Access Evo, you can quickly check which clients have overdue lodgements without sifting through their data, files and the ATO website. All you have to do is ask which clients are overdue, and you’ll get an answer straight away, as seen in the video below.

Access Evo also makes finding client documents effortless, regardless of where they’re stored in your internal systems. It automatically processes PDFs and static files into structured, AI-ready formats, so you can search based on content, not just file names.

This means you can quickly surface documents with natural language queries like:

●        “Locate [client name]’s signed engagement letter from 2023.”

●        “Do we have a copy of [client name]’s payroll summary for March?”

●        “Show me [client name]’s BAS lodgment confirmation for Q2 last year.”

4. Stay on top of practice risks

From outdated policies to regulatory changes, firm-wide risks can easily go unnoticed. Because AI agents can access your firm-wide data, anyone in your team can easily ask questions that could help them proactively minimise risks, as shown in the video below.

Here’s how AI agents like Access Evo help you overcome the three most common hurdles faced by accounting practices.

1. Your data isn’t AI-ready

One of the biggest hurdles to adopting AI is unstructured and siloed data. This is particularly a problem for accounting firms, who typically have data stored in numerous software platforms, PDFs and spreadsheets. Some of this data is often duplicated, which can cause inconsistent and inaccurate AI outputs.

Getting this data AI-ready can require considerable manual work, either by your team or external IT specialists. This process is however eliminated with agentic AI platforms like Access Evo, which can automatically consolidate and convert your data into structured, AI-ready information.

2. Data security concerns

This is understandably a huge concern for accountants given the data privacy requirements of the Privacy Act 1988, the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 and the APES 110 Code of Ethics.

One way to ensure data security is to use an AI solution that’s privately hosted. Access Evo is privately hosted by us, which means none of your data is used in public OpenAI systems.

The solution is also backed by enterprise-grade Microsoft security and our commitment to responsible AI, as evidenced by ISO 42001 certification for responsible artificial intelligence management. Access Evo only accesses data based on existing software permissions and controls, and keeps your use of your AI confidential.

3. Unintegrated systems and app sprawl

Many firms use a variety of niche apps that each solve a single problem like invoice coding, document summarisation or meeting transcription.

But this patchwork approach can cause fragmented and duplicated data, while overlapping functionality leads to redundant costs. When AI tools and platforms don’t speak to each other, insights are trapped in silos.

Accounting software with natively embedded agentic AI, like Access Accountants Evo, solves this with an integrated approach. The solution brings all your core systems together – tax, compliance, reporting, advisory and automation – into a unified, AI-powered platform.

Instead of stitching together partial insights from multiple apps, you get one centralised AI-powered dashboard with a complete view of each client’s financial health, and driven by your entire data ecosystem.

If you’re ready to explore how agentic AI could work in your firm, Access Accountants Evo delivers Microsoft OpenAI capabilities natively integrated into your accounting workflows.

From answering complex tax questions to surfacing insights and automating admin, Access Accountants Evo is designed to help you work faster, smarter and more securely. And with Access hosting your AI environment privately, your data stays protected and compliant from day one.

Discover more about this powerful, all-in-one tax, advisory, reporting and compliance solution and how it can help your firm enhance efficiency with AI.