AI coworker

An AI coworker for accountants

Partners and seniors in a small accountancy practice already know how to do the hard part: the judgement on the file. What fills the week is everything around it. A client who has not sent the bank statements. A reminder that has already gone once. An engagement letter still unsigned. Identity documents still outstanding, while a Self Assessment or quarterly update date keeps coming.

None of those messages is difficult. Together they are the bottleneck: unbillable time spent chasing, while the deadline does not move.

Lorework is an AI coworker for that work. It works through the web systems you already use, on its own computer. It takes on the repetitive admin, so your people can spend their time with clients.

Book a 30-minute demo

Year-end records chasing, as the professional guidance already describes it

ICAS practice guidance on tax computations and tax returns (last reviewed May 2026) sets out a familiar loop. An information-gathering request should go to the client on or shortly after 6 April, based on the previous year's return. When information arrives, relevant documents should be logged and checked, and anything missing requested immediately. The return is then prepared, reviewed, and sent to the client for approval and signature, with evidence of that approval retained. If the client does not respond within a reasonable time, a reminder should be sent. Only once the client has approved it should the return go to HMRC.

The same helpsheet is clear that, before any of that client work, the firm should have completed the required anti-money-laundering checks and have an up-to-date engagement letter in place.

That is not a software workflow. It is the practice's own process: a request, a log, a chase for what is missing, a reminder if the client goes quiet, and a further reminder if approval of the return itself does not come back. The bottleneck is the chase, not the computation.

Self Assessment deadlines do not wait for a complete file

For the 2025 to 2026 tax year (6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026), GOV.UK sets the dates HMRC must receive the return and any tax owed:

Paper returns: by 11:59pm on 31 October 2026.
Online returns: by 11:59pm on 31 January 2027.
Payment of the tax owed: by 11:59pm on 31 January 2027.
If the client wants the bill collected through a PAYE tax code: the online return must be in by 11:59pm on 30 December 2026.

Missing information does not move those dates. A practice that is still waiting on bank statements, dividend vouchers or a signed approval in January is doing the expensive version of a job the October request was meant to finish.

Making Tax Digital adds more touchpoints, not fewer

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to sole traders and landlords who are registered for Self Assessment, have self-employment or property income, and have qualifying income above the relevant threshold. Qualifying income is gross self-employment and property income, before expenses.

The staged start dates, from official HMRC guidance, are:

Qualifying income over £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year: from 6 April 2026.
Over £30,000 in 2025 to 2026: from 6 April 2027.
Over £20,000 in 2026 to 2027: from 6 April 2028.

Agents acting for those clients use compatible software to keep digital records and send quarterly updates, and still have a tax return to submit. HMRC's first-year timetable for standard update periods starting in April 2026 gives quarterly update deadlines of 7 August 2026, 7 November 2026, 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027. Those updates are summaries of income and expenses, not tax returns, and no tax is due when they are sent. The tax return for the 2026 to 2027 year is then due by 31 January 2028. Clients who are in Making Tax Digital still had to file the 2025 to 2026 Self Assessment return in the usual way by 31 January 2027.

For a practice, that is more dates to keep in view, and more reason to chase records before the quarter closes rather than after it. ICAS has also published practical commentary on quarterly-update readiness and the need for clients to be signed up and record-ready.

Engagement letters and client ID checks, before the work starts

Two further chases sit at the front of the file, and they are easy to let slip when the inbox is full of year-end work.

ICAS's engagement letters helpsheet (2026) treats the letter as the foundation of the engagement. A well-drafted letter should identify the client, the scope of the work and when it will be done, the firm's responsibilities and the client's, the terms, and the commercial arrangements including the fee. ICAS says members should try hard to agree an engagement letter for every professional assignment, and again when the scope changes. Documenting terms in writing is compulsory for statutory audit, and a sensible practice for other work.

On anti-money-laundering, ICAS guidance on customer due diligence says CDD measures should normally be completed before entering into a business relationship. That includes ascertaining and verifying the client's identity from independent and reliable sources. ICAS policies and procedures guidance requires firms to have AML policies and procedures, train relevant staff, and keep client identification evidence for five years from the end of the business relationship. ICAS has also been clear that Companies House identity verification is not a substitute for a firm's own CDD.

ICAS-supervised firms must also submit an annual AML declaration. The 2026 declaration was due by 31 May 2026. That is a firm-side deadline, separate from client-file chasing, but it is another date that has to be met every year.

The professional decisions — whether CDD is complete, whether the risk profile is acceptable, what the engagement covers — stay with the practice. The admin around them is the reminder that ID is still outstanding, or that the letter has not come back signed, before the file is allowed to start.

What an AI coworker does in an accountancy practice

People searching for an AI agent for accountants are often looking at two different things: tools that help with the accounting itself, and help with the admin that sits around each file. Lorework is the second of those.

Your team works with Lorework in chat. You can require approval before it writes or submits anything. Follow-ups, checks and reminders can run as scheduled, recurring tasks.

Typical starting bottlenecks in a practice are:

The April information-gathering request, and the chase for whatever is still missing.
Reminders where a client has not approved a return within a reasonable time.
Reminders ahead of a known Making Tax Digital quarterly update or a Self Assessment date.
Outstanding engagement letters or client ID, before work on the file starts.
Recurring checks, such as the Monday sweep of files that are still incomplete.

Lorework does not prepare returns, send Making Tax Digital updates, give tax advice, complete CDD, or make a professional judgement on a client's file. Those stay with the practice. It takes on the repetitive admin around that work.

How you teach it the way your firm works

You do not have to write a technical specification. Your team teaches Lorework your procedures and templates, in chat, the way you would brief a new starter — a records request, a reminder, a status update. You can ask it in chat, or set recurring work on a schedule.

For a wider guide to writing that briefing down, see How to teach AI how your business works.

It works in the web systems you already use, on its own computer. There is no need to rip out the practice systems you already run.

How a firm starts

Start with one routine job, such as a records-chasing loop or a deadline reminder, not a wholesale change of tools. Add the procedures and templates Lorework should follow. A 30-minute demo is enough to walk through that job and see how Lorework would take it on.

Book a 30-minute demo

Questions

What can an AI coworker do for an accountancy practice?

It takes on repetitive admin such as document chasing, client reminders and recurring checks, following the way your firm already works. Your team teaches it those processes by chat. It does not take over the accounting, the tax judgement, CDD decisions or the professional decisions on a file.

Can it do the tax work, file returns or send Making Tax Digital updates?

No. Lorework is for the admin around the file, not for preparing or filing returns, not for sending quarterly updates to HMRC, and not for tax, accounting or AML advice. Your firm remains responsible for that work.

Can it send client reminders without approval?

You decide. You can require approval before it writes or submits anything.

Does it replace accountants or bookkeepers?

No. It takes on the chase pile so your people can spend their time with clients, and on the work that needs a qualified person.

Do we need to change the practice software we already use?

No. It works in the web systems you already use.

How does a firm start?

Start with one routine job, such as a records-chasing loop or a deadline reminder, not a change of systems. A 30-minute demo is enough to walk through that job and see how Lorework would take it on.