AI as Your Advisory Co-Pilot: Turning Data into Client Conversations

Most of us went into accounting because we like getting the numbers right. We like making sense of messy information and explaining what actually happened. That part of the job still matters. Maybe more than ever.

What’s changing is what clients expect next. They can get information from anywhere. What they can’t always get is your judgment in plain language. But they desperately want someone who can look at the numbers and say, “Here’s what this means, and here are a few smart ways to respond.” So, the question becomes, how do we do more of that without adding more hours?

That’s where AI can help.

Why We Need an Advisory Co Pilot
Clients don’t experience their business as debits and credits. They more likely experience it as questions. Are we okay? What should we be worried about? Where is there opportunity we are not seeing?

We usually have the data that can answer those questions, but the conversation part takes prep. When time is tight, we fall back into explaining rules instead of helping a client see options.

An accounting advisory tech co-pilot helps with that prep. It helps you pull out the “so what,” put it into plain English, and walk into the meeting with a few good questions instead of a pile of technical points. We’re still the ones using judgement and reading the client. AI just makes it easier to show up ready to go.

Where the Stories Hide in Our Work
What if some of your best advisory conversations are already sitting inside your compliance work? We spend most of our time on returns, reporting and new rules, but inside that work are real stories about what might be possible for our clients.

Tip reporting is a good example. Most of the public conversation around “no tax on tips” has focused on employees. But there is also a huge employer opportunity: the FICA tip credit. As more tips are reported accurately, many restaurants and salons could be eligible for larger credits than they have historically claimed.

On paper, it’s a calculation. In real life, it’s a story:

• Something has changed.
• It might mean more cash for this business.
• There are choices to make about how to respond.

Tools like TipCalc can help structure the numbers. But it still takes a human to say, “Here is what this could mean for you.”

What It Looks Like in Real Life
One tax manager decided to take this approach for a test drive with a client. Advisory isn’t usually his lane, so he felt a little uncomfortable at first. But he ran the numbers in TipCalc, which is part of the Tip Credit in a Box, and used Navi as his AI co-pilot to shape the conversation and the follow-up.

It helped him prep a one-minute explanation of the credit and two questions he could actually say out loud. “Have you taken a look at the FICA tip credit recently?” and “If this credit is bigger than expected, what would that change for you this year?” After the meeting, it helped him draft the recap email. He edited it, sent it and the client left with clear next steps.

More importantly, he left that meeting feeling more confident. The next time a similar opportunity showed up in the work, he was more willing to bring it up because he had a simple way to lead the conversation.

How AI Supports the Team
What happened for that manager is not unique. Once we think of AI as an advisory co pilot, we can start using it in similar ways across the firm.

• For partners, the co-pilot can help shape the arc of a strategic conversation. It can bring up the key points to cover, anticipate likely concerns and produce a summary that the client can share with other decision-makers.
• For managers, it becomes a thought-partner for advisory check-ins. It can highlight key data points, suggest a few good questions and help present options for the client.
• For staff, it can be a practice ground. It can turn what they see in the data into draft explanations, suggest clarifying questions and build confidence before they ever step into a client meeting.

In each case, the human is still flying the plane. AI simply sits beside us, helping us see the story in the numbers and express it in a way clients can actually use.

Try It for Yourself
Tip credits are just one story. Your clients likely have dozens of them. The point is that the best advisory often starts with the compliance work you are already doing. When you can move from a calculation to a clear conversation, you stop delivering answers and start delivering value.

If you want a simple place to practice, try TipCalc. Then use Navi to help you tell the story: what’s happening, why it matters and what the client might do next. The more you practice, the more it becomes a natural part of how you lead.