Success Story – Accounting & Financial Services

Regional Accounting Firm Finds More Time for Advisory Work

Who Are They?

A 22-person accounting firm serving small and mid-size businesses was growing steadily, but each tax season brought the same challenge: staff spent an estimated 40-50% of peak-season hours on document intake, data extraction, and report formatting rather than the advisory
conversations clients value most. A 2024 McKinsey survey of CFOs found 85% expect AI to generate insights that reduce the need for manual analysis.[3]

The Situation

Client documents arrived in inconsistent formats. Prior-year variance analysis was completed manually for each engagement. Client status updates were drafted individually by each preparer. Billing narratives required 2-3 hours per partner each week. The bottlenecks were predictable but had always been deferred until after busy season.

The Engagement

Kyber Security spent two weeks mapping document flow, reporting cycles, and decision-making workflows — identifying both automation opportunities and places where AI analysis could surface insights the firm was currently missing. Key opportunities identified:

Client documents arrived in mixed formats, requiring manual sorting before processing could begin
Year-over-year variance summaries were compiled manually on every engagement, taking 1-2 hours per return
Client status communications had no consistent process; each preparer drafted updates independently
Billing narratives were assembled from individual time entries, consuming significant partner time

Kyber Insight was configured to automatically classify and extract data from incoming documents. An AI-assisted reporting layer was built to draft variance summaries as starting points for staff review. A communication engine standardized client updates. Billing narratives were generated from time records for partner review — reducing assembly time while preserving full partner oversight.

Up to ~40%

Faster financial reporting & close

McKinsey, 2024 [1]

~7.5 days

Reduced monthly close time (avg.)

MIT/Stanford, 2024 [2]

71%

Finance AI adopters reporting
productivity gains

McKinsey CFO Survey [3]

8.5%

Work time shifted to higher-value
tasks

MIT/Stanford, 2024 [2]

Published research benchmarks. Results vary by organization and scope.

We were skeptical that AI could fit into the specific way we work. Kyber Security took the time to understand our processes before building anything. The first tax season with Kyber Insight was the most manageable we have had, and our staff noticed the difference immediately.
Managing Partner (representative scenario)

Key Outcome

The shift firms describe most is not efficiency — it is strategic capacity. When AI handles document intake and drafts first-pass variance analysis, accountants stop being processors and start being advisors. Thomson Reuters projects a combined $32 billion annual U.S. impact
for the legal and accounting sectors from AI adoption, driven by time redirected toward higher-value work.[4] For most firms that value surfaces first in stronger client conversations — and over time, in deeper relationships and expanded advisory revenue.

Sources

[1] McKinsey State of AI 2024: Financial reporting & close up to ~40% faster with AI.
[2] MIT Sloan/Stanford 2024: AI-assisted accountants cut ~7.5 days from monthly close; shifted 8.5% of time to higher-value work.
[3] McKinsey CFO Survey 2024 (n=126): 71% of finance AI adopters report improved productivity; 85% expect AI to reduce manual analysis.
[4] Thomson Reuters Future of Professionals 2025 (n=2,275): ~240 hrs/yr freed per legal professional; avg. value ~$19,000/professional.