Automation for bookkeeping & accounting firms
LighterDesk builds automations that request missing documents, key in PDFs and set up new clients, so your staff spend less of their week on busywork. Ongoing support is optional.
| Client | Document | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Alvarez Landscaping1099-NEC (3) | 1099-NEC (3) | Missing |
| Priya & Dev Shah1099-B, brokerage | 1099-B, brokerage | Missing |
| Northgate DentalDec bank statement | Dec bank statement | Missing |
| M. OkaforW-2, 2nd employer | W-2, 2nd employer | Missing |
| Blue Fern CaféPayroll summary Q4 | Payroll summary Q4 | Missing |
Where the hours go
Your team is trained to prepare returns and close books. Reminder emails, retyping statements and setting up new clients by hand take time away from that work.
Following up, again, for the statements and forms clients still owe you.
Keying figures from PDFs and statements into your books by hand.
Working through the same onboarding checklist for every new client.
Automations we start with
Each one is built to a scope and price we agree with you first, connected to the tools you already use where they allow it. We test it with you in review-only mode before anything goes live.
Keeps track of what each client still owes you and asks for it, politely and persistently.
Good fit: the same documents requested every season
Turns bank statements, receipts and invoices into categorised rows ready for review.
Good fit: regular statements keyed in by hand
Every new client gets the same complete setup without anyone working through a checklist by hand.
Good fit: a repeatable new-client checklist
Also built on request: overdue-invoice reminders, weekly work-in-progress reports to partners, inbox triage for the shared admin address.
How it works
A free 30-minute call where you walk us through your week and we look for work worth automating. Afterwards we follow up by email with what we found and, if there's a fit, a quote for the scope we agree.
Free · 30 min · no obligationWe connect your tools, set the rules with you and run the automation in review-only mode until you're happy with it.
Scope and timeline agreed firstIf you want, we monitor it, fix what breaks and adjust it as your firm changes. Scope and price are agreed separately.
OptionalPricing
Every firm's tools and workflows are different, so we quote after the workflow review. You see the scope and price, including any ongoing software costs, before any work begins.
A 30-minute call about where your staff time goes. No obligation to buy anything afterwards.
One automation or several working together. Scope, price and timeline are agreed in writing before we start.
Monitoring, fixes and changes after go‑live, if you want them. Scope and price are agreed separately.
Control
Automations here touch tax and financial records. These are the principles we build to. The specific safeguards for your firm are agreed in writing before any work begins.
Anything that emails a client, posts to the ledger or moves money waits for a person at your firm to approve it, until you decide otherwise.
We ask only for the access each automation needs, and agree it with you before connecting anything.
We design automations to record what came in, what they did and who approved it.
How your data is handled, and what happens to it if we stop working together, is agreed in writing before work begins.
Questions
Bookkeeping, accounting and tax practices with roughly 2 to 50 staff that handle recurring client work and don't have an in-house developer.
Firms we talk to use tools like QuickBooks Online, Xero, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and e‑signature apps. What we can connect depends on what each tool allows, so we check fit during the workflow review.
No. Where AI is used, it reads and sorts documents or drafts messages. People at your firm approve anything that goes out or touches the books.
We can agree a change freeze, for example from mid-February to April 15, so nothing shifts under you while you're busiest.
No. It's optional. If you want it, the scope, price and how either side can end it are agreed separately.
You can, and for some firms that's the right call. Someone still has to maintain it when an app changes. We build it and, if you want, keep it running.
Free workflow review
Tell us a little about your firm. We'll get back to you by email to arrange a free 30-minute call. Together we'll look at:
You sent one from this browser in the last 24 hours, so there's nothing more to do. We'll get back to you by email.
We'll get back to you by email to arrange your 30-minute workflow review. Reply to that email with anything you'd like us to look at first.
Privacy
This covers the workflow review form on this page.
Your work email, and if you give them, your name, firm name, staff size, biggest time sink and description. It also sends the time you took to fill it in and a hidden spam-check field.
The time we received it, the website it came from and your browser's user‑agent. The audit‑request table uses an IP-derived identifier for abuse prevention. Raw IP addresses and submitted form data may also be retained in technical execution logs.
Our automation software (n8n), running on a server hosted by Hostinger, checks the request and saves it in a database table there. A copy is emailed to hello@lighterdesk.com through Hostinger's email service. The software also keeps a history of each run, which can include what you sent.
Hostinger hosts this website, the form software and our email, so it processes this information on our behalf. Hosting servers may keep standard technical logs, including IP addresses.
After you send a request, this page saves a small marker in your browser's local storage, holding only the time you sent it, so it can tell you a request is already on its way if you come back. It is removed after 24 hours. This page sets no cookies and loads no analytics or advertising scripts.
Only to reply to you and arrange your workflow review. We don't sell it or add you to a mailing list.
Don't send tax documents, statements or client details through this form or by email at this stage. We'll agree a secure way to share anything we need.
Email hello@lighterdesk.com to ask what we hold about you or to ask us to delete it.