AI for accounting firms: client data stays in the practice.

Accounting practices sit on exactly the data AI is best at: structured workpapers, ledgers, correspondence and years of engagement history. They also sit under confidentiality obligations that make pasting client information into cloud AI tools hard to defend. Ermos hardware puts the capability inside your practice, where the client data already lives. Our current unit is Dominion.

What your team does with it

Workpaper summarisation

Summarise and cross-check workpaper packs, flag inconsistencies between schedules, and draft review notes for the manager to verify.

Engagement letter drafting

Generate engagement letters and variations in your templates, scoped from the client file.

Tax research assistance

Interrogate your own knowledge base of past advice, positions taken and precedent letters; verify against primary sources before signing.

Client correspondence

Draft year-end letters, query lists and responses grounded in the client's actual file rather than boilerplate.

Prior-year continuity

Ask how a position was treated last year and why, with the answer cited to your own working papers.

Practice knowledge

New staff query the firm's collective knowledge instead of interrupting a partner: procedures, templates and past treatments.

The compliance frame, plainly

Confidentiality in an accounting practice is not a courtesy; it is codified. APES 110, the Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, imposes confidentiality obligations (section 114) on members in respect of client information. Registered tax and BAS agents carry parallel obligations under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 Code of Professional Conduct, including not disclosing client information to third parties without permission or legal duty. Whether sending client data to an offshore AI service is a "disclosure" is precisely the kind of question no practice wants to test. A no-egress unit removes the question: the data goes nowhere. For practices that run entirely in the cloud, Ermos Edge keeps the work hosted in Australia instead.

Most accounting firms already live in Microsoft 365, so the natural comparison is Copilot. Our Copilot comparison works the per-seat arithmetic at 20, 40 and 80 staff and covers, from Microsoft's own documentation, where Copilot processing actually happens.

Built for how a practice actually runs

Your Ermos unit is installed on your network and fully managed: monitoring, model updates and support included, with ErmosIQ tuning the models to your clients, your templates and your ways of working. Unlimited users on the unit, so seasonal staff cost nothing extra at year end.

The use case library

Process-level guides to running specific workflows on an Ermos unit, each on its own page. We add to this library as clients show us new ways they work.

Dominion is priced per unit, per month on a 12-month term, sized to your practice: unlimited users, no per-user licences, no usage charges. Exact pricing is confirmed in the scoping consultation.

Common questions

Can accountants put client data into ChatGPT?
APES 110 and the TPB code both restrict disclosure of client information to third parties. Whether a cloud AI service constitutes such a disclosure is contested territory, which is why many practices ban it and staff use it anyway. On-premise AI makes the productive path the compliant one.
We already have Copilot licences. Why add Dominion?
Copilot is strong for inbox and Office productivity. The unit is for work grounded in client files and the firm's own knowledge, held to the confidentiality standard your obligations require. Many practices run both; our Copilot comparison sets out the split honestly.
How does it handle year-end load?
Pricing is per unit with unlimited users, so seasonal staff and peak load do not change the bill. Larger practices add units.
Where does our data go?
Nowhere. Documents are indexed and queried on the unit in your office. Ermos monitors the hardware's health, never your files, and support sessions happen only when you initiate them.

See Dominion answering from your own documents.

A demonstration takes 30 minutes, uses no client data, and comes with no obligation.

Book a demo