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Speed up month-end close with AI for transaction coding, quick research, client emails and Excel formulas

who The accounting team at Shay CPA, a New York accounting firm for tech startups, on the firm's own blog

The problem

Month-end close is slowed down by dozens of small speed bumps: uncategorized transactions, unclear client questions, one-off accounting treatments and the time it takes to turn messy notes into reviewer-ready work.

What happened

Staff say automated coding saves a lot of time they would otherwise spend coding transactions manually and leaves more time for reconciliations, accruals and variance review. On formulas, one says some work instantly and some need a little tweaking. Self-reported; no hour counts are given.

Quoted in the source: Shay CPA staff, on the firm's blog. Source: Shay CPA blog: How ShayCPA Uses AI to Speed Up Month-End Close (2026-05-20) · Added 2026-10-21.

How to set it up yourself

1. What Shay CPA's team does: AI handles first-pass transaction coding and flags unusual items, answers quick research questions on accounting treatment and filing requirements as a starting point, polishes client emails and app how-tos, and writes Excel formulas for workfiles; the accountants make every decision.
2. Start with formulas, the easiest win. Open the workfile, write down in one sentence what the column should do and which columns hold the inputs, and paste the prompt below into ChatGPT with sample rows that contain no client names or account numbers.
3. Paste the formula into a copy of the workfile first and check it against five rows you've already worked out by hand, including a blank and an odd one. Keep it only when every test row matches.
4. Use the same chat for research questions during close ("what's the treatment for {TRANSACTION}?"), but ask for the source to check, and confirm the answer in the standard or the agency's own site before it goes in a workpaper.

Copy-paste prompt

I'm building an Excel workfile for month-end close. Goal for column {COLUMN LETTER}: {WHAT IT SHOULD DO, e.g. flag any vendor paid twice within 30 days}. The inputs are in columns {INPUT COLUMNS} starting at row {FIRST ROW}, with headers {HEADERS}. Here are 5 sample rows with names removed: {SAMPLE ROWS}. Give me one formula I can paste into {FIRST CELL} and fill down, explain each part in one line, say what it returns for each sample row, and tell me what would break it (blanks, text in number columns, dates stored as text). Don't calculate any totals for me; the spreadsheet does the math.

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