Open client requests
Open client requests are the documents and answers a firm has to obtain from the client before a file is complete, in practice the prepared-by-client list.
Bank statements
Invoices
The explanation behind an entry
The certified UBO extract that only the client can request
That work is necessary, it is rarely billable, and it comes back around the same periods every year.
The flow
As long as they are outstanding the file sits still, and someone at the office calls or emails to chase them.
01
File is missing documents
02
Requested from the client
03
Read and sorted
04
Ready for review
Pick your first automation
What would you hand over first?
Pick a task. You see straight away what is left lying around now, and what runs by itself on Monday morning.
Now
in the evening, by you
- You mail clients yourself about what is missing
- You keep a list of who delivered
- You mail again whoever stays quiet
Monday morning
runs by itself
- Every client gets their own request
- Whoever sends nothing gets a reminder by itself
- You only see who is still open
It only costs you half an hour. You see it work first, then you decide.
Examples, not custom work: in the call we look at your own process.
What it costs
At accounting firms the utilization rate, the share of hours that actually get billed, averages 73 percent and sits at 84 percent in the top quartile, at an average hourly rate of 105 euros.
In the example below we assume an employee going from 75 to 85 percent billable, so ten percentage points: slightly less than the jump from average to top quartile.
Example with assumptions
The idea: once people no longer do the chasing, those hours go to work that does reach an invoice.
€168,000
extra revenue per year, at ten employees
The result for an employee who goes from 75 to 85 percent billable (ten percentage points, slightly less than the jump from average to top quartile above): at 1,600 workable hours and an hourly rate of 105 euros, roughly 16,800 euros per employee per year. At ten employees that is 168,000 euros.
average hourly rate
workable hours
percent billable in this example
more billable hours
earlier month close
The source: Simplicate Accountancy Benchmark, third quarter of 2025, almost 400 firms of 5 to 120 FTE.
The assumption: it only works if there is work waiting to fill those hours, and not every firm gains ten percentage points. In the plan we calculate with your own figures, and we also say so when it does not add up.
For context
In a study by the Journal of Accountancy (August 2025, 277 accountants and transaction data from 79 firms), accountants using generative AI reported 21 percent more billable hours and closed the month 7.5 days earlier.
Those are their own figures in a study run with a software vendor, not a promise from us; it does show where the gain sits.
The plan is yours, even if that is where it ends.
Eight questions
These are the questions we ask in the first 30 minutes. You can also ask them yourself, to the people who do the work, not about them.
01
Where do you want the firm to be this year, and what has to happen to get there?
02
What has changed this year that is causing you trouble?
03
Is anything coming at you from outside this year that you have to act on, and exactly when?
04
Walk me through an ordinary week. What is the first thing that happens on Monday morning?
05
Which work comes back every week that nobody enjoys?
06
Say you are away for two weeks starting tomorrow. What grinds to a halt, and with whom?
07
What structurally keeps sitting there until it is too late?
08
What is the last thing people complain about at the office?
Anyone who answers these eight honestly ends up with a pile without a number.
We produce that number, with your own rate and staffing.
What already exists
Specific tools already exist for requesting documents.
Do you already work with these
Prepared by Client from Visionplanner
PinkWeb Uitvragen
Then requesting documents is probably not the process where the hours leak away.
Then we look at what sits next to it
The AML client intake (Wwft) and the UBO file at client acceptance
The internal handover between staff
The annual accounts that are finished and waiting for a final look
We say that in the 30 minutes, not only in the plan.
Who it's for
Not a fit
You are looking for a demo or a standalone chatbot.
You want to overhaul your entire process first.
The documents arrive complete, and nobody has to chase anything.
You already have someone whose job it is to build these systems and keep them running.
A fit
An accounting firm with 10 to 100 people, with no IT department to hand it to.
Open client requests sit with clients, and someone at the office chases them.
You don't want to overhaul the way you work, but you do want to know what that chasing costs you in billable hours.
You actually want this: someone on your team gets genuinely excited about doing work differently with AI and automation.
The professional judgment, the client contact and the signature stay with you. The chasing does not.
WinSphereAI and automation for firms and agencies with 10 to 100 people. First costed out, then built, then kept running.