Give your accountants and attorneys back six hours a week.
Northgate runs a 90-day AI Operations Sprint for accounting and law firms with 20 to 150 staff. I find where billable time leaks into admin, rebuild three workflows with the AI tools you already license, and stay 30 days after training to make sure they hold.
Four firms per quarter. That's the real limit, because I run every audit interview myself. Q4 starts the week of October 5, and two slots are still open.
- 90 days
- Audit, rebuild, train, hold steady
- $18k to $28k
- Fixed fee, set before we start
- 0
- New software you need to buy
| Task | Who | Hrs / wk | Billable | Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chasing clients for missing documents | Staff accts (14) | 52.0 | No | Sprint |
| Re-keying bank and card statements | Associates (9) | 47.5 | Partly | Sprint |
| Writing up meeting notes to the file | Client-facing (26) | 39.0 | No | Sprint |
| “Where is my return?” emails | Admin (3) | 35.5 | No | Later |
| Reformatting workpapers for review | Seniors (8) | 34.0 | Partly | Later |
| Drafting engagement letter renewals | Managers (6) | 21.5 | No | Keep |
| Top six leaks | 229.5 | 6.0 / person |
Aug 17, 2026
Who the sprint is for, and who it isn't.
I'd rather turn down an application than take a firm I can't help. If you land mostly in the right column, the monthly clinic will serve you better and cost far less.
A good fit
- An accounting, tax or law firm with 20 to 150 staff
- You already pay for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, plus a practice or document management system
- Staff bill below target because of admin, not because demand is low
- A partner or COO who can give two hours a week for 90 days
- You want your own people trained to run the workflows
Not a fit
- Solo practices and firms under 10 people
- Firms that want a custom AI product or a client-facing chatbot
- Plans to cut staff with AI. The sprint gives time back to people you keep.
- Anyone starting in the middle of busy season
- Teams that can't set aside 90 minutes for training
Ninety days, three phases, one fixed fee.
The sprint is sized so your staff keep billing through it. Expect about two hours a week from one partner or your COO, and one 90-minute training block per team.
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1–20Days
Audit
Interviews with 8 to 12 people, two weeks of light time logs, and a read of your templates and inbox rules. You see exactly where the week goes.
- A written audit with hours by task and role
- The three workflows worth rebuilding, with the math
- A go or no-go meeting on day 20
From you: 30-minute interviews and read access to the templates we discuss.
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21–60Days
Rebuild and train
I rebuild the three workflows inside the tools you already pay for, test them with the people who do the work, then train each team in one 90-minute session.
- Three working workflows, documented step by step
- Prompts and templates stored in your own tenant
- Recorded training for every affected role
- A one-page AI use policy your staff can follow
From you: a pilot group of 3 to 5 people and one training slot per team.
-
61–90Days
Hold steady
The first month is when new habits slip. I check usage weekly, fix what breaks and re-measure the hours against the audit.
- Weekly 20-minute check-ins with your ops lead
- Fixes and adjustments included
- A before-and-after report on day 90
From you: a repeat of the week-two time log, so the numbers compare fairly.
Three firms, measured before and after.
Results from recent sprints, reported the way I report them to clients: hours from time logs, not estimates. Every firm starts somewhere different, so yours will differ too.
Harlow & Reyes CPAs38 staff, Hartford, Connecticut Month-end close, 9 days to 6Client bookkeeping, averaged over three closes
Also 5.8 hours a week back per staff accountant, from the day-90 time log.
What we rebuilt
- Document requests drafted and chased from the practice management system, with Copilot writing the follow-ups
- Bank and card statements parsed into the workpaper template, then checked by a senior
- Meeting notes filed to the client record from Teams transcripts
“I expected a slide deck. We got three things my staff actually use on Monday mornings.”
What didn't work: automating engagement letter renewals. Partners kept rewriting the drafts, so we rolled it back in week seven and put the time into statement parsing.
Whitcombe Law Group62 staff, Providence, Rhode Island Discovery summaries, 5.5 hours to 2Per first-draft summary, paralegal team
Paralegal overtime fell 18% over the following quarter.
What we rebuilt
- First-draft document summaries in the firm's approved AI assistant, inside its document system
- Intake call notes turned into conflict-check requests
- Weekly matter status emails drafted from time entries
“Alex spent a full day sitting with our paralegals before proposing anything. That's why they trusted it.”
What didn't work: a shared prompt library. Nobody opened it. The prompts now live inside each template, where people already work.
Castellan Tax & Advisory24 staff, Worcester, Massachusetts Organizer intake, 40 minutes to 15Per individual return, 2026 filing season
3.1 hours a week back per preparer during filing season.
What we rebuilt
- Organizer uploads sorted and summarized before a preparer opens the file
- Missing-document emails drafted in the firm's own voice
- IRS notice response letters drafted from scans, for CPA review
“The hours are nice. The bigger change is that my seniors stopped working Saturdays in March.”
What didn't work: we planned a fourth workflow for portal reminders. Their client portal already handled it well, so we dropped it on day 18.
Boston, Massachusetts
Alex Tanalex@northgate-advisory.com
I'm Alex Tan. I run every sprint myself.
Before Northgate I spent eleven years in operations at a large professional services firm, the last five leading process redesign for its audit and tax practices. My PhD is in operations research, which mostly means I measure things before I change them.
I started Northgate in 2024 after watching mid-sized firms buy AI licenses that nobody used. The tools were fine. Nobody had mapped where the time went, or trained the people doing the work.
I work with one analyst, Priya Raman, who runs the time logs and writes the documentation. That's the whole team, and it's why the calendar caps at four firms a quarter.
What it costs: $18,000 to $28,000.
Most consultants make you take a call to hear a number. Here it is up front, so you can decide whether to apply before either of us spends an hour.
The fee is fixed after the scoping call and doesn't move once we start. Three things change it: how many people are in scope, how many offices or practice groups the workflows touch, and whether a workflow connects to a client-facing system.
If the first 20 days don't turn up at least 120 staff hours a month worth recovering, you can end the sprint and pay only the $4,500 audit fee. Two firms have taken that option.
Recent fixed fees
Paid 50% at kickoff and 50% on day 60, by ACH. Travel for the two on-site days is included within New England and billed at cost elsewhere.
Questions partners ask before applying.
Something else on your mind? Put it in the application. Alex answers every one.
Do we need to buy new software?
No. The rebuilds use what you already license: usually Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, your practice or document management system, and whichever AI assistant your firm has approved. If a workflow truly needs a new tool, you'll see the cost in the audit before you decide anything.
How do you handle client confidentiality?
Everything runs inside your own tenant under your existing data policies. I sign your NDA, never move client files to my systems, and write a one-page AI use policy with you. For law firms, that policy follows ABA Formal Opinion 512 on generative AI and your state bar's guidance.
How much staff time will this take?
About two hours a week from one partner or your COO, 30-minute interviews with 8 to 12 people in the first two weeks, and one 90-minute training block per team. Sprints are scheduled around your deadlines, which is why tax firms usually start in Q2 or Q4.
What if our staff don't use the new workflows?
That's what the 30-day hold-steady period is for. I track usage weekly and change the workflow rather than blame the people. If adoption of a workflow is below half by day 75, I rebuild it at no extra fee.
Do you work with firms outside New England?
Yes, anywhere in the US. Most of the work is remote. The two on-site days, audit kickoff and training, happen in person, with travel billed at cost outside New England.
Why only four firms a quarter?
Because I conduct every interview and run every training session myself. A fifth firm would mean handing that to someone else, and that's the part that makes the rest work.
Q4 has two slots left.
Four firms per quarter is the real capacity, not a sales tactic. Q4 sprints begin the week of October 5. If Q4 fills before your application is reviewed, you'll be offered a Q1 2027 start instead.
Six short screens, about four minutes. Alex reads every application within two business days.
CPA firm, 45 staff
Law firm, 30 staff
Starts Oct 5
Starts Oct 19
Q4 2026 sprint calendar, as of September 11.