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AI Agents · Best for accounting firms at tax time
Automated client document chasing for accounting firms
The Document Chaser, by Pylon Digital, is an AI agent for automated client document chasing. It follows up clients for missing tax documents and unsigned engagement letters by email and SMS until they arrive, and a staff member approves every message before it goes. It suits accounting firms at tax time, when reminders crowd out billable work.
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Is it right for you
Who it's for
The Document Chaser suits 10–100 person accounting firms that prepare individual, trust and company returns and still chase paperwork by hand. The trigger is usually tax time, when jobs pile up in “waiting on client” and admin staff resend the same reminders all day.
- Firms with many individual and trust clients, each return waiting on documents
- Practices on Xero Practice Manager or MYOB that track jobs well but chase documents from personal inboxes
- Firms whose engagement letters go out in July and come back slowly, or not at all
- Firms working to ATO lodgment program due dates, where one late statement holds up a return
Why does document chasing stall at tax time?
Document chasing stalls because it is nobody’s main job and it happens in personal inboxes, so nobody can see which clients have been asked twice and which not at all.
Timing matters. Individuals who lodge their own return must lodge by 31 October, while clients who engage a registered tax agent before 31 October can usually lodge later under the agent’s lodgment program (ATO). Later dates only help if documents arrive in time. Engagement letters matter too: APES 305 requires members in public practice to document and communicate the terms of engagement with their clients (APESB). This is general information, not tax advice.
Where does the Document Chaser fit?
The Document Chaser sits between your practice-management system and the portal, mailbox or e-signature tool clients already use, so clients change nothing. It is one of six AI agents for professional firms. Firms that also chase overdue fees pair it with Debtor Follow-up, and our guide to how AI agents chase client documents at tax time walks through a full setup for accounting firms.
How are reminders kept factual?
Reminders are factual service messages: they name your firm, list what is outstanding and explain how to send it, with no promotional content. Under the Spam Act 2003, a message is commercial if one of its purposes is to promote goods or services, and commercial messages need consent, accurate sender details and a working unsubscribe option. Your firm approves every template. This is general information, not legal advice.
Capabilities
What it does
You get a working agent configured to your jobs, wording and approval rules, hosted and monitored under Managed AI so it is ready again next tax season.
Outstanding-item lists
Built from each job's checklist: what the client still owes, such as rental statements or a signed engagement letter.
Reminders in your firm's voice
Email and SMS reminders on a schedule you set, sent in your firm's name.
One approval queue
Every reminder waits for a named staff member, who can approve a day's batch, edit a message or hold a client.
Arrival checks and escalation
Arrivals are matched to the job and stop that reminder; silent clients pass to the job manager with the full history.
Status view and audit log
What was requested, when and what arrived, plus a log of every message drafted, approved and sent.
Guardrails
What it will never do on its own
Guardrails are what let a firm put an agent in front of clients. They are built in, not settings to remember.
- Human approval before anything leaves the firm: every reminder waits for a named staff member
- A full audit log of every message drafted, approved, sent and received
- Agent data stored in fully GDPR-compliant data centres
- Asks only for items on the job checklist, and never for passwords or banking logins
- Never gives tax advice or discusses fees and due dates; those questions go to a person
- Stops reminding when a document arrives, a client replies or staff pause the job
Process
How it works
A discovery call, a scoped setup, a supervised pilot, then a monthly service.
- Step 0145 minutes, free
Discovery call
We look at how you chase documents today, your practice-management system and your busiest weeks.
- Step 02Agreed in writing
Checklists and wording
We turn your job checklists into document requests and write the wording and schedule with your team.
- Step 03Timeline in your proposal
Connect and test
We connect your practice-management system and email, then test on internal jobs before any client sees a message.
- Step 04Timeline in your proposal
Supervised pilot
The agent chases a small group of real clients while staff approve every message and we tune the wording.
- Step 05Monthly, ongoing
Run
We monitor every sequence, fix broken connections and update checklists before each tax season.
Integrations
Systems we work with
The agent works from the job and client records you already keep, so nobody maintains a second list.
- Xero Practice Manager
- Xero
- MYOB
- Microsoft 365 (Outlook and SharePoint)
Security & data residency
Where your data goes, and who can see it
Tax documents carry income, bank and family details, so the agent treats them as confidential. Agent data is stored in fully GDPR-compliant data centres, and access is limited to people you name.
- Narrow permissions
- The agent reads job and contact records and writes status notes. It cannot change fees, lodge returns or delete records.
- Where data is stored
- Agent data is stored in fully GDPR-compliant data centres. Our security and data residency page explains how we protect it.
- Model training
- Your proposal shows each AI provider's terms on model training, and we switch on the settings each provider offers to keep client data out of it.
- Privacy
- The agent asks only for the items on each job's checklist, and the handover documentation records what personal information it holds, where it is kept and who can see it.
Pricing
Pricing guidance
Pricing model: Setup + monthly
Setup fee plus a monthly fee, both quoted in writing after the free discovery call. The setup fee depends on how many job types and reminder sequences we configure and which systems we connect. The monthly fee covers hosting, monitoring and updates between tax seasons. Your proposal shows whether SMS costs are included or passed through.
Illustrative scenario: a 20-person firm on Xero Practice Manager has several hundred jobs waiting on documents, and an administrator chases them one email at a time. With the Document Chaser, she approves the day's reminders in one queue each morning, sees what arrived overnight, and passes silent clients to their job managers.
Commitments
What you can hold us to
These are the working rules behind every engagement, from the first discovery call to the monthly Run service. Ask us on the call how each one works for the system you have in mind.
Scope and price in writing first
Every build is scoped and priced in writing before work starts, so there are no open-ended hours.
A person approves what agents send
Our AI agents draft; a person at your firm approves what they send. The After-hours Receptionist answers live only from wording your firm approves in advance.
Every agent action logged
Every action an agent takes is recorded in an audit log, so you can see exactly what it did.
GDPR-compliant data centres
Client data in the systems we build and run is stored in fully GDPR-compliant data centres.
Accessible, fast websites
Websites are designed and tested against WCAG 2.2 level AA and Google’s Core Web Vitals “good” thresholds.
Built and run under one roof
A build can move straight onto a monthly Run service with us, so it is not handed over and forgotten.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Does the agent send anything without our approval?
No. Every reminder waits in an approval queue until a named person in your firm approves it. Staff can approve a day's batch together, edit a message or hold a client who needs a personal touch. Each approval is logged with the approver's name and the time.
Which documents can the Document Chaser follow up?
It can follow up anything on your job checklist. Typical items are signed engagement letters, rental property statements, deduction receipts, share or property sale records and trust distribution details. We set the list per job type, so an individual return, a trust and a company each ask for the right things and nothing more.
How does it know when a document has arrived?
It watches where clients already send documents: your client portal, a shared mailbox or a SharePoint upload folder. When a file arrives, it matches it to the job, flags it for staff to confirm and stops reminding for that item. If the file is wrong, staff reopen the item and the reminders resume.
What happens when a client does not respond?
The agent hands the job to a person. After the last reminder, it flags the job to its manager with the full history of what was asked and when, and the manager decides the next step, usually a phone call. The agent never discusses deadlines, penalties or fees.
Will clients know an AI agent is involved?
Clients see messages from your firm, and we recommend telling them automated help is involved. Reminders go out from your address in approved wording, with a short line saying they are prepared automatically and checked by staff. Replies reach your team's inbox as usual, so a client can always reach a person.
How much does automated client document chasing cost?
The Document Chaser is priced as a setup fee plus a monthly fee, both quoted in writing after the free discovery call. The setup fee depends on how many job types and reminder sequences we configure and which systems we connect. The monthly fee covers hosting and monitoring under Managed AI, plus updates before each tax season.
Secure by design. Set up correctly. Fully managed.
Talk to us before you commit to anything
Start with a free 45-minute discovery call. We look at your systems and priorities, then recommend a first step with a fixed scope, or tell you if we are not the right fit.
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