Claude at the Desk

Three hours. Their real files. Then they can send.

A private workshop for one bookkeeping or tax team. Claude drafts. Humans redline. Circular 230 did not get an AI exception. First company: $1,500 and a testimonial. Then the price goes up.

Book the founding seat Print packs

Founding

$1,500

First firm. Testimonial. Recording.

Standard

$2,500

Same three hours. No discount.

Desk + 30 days

$3,500

Two office hours after.

Team install

$4,500

Five Skills in their voice.

Agenda

0:00 · 15mOpen the fileOutcomes, house rules, tool check, redaction drill. Each person names the one artifact they will take home live.
0:15 · 20mWhat 2026 actually looks like98% of firms already use AI. Most still paste. Claude Skills vs QBO Assist vs a vertical. Jobs it can draft vs jobs it cannot.
0:35 · 20mThe rule that lets you sleepCircular 230 — no AI exception. 1.700, 7216, WISP. The red-pen ritual: facts, cites, numbers, tone, PII, would I sign.
0:55 · 10mBreakLeave the policy slide up. No live SSNs.
1:05 · 15mLive demoOne cold contractor note and one not-a-fit decline, start to approved. Nothing emails itself.
1:20 · 40mHands-on A — fill the calendarExercises 1–4. Eight minutes produce, two minutes pair-redline.
2:00 · 10mBreakCoffee. The sample file stays de-identified.
2:10 · 40mHands-on B — do the workCleanup plan, Friday snapshot, Texas calendar, 1040 organizer.
2:50 · 10mInstallSeven-day plan. One live artifact under review tomorrow. Founding firm: the testimonial ask.

Slide outline

01
AI drafts. Human review. Then send.
The whole workshop in eight words.
02
Outcomes for the next 90 days
Eight artifacts today. Two you will send this week under review.
03
98% already use it. Most still paste.
Daily use is solved. A desk and a policy are not.
04
The five-layer stack
Ledgers, QBO AI, AP, close tools, then LLMs. We are here.
05
What Claude is for
Narrative, exception research, cleanup plans, first-look reviews.
06
What Claude is not
Posting to the GL, remembering 15 clients, signing the return.
07
The four-stage desk
Source, screen, onboard, implement.
08
Circular 230 did not get an AI exception
OPR Alert 2026-19. The practitioner who signs owns it.
09
The red-pen ritual
Facts, citations, numbers, tone, PII, would I sign this.
10
Demo: cold note, seven minutes
Prompt → draft → redline → approved.
11
Hands-on A
Outreach, discovery, decline, documents.
12
Hands-on B
Cleanup, snapshot, calendar, organizer.
13
Catch the hallucination
Invented cites and invented dates are a known failure mode.
14
The 7-day install
Team seats, 7216 clause, two Skills, one live send.
15
Close
One artifact, one owner, one send-by date.

Hands-on

01 · prompt source-contractor
Cold outreach
90–140 words to a 12-crew GC whose QBO is eight months behind. Offer 30 minutes. Name job cost, draws, retainage.
02 · prompt screen-discovery
Discovery script
30-minute outline. Two closes: quote a defined project, or decline cleanly.
03 · prompt screen-decline
Not-a-fit decline
~80 words. Direct. Name the mismatch. No apology for having a calendar.
04 · prompt onboard-docs
Document request + engagement
Punch list grouped now / this week / as-available. Fees as [BLANK].
05 · prompt onboard-qbo
QBO cleanup plan
Numbered sequence for eight dark months. Unknowns flagged. No invented fee.
06 · prompt implement-snapshot
Friday job-cost snapshot
One page. Cash, AR, unbilled draws, retainage, job margin. Sample figures marked.
07 · prompt implement-calendar
Texas filing calendar
Next 12 months, only what applies. Firm-owned vs client-owned.
08 · prompt implement-1040
1040 organizer email
Extension still open. Wall 15 Oct 2026. Drop-dead that leaves review time.

Demo prompts

Copy into Claude Team (or ChatGPT Team / Copilot). Consumer chatbots stay off live files.

P01 · Voice block

You are the drafting desk for a bookkeeping and tax-preparation practice.

Voice: calm, specific, short sentences. No hype, no emoji, no exclamation points.
Never invent credentials, filing dates, Code sections, or dollar amounts.
Never present a draft as filed advice. A human will review before anything is sent or filed.
Do not add a preamble. Output only the artifact.
If a fact is missing, write [TO CONFIRM] rather than guessing.
Redact: no SSN, EIN, bank account, or full legal name unless the user supplied a fictional one.

P02 · Cold contractor note

Write a cold note to this contractor. 90–140 words.
Offer a 30-minute discovery, not a pitch. Name job cost, draws, retainage, the Friday argument.
Invite a yes or a no. If catch-up is obvious, the monthly close comes after a defined catch-up project.
Client: [name], [company], [city, Texas]. Situation: [paste].
Sign as [firm]. Do not claim CPA, EA, or attorney unless that is true.

P03 · Not-a-fit decline

Write a decline email. ~80 words. Be direct. Name the mismatch without insult.
If a better home exists (a mill, a CPA firm, an attorney), say so in one line.
Do not apologize for having a calendar.
Mismatch: [they want $99 dump-and-file / they need attest / they will not give documents].

P04 · Document request

Write a document request grouped: need now, this week, as available.
Contractor: draws, job list, subs, bank, payroll, prior return, QBO access.
Do not ask for everything in the universe. Client: [paste niche + situation].

P05 · QBO cleanup sequence

Write a QuickBooks Online cleanup sequence for this file.
Jobs vs classes vs locations, bank feeds, opening balances as [TO CONFIRM], who owns the subscription.
Flag unknowns that change the quote. End with what "done" means in one sentence. Do not invent a fee.

P06 · 1040 organizer email

Write a client email requesting organizer items for an individual return on extension.
Tax year 2025. Wall date 2026-10-15. Drop-dead [2026-09-29] to leave review time.
Plain English. Nothing is filed until a human at this firm has reviewed the draft.

Stackable proposal

$1,500 is the core. Add only what they will use.

First company only. They owe a 4–6 sentence testimonial within 14 days. Recording included.