AI for Accountants: Review Before You Sign
Catch the 1099 list, bank rec or sales tax return an AI got wrong before your name goes on it, and ask for work you can review in minutes instead of rebuilding it by hand.
You go at your own pace, with your Maestro beside you, 1:1, through the whole course: ask it anything, and it asks you questions too.
20 skills · 6 modules
$49
Comes with your Maestro, 1:1, for the whole course.
What will you be able to do?
Each box is a skill. The base is at the bottom, recognizing and explaining, and you work your way up to building something of your own and judging what works and why. Hover over a box to see what it builds on. Click it to see where I teach it and how your Maestro checks it.
- Evaluate
- Synthesize
- Analyze
- Apply
- Understand
Evaluate
Critique an AI-prepared month-end close summary with the checks and a recomputation
Where I teach it: Review the close and decide · Review a whole month-end close done with AI
Builds on:
- Diagnose why an AI's sales tax figure differs from the one the return needs: taxable versus exempt sales, voids, credit memos and the base
- Find the bank and book items an AI's reconciliation left unmatched
- Diagnose reconciliation differences caused by dates and the period cutoff: items in transit versus real errors
- Diagnose whether a month-over-month change comes from the business or from a changed denominator
Your Maestro asks you to judge when it fits and why and saves it as evidence when you do.
Choose how much to review an AI figure according to what signing it commits you to, and justify it
Where I teach it: Review the close and decide · How much to review: not everything deserves the same
Builds on:
- Critique an AI-prepared month-end close summary with the checks and a recomputation
- Explain why a tax or accounting figure an AI computed from your files can be wrong even when it looks exact
Your Maestro asks you to judge when it fits and why and saves it as evidence when you do.
Synthesize
Design a request that makes an AI return a reviewable workpaper: rows read, rows excluded and why, and the calculation
Where I teach it: Ask for it right and document it · Ask for a workpaper: an answer you can review
Builds on:
- Explain why a tax or accounting figure an AI computed from your files can be wrong even when it looks exact
- Diagnose why an AI's sales tax figure differs from the one the return needs: taxable versus exempt sales, voids, credit memos and the base
- Find the bank and book items an AI's reconciliation left unmatched
Your Maestro asks you to build something of your own with it and saves it as evidence when you do.
Analyze
Find the bank and book items an AI's reconciliation left unmatched
Where I teach it: Bank reconciliation with AI · The items that didn't match: a full bank rec match
Builds on:
- Explain which field a bank reconciliation matches on and what a missing or differently written key does to the match
- Recompute a total an AI gave you from the source file with a short calculation
Your Maestro asks you to break a problem down with it and saves it as evidence when you do.
Diagnose reconciliation differences caused by dates and the period cutoff: items in transit versus real errors
Where I teach it: Bank reconciliation with AI · Dates and cutoff: timing or a real difference
Builds on:
- Explain which field a bank reconciliation matches on and what a missing or differently written key does to the match
- Separate what was collected from what was invoiced in a period, for cash-basis and accrual-basis answers
Your Maestro asks you to break a problem down with it and saves it as evidence when you do.
Diagnose why an AI's sales tax figure differs from the one the return needs: taxable versus exempt sales, voids, credit memos and the base
Where I teach it: Percentages and sales tax · Taxable or exempt: the Texas sales tax return the AI gave you
Builds on:
- Count and sum only the transactions of the status and type a question asks for
- Compute the tax included in an amount that already contains it
Your Maestro asks you to break a problem down with it and saves it as evidence when you do.
Diagnose whether a month-over-month change comes from the business or from a changed denominator
Where I teach it: Percentages and sales tax · Did it grow, or did the denominator change?
Builds on:
- Compute margin and markup and say which one a question asks for
- Recompute a total an AI gave you from the source file with a short calculation
Your Maestro asks you to break a problem down with it and saves it as evidence when you do.
Apply
Decide which payees need a Form 1099-NEC from a payment list: services, entity type, card payments and the threshold per TIN
Where I teach it: Before you sign · How do you know the 1099 list an AI gave you is right?
Your Maestro asks you to use it on a new case and saves it as evidence when you do.
Recompute a total an AI gave you from the source file with a short calculation
Where I teach it: Before you sign · Your calculator: recompute what the AI gave you in a few lines
Builds on:
- Identify what one row of an accounting export represents: a transaction, a line item or a payment
Your Maestro asks you to use it on a new case and saves it as evidence when you do.
Count and sum only the transactions of the status and type a question asks for
Where I teach it: What is a row · Voided invoices and credit memos: what a sales export mixes in
Builds on:
- Identify what one row of an accounting export represents: a transaction, a line item or a payment
- Explain how a transaction's status (paid, open, voided) and type (invoice, credit memo, payment) change what a total should include
- Recompute a total an AI gave you from the source file with a short calculation
Your Maestro asks you to use it on a new case and saves it as evidence when you do.
Separate what was collected from what was invoiced in a period, for cash-basis and accrual-basis answers
Where I teach it: What is a row · Invoiced or collected: what came in this month, really
Builds on:
- Explain how a transaction's status (paid, open, voided) and type (invoice, credit memo, payment) change what a total should include
- Recompute a total an AI gave you from the source file with a short calculation
Your Maestro asks you to use it on a new case and saves it as evidence when you do.
Detect transactions entered twice by their bank reference and measure how much they inflate a total
Where I teach it: What is a row · Entered twice: bank-feed duplicates and the AI that removed the wrong ones
Builds on:
- Identify what one row of an accounting export represents: a transaction, a line item or a payment
- Recompute a total an AI gave you from the source file with a short calculation
Your Maestro asks you to use it on a new case and saves it as evidence when you do.
Compute the tax included in an amount that already contains it
Where I teach it: Percentages and sales tax · 8.25% of what? Base, rate and total in sales tax
Builds on:
- Explain how base, tax rate and total relate on a sale
Your Maestro asks you to use it on a new case and saves it as evidence when you do.
Understand
Explain why a tax or accounting figure an AI computed from your files can be wrong even when it looks exact
Where I teach it: Before you sign · How do you know the 1099 list an AI gave you is right?
Your Maestro asks you to explain it in your own words and saves it as evidence when you do.
Identify what one row of an accounting export represents: a transaction, a line item or a payment
Where I teach it: Before you sign · What does ChatGPT do with your QuickBooks export before it answers?
Your Maestro asks you to explain it in your own words and saves it as evidence when you do.
Explain how a transaction's status (paid, open, voided) and type (invoice, credit memo, payment) change what a total should include
Where I teach it: What is a row · Voided invoices and credit memos: what a sales export mixes in
Your Maestro asks you to explain it in your own words and saves it as evidence when you do.
Explain which field a bank reconciliation matches on and what a missing or differently written key does to the match
Where I teach it: Bank reconciliation with AI · The matching key: what the AI left out of the bank rec
Your Maestro asks you to explain it in your own words and saves it as evidence when you do.
Explain how base, tax rate and total relate on a sale
Where I teach it: Percentages and sales tax · 8.25% of what? Base, rate and total in sales tax
Your Maestro asks you to explain it in your own words and saves it as evidence when you do.
Who is this course for?
For CPAs, staff accountants, enrolled agents and bookkeepers in the US who already use ChatGPT, Copilot or Claude, or are about to, on client files. You know 1099s, bank recs and sales tax; you don't need to code. You want to keep the time AI saves without signing its mistakes.
Ask your Maestro
Your Maestro is an AI that knows this course. Ask it about "How do you know the 1099 list an AI gave you is right?", a page you can read before buying, and it answers right here, free.
You: Where do I start?
Your Maestro: From what you already know. Tell me what you've done with data, and I'll start this page from there.
Asking about: Answers from the page "How do you know the 1099 list an AI gave you is right?"
Only this browser keeps what you ask here. How it works
What we'll cover
Before you sign
- How do you know the 1099 list an AI gave you is right?Read it free
- What does ChatGPT do with your QuickBooks export before it answers?
- Your calculator: recompute what the AI gave you in a few lines
What is a row
- Is counting rows counting invoices? Invoices versus line items
- Voided invoices and credit memos: what a sales export mixes in
- Invoiced or collected: what came in this month, really
- Entered twice: bank-feed duplicates and the AI that removed the wrong ones
Bank reconciliation with AI
- The matching key: what the AI left out of the bank rec
- The items that didn't match: a full bank rec match
- Dates and cutoff: timing or a real difference
Percentages and sales tax
- 8.25% of what? Base, rate and total in sales tax
- Taxable or exempt: the Texas sales tax return the AI gave you
- Margin or markup: the 44.6% that wasn't margin
- Did it grow, or did the denominator change?
Ask for it right and document it
- Ask for a workpaper: an answer you can review
- Your client's data: what you upload and what you don't
Review the close and decide
- Review a whole month-end close done with AI
- How much to review: not everything deserves the same
How long does it take?
4 to 6 hours
A guide: you go at your own pace, and the course waits where you left off.
Common questions
- Do I need to know how to code?
- No. Every exercise starts with code that already runs and reproduces what the AI did; you change a line or uncomment a few, and each line is explained. Most pages also show the same check in Excel, with the formulas.
- Do I need to install anything?
- No. The exercises run in your browser on the course's practice files, and your Maestro answers questions on every page.
- Which AI tools does it cover?
- Any of them. The mistakes the course teaches you to catch, like counting voided invoices, matching on a key typed two ways or taking tax out of the wrong number, show up in ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot alike. The course doesn't recommend one over another.
- Is it up to date on 1099 rules?
- Yes. It uses the IRS instructions for 2026 payments: the $2,000 Form 1099-NEC threshold, card payments reported on Form 1099-K, and the February 1, 2027 due date.
- Whose data do I practice on?
- A fictional auto parts store in Round Rock, Texas: vendor payments, sales and credit memos, receivables, expenses with bank-feed duplicates, a bank statement and store results. No real client data is used, and one page shows how to prepare a real client's file before you upload it.
- I don't work in Texas. Is the sales tax page useful?
- The page uses the Texas return because it has the two lines most states share, total sales and taxable sales, and resale certificates work the same way in principle. The base, rate and total mechanics apply at any rate.
- Does it cover client confidentiality?
- Yes. A page covers what to check before you upload a file, including section 7216 consent for tax return information and the FTC Safeguards Rule's written security plan, and shows how to send only the columns a review needs with an alias for each TIN.
How do I check what AI does? I teach it in Your AI and Your Data: Don't Let It Make Up the Number and Check what AI gives you in three steps.
What you get
- 6 modules and 18 pages, open whenever you want them.
Your Maestro for the whole course, who always knows which page you're on: you open it from there.
It works from this course's skills, the ones above.
Ask it how you're doing, and it tells you what you've already shown and what comes next.
Words you'll meet
In the lessons, tap one to see what it means, or ask your Maestro about it.
Who's teaching you
Sergio Sánchez
I'm Sergio, chekos online. I'm a data architect, and I've spent more than ten years working with data in the Bay Area, mostly at mission-driven organizations: policy research first, then education, and now early childhood services. I grew up in Tijuana. In 2018 I started tacosdedatos to share what I was learning, and since then it's been a blog, a podcast, courses, guides, and a community. These days I spend a lot of my time building with AI agents and writing about how I organize my work around them. I share what I've learned; you take what's useful and make it yours.
See you in the course
AI for Accountants: Review Before You Sign