A six, month field report · ~5 min read
The first thing I did when I installed Claude Code was tell it who I was.
I told it I'm a CPA in Georgia. I told it the work I do , 1040s, S, corp returns, research memos, the day, to, day of running a small firm. I told it how I learn: by doing, with my hands, grounded in real examples from my world. Then I asked it every question I had. Including how to use itself.
That second part is the whole game. And most people skip it.
Most CPAs I talk to about AI give me some version of the same answer. "I'll get to it after busy season." "I need to take a course first." "I don't even know where to start."
I had the same instinct when I installed Claude Code. I had read enough threads and watched enough YouTube to feel like I needed to do my homework before opening the terminal. So I waited. Then one Saturday I just opened it.
Here is the thing none of the threads told me: I didn't need to know what I was doing. The tool was going to teach me, if I let it.
What I did was plain.
I opened a terminal , for the non, technical reader, that is the black, window app every computer ships with , and I typed claude. Then I told it about myself the same way I would brief a new staff accountant on day one. No code, no commands, no jargon.
"I am a CPA in Georgia. I run a small firm. I want to use you for tax research, document drafting, and operations work. I learn best by doing , use accounting examples when you are explaining things. And teach me how to use yourself, in plain English, any time I do not know how to do something."
It wrote that to a file called CLAUDE.md, which it now reads at the start of every session. That single act , telling it who I am, once , shaped every conversation that followed.
Then I started asking. Not big philosophical questions, just practical ones. "Help me draft an engagement letter for a Georgia S, corporation." "What does a research memo on §199A look like?" "How do I organize my folders so I do not lose track of things?"
Each answer was tailored to me, because of the file. Each answer also taught me something about the tool itself. Within a few hours I was using it like I had been doing this for months.
Six months in, here is what daily use looks like.
I draft research memos by describing the issue and asking for IRAC. I get a tight, citation, bearing first draft to edit instead of write. I prototype engagement letters and SOPs in minutes instead of mornings. I write the internal documentation I always meant to do but never had time for , by talking through it and letting Claude convert my voice into a clean draft. When I want to understand a new section of the Code, I have it walk me through a worked example before I read the statute.
None of this involves writing code. The "Code" in Claude Code is misleading for our profession. For CPAs, the tool is best understood as a research, and, drafting partner that lives in a terminal window and remembers everything you tell it about yourself.
There is one rule.
Do not put real client data in the workspace. No names, no SSNs, no EINs, no real dollar figures. Placeholders only , CLIENT, $X, EIN_PLACEHOLDER. This is the same WISP, aligned posture you should already have for any tool that touches the open internet, and it is the only place in this setup where the technical detail matters. The good news is that once the workspace is structured correctly, the rule is easy. There is nowhere to put client data even by accident.
I wrote down what worked. The setup, the folder structure, the file that does the heavy lifting, the rule. The whole walkthrough is at cbarmorecpa.com/guides/claude, code.
If you want to read it and follow along on your own, you can. If you want Claude itself to walk you through the setup , using my approach as a starting template, but adapted to your work and how you learn , the guide has a paste, it, into, the, terminal prompt that does exactly that. About twenty minutes, start to finish.
The CPAs who learn how to do this in the next twelve months will end the decade with a meaningful structural advantage over the ones who do not. Not because AI replaces them , it does not, and it will not anytime soon , but because the cost of producing high, quality first drafts, research summaries, internal documentation, and process design drops by an order of magnitude when you have a calibrated thinking partner you can talk to.
The barrier to getting there is not technical. It is permission. Permission to open the terminal, type plainly, and ask questions you do not think you have any business asking.
Go install it.
Want to do this yourself?
The full walkthrough , install, folder structure, the one file you actually have to write, and the rule , is online. Self, paced if you want to read it, interactive if you want Claude to set you up directly.