Software I've built | Charlie Barmore, CPA, CFE, CVA

Skills & workflows

Skills and workflows I've built.

The Claude skills and agent workflows behind my own practice. Shown step by step on fully fictitious data.

Workflow 01

Return prep, end to end.

I had the same problem you do: every engagement started as a folder of PDFs and a blank workpaper, and the first hours went to setup and organizing instead of thinking. So I built it out with Claude: onboard, read, organize, draft, before I open it. It does not sign the return and it does not exercise judgment. That stays with me.

~/clients/Rivera-2025-1040

Step 1 / Onboard

Rivera, Jordan & Taylor / 2025-1040
├── 00_Admin/
│   ├── CLIENT.md
│   ├── engagement-letter.pdf
│   └── prior-year/
├── 01_Source-Documents/
│   ├── income/
│   ├── deductions/
│   └── _unsorted/
├── 02_Workpapers/
│   ├── 1040-workpaper.xlsx
│   └── index.md
└── 03_Deliverables/
# engagement scaffolded + client record drafted

1. Onboard. An agent bootstraps a new client: it scaffolds the engagement folders and drafts the client record, before anyone opens a file.

extract --source 01_Source-Documents

Step 2 / Read

Detected 10 source documents

✓W-2 · Birchwood SystemsBox 1 128,400

✓W-2 · Cedar Valley SchoolsBox 1 61,200

✓1099-INT · Harbor Bank1,240

✓1099-INT · Crest Credit Union310

✓1099-DIV · Northwind Funds3,180

✓1099-R · Granite Retirement9,400

✓1099-NEC · Lakeside Design8,500

✓1098 · Summit Mortgage14,300

!1099-B · Meridian Securitiesneeds review

!Schedule K-1 · Cedar Ridge Partnersneeds review

2. Read. Each document is parsed and the key figures pulled out. The noncovered brokerage lot and the partnership K-1 are flagged, not guessed, because those are judgment calls.

02_Workpapers/index.md

Step 3 / Organize

Workpaper index · 2025 Form 1040 · Income

A Wages, Birchwood (Jordan)128,400

Wages, Cedar Valley (Taylor)61,200

B Interest, 2 payers1,550

C Dividends, ordinary3,180

D IRA distribution (1099-R)9,400

E Schedule C, consulting8,500

F Capital gains, covered870

1099-B noncovered lotreview

Schedule K-1, pass-throughreview

Total income213,100

3. Organize. The income is sorted, indexed, and tied out into a review ready workpaper, with open items left flagged for the preparer instead of guessed.

1040-workpaper.xlsx

Step 4 / Draft

Draft · pending preparer review

Total income213,100

Adjustments(1,150)

Adjusted gross income211,950

Itemized deductions(28,500)

Taxable income183,450

4. Draft. A first-pass workpaper, before I touch it. It does not sign the return and it does not exercise judgment. That stays with me.

The safeguards

Every firm is different, so the exact build is too. What does not change are the commitments behind it:

Your client data stays under your control, because the pipeline is built around your environment rather than a service you ship documents off to.
The identifying details, names, SSNs, account numbers, are protected before anything reaches a model, so it works on the numbers and never on your clients' identities.
Models run under business terms that do not train on your data, and no client information ever goes into a consumer chatbot.
Tax return information is handled within IRC §7216, the federal rule governing how a preparer may use and disclose it, with proper client consent obtained wherever the rules require it.
It sits on the same controls I give away in the free templates: a WISP, a vendor checklist, and client disclosure.

Workflow 02

From the discovery call to a signed client.

Same approach, a different bottleneck: an agent that moves a prospect from the discovery call to a signed, onboarded client. It captures the lead, drafts the proposal that wins the work, and generates the engagement letters that protect it. I review the terms, and so does my malpractice carrier, before anything is signed.

proposal.pdf

Step 1 / Propose

Engagement proposal · Tindall Mercantile, Inc.

Included

✓Monthly bookkeeping

✓Quarterly estimates

✓Year-round advisory

✓Annual tax prep (1120-S + 1040)

Pricing · fixed scope, never hourly

Onboardingone-time

Monthly retainerrecurring

Annual tax packageat delivery

1. Propose. A branded scope-and-value document. It persuades, it does not bind.

engagement-letter.pdf

Step 2 / Protect

Engagement letter · Tax Year 2025

Draft · pending my review

Scope of servicesset

Client responsibilities, reliance on client infoset

Use of tax return info, IRC §7216set

Limitation of liability⚑ review

Dispute resolution, arbitration⚑ review

Signaturesblank

⚑ Carrier review. The liability and arbitration language is standard and defensible, but flagged for my malpractice carrier to confirm before signing.

2. Protect. The binding contract. The clauses that carry real risk are flagged for review, and the sign-off stays with me.

Both examples are rendered from fully fictitious demo clients. Every name, figure, SSN, and EIN shown is invented, and no live client data or PII appears. The engagement documents are illustrative, not legal advice, and not a substitute for review by counsel or a malpractice carrier.

Software

Software I've built.

Practice platform

LedgerClaw

Live · waitlist ledgerclaw.app →

The AI-native operating system for the modern CPA firm. It runs the firm's own books and operations alongside every client's books, with AI agents handling and automating the work in the background.

Onboards a client with a Books Review agent that catches what the prior bookkeeper missed.
Runs the books month to month: bank sync, AI categorization, period close.
Unifies every client, engagement, and document on one firm spine, with proactive alerts.

Nine production AI agents that investigate, propose, then execute on your confirmation. Multi-tenant and audit-logged.

Demo data only. Every name and figure shown is fictitious, for illustration purposes. No live client data, PII, or confidential information appears in these screens.

Tax prep

TaxClaw

Private · internal Internal preparer tool

AI-native tax prep with a visual workpaper. It reads the forms, runs the numbers on a real tax engine, and shows its work.

Reads W-2s, 1099s, and K-1s into structured data and tracks what is still outstanding.
Computes the 1040 and Georgia return on a deterministic engine, line by line.
Ties out on an infinite canvas that crossfoots to the 1040 in real time.

Validated to the dollar against PolicyEngine, an independent open-source model. Anything the engine cannot model is flagged for review, never silently guessed.

Demo data only. Every name and figure shown is fictitious, for illustration purposes. No live client data, PII, or confidential information appears in these screens.

Bookkeeping

LedgerBug

Live · waitlist ledgerbug.app →

Smart bookkeeping for people who aren't accountants. Connect your bank, and AI categorizes, explains, and drafts every entry for you to approve.

Connects your bank through Plaid, then categorizes with a six-step engine that learns from your corrections.
Surfaces only the real issues in a Needs Attention feed, with exact numbers.
Explains the accounting in plain language and drafts each entry for you to approve.

Real double-entry under a friendly surface. Posted entries are immutable and audit-logged, and nothing posts to the ledger without your approval.

Demo data only. Every name and figure shown is fictitious, for illustration purposes. No live client data, PII, or confidential information appears in these screens.

One through-line across all three. The AI reads the documents, deterministic logic runs the numbers, and the professional approves before anything is final. LedgerClaw and LedgerBug share a double-entry ledger engine, one built for the firm and one for the business owner, with a clean handoff between them. TaxClaw is a separate tax-prep application with its own deterministic return engine.

Tools I built from the work itself.

Skills and workflows I've built.

Return prep, end to end.

From the discovery call to a signed client.

Software I've built.

Built by the same person who would advise your firm.