Connect with us

Accounting

Sage Copilot AI aims to pair power and simplicity for small and medium businesses

Published

on

Small and mid-size business platform Sage is already well experienced with AI, having woven it throughout their products for years, but its new generative AI Sage Copilot solution has been touted as a dramatic step forward in the company’s long term vision of simplifying accounting to make it more accessible to all. 

Aaron Harris, Sage’s chief technology officer, said that the company has long had classic AI deep learning models that perform functions users have relied on for years. These tasks often require the use of many different models working in concert, with Harris noting that invoice processing alone requires the use of 27 different models: 15 to 20 are required to read the data alone, and more are needed to perform the calculations. 

Sage Copilot coordinates between these models and acts as an interpreter between them and the human users who are requesting they perform a task. Effectively a “mouth” attached to a larger whole, the LLM works by translating the user request, usually inputted through a conversational interface, into machine language. This then goes to the various AI models on Sage’s servers, which then get to work on whatever the user asked them for, eventually sending instructions back to the LLM. The LLM reads back the machine language and implements the command or, in the case of an informational query, translates it back to human language. Harris stressed that it is not the LLM itself that does this work, referencing their well-known difficulties with math, but the other AI models that the LLM interacts with. 

“We don’t trust them to do math. There’s much better ways to do math… We’re not using the AI to do the math on the results, we’re using AI to write the [structured query language] exactly as you described,” said Harris during an interview. 

He added that, rather than being a feature of any one particular solution, Sage Copilot can be used across its products through the use of specialized “agents.” The company creates AI “agents” purpose built to do one thing really well, such as interacting with certain types of data, executing specific queries, or engaging with specific software products. Sage Copilot has access to multiple agents, each built to communicate with a different product, whether Sage Intaact, Sage HR or something else.

“The intention is that Copilot can work across the portfolio of Sage products,” he said. 

Having Copilot act as a coordinator for all the other models also means its automation capacities go far past what it had previously accomplished. Harris raised the example of processing an invoice. This act alone requires multiple steps, but many of them have already been automated in Sage, taking out much of the work. Copilot goes a step further by allowing wholesale workflow automation through coordinating among several models that each enable a different automated process. “We can now really accelerate our ability to automate with large language models, and we can use AI to do more of the orchestration. So, giving it the ability to not just process the invoice but to move it on to the approval stage, to understand after it’s approved [it needs to] move it through the payment process,” he said. 

He added that, in the future, “that invoice will have been created for you, automatically.” His team had recently conducted a hackathon where it was found Copilot can automatically generate invoices based on events happening around the user, like if it knew they were going on a job using geofencing, and act proactively. 

Harris said that certain companies today will attach their solution to a ChatGPT account and call that generative AI functionality. In contrast, developing Copilot was a meticulous process that required a lot of trial and error even before its UK release earlier this year. During this time, the development team encountered many challenges that needed to be overcome, such as teaching the model that there can be more than one kind of cash balance. 

“I got in and I asked Copilot ‘what is my cash balance?’ And Copilot said it’s at zero. And I dug around and what I learned was that Copilot inferred from my question ‘what’s my petty cash?’ It didn’t actually understand that what I was asking for was the balance of cash across my bank account,” he said. “Fast forward a month. We’ve done a lot of work to train the model the way we wanted to when you ask that question. … [Now] it’ll give you a table with your bank accounts and your balances in total. If that is what you’re asking, this is the answer.” 

Getting these kinds of interactions right was vital to ensuring Copilot was easy to use and reliable in its outputs without having to possess a lot of arcane technical knowledge. Interacting with Copilot in plain language allows people to access accounting information and perform business tasks on their own, a major component of the wider goal of making accounting more accessible to a wider base of people. 

“Generative AI and copilots, and their natural conversational interface, enables us to bring accounting outside the finance team to the rest of the business. One of the biggest blocks is getting [accountants] to approve things or to answer questions, finance teams are spending time supporting me instead of getting the books closed. With Copilot having a conversational interface, it now becomes much more natural and easy for me to approve a purchase order or to ask a question like ‘how am I trending on my travel expenses?'” Harris said. 

While Sage wants to make accounting more accessible to the layperson, he added that professionals can be excited too. The big promise, he said, is that it will free them from things they don’t want to do. He compared it to having an army of interns at one’s disposal who can take care of the numerous mundane demands that pop up throughout the day. The result, according to Harris, will be “faster and smarter decisions.” 

“Unpacking that, what we’re really saying is [this can be] how you, across the whole of the business, understand the patterns of activity in that business in real time to discover when there is a change in performance—when there’s something that can indicate an opportunity or risk—that the more strategic specialists can address in real time… We’re enabling more decisions to be made confidently,” he said. 

Harris said the name “Copilot” represents what he felt was a good bet that the term copilot would become generic, versus being permanently associated with Microsoft’s product. He said that the term has, over time, emerged as standard in a similar manner as “band-aid,” “Xerox” and “Google.” 

The large language model was released in the UK in February and is set for release in the US at the end of this year. 

Part of a larger strategy

Copilot is one component of the company’s larger product strategy to promote continuous accounting, real time assurance and continuous insights. But this, itself, is part of Sage’s overall strategy, particularly for the North American market; Mark Hickman, the managing director of North America, said Copilot is “critical to our success.” 

“As we move forward, [we want] to really be that leader, we want to be ahead of the competition when it comes to AI and how we bring that to market, into that ecosystem of 2 million customers globally and hundreds and hundreds of thousands in North America,” said Hickman. 

To this end, Sage has been busy making new alliances and deepening current ones with companies like Microsoft, Amazon and PwC. They have collaborated on technology solutions with the aim of eventually driving integration into products like Office and other platforms, as well as on distribution and implementation of said solutions. With Microsoft and Amazon in particular, Hickman said they have whole partnerships where they go to market together and close new customers. Given these companies’ focus on large enterprises, Sage’s focus on small and medium businesses has acted as a bridge to this larger community. 

“What we’ve discovered here is that [Microsoft and Amazon], they don’t really play in the small to medium businesses with the cloud. So 90% of their new customers are net new customers so they’re actually getting into new customers because they’re working with us and closing new deals to get into these accounts and … using their amazing, world class platforms and their brands to work together,” he said. 

This is especially germane as the UK-based Sage expands further into the North American market, which makes up more than 44% of the company’s global revenues already. The company is making heavy investments in this region, which include technology but also additional staff as well as new facilities. Hickman said they will be building a whole new campus in Atlanta to serve as their new base for North American operations (in addition to the office they already maintain in that city), as well as new offices in Portland and Vancouver. 

Hickman said Sage’s thinking on these new locations came as the company emerged from the pandemic lockdowns, eventually settling on what he called a “hub strategy.” Previously, the company had over 80 offices around the world, but he said many of them were small and remote. The company chose a very deliberate strategy where they would instead have large offices in each of the major markets they really invest in, with fewer small satellite offices. This has allowed them to really focus their efforts around these flagship country “hubs.” He noted that the new offices in Canada is also a reflection of this hub strategy of “really increasing the investment in the offices where we want to concentrate our growth.” 

“So the North American businesses, the US businesses, are the fastest growing [sector] with great growth, and we hope to really accelerate that growth as we move forward,” he added. 

Continue Reading

Accounting

House passes tax administration bills

Published

on

The House unanimously passed four bipartisan bills Tuesday concerning taxes and the Internal Revenue Service that were all endorsed this week by the American Institute of CPAs, and passed two others as well.

  • H.R. 1152, the Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act, sponsored by Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Illinois, Suzan Delbene, D-Washington, Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania and Jimmy Panetta, D-California. The bill would apply the “mailbox rule” to electronically submitted tax returns and payments to allow the IRS to record payments and documents submitted to the IRS electronically on the day the payments or documents are submitted instead of when they are received or reviewed at a later date. The AICPA believes this would offer clarity and simplification to the payment and document submission process while protecting taxpayers from undue penalties.
  • H.R. 998, the Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Brad Schneider, D-Illinois, which would require notices describing a mathematical or clerical error to be made in plain language, and require the Treasury to provide additional procedures for requesting an abatement of a math or clerical error adjustment, including by telephone or in person, among other provisions.
  • H.R. 517, the Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act, sponsored by Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tennessee, and Judy Chu, D-California. The process of receiving tax relief from the IRS following a natural disaster typically must follow a federal disaster declaration, which can often come weeks after a state disaster declaration. The bill would provide the IRS with authority to grant tax relief once the governor of a state declares either a disaster or a state of emergency and expand the mandatory federal filing extension under Section 7508(d) of the Tax Code from 60 days to 120 days, providing taxpayers with more time to file tax returns after a disaster.
  • H.R. 1491, the Disaster related Extension of Deadlines Act, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Murphy, R-North Carolina, and Jimmy Panetta, D-California, would extend the amount of time disaster victims would have to file for a tax refund or credit (i.e., the lookback period) by the amount of time afforded pursuant to a disaster relief postponement period for taxpayers affected by major disasters. This legislative solution would place taxpayers on equal footing as taxpayers not impacted by major disasters and would afford greater clarity and certainty to taxpayers and tax practitioners regarding this lookback period.

“The AICPA has long supported these proposals and will continue to work to advance comprehensive legislation that enhances IRS operations and improves the taxpayer experience,” said Melanie Lauridsen, vice president of tax policy and advocacy for the AICPA, in a statement Tuesday. “We are pleased to work closely with each of these Representatives on common-sense reforms that will benefit taxpayers, tax practitioners and tax administration and we’re encouraged by their passage in the House. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress to improve the taxpayer experience.”

The bills were also included in a recent Senate discussion draft aimed at improving tax administration at the IRS that are strongly supported by the AICPA.

The House also passed two other tax-related bills Tuesday that weren’t endorsed in the recent AICPA letter. 

  • H.R. 1155, Recovery of Stolen Checks Act, sponsored by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-New York, would require the IRS to create a process for taxpayers to request a replacement via direct deposit for a stolen paper check. If a check is determined to be stolen or lost, and not cashed, a taxpayer will receive a replacement check once the original check is cancelled, but many taxpayers are having their replacement checks stolen as well. Taxpayers who have a check stolen are then unable to request that the replacement check be sent via direct deposit. The bill would require the Treasury to establish processes and procedures under which taxpayers, who are otherwise eligible to receive an amount by paper check in replacement of a lost or stolen paper check, may elect to receive such amount by direct deposit.
  • H.R. 997, National Taxpayer Advocate Enhancement Act, sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, would prevent IRS interference with National Taxpayer Advocate personnel by granting the NTA responsibility for its attorneys. In advocating for taxpayer rights, the National Taxpayer Advocate often requires independent legal advice. But currently, the staff members hired by the National Taxpayer Advocate are accountable to internal IRS counsel, not the Taxpayer Advocate, creating a potential conflict of interest to the detriment of taxpayers. The bill would authorize the National Taxpayer Advocate to hire attorneys who report directly to her, helping establish independence from the IRS. 

House  Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri, applauded the bipartisan House passage of the various bills, which had been unanimously passed by the committee.

“President Trump was elected on the promise of finally making the government work better for working people,” Smith said in a statement Tuesday. “This bipartisan legislation helps fulfill that mandate and makes improvements to tax administration that will make it easier for the American people to file their taxes. Those who are rebuilding after a natural disaster particularly need help filing taxes, which is why this set of bills lightens the load for taxpayers in communities struck by a hurricane, tornado or some other disaster. With Tax Day just a few days away, we must look for common-sense, bipartisan ways to make filing taxes less of a hassle.”

Continue Reading

Accounting

In the blogs: Many hats

Published

on

Teaching fraud; easement settlement offers; new blog on the block; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Many hats

  • Taxbuzz (https://www.taxbuzz.com/blog): There’s sure an “I” in this “teamwork:” What to know about potential IRS and ICE collaboration.
  • Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): How IRS data would likely be unhelpful validating SNAP eligibility.
  • Yeo & Yeo (https://www.yeoandyeo.com/resources): How financial benchmarking (including involving taxes) can help business clients see trends, pinpoint areas for improvement and forecast future performance.
  • Integritas3 (https://www.integritas3.com/blog): One way to take a bite out of crime, according to this instructor blogger: Teach grad students how to detect, investigate and prevent financial fraud.
  • HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): Verifying income, fairly distributing property, digging the soon-to-be-ex’s assets out of the back of the dark, dark closet: How forensic accounting has emerged as a crucial element in divorces.

Standing out

Genuine intelligence

  • AICPA & CIMA Insights (https://www.aicpa-cima.com/blog): How artificial intelligence and other tech is “Reshaping Finance,” according to this podcast. Didem Un Ates, CEO of a U.K.-based company offering AI advisory services, tackles the topic.
  • Taxjar (https:/www.taxjar.com/resources/blog): How AI and automation can help even the knottiest sales tax obligations and problems.
  • Dean Dorton (https://deandorton.com/insights/): Favorite opening of the week: “The madness doesn’t just happen on college basketball courts — it also happens when your finance team is stuck using a legacy on-premises accounting system.”
  • Canopy (https://www.getcanopy.com/blog): Top client portals for accounting firms in 2025.
  • Mauled Again (https://mauledagain.blogspot.com/): Despite what Facebook claims, dependents have to be human.

New to us

  • Berkowitz Pollack Brant (https://www.bpbcpa.com/articles-press-releases/): This Florida firm offers a variety of services to many industries and has a good, wide-ranging blog. Recent topics include the BE-10, nexus and state and local tax obligations, IRS cuts and what to know about the possible bonus depreciation phase out. Welcome!

Continue Reading

Accounting

Is gen AI really a SOX gamechanger?

Published

on


By streamlining tasks such as risk assessment, control testing, and reporting, gen AI has the potential to increase efficiency across the entire SOX lifecycle.

Continue Reading

Trending