Accountants can now ask AI chatbots questions about client data

If your accountant uses Dext software, they can now ask an AI chatbot questions about their client data. Dext has launched a feature called AI Connector. It links a firm's Dext account to Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. It is available now to Dext Advanced partners in Canada and four other countries, at no extra cost.

What changed

Until now, a general chatbot knew nothing about a firm's real numbers. AI Connector gives it a way in. It uses a tool called Model Context Protocol, which lets AI programs pull information from inside an existing Dext account.

Accountants can then ask questions in plain language. Dext's examples include:

• Which clients have the lowest data health scores
• Which client took the most time last month
• What a client's cash position looks like before a meeting

Why Dext built it

Dext points to its own survey of 500 Canadian accountants and bookkeepers. Half said they knew of businesses that lost money after acting on wrong or misleading AI advice. Among those who ran into AI mistakes, 44 per cent spent up to three hours a month fixing them.

Dext's pitch is that answers drawn from a firm's own data are less of a guess. The company says professional judgment stays with the accountant.

What stays protected

The connector is read-only. It cannot change records or give anyone more access. Partners sign in through their Dext account, and the tool can only fetch what that person is already allowed to see. Dext's product chief, Stephen Edginton, said it is built "to retrieve, not to decide."

The privacy catch

Here is the part that matters to clients. Data pulled to answer a question is processed by the AI provider the partner chooses. That provider's data policies apply, not Dext's. Dext recommends that firms review those providers' enterprise data policies, including settings that decide whether information is used to train AI models.

The article does not say how Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot handle that data, or whether firms must tell clients when their information is used this way.

What to do

If your accountant or bookkeeper uses Dext, it is fair to ask whether they use AI Connector. Ask which AI provider sees your data. Ask whether that provider's policy allows the data to be used for training.