Accountants can now ask ChatGPT or Claude about their own client data

Accounting software company Dext has launched AI Connector. It lets accountants and bookkeepers type plain questions into ChatGPT, Claude or Microsoft Copilot and get answers drawn from their own client data in Dext. It is free for Dext Advanced partners in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

What it does

The tool is built on MCP, short for Model Context Protocol. That is a standard way of linking an AI assistant to a separate source of information. Dext says ordinary chatbots do not know a business's real figures, so accountants end up fixing the answers. This connector gives the chatbot access to the practice's own records instead.

Dext gives sample questions an accountant could ask:

• Which clients have the lowest health scores?
• Which clients took the most hours last month?
• What does a client's live cash position look like before a call?
• Which clients lack a dividends account ahead of year end?

How it is set up

A partner connects once by signing in through their Dext account. The connector is listed in the Claude directory and in ChatGPT's plugins, and it also works with Copilot. Dext says it draws on models trained on more than 2 billion receipts and invoices over 16 years.

What limits it

The connector is read-only. The AI can look at data but cannot change anything. It is also permission-aware, so it only shows what that user can already see in Dext. Only the data needed for a specific question is pulled. Dext's product chief, Stephen Edginton, said it is meant to retrieve information, not make decisions.

The privacy catch

Answers are processed by whichever AI provider the accountant has connected: OpenAI, Anthropic or Microsoft. That provider's data policies apply too. Dext recommends that partners review their provider's enterprise data policies. Many of those offer options to keep data out of model training.

In practice, part of the responsibility for handling data sits with the accounting firm's choice of provider and its settings.

Who it touches

The direct users are accounting practices. Dext says it serves more than 12,000 firms and 700,000 businesses. Dext has been part of IRIS Software Group since 2024. If your accountant uses Dext, your records could be part of these questions. CEO Sabby Gill called the launch an early step that Dext plans to build on.

What is not known yet

The material does not say how many firms will use it, or whether it will reach other regions or plans. It also does not say which AI settings any given firm will choose.