How Jessica Stebbings turned compliance work into an advisory practice

The challenge: Standing out in a crowded market

When Jessica Stebbings launched her accounting practice—unexpectedly, while on maternity leave—it grew quickly. A single Facebook post turned into a flood of clients. What started as a favor for a friend became a full practice with a team of contractors and an outsourced processing team offshore.

But growth brought its own pressure. Jessica knew exactly what her clients needed, and it wasn't more jargon-heavy reports.

"A lot of the older accountants out there are quite good at giving high-level advice, but they don't provide the actual help clients need, like practical tools and actual training. It's all just high-level advice that clients often don't understand," says Jessica.

Jessica wanted to be different: practical, approachable, and genuinely useful. What she needed was a way to bring that value to life—visually, efficiently, and at scale.

The discovery: A dashboard that made sense immediately

Jessica first came across Aider and was drawn in by something surprisingly simple.

"With the dashboard it was so easy to see at a glance which clients needed help and who didn’t—with green and red coloured alerts helping prioritize what needed addressing. That sold me straight away."

Showing how many transactions remained unreconciled meant she could quickly chase clients before deadlines, without manually digging through Xero. But it was the Performance Report that changed how she ran her practice entirely.

“Real-time visibility into client data and automated performance reports have helped us embed advisory into our regular workflow. We’re delivering more value, more consistently, across our client base.”

The solution: Turning annual accounts into advisory conversations

Jessica now generates an Aider Performance Report for every annual accounts job, and it's become the centrepiece of her client meetings.

"At client meetings, I show that report alongside the annual accounts. The graphs make more sense to clients than figures alone. The Aider report is more interesting to them, and they love the graphics," says Jessica.

This wasn't replacing something she was already doing. It was a brand new service and revenue stream—and she's built it directly into her pricing.

"I've incorporated the cost of preparing the Aider report into my annual accounts fee. It's just part of my process now."

She's also created a direct booking link on her website so clients can schedule a mid-year performance review at any time. Bookings require 48 hours' notice so she has time to generate the report before the meeting.

“I feel like it gives me a bit of an advantage in the accounting industry, using AI tools like this. Clients don't know it's AI-generated. They just say, 'Wow.'”

Period close automation: Closing the books without the chaos

For a practice like Jessica's—where processing is outsourced and she steps in purely to review—the period close is where things can go wrong fast. Aider's automated period close workflow has become her safety net.

Every period, Aider automatically runs through her close checklist: surfacing bank reconciliation status across every client account, flagging unreconciled transactions, and highlighting any expenses over $1,000 that could indicate a miscoding error. What used to require manual digging is now waiting for her on the dashboard before she even opens a file.

"It automatically shows the bank reconciliations, that's my core process. For clients with multiple bank accounts, you can see at a glance whether each one is reconciled or not. And it highlights expenses over $1,000 so I can quickly check nothing's in the wrong place."

The dashboard's red-and-green status view means Jessica can see exactly which clients are close-ready and which need attention, without opening each file individually.

"The dashboard straight away - that's what sold me. I could see how many transactions I had left to reconcile and quickly chase those clients."

For a sole practitioner managing outsourced processing, this is the difference between a stressful close and a controlled one. Errors get caught at review stage rather than surfacing after filing, protecting both the client and the practice.

What's next

Rather than chasing volume, Jessica wants to grow profit by deepening what she offers existing clients. Her plan to make it happen: hire more staff to join her, and supplement the current mix of contractors and offshore processing team.

Aider's performance reporting is already central to that plan—turning annual compliance touchpoints into ongoing advisory relationships, and making it easier to demonstrate value at every meeting.

Key results

• New advisory revenue stream: Performance reporting baked into annual accounts fee

• Stronger client relationships: Visual, practical reports clients actually understand

• Proactive tax monitoring: Dashboard prompts timely tax review conversations with provisional tax clients

• Automated period close: Bank rec status, unreconciled transactions, and expense flags surfaced automatically across every client, every period

Why Aider?

For a lean, fast-growing practice like Jessica’s, Aider delivers on four levels:

1. Period close automation: The dashboard and automated checklist surface every close-critical issue before Jessica opens a file. No manual chasing, no missed reconciliations, no filing surprises.

2. Visibility: Practice-wide red/green status means she always knows what needs attention, across every client, at a glance.

3. Client experience: Performance reports give clients the visual, practical insights they actually engage with, elevating the accountant's value beyond compliance.

4. Confidence: Automated checklists and AI-generated reports mean Jessica walks into every client meeting with confidence.

Want to see how Aider can help your practice deliver smarter client meetings? Book a demo.