Abby FAQs: Your Questions After the Webinar, Answered

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After our recent webinar on preparing 40+ compliance work papers in 30 seconds, we received a number of thoughtful questions from firms across Australia and New Zealand.

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Some were practical. Some were technical. Others were the questions many accountants quietly ask when considering automation for the first time.

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We’ve brought the most common ones together here.

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What exactly does Abby do?

Abby automates the preparation of compliance work papers for accounting firms.

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Once client data is gathered and integrated, Abby prepares the reconciliations and documentation that normally sit behind a set of financial statements.

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That includes generating more than 40 work papers, running calculations, preparing draft journals and highlighting discrepancies ready for review.

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The result is a structured compliance workflow that moves from gather → calculate → review → approve.

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Accountants remain fully involved in reviewing and approving the work. Abby focuses on the preparation stage.

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How is Abby different from Xero?

Xero is the ledger where transactions are recorded.

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Abby sits on top of the ledger and prepares the compliance work papers that support financial statements and tax lodgements.

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Think of it this way:

• Xero records the transactions.
• Abby reconciles and documents them for compliance.

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The two systems work together rather than replacing each other.

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How long does a compliance job take using Abby?

The time spent on each job shifts significantly.

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Gathering the information still takes a few minutes. Bank statements, loan summaries and supporting documents need to be collected.

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Once the data is in place, Abby generates the compliance work papers in around 30 seconds.

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From there, the accountant moves into review.

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In our own firms, jobs that previously took 8–10 hours are now often completed in closer to 1–2 hours, depending on complexity.

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What happens if the client file is messy?

This was one of the most common webinar questions.

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Client records are rarely perfect. Abby does not require a perfectly clean file to run.

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Instead, discrepancies appear clearly within the workflow. Variances can be reviewed, draft journals can be edited and supporting documents remain visible throughout the job.

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The first year with a new or complex client may take slightly longer. Once mapping and adjustments are established, the workflow becomes significantly faster in following years.

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Will Abby replace junior accountants?

Automation changes how time is spent rather than removing the need for accountants.

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Preparing work papers manually involves a lot of repetitive construction work. Abby handles that preparation stage.

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Accountants continue to review reconciliations, investigate discrepancies and apply professional judgment.

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Many firms find that automation actually improves training because the workflow becomes more visible and structured.

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Does Abby only work with Xero?

Abby integrates directly with:

• Xero
• Xero Practice Manager (XPM)
• The Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
• Inland Revenue (IRD) in New Zealand

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These integrations allow Abby to access the information needed to generate compliance work papers automatically.

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For clients outside the Xero ecosystem, a trial balance can still be imported to generate work papers, although the full workflow works best when connected directly to Xero.

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How secure is Abby?

Security was a core part of Abby’s development.

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Connecting with systems such as Xero, the ATO and IRD requires meeting strict integration standards. These integrations undergo rigorous review before approval.

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Work papers and supporting documents can also be exported as PDFs and ZIP files, ensuring firms have full documentation available for audit or practice review purposes.

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How does Abby reduce review time?

Much of the time in a compliance job is spent preparing reconciliations before the reviewer even opens the file.

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Abby completes that preparation work automatically.

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It confirms prior-year balances, identifies transaction changes, prepares draft journals and calculates reconciliations.

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When the reviewer steps in, the structure is already in place and discrepancies are clearly visible.

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That allows review time to focus on analysis and professional judgment rather than construction.
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Is Abby an alternative to outsourcing?

Many accounting firms across Australia and New Zealand use outsourcing to manage compliance workloads.

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Automation offers another approach.

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Instead of sending work externally and reviewing it once it returns, Abby generates the work papers internally in seconds and moves the job straight into review.

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For many firms this improves turnaround time and keeps the work closer to the practice.

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Can Abby be used outside of year-end work?

Yes.

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Many firms use Abby during the year as well. Running work papers quarterly or at GST / BAS periods can provide a quick sense check that the balance sheet and tax positions look correct before lodgement.

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This helps identify issues earlier rather than discovering them at year-end.

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Why was Abby built in the first place?

Abby started inside a working accounting practice.

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After years of preparing the same compliance work papers manually for every client, the question became simple: could the preparation stage be automated while keeping the review process intact?

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The goal was not to remove accountants from the workflow. The goal was to remove the repetitive construction work that happens before the real review begins.

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That idea became Abby.

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How can I see Abby in action?

The easiest way to understand Abby is to see a compliance job run from start to finish.

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If you’d like to see how the gather → calculate → review → approve workflow operates in practice, book a demo and we’ll walk you through it.

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