This course teaches you Cowork from scratch using 6 real accounting workflows. You'll go from installing the app to running AI on your actual client files. Each workflow teaches a Cowork concept, so by the end you understand the tool, not just the prompts.
Describe a task you do every week and I'll scope out what Cowork could do with it.
Every workflow has a prompt you can copy and run on real data. But the point isn't the prompts. The prompts will change. The point is understanding how Cowork works so you can make your own.
Most AI tools are conversation tools. You type, they respond, and then you still have to do the actual work. Cowork is different. It runs on your computer and can open your files, read spreadsheets, write documents, and browse the web.
Think of it as a brain (the AI model) with hands (your computer). You describe what done looks like, and it figures out the steps and does the work. You review the output, not the process.
Need IT approval? trust.anthropic.com has the SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certs. Cowork runs locally on your machine.
Describe what done looks like, not the steps. Don't tell Cowork "first open the file, then look for income, then..." Just say "Read these tax documents and extract all income, deductions, and withholdings into a summary table." Cowork figures out how to get there.
Let Cowork interview you. Instead of writing the perfect prompt, say "I need help with X. Ask me questions first so you understand what I need." Cowork will ask clarifying questions before doing the work. This produces better results than writing a detailed prompt yourself.
Before diving into specific workflows, let's map the full picture. This prompt analyzes your typical week and tells you what to automate first, what saves the most time, and what's easy versus hard to set up.
Paste this into Cowork. The roadmap it produces becomes your personal game plan for the rest of this course.
I'm a solo accountant. Here's what my typical week looks like: - Client document intake and organization - Bank reconciliation and transaction categorization - Tax return preparation - Client communication (emails, status updates, document requests) - Monthly financial reporting for clients - New client onboarding paperwork - Quarterly estimated tax calculations - Payroll processing and compliance Interview me about how I spend my time, then create an automation roadmap: 1. List every task AI can partially or fully automate 2. Rank by time saved (highest first) 3. For each: current time per week, AI-assisted time, difficulty (easy/medium/hard) 4. Mark which ones to automate FIRST (quick wins — easy + high time savings) 5. Mark which have the highest long-term compound value 6. Note which need human review vs. which can be fully automated Format as a table I can reference every week.
Notice the prompt says "interview me" before building the roadmap. This is the most important skill in this course. When you ask Cowork to interview you, it asks targeted questions about your specific situation before doing any work. The output is tailored to you, not generic advice. Use this pattern everywhere.
The 6 workflows below cover the items that typically rank highest on an accountant's roadmap. Each one also teaches you a Cowork concept you can use for any task.
Each workflow has a copy-paste prompt and teaches a Cowork concept. They're ordered by impact, but they also build on each other. Start with #1.
A client drops off a shoebox of W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, and receipts. You spend an hour per client reading each document, entering numbers into your tax software, and cross-referencing totals. During tax season, this eats your entire morning before you've touched any actual analysis.
Drop the documents into a folder. Point Cowork at it. It reads every page, pulls out the key numbers (income, withholdings, deductions, basis amounts), organizes them by form type, and flags anything that looks off. A W-2 where the state withholding doesn't match the state listed. A 1099 total that's way different from last year. Missing forms you'd expect.
I'm a solo accountant preparing this client's tax return. Read every document in this folder and extract: 1. **Income summary** — List every W-2, 1099-NEC, 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-B, K-1, and any other income document. For each: payer name, type, gross amount, withholdings. 2. **Deduction candidates** — Receipts, mortgage interest (1098), student loan interest (1098-E), property taxes, charitable donations. For each: payee, amount, category. 3. **Cross-reference check** — Flag anything that looks off: - State withholding vs. state listed on W-2 - Large year-over-year changes (if prior year data available) - Missing forms you'd expect (e.g., client had investment income last year but no 1099-B this year) - Math errors on any document 4. **Summary table** — Totals by category: wages, self-employment, investment, rental, other. Total federal withholding, state withholding, estimated payments. Output as a clean table I can use to populate the return. Flag anything that needs my review with ⚠️.
Cowork reads files. This is the fundamental difference from a chatbot. You pointed it at a folder full of documents and it processed all of them in one go. Any task where you're reading files and extracting information works this way: give Cowork the folder and tell it what you need.
The first time, spend 10 minutes checking Claude's work against the source documents. After 2-3 clients, you'll trust the extraction and only review flagged items. It's also a built-in error-checking layer that catches things you'd miss at 10pm during tax season.
You write the same five emails every week: tax deadline reminders, document request lists, filing status updates, engagement letter follow-ups, and payment reminders. Each one needs to reference the client's specific situation. You can't use a template, so you rewrite each one.
Describe the client's situation in plain English. Cowork drafts a personalized email that references their specific filing status, the documents you need, and relevant deadlines. It sounds like you wrote it.
I need to write a client email. Interview me about: - Who the client is - What's happening with their filing - What I need from them - What the deadline is Then draft the email. Keep it under 150 words. Professional but warm — this is a long-term relationship, not a collections notice. Don't use "I hope this email finds you well" or "as per our conversation." Write like a real person.
The interview pattern works for everything. Notice this prompt says "interview me" instead of filling in brackets. Cowork asks you the right questions, so you don't have to think about prompt structure. This produces better emails than pre-filling a template because Cowork asks follow-up questions you wouldn't think to include.
Once you've got Project Instructions set up (Part 4 of this course), you can run this for your entire client base at once. "Draft reminder emails for every client who hasn't submitted their documents yet." Twenty personalized emails in 3 minutes.
New accounting AI workflows every week. Each one teaches a Cowork concept with a copy-paste prompt.
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Monthly bank reconciliation: download the statement, go line by line matching transactions to categories, flag anything that doesn't match, investigate discrepancies. For clients with high transaction volume, this takes an hour per account every month.
Export the bank statement as CSV. Give Cowork the CSV and your chart of accounts. It categorizes every transaction, flags uncertain ones, identifies duplicates, and spots patterns — a subscription that increased in price, a vendor payment significantly larger than usual.
I'm reconciling a client's bank account. Here's the bank statement CSV and their chart of accounts. For each transaction: 1. **Categorize** using the chart of accounts. If uncertain, mark with ❓ and suggest 2 guesses. 2. **Flag anomalies:** transactions larger than usual for this vendor, potential duplicates (same amount + vendor within 3 days), new vendors, round-number transactions that might be owner draws. 3. **Summary:** Total by category. Compare to prior month if I provide it. 4. **Unmatched items:** Anything that doesn't clearly fit. Output as a table: Date | Description | Amount | Category | Flag (if any)
Context compounds. Cowork's categorizations are about 85-90% accurate the first time. But here's the key: after 2-3 months with the same client, you add corrections to your Project Instructions (covered in Part 4). "Vendor X is always Office Supplies, not Miscellaneous." Accuracy climbs to 95%+. The more context you give Cowork, the smarter it gets for that specific client. This is true for every workflow in this course.
New client intake is different every time. An S-Corp with rental properties in two states needs a completely different document list than a sole proprietor freelancer. You either maintain a dozen checklists that are always slightly out of date, or rebuild them from scratch each time.
Describe the client in 3-4 sentences. Cowork generates a complete onboarding checklist customized to their entity type, state(s), industry, and complexity. Documents you need, forms you'll file, key deadlines, and questions to ask in the intake meeting.
New client intake. Interview me about this client, then generate a complete onboarding checklist. I need: 1. **Document request list** — Everything I need, organized by category. Specific to their entity type and state. 2. **Engagement scope** — What returns/filings I'll handle (1040, 1120-S, state, payroll, estimated payments, etc.) 3. **Key deadlines** — Filing deadlines for their entity type and state. Estimated payment dates. 4. **Intake meeting questions** — 10 questions the document list won't answer (cash vs. accrual? Pending audits? Changes from last year? Retirement plans?) 5. **Red flags** — Common issues for their profile (S-Corp reasonable compensation, hobby loss rules, state nexus issues) Split into a client-facing document (document list) and an internal document (everything else).
Save outputs, they become your library. Keep every generated checklist in a Cowork project folder. When a new client comes in that's similar, Cowork references the previous checklist and improves on it. Your onboarding process gets more thorough with every client, not less. This is the compounding pattern from Workflow 3, applied to documents instead of categorizations.
Client calls: "I'm thinking about converting my LLC to an S-Corp mid-year. What are the tax implications?" You know the general answer, but the specifics depend on their state, income level, self-employment tax exposure, and a dozen other factors. You spend an hour in the IRC and state regs, then another hour writing it up.
Describe the scenario. Cowork researches the applicable rules, identifies the key factors, runs through the analysis, and drafts an advisory memo you can review and send. It cites the relevant code sections and includes standard caveats.
Client tax research question. Interview me about the client's situation, then draft an advisory memo. **Memo format:** 1. **Summary** — 2-3 sentence answer 2. **Analysis** — Relevant tax rules, code sections, how they apply. Federal AND state. 3. **Considerations** — Factors that could change the answer 4. **Recommendation** — What I'd advise, with reasoning 5. **Caveats** — Standard professional disclaimer 6. **Next steps** — What the client needs to do Write for someone who's smart but not a tax professional. IMPORTANT: Flag anything you're not 100% certain about with [VERIFY]. I will confirm these before sending.
AI is a research assistant, not an oracle. Always verify code section citations, check that rules haven't changed, and apply your own professional judgment. The [VERIFY] flags are there for a reason. Cowork handles the drafting and research structure. The professional judgment is yours. This applies to every AI tool, not just Cowork.
Your clients pay for bookkeeping, but what they want is to understand their numbers. The P&L is accurate but opaque to most business owners. The clients who value you most are the ones you write a narrative summary for: "Revenue was up 12% but margins compressed because of the new supplier pricing." That takes time, so most clients just get the raw reports.
Export the month's financials from QuickBooks or Xero. Give them to Cowork. It writes a client-friendly summary that translates the numbers into plain English, highlights what changed, and surfaces things the client should pay attention to.
Write a monthly financial summary for my client. This goes directly to the business owner — write for someone who knows their business but isn't an accountant.
Interview me about the client and their business first. Then write:
1. **The headline** — One sentence: what's the most important thing this month?
2. **Revenue & profitability** — Sales, COGS, margins. Plain English. Compare to last month/last year.
3. **Expenses** — Anything notable. New expenses, unusual increases, one-time items.
4. **Cash position** — Where they stand. Cash in, cash out, runway if applicable.
5. **Watch items** — 2-3 things to think about. Business insight, not just numbers. ("Your materials cost jumped 18% — worth checking if your supplier raised prices.")
6. **Tax note** — Anything for tax planning this month.
Keep it under 400 words. Short paragraphs, no bullet points. Should feel like a note from their accountant, not a report.
AI doesn't just save time. It changes what you can offer. Most of the earlier workflows save time on stuff you already do. This one changes what you deliver. The accountant who sends a 3-paragraph summary explaining what the numbers mean is offering a different service than the accountant who sends a PDF. With Cowork drafting, you can do this for every client — 10 minutes each instead of 90.
You've got 6 working workflows. Now let's make Cowork actually know you, your clients, and your practice. This is where it goes from useful to indispensable.
Every Cowork session starts fresh. Cowork doesn't remember what you did yesterday. But Project Instructions fix that. They're persistent notes that load at the start of every session in a project.
Create a Cowork Project for each major workstream (e.g., "Tax Season 2026," "Monthly Reporting," "Client Onboarding"). In the Project Instructions, add context that makes Cowork smarter: your chart of accounts, common vendor mappings, client preferences, corrections from past sessions. This is the "context compounds" pattern from Workflow 3 made permanent.
## Monthly Reporting Project I'm a solo accountant doing monthly reporting for 12 clients. **Chart of accounts:** See chart-of-accounts.csv in this folder. **Client preferences:** - ABC Corp: CEO wants revenue comparison to same month last year, not prior month - Smith LLC: Always mention cash runway, they're pre-revenue - Johnson Dental: Flag any supply costs over $2,000 (new policy) **My style:** Short paragraphs, no bullet points. Clients want to feel like they're getting a note from me, not a generated report. **Corrections from past sessions:** - "Office Supplies" should include anything from Staples, Amazon (office category), and W.B. Mason - Do NOT categorize owner draws as expenses - When revenue drops month-over-month, always check if it's seasonal before flagging
Project Instructions are per-workstream. Global Instructions apply to every Cowork session. Set them once in Settings → Cowork → Edit Global Instructions.
Good things to put here: your name and firm name, your communication style ("professional but warm, never use jargon with clients"), standard disclaimers you always include, and the rule "always ask me questions before starting any task."
For a clean setup, create one parent folder with four directories:
Once a workflow is reliable, automate it. Type /schedule in Cowork and set frequency: daily, weekly, monthly. Ideas for accountants:
Scheduled tasks only run while your computer is awake and Claude Desktop is open. Start with one. Add more when it's reliable.
New accounting AI workflows every week. Each one teaches a Cowork concept with a copy-paste prompt.
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More courses launching soon. Each one teaches Cowork through profession-specific workflows.
