AI ADVISORY FOR CPA FIRMS, FAMILY OFFICES & GROWING BUSINESSES
Your team already pays for Copilot, ChatGPT or Claude. We show them how to use it, build the agents and automations that take work off their desks, and help you market your firm. Every build runs inside AI controls an auditor would recognize.
Founded by a former Blackstone fund accountant and Deloitte auditor.
ἀρετή · aretḗ
Excellence: living up to your full potential.
THE PROBLEM
Most firms paid for AI, ran a lunch-and-learn, and went back to doing things the old way. Nobody connected the tools to the actual work.
IT keeps the systems running. Partners run the business. Learning what AI can do, and redesigning work around it, falls between the cracks.
Client data, accuracy, confidentiality, what your auditor or insurer will ask. Without controls, the safest choice feels like doing nothing.
SERVICES
LEARN
Hands-on training built on your own workflows. Your team learns what AI can and can't do, and how to use agents, workflows and triggers safely.
BUILD
We design and build what takes work off your team's desks, connected to the tools you already use.
MARKET
We put AI to work on your growth: a sharper presence and a marketing system that keeps running without eating your week.
CONTROL & GROW
Your ongoing AI lead. We keep everything working, improving and under control as tools and your team change.
WHO WE HELP
ARETE AI CONTROLS
Every agent we deploy runs inside a controls framework built the way finance teams already think: documented, tested and signed off by a human. It is aligned with the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and ISO/IEC 42001.
Your data stays in your environment. Nothing leaves your firm without a person approving it.
Exactly how the agent does the job, step by step, with a control check on each step.
The agent confirms every required input is in place before it starts, or it stops.
Every problem it hits is recorded with its own recommended fix, so it improves each week.
Who reviews it, what it may do, and how its controls are tested before go-live and each quarter.
HOW IT WORKS
We learn where your team loses the most hours and tell you honestly whether we can help.
After the intro call, we sign a short agreement and schedule a hands-on session on your real work, ending with a ranked list of what to automate first.
We build your first agents, automations or dashboards, with AI controls and 60 days of support.
We stay on as your AI lead: monthly controls reviews, new automations, training and marketing.
Workshops start at $3,500, with a short agreement signed after your free intro call. The full workshop fee is credited toward a build sprint signed within 30 days.
ABOUT
I've worked on both sides of finance. As an auditor at Deloitte, I tested the controls and fee calculations of large asset managers. As a fund accountant at Blackstone and a smaller hedge fund, I ran monthly NAVs, capital calls and investor reporting, and served as AI Champion for a 40-person finance group, executives included.
I also build. I've shipped an automated NAV application and a full job-costing and bookkeeping app for contractors. Arete exists to bring that combination, accounting judgment plus hands-on AI, to firms that don't have it in-house.
B.S. Accounting, St. John's University · Aerospace engineering, University of Central Florida
QUESTIONS
We build inside your existing environment (Microsoft 365, SharePoint, your accounting systems) using business-grade AI tools that don't train on your data.
Microsoft Copilot, Claude and ChatGPT, plus connections to tools like Excel, SharePoint, QuickBooks, NetSuite and your CRM. We're tool-neutral: we recommend what fits your team and what you already pay for.
No. We build it, document it in plain English and train your team to use it. The Arete Partner program covers ongoing changes.
No. Your people become the owners of the AI controls we put in place. They review and approve what the agents produce, resolve exceptions, and sign off on every change. AI workflows can't run without them: they are a required part of every process we build. The goal is capacity, not cuts, so your team spends less time on repetitive work and more on clients.
Your team leaves the workshop using AI on real tasks. A first automation is typically live within a 4–8 week build sprint.
A free 30-minute call. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and where to start.