AI security controls for accounting firms.
A connected accounting AI needs clear company boundaries, least-privilege access, human review before a ledger change, and an offboarding path that a firm can actually operate.
Security is not a promise that AI will be careful.
For an accounting firm, the relevant question is not whether an AI client can write. It is who can authorise a connection, which client books a person or AI client can reach, what information they can see, what happens before a change posts, and how the firm removes access when the relationship ends.
Numbers Game is designed around those controls. QuickBooks Online and Xero remain the system of record. The firm uses its own AI account, chooses the approved companies and users, and reviews proposed work before it changes a ledger.
Five controls every firm should be able to describe plainly.
- 1. Least privilege. Give a person and AI client only the client companies and capabilities needed for the job.
- 2. Role-based access. Owner, Admin, Member, and Viewer roles separate billing, connection management, operational work, and report-only access.
- 3. Company scoping. A user can be approved for selected companies, read-only on others, and excluded from a former or sensitive client entirely.
- 4. Approval before a ledger change. The AI can prepare work and show its proposed treatment. A person reviews it before approved accounting data reaches QuickBooks Online or Xero.
- 5. Revocation and accountability. The firm can remove access when a person leaves and use its activity record to understand what tools ran and where.
Not every accounting role needs the same view.
Owner
Owns the firm boundary: billing, firm-data export, top-level role changes, and the final accountability for connected client books.
Admin
Manages invitations and connections within the firm’s operating rules, without becoming a substitute Owner for billing or top-level access.
Member
Works with the client books and operational data their role and approved company scope permit.
Viewer
Uses reports and read-only answers without creating or modifying accounting records. Viewer access does not include bank-feed information.
Bank-feed information deserves its own boundary.
Bank and card transactions can be useful context for close and categorisation work. They are also operationally sensitive. Numbers Game limits bank connections and bank-feed transaction access to Owners, Admins, and Members. Viewers cannot see that bank-feed data.
That distinction matters when a firm brings in a junior reviewer, outside accountant, or client-facing report reader. A person can receive the output needed for their role without inheriting access to every operational transaction.
A useful connection still has structural limits.
No silent posting
A proposed categorisation, journal entry, reconciliation item, or other accounting treatment stays reviewable before it is approved.
No payment authority
Numbers Game does not initiate payments, ACH, transfers, or payroll filings.
No shared credentials
Connections use authorised access rather than putting a client’s QuickBooks or Xero password into an AI prompt.
No permanent record deletion
The product cannot permanently delete QuickBooks records or change Intuit account settings.
No mixed-client workspace
Unrelated clients should remain in separate projects and approved company scopes.
No substitute for judgment
The AI can retrieve, organise, compare, and prepare. Accounting judgment remains with the professional who reviews the work.
Accounting-firm AI controls, answered directly.
Make the control model part of the workflow.
Bring your roles, client scope, and approval process to a Numbers Game walkthrough.