A Leeds accountancy firm used the AI Team UK service to answer every call, chase every invoice, and return 22 hours a week to its staff.
Penrose & Rowley Accountants, a Leeds practice with 14 staff, engaged ajairu's AI Team UK service on the £2,500 per month unlimited tier. In the first 90 days the AI receptionist and AI admin assistant returned 22 hours of admin time a week, captured 74 client enquiries the firm would otherwise have missed, and delivered a payroll-equivalent saving of £31,000 a year. The retainer paid for itself in under 4 months, backed by ajairu's 90-day value guarantee.
Penrose & Rowley Accountants Ltd is a chartered accountancy practice based in Headingley, Leeds, providing accounts, tax, and payroll services to around 600 SME and sole-trader clients. Founded in 2009 and led by Managing Partner Helen Whitaker, the firm had grown steadily through referrals, but growth had pushed its admin workload past what a 14-person team could comfortably absorb. Calls went unanswered during client meetings and during the January self-assessment rush, engagement letters and onboarding packs were assembled by hand, and fee invoices were chased sporadically because nobody had time to chase them properly.
Helen had considered hiring a part-time administrator and a receptionist, but recruitment in Leeds was slow, the combined cost would have been over £30,000 a year once employer costs were included, and neither hire would have answered the phone at 8pm when sole traders finished their own books and finally had time to call their accountant.
The key challenges were:
Penrose & Rowley engaged ajairu's AI Team UK service on the £2,500 per month unlimited tier. The service provides an AI assistant that works like a member of the team, configured to the firm's own services, tone, and processes, for one flat monthly fee with no token bills and no surprise usage charges. Because ajairu offers a 90-day value guarantee, Helen was able to trial the engagement with essentially no risk: if the AI team did not deliver measurable value in the first quarter, she could walk away.
Two AI assistants were deployed over a 4-week setup:
The AI team operates under a governance checklist agreed with Helen: it never gives tax advice, always identifies itself as an AI assistant, and routes anything sensitive directly to a named human. If you want to understand the economics of this model, our guide on how much an AI employee costs in the UK breaks down the comparison with a salaried hire.
Within the first 90 days the AI receptionist captured 74 client enquiries the firm would previously have missed, including 21 new-client enquiries that converted into around £38,000 of first-year fees. Missed-call recovery alone accounted for more than half of those: callers the team could not reach during the January rush received a text within minutes and called straight back. The firm no longer loses a caller to voicemail, and out-of-hours queries are answered at 8pm on a Tuesday just as reliably as at 10am.
Internally, the AI admin assistant returned 22 hours a week to the team. Onboarding packs that took 3 hours now take 20 minutes of review, and invoice chasing has brought debtor days down from 62 to 41. Together with the avoided cost of the two admin hires, Helen puts the payroll-equivalent saving at £31,000 a year, before counting the new fees the AI receptionist brings in.
Against the £2,500 per month retainer, cumulative value passed cumulative cost during month 3, giving a payback period of under 4 months. Helen tracked the numbers herself in a simple spreadsheet, and by the end of the first quarter the decision to continue was, in her words, not a decision at all.
Our AI receptionist never misses a call and our AI admin assistant chases invoices while we sleep. The team got 22 hours a week back and the retainer paid for itself before the end of the first quarter. Flat fee, no surprises.
This engagement used one of our managed services:
The AI team was scoped around two measurable problems rather than a vague ambition to use AI. Missed calls and unchased invoices were both costing the firm real money every month, so every improvement showed up in a number Helen already tracked: enquiries captured, debtor days, and staff hours logged on admin.
The flat monthly fee mattered too. With no token bills, the firm could point the AI at every call and every invoice without worrying that using it more would cost more, which is exactly how you want a busy practice to use it. And the 90-day value guarantee aligned incentives from day one: ajairu only keeps the client if the numbers work.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We will show you what an AI receptionist and AI admin assistant would return to your practice, with the numbers up front.