SharePoint
Agents you talk to see what you can see
An agent your team talks to only sees what the person using it can already see.
For accountancy and professional services firms
Copilot training and AI agents, built around your firm's own work.
We train your team on the jobs they do every week, from Copilot in your workflows up to building agents. And we build the agents that run on their own, inside your Microsoft 365, when you'd rather we did it. For firms of 10 to 200 people.
Case study
Post room agentA scanned letter arrives. The agent reads it and matches it to one client in the list. It files the letter to SharePoint and then the firm's document management system, and tells the partner for that client in Teams that they have post, flagging any letter that needs a person's judgement.
- 01 Arrives
- 02 Read
- 03 Matched to a client
- 04 Filed and logged
The agent files the routine post. People see only the letters that need judgement.
Read the case studyFrom our two case studies
- A letter, end to end, through the AI post room
- About 2 minutes
- Saved each day by the AI post room
- Up to 2 hours
- For an engagement letter, down from half an hour
- A few minutes
What we do
Train your team, have agents built or both.
Both begin with a free 30-minute call, and neither needs the other first.
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Train your team
Hands-on training built around your own processes, on the jobs your team does every week. It runs in stages: Copilot in your workflows, Cowork, the Copilot agents course, then Copilot Studio workshops for the few who'll build. Your firm can stop at any stage.
First session from £950
Further sessions from £650. Prices are per group (recommended up to 12 people), not per person.
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Get agents built
Agents that run on their own inside your Microsoft 365, built by us and tested on your own examples. Pick a ready-made accountancy agent at a fixed price or have a bespoke one built, with the price fixed before anything is built. Once it's live, Care or Embed keeps it running.
Bespoke builds from £2,500
Ready-made accountancy agents at a fixed price each. Then Care at £295 a month or Embed from £750 a month.
Not sure where to start? Discover, £1,500, credited back.
Every price is fixed before any work begins. See how we work.
Two kinds of agent
Act, not just answer.
An agent that runs
A report arrives and starts the agent. It checks each line, flags the exceptions and drafts a card for your team. A person decides each one, and the agent finishes the job and adds a line to the log.
- 01 Something happens
- 02 Checked and drafted
- 03 Your team approves
- 04 Done and logged
There are two kinds of agent. Agents you talk to help people find and draft things, and Microsoft's own Copilot now does a lot of that out of the box. Agents that run start on their own when something happens: an email arrives, a meeting ends, a report is exported, a date comes round. They do the checking, drafting and filing, then stop for one of your team to approve. The second kind is where a firm gets hours back, and it's what we build.
Agents you talk to
Find and draft things when someone asks. Copilot now does a lot of this out of the box.
Agents that run
Start on their own, do the checking, drafting and filing, then stop for your approval. This is what we build.
What Copilot does out of the box and the agents you talk to are what we train your team on, and the agents that run are what we build.
Microsoft keeps making Copilot better, and we'll tell you when it already does the job. What it doesn't know is your firm: your thresholds, your templates, your filing conventions and who signs off what. That's the part we build and look after.
What this looks like in an accountancy firm
Accountancy agents, each with one job.
Each one starts when something happens in the practice, does the checking, drafting and filing, then waits for one of your team. Three have a fixed price today, one has pilot places open, one is scoped per firm and one is coming next.
Fixed price See the agent Fixed price See the agent Fixed price See the agent Pilot places open See the agent Scoped per firm See the agent Coming next See the agent
WIP and billing agent
Every manager gets their own WIP exceptions in Teams on Monday morning, then chooses bill now, defer or write off for each client and submits.
Starts when your practice system emails its scheduled WIP report.
You approve bill now, defer or write off, client by client.
Adverse media and conflict checks
Every new client and every annual refresh is checked, evidenced and filed, without anyone having to remember.
Starts when a new client record is created.
You approve anything that scores, through your MLRO.
Client meeting agent
Briefs the adviser the day before, then turns the meeting into the file note, the tasks and the record updates when it ends.
Starts when a meeting carries your Client meeting category.
You approve the file note before anything is filed or sent.
PBC and records chaser
Knows what each job is still waiting for, matches what the client sends and chases what they haven't.
Starts when a job is created in your practice system.
You approve the chasers and any escalation.
Client onboarding agent
One form in; a signed engagement letter, a client workspace and a live client record out, with one partner approval in between.
Starts when a new client's intake form is submitted.
You approve the letters, through a partner, before anything goes to the client.
VAT return review agent
Checks the coding on every VAT return before it's filed, and gives the accountant a red, amber and green list with the source line for every flag.
Starts when the VAT return detail export lands in the quarter folder.
You approve every flag, and the return itself, through the accountant.
Proof
Two builds from accountancy practice.
Case study · Accountancy
The AI post room
Incoming post is read, split, matched against more than 1,500 live clients and filed by client code, with an audit line and a note to the right person in Teams. Letters that need judgement go to a person.
- End to end, per letter
- About 2 min
- Saved each day
- Up to 2 hours
Case study · Client acceptance
Letters of engagement
A form in the firm's CRM feeds controlled Word templates and saves the letters to SharePoint, so the partner reviews rather than drafts. It is the core of the client onboarding agent.
- Of drafting, before
- Half an hour
- Of form filling and a partner review, after
- A few minutes
Your data and who approves
Built in your Microsoft 365. Approved by your team.
You decide what each agent may do on its own and where a person has to approve. By default, anything that goes to a client or raises a bill waits for one of your team.
We build agents in your own Microsoft 365, and your own Azure subscription where a job needs it, not on our servers. We don't host your data.
Agents that run use a service account
Agents that run on their own use a dedicated service account. Its access is limited to the mailboxes, folders and systems the job needs, agreed with you in advance.
UK regions where Microsoft offers them
We build in UK regions wherever Microsoft offers them. Where a service isn't available in the UK, or a build uses a model from another provider, we set out where processing happens so your compliance lead can approve it before anything goes live.
Every run is logged
Every run is logged: what came in, what the agent did and who approved it.
- For a build, fixed before anything starts. Typically £2,500 to £15,000.
- From £2,500
- Training, first session, per group (recommended up to 12 people). Further sessions from £650.
- From £950
- Discover, if you're not sure yet, covering Design too. Credited back in full once your follow-on work passes £3,500 (ex VAT) within 90 days.
- £1,500
Microsoft's own usage charges, such as Copilot Credits, are billed by Microsoft to your firm, separately from our fees. All prices exclude VAT.
Other sectors
Accountancy first. We do the same work for law firms, financial advisers, insurance brokers and other professional services firms of a similar size. The training and the agents change with the work; the approval points don't. Who we work with
About FiveForward
FiveForward is a UK Copilot training and AI agent consultancy based in Colchester, Essex, for accountancy firms and other professional services firms of 10 to 200 people. We train a firm's team hands-on, on the firm's own processes, from Copilot in their everyday work up to building agents in Copilot Studio. And we design and build AI agents and automations inside a firm's own Microsoft 365, using Copilot Studio and Power Automate. Those agents start on their own when something happens, such as an email arriving, a meeting ending or a report being exported. They do the checking, drafting and filing, then stop for a person at the firm to approve. Engagements start with a free 30-minute call, then training built around the firm's own processes, a fixed-price agent build or both, or a fixed-price Discover for firms that aren't sure where to start. FiveForward was founded by James Wilkinson.
More about James and FiveForwardWill Microsoft's own Copilot make these agents pointless?
Some of what people call agents, yes, and we'll tell you when Copilot already does the job. Meeting recaps, drafting and “prepare me for my meeting” are now built in. What isn't built in is your firm: your thresholds, your templates and your naming conventions. Nor is filing to your document system, updating your records or the approval and evidence trail your regulator expects. That's what these agents do.
Couldn't someone in our own team build this?
They could build a first version of some of it, and our training exists to help them: a short agents course for anyone in the firm and Copilot Studio workshops for the few who'll build, all built around your own processes. The time goes on everything after the first version: the exceptions, the approval steps, the audit trail and keeping it working when Microsoft changes things. That's what the fixed price and Care or Embed cover.
Who approves what the agent does?
You decide what each agent may do on its own and where a person has to approve. By default, anything that goes to a client or raises a bill waits for one of your team.
Where does our data go?
We build agents in your own Microsoft 365, not on our servers, and we don't host your data. An agent your team talks to only sees what the person using it can already see. Agents that run on their own use a dedicated service account, limited to the mailboxes, folders and systems the job needs, agreed with you in advance. We build in UK regions wherever Microsoft offers them, and anything that has to run elsewhere is set out for your compliance lead to approve before go-live. Microsoft doesn't use your Microsoft 365 content to train its foundation models, and every run is logged.
What does it cost to run?
Two things, kept separate. First, our fees: a fixed build price, then Care at £295 a month for one live agent, or Embed from £750 a month covering up to three. Second, Microsoft's usage charges, which Microsoft bills to your firm. We build agents so routine steps run as standard automations and AI is only used where judgement is needed, which keeps Microsoft usage low and predictable. We estimate it before you commit.
How long does it take?
Most builds take two to six weeks from sign-off, depending on the systems involved.
Do we need an IT team?
No. Some agents need your IT provider to approve the agent's access to your Microsoft 365 or set up a shared mailbox. We tell them exactly what to set up.
Do you only work with accountancy firms?
Accountancy first. We also work with law firms, financial advisers and insurance brokers of a similar size.
What if our files are still on a server drive?
Then start with Discover. Most of these agents need your files in SharePoint or OneDrive first, and Discover sets out what to move and in what order.
Next step
Talk through where to start: training, an agent or both.
A free 30-minute call with James. No pitch and no obligation.