For accounting and bookkeeping practices
Rote is the frontier deployer of AI for South African accounting practices.
We make sure the bank statements, SARS letters and fee invoices never get missed in the background, while your people deal with your clients.
One process at a time. Fixed price. Live in 30 days.
The bookkeeping isn't what slips. The chasing is.
None of it is hard. It slips because everyone is busy.
- Bank statements and tax certificates. You ask, they promise Friday, Friday passes, and the VAT201 cut-off gets closer.
- SARS letters. They arrive everywhere: forwarded by a client asking what it means, downloaded from eFiling by whoever was logged in. Someone has to read it, log it and watch the date.
- Fee invoices. Your own invoices go overdue because chasing them always comes second to client work.
- Deadlines. The date that lived in one person's head, until that person was on leave.
Three systems, built and tested on a demonstration practice
Each of these runs on an invented practice with invented clients. They show exactly how the system behaves. They are not results from a real practice.
Document chasing
- One email per client listing everything still outstanding, in your practice's tone, never five separate emails.
- Reads the inbox before every chase. A client who has replied is never chased, and "I'll send it Friday" means no chase until Friday.
- Works to the due dates on your practice's own deadline list, the same list Rote Desk reads. Move a date and the chasing moves with it.
- Stops at your cut-off. After that, it tells a named person to phone.
- Every request is accounted for every day, with a reason. Bad data is listed, never quietly skipped.
SARS letter desk
- Reads every SARS letter that arrives in one inbox label and logs it in a single register: which client, what kind of letter, what SARS wants and by when.
- Turns each letter into a task for the right person, with reminders before the date.
- Drafts a plain-English email asking the client for exactly the documents SARS listed. A partner approves every one.
- One email each morning: what's overdue and what's due soon.
Rote Desk
- One email per person every weekday morning: deadlines in the next five working days, client emails waiting for a reply, clients who have gone quiet, overdue fee invoices in rand, and today's diary.
- A chaser drafted for every client who has gone quiet on a document request. After one unanswered chaser, it suggests a call.
- The right reminder for every overdue fee invoice, quoting the number and amount exactly. After three weeks it says phone, not email. Disputed invoices are left alone.
These three are where most practices start
Rote builds the system your practice actually needs, from scratch where it has to be: client onboarding, reporting packs, internal procedures your team can ask questions of, or anything else that follows a pattern. Quoted after the audit. Custom builds start from R25 000.
It reads, logs, reminds and drafts. Your people decide.
- It never works out a SARS date. It uses the date printed on the letter or the date in your own deadline list, and only counts the days to it.
- It never gives tax advice. It doesn't say what anyone owes SARS and never reassures a client about an outcome. Audits, penalties and disputes go straight to a partner, with no client email drafted.
- It never sends anything to a client without someone approving it. Every email waits for a tick from your team.
- Sensitive matters stay with a person. Anything about a death or a deceased estate, someone's health or medical expenses, or a criminal matter is never sent to AI. Scanned and password-protected letters go to a person too.
- It won't threaten. Fee reminders are never letters of demand, never mention attorneys or credit bureaus, and never include bank details.
No new platform for your clients or your team
Most practice software asks you to move: a new portal for clients to log into, a new system for your team to learn, your client data in someone else's database.
Rote works the other way round. The system runs in your own email and your own Google Sheets, alongside the accounting software you already use. Your clients get an ordinary email from your practice. Your team keeps working where they work now.
Client data stays with you. Rote does not store or copy it.
Less goes to AI. Before the AI reads anything, names, ID numbers, tax reference numbers, email addresses and phone numbers are removed. It sees the dates and amounts it needs, and nothing else.
It's yours. If you stop working with Rote, the system keeps running.
Every build is designed in line with POPIA and SAICA's guidance on generative AI.
Work out your hours
How many hours would come back to your team?
Type in your practice's own figures. Every number already filled in is an assumption to get you started, not a fact about your practice. Change any of them.
This counts hours, not money saved. The point is time back for client work, not fewer people. The Audit measures your real figures before you commit to anything.
Audit, first build, care
1
Audit
R2 500
One week mapping where your team's hours go.
- A written report: what to automate, what not to
- A fixed quote for the first system
The full R2 500 comes off your build if you go ahead within 30 days.
2
First build
R15 000
One system from Rote's library, adapted to your checklist, your wording and your tools.
- Live in 30 days, or you don't pay the balance
- Half up front, half when it goes live
3
Care
FromR2 500a month
Monitoring, fixes and a monthly health note with running costs.
- Essential: one live system, R2 500 a month
- Plus: up to three, R4 500 a month
- Practice: four or more, R7 500 a month
Running costs (the automation platform and AI usage) are paid by the practice, in its own accounts, at cost. Rote is not VAT registered, so no VAT is added. See full pricing
Questions
Will this replace anyone on my team?
No. It takes the chasing and copying off their desks so they can do the work clients pay you for.
Has Rote done this for a practice before?
Not yet. These systems are built and tested on a demonstration practice with invented clients. The Audit is where we test the fit with yours, for R2 500, before you commit to a build.
We use Outlook, not Gmail. Does it still work?
The demonstrations run on Google Workspace. If you run on Microsoft 365, tell us on the call and we'll say plainly what changes.
What if it gets something wrong?
Nothing goes to a client without a tick, and every run is logged. If something fails, you're told what and why.
What's slipping at your practice this month?
Twenty minutes, no preparation needed. If it isn't worth automating, we'll say so.
Book a 20-minute call