Hundred Spires Advisory — The Forward Deployed CPA

Beyond the chatbot

There's a ceiling most finance teams hit with AI. The work lives above it.

Asking a chatbot to draft a memo is the first rung. The value shows up when someone with real accounting judgment uses AI as an execution layer — to reshape data, wire up systems, and ship tools the team relies on every day.

01Ask a chatbot a questionDraft an email, summarize a standard, explain a concept

02Paste data in for a one-off answerCopy a table into a prompt, read the reply, move on

03Automate a single recurring taskA macro, a saved prompt, a template that saves an hour

04Build systems that run the workDashboards, data pipelines & deployed apps — with an audit trailForward deployed

The difference isn't the model. It's knowing what the numbers should do — then having the technical range to make software do it.

Accounting logic comes from a CPA who has owned the close, the audit, and the reconciliation. The code is executed with AI. No development team, no six-figure implementation, no waiting a quarter for IT.

The three case studies below are live, interactive dashboards you can open right now — each built on synthetic data, each the kind of system a Forward Deployed CPA stands up for clients.

The model

What "forward deployed" means for finance.

The forward deployed engineer embeds with a customer, learns the problem firsthand, and builds the solution on site. The Forward Deployed CPA applies that model to the finance function — with the accounting judgment the work demands.

Embedded, not arm's length

Work happens inside the actual systems and the actual close, next to the team that owns them — not from a deck across the table. The problem gets understood the way the people living it understand it.

Judgment and build, one person

Accounting logic from a CPA who has owned the close, the audit, and the reconciliation; the software built with AI as the execution layer. No translation loss between what the numbers should do and what the code does.

Working software, not slideware

The deliverable is a dashboard, a data pipeline, or a deployed app that runs — with a full audit trail — not a recommendation to implement someday. Something usable this quarter, without a development team or a six-figure rollout.

Left running, not left behind

Systems are handed over documented and maintainable, owned by the team that uses them. The measure of success is a finance function that keeps moving once the engagement ends.

Case studies · live & interactive

Open the dashboards. This is what a Forward Deployed CPA ships.

Each is a working dashboard built on synthetic data — no client information — modeled on real engagements. Click any one to explore it, toggle themes, and hover the charts.

LIVE DASHBOARD

Vendor rebate monitoring

Know what you've earned before the vendor tells you.

Two dozen supplier rebate programs in one view — earned to date, forecast to year-end, and exactly which tiers are about to slip. It replaces a two-day monthly spreadsheet reconciliation and turns rebates from an afterthought into a managed number. The kind of dashboard built to be shared: "here's how to monitor rebates."

2 days → liveReconciliation time

$840KAt-risk, surfaced early

Open live dashboard

LIVE DASHBOARD

Month-end close · quick-serve restaurant

A 14-day close, cut to four.

The close wasn't the problem — the other three weeks were. Move everything possible out of close week and show blockers the moment they appear.

71%Faster close

0Headcount added

Open live dashboard

LIVE DASHBOARD

Multi-entity reconciliation · global staffing

Two systems that disagreed, reconciled nightly.

A PE-backed firm with 20+ entities and two systems that never matched. A Python framework — accounting logic from the CPA, code from AI — runs it in minutes with a full audit trail.

Days → 3 minRun time

98.7%Auto-match rate

Open live dashboard

How engagements run

Senior expertise, without the large-firm overhead.

Operator, not advisor

Someone who has owned the close, the audit function, and the reconciliation. The structure gets fixed, not just the symptom.

AI as a real tool

Actual deployments and automation — not slideware about someday. Working software you can use this quarter.

Direct delivery

You work with the principal. No layers, no handoff to junior staff who learn on your engagement.

Measurable outcomes

Defined objectives, results you can point to. Results over representations.

About

Sander Abernathy, CPA

The Forward Deployed CPA behind Hundred Spires — a finance transformation leader with deep experience inside private equity-backed companies, managing ERP implementations under pressure, standing up audit functions from scratch, and leading finance teams through restructuring.

What makes the model work is range: the accounting judgment of a controller alongside the technical ability to build the tools that judgment implies. Structural solutions over temporary fixes; automation over repetitive manual work.

Hundred Spires AdvisoryPrincipal-led finance advisory & transformation

Designation

CPAUS GAAPASC 606 / 842

ERP & EPM

NetSuiteDynamics SLOracle EPM

SMB platforms

XeroQuickBooksBill.comGusto

Analytics & build

Power BITableauPower QueryPython

Specializations

Close accelerationInternal auditEnterprise riskM&AAI automationInterim CFO / Controller

Start a conversation

Have a number that should be a dashboard?

A close that runs long, data that won't reconcile, or an AI idea that can't quite get off the ground — that's forward deployed territory. A short conversation is usually enough to see the path.

Get in touch Call (404) 229-4045 sander@sanderabernathy.com