Something big is shifting in the accounting industry, and it’s happening fast.
The old “build vs buy” debate is over. In 2025, firms aren’t choosing between the two anymore. They’re doing both. And they’re doing it without huge budgets, developer teams or long timelines.
You don’t need to be a software engineer to build lightweight, useful tools. You just need curiosity, a real problem to solve, and a handful of modern tools that do the heavy lifting for you.
Build vs buy is dead. You can do both.
For years, accounting firms have been boxed into buying software that mostly fits their workflow. Custom builds were for the big guys. Building your own tool used to mean hiring an agency, spending $100k, and waiting 6 months for something you weren’t even sure would work.
Today, that mindset is gone. Firms are taking the tools they already use and stitching them together with automations, scripts and AI agents. And where gaps still exist, they’re building small apps around the edge.
It’s not about becoming a SaaS company. It’s about taking control of the stuff vendors don’t solve and fixing it on your own terms.
The modern stack making this possible
So what’s changed? The tools have.
Here’s what firms are using right now to build and automate:
• Replit – spin up simple scripts, tools and dashboards without setting up an entire dev environment
• Lovable – build app-like websites in hours, without needing a front-end developer
• Cursor – a dev tool supercharged by AI that can help generate working code
• Zapier, n8n, Make – automate workflows between apps like Xero Practice Manager, Google Sheets, Karbon and Slack
• OpenAI Codex, Claude, Gemini – use AI to generate API calls, write scripts, and debug code
• Streamlit – quickly turn Python scripts into usable internal apps
Most of these are low-code or no-code. The key is that you don’t need to be technical. You need to be willing to try.
Real firms doing real builds
This isn’t a trend for software founders. It’s happening in your own backyard.
On LinkedIn this week, dozens of accountants and bookkeepers jumped in to share what they’re building.
Jason Robertson started his first Replit build and was blown away by how fast it all came together.
Brian Clare built an app for Karboard using Cursor, with a frontend in Lovable. Version 1 took 24 hours total.
Oliver Blackmore wrote a Python script to automate management representation letters in his eCommerce accounting firm. It took him a few hours. He’s not a coder.
Simon Chaplin is diving headfirst into new tools. Anderson Petergeorge said it’s the era of accountants no longer relying on Excel for everything anymore.
There’s a quiet movement happening. And it’s not being led by software developers. It’s firm owners. Bookkeepers. Advisors. People who are fed up with inefficiency and willing to try something new.
Why it matters
Here’s the real shift.
Accountants no longer have to wait for someone to build a better tool. They can do it themselves.
• Tired of onboarding new clients manually? Automate it with Zapier and a Typeform.
• Want a better way to track job progress? Build a dashboard in Lovable that pulls in task data from your PM tool.
• Sick of exporting data and manipulating it in Excel? Use n8n to create a live workflow that fetches and updates data for you.
It’s not just faster. It’s yours. Built for your process, not the average use case a vendor guessed at.
Things to keep in mind
Not every app needs to be built in-house. Sometimes buying software still makes more sense. Especially when it comes to:
• Handling secure client data
• Needing regular maintenance or upgrades
• Scaling to multiple users or environments
And yes, security matters. You still need to think about where you host the app, how data is stored, and how access is managed. For internal tools and prototypes, platforms like Replit or Streamlit make that easy to manage. But once client data is involved, you need to be smart about it.
Jan Korecky put it well in the comments. You can create great-looking tools easily, but extending and securing them is a separate conversation. For anything mission-critical or client-facing, bring in the right expertise or buy from professionals.
So is every firm a software company now?
Not exactly. But every firm is acting like one.
They’re building lean. Solving real problems quickly. And taking back control of how their tech stack works.
You don’t need a full engineering team. You don’t need $500k. You need someone on the team who’s willing to experiment, tinker, test, and build.
Start with something small. Automate one task. Build one script. Try one integration.
Before you know it, you’re not just using software. You’re shaping it to fit the way you work.
Final thoughts
This isn’t about coding for the sake of it. It’s about building tools that help you move faster and serve clients better.
Accounting firms are becoming mini software companies. And not because they want to be. Because they finally can be.
So the next time you hit a workflow that feels clunky or broken, ask yourself:
Can we build something that fixes this?
Chances are, the answer is yes.
