A buyer of company records names professional services among its sectors.

It says its typical deals run from $100,000 to $2 million and above.

No buyer has published what an accounting, tax or bookkeeping firm was paid, and we found no trade-press coverage of one.

That range is not specific to accounting, and it is not a promise of what you would be offered.

Below: what buyers name, what the professional rules allow, and whether your firm fits.

Is this for your company?

Tick the boxes that fit your company:

• 30 or more people
• 3 or more years in operation, and 3 or more years of records kept
• Your firm's own procedures, checklists and books are kept in systems like QuickBooks, Xero or NetSuite, shared drives and email
• The company owns its records: they are your own operating records, not files you hold for clients
• The company is in the US (today's buyers take US companies first)

One buyer's published criteria are, word for word, "20+ full time employees & 3+ years in operation". This checklist uses 30 or more people. Our quiz also looks for three or more years of records kept: it asks how far back your records go, not when the company started. The other lines come from our own site terms and quiz. If a box isn't ticked yet, the quiz asks about each of these.

What gets licensed: the systems you already run

AI companies are training software to do multi-step work, and a close or an engagement is multi-step work: gather the records, reconcile them, review, approve and report, then do it again next month with what you learned. Years of your own procedures, checklists and review notes show how that judgment is applied.

For an accounting firm the deciding question comes first: which records are yours to license. Your own procedures, close checklists, review standards and training material sit on one side. Client workpapers, client ledgers and tax return information sit on the other.

Two buyers publish what they look for. We call them the second buyer, which lists QuickBooks, NetSuite, Gmail, Outlook and Google Drive among the sources it buys, and the case-study buyer, which publishes deals from other trades on its case-study page. Its FAQ on which companies qualify names professional services and financial services among the sectors, and its home page says it buys from companies in any sector. Its guide to the data sources it covers, with notes on where to find counts, names accounting systems under Accounting and ERP: QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, SAP and Odoo. It also covers Gmail and Outlook, Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box and Egnyte, and Slack and Microsoft Teams.

We found no buyer page that names a practice-management or tax-preparation system, so we don't list one. For a firm, the likelier records are:

• Internal procedures and SOPs
• Close-checklist templates and review standards
• Staff training material
• Practice-management workflow, without client data
• Your firm's own books in QuickBooks, Xero or NetSuite

The professional rules come first

The AICPA Code. Rule 1.700.001, the Confidential Client Information Rule: "A member in public practice shall not disclose any confidential client information without the specific consent of the client." The Code also warns that "federal, state, or local statutes, rules, or regulations concerning confidentiality of client information may be more restrictive than the requirements in the code."

The IRS on tax return information. Revenue Procedure 2013-14: "unless section 7216 or §301.7216-2 specifically permits the disclosure or use of tax return information, a tax return preparer may not disclose or use a taxpayer's tax return information without obtaining a consent from the taxpayer."

What is unknown. We found no AICPA or IRS statement on whether removing names and identifiers from a record changes how these rules apply to licensing it for AI training. We haven't reviewed state board rules, which may differ.

What never leaves your company

Your originals and your customers' identities. The buyer gets a copy of the records you agree to license, and de-identifies it. Your systems and your originals stay where they are. The second buyer says you decide exactly what is shared, and that all data is scoped, de-identified and kept confidential. The case-study buyer's home page says that, as a general term of its licenses, you keep the business and the underlying data, and that the license is defined and bounded. Its case-study page describes each license as anonymized before delivery, and it says a specialist privacy partner removes or replaces names, emails, phone numbers, account numbers and addresses before it or any buyer sees the record. Its FAQ says its license doesn't cover what you hold on behalf of your own clients.

Files you hold for clients. Our own site terms go further. Records your company holds for clients under contract, records covered by professional privilege, regulated data such as patient or financial-account information, and anything you are not entitled to license must not be offered to a buyer. If in doubt, leave it out and ask your lawyer.

Nothing goes to a buyer before you see the buyer's name. If you ask us for an introduction, the buyers' names are shown to you before you click, and nothing about your answers goes to a buyer until you do. Even then we send only your quiz answers and the contact details you entered: no files, no logins, and not the estimate.

How the money works

Here is how we are paid, in the words of our fee disclosure:

If a buyer we introduce you to signs a license with your company, that buyer pays us a referral fee: a fixed amount, a percentage of the license, or both, depending on the buyer. You pay nothing, now or later, unless you and we sign a separate written agreement that says so. We may share part of our fee with the partner who sent you to us; they see only your company's name and the stage of the process.

Your estimate is never shown to a buyer. It is for you, and it stays with you.

Among the published deals we found are a roofing company at $450,000, a general contractor at $300,000 and a solar company at $275,000, each on the case-study page as a "Perpetual exclusive license to the operational record." None of these is an accounting firm, and none tells you what yours would be paid.

Both buyers also publish pay ranges: typical deals from $100,000 to $2 million and above, and payouts from $100,000 to $4 million and more. Neither range is specific to accounting, and neither is a promise of what you would be offered.

Is this legal?

One buyer's page on that question calls licensing a company's own operating record an ordinary commercial deal, decided by "ownership, what the company's customer contracts say, and whether personal information can be removed." Its example of what can't be licensed is material held for a client under an agreement giving the client ownership. The same page says state definitions vary and your own counsel should review any license before signing.

For an accounting firm, the professional rules above apply on top of that. Talk to your own counsel and your state board of accountancy before licensing any records.

What the quiz asks

The quiz asks what your company does, whether it is operating, winding down or closed, where the company and the team are, how many people work there, what year your records go back to, which tools your team uses, roughly how much of your records are in English, who owns them, two yes-or-no checks, and whether you run one company or more. Round numbers are fine for headcount, and you see your range before you give an email.

Who is behind this

Kedric Van de Carr is the founder of ValueMyData.ai and is based in Texas. He built it as an independent tool that estimates what a company's operational data is worth and introduces the owner to the buyer that fits. Kedric reads every question himself. There are no sales calls: the quiz shows your range on screen, and nothing goes to a buyer unless you ask for an introduction. Questions go to kedric@valuemydata.ai.

We are not lawyers, accountants, brokers of securities or financial advisers, and nothing on the site is legal, tax, investment or financial advice. Have your own adviser review any agreement before you sign it.

Boss Financial Education L.L.C., doing business as ValueMyData.ai · kedric@valuemydata.ai · Texas