Ravical has expanded the governance features on its AI platform for accounting and tax firms, letting administrators restrict AI access to selected clients, block sensitive files and manage permissions on a per-user basis, a development that matters broadly because it lands as EU authorities gained new powers to enforce AI rules, and matters specifically to accountancy professionals because firms handling regulated client data now need demonstrable controls over how AI tools access and use that information.

Ravical is a London and Ghent-based software company founded in 2025, building AI agents for accounting and tax firms, HR and payroll providers, and insurance brokers, and currently working with more than 100 practices across Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK.

The regulatory backdrop is specific rather than general. From 2 August 2026, the EU AI Office gained formal powers to enforce transparency rules and issue fines against AI providers, even though the toughest high-risk system obligations under the AI Act were separately deferred to December 2027. Enforcement is live now, in other words, even where the full rulebook is not.

That distinction matters for accountancy firms because client data handled through AI tools falls squarely within scope regardless of the high-risk delay, meaning permission controls and audit trails are not optional extras but the baseline firms need now.

There is also a competitive dimension behind the governance push. Ravical's own research has found that nearly two-thirds of businesses now consult AI tools such as ChatGPT for financial advice before consulting their accountant, a trend that gives firms an incentive to offer governed, firm-branded AI rather than cede that first conversation to unregulated tools entirely.

For the sector, the same EU-wide transparency and enforcement rules apply directly, meaning Irish practices face the identical compliance question already facing their UK and Belgian counterparts: how to let staff use AI without losing control of client data.

Source: Consultancy.uk / Help Net Security / Ravical