Can AI and cloud hosting solve the accountant shortage? Verito and Filed think so

Verito Inc. and Filed have announced a strategic partnership aimed at transforming how accounting firms handle compliance and advisory services by integrating high-performance cloud infrastructure with AI-powered tax automation. The collaboration gives accounting firms an integrated path to shift from manual tax prep to higher-margin client advisory work, in response to sector-wide staffing shortages and operational bottlenecks.

How does this partnership change the calculus for accounting firms in a strained labor market?

The alliance between Verito Inc., a top-rated cloud hosting and managed IT services provider, and Filed, an AI-driven tax automation platform, signals a new chapter in how professional tax firms approach both infrastructure and workload capacity. As of January 2026, Verito has formally become the preferred cloud infrastructure partner for Filed, offering an “Advisory-Ready Infrastructure” that combines ultra-reliable, compliant hosting with intelligent automation designed to eliminate manual return preparation.

Filed was selected for the 2025 AICPA/CPA.com Startup Accelerator and is backed by venture firms including Northzone, Day One Ventures, and Neo. Verito has earned the #1 G2 ranking across 18 infrastructure-related categories, including usability and implementation indexes for cloud and managed hosting. At the heart of the partnership is a shared ambition to enable accounting firms—especially mid-size and boutique outfits—to escape the compliance grind and scale advisory services without hiring additional staff.

The timing is no accident. According to industry estimates, nearly 75 percent of Certified Public Accountants in the United States are nearing retirement, contributing to a labor shortfall of over 340,000 professionals across the accounting and finance sector. Firms are not just struggling to hire; they are struggling to retain their capacity to meet rising demand for value-added advisory. Against this backdrop, the Verito–Filed joint initiative directly targets the bottleneck that prevents advisory growth: hours lost to low-value, repetitive tax preparation.

What is the strategic significance of “Advisory-Ready Infrastructure” for tax and compliance firms?

The concept of “Advisory-Ready Infrastructure” stems from the urgent need to decouple revenue generation from labor intensity. Filed’s Intelligent Tax Workspace automates document intake, data extraction, and return population. Rather than starting with blank tax forms, preparers log in to review-ready returns that maintain compatibility with software stacks like Drake, UltraTax, Lacerte, ProSeries, and CCH Axcess. This integration-first approach removes the need for disruptive software overhauls—an issue that often hinders automation adoption in legacy-heavy firms.

Verito ensures that Filed’s AI-driven workflows run on a compliant, secure, and always-on cloud foundation. The company boasts 100 percent uptime since 2016, a Net Promoter Score of 95, and sub-60-second technician response times. Their infrastructure is purpose-built for the compliance-heavy workloads typical of tax operations, with adherence to IRS Publication 4557 and the Federal Trade Commission Safeguards Rule baked in.

By aligning automation with dependable infrastructure, the partnership reframes advisory expansion not as an aspirational goal but as a deployable capability. Firms can reassign thousands of hours once lost to data entry toward higher-margin services like tax strategy, planning, M&A advisory, and client education—functions that can deliver 2–3x the hourly return of basic prep work.

Why does this infrastructure-backed automation matter now more than ever?

The accounting sector is entering a demographic and technological inflection point. The retirement wave among veteran CPAs is colliding with a structurally insufficient pipeline of new professionals. Traditional hiring models are failing to scale against demand, and firms that delay automation risk being priced out of high-value engagements by faster-moving competitors.

Verito and Filed are betting that the solution lies not in headcount expansion but in capacity liberation. Their partnership eliminates the manual choke points without altering the firm’s tax software environment—a critical factor in reducing internal resistance and minimizing change management overhead. Firms adopting this infrastructure get more than workflow improvements; they gain a credible strategy for weathering the profession’s capacity crisis.

Jatin Narang, Chief Executive Officer of Verito Inc., emphasized that firms no longer merely want compliance—they want capacity to grow. He said the integration gives accounting firms “something they’ve never had: the time to actually advise their clients,” arguing that Filed removes the friction while Verito guarantees uptime, performance, and compliance.

Filed’s Chief Executive Officer, Leroy Kerry, echoed the sentiment, noting that great software fails without great infrastructure. He added that Verito understands both the technical and operational demands of modern accounting, which makes them a logical partner as Filed expands its user base.

What benefits are being offered to clients of both Verito and Filed?

The commercial structure of the partnership includes cross-platform incentives that aim to drive adoption. Filed users will receive preferred pricing for Verito’s private cloud and managed IT services, all of which are designed to comply with evolving regulatory standards, including FTC mandates and IRS cybersecurity guidance. Meanwhile, Verito’s existing clients gain discounted access to Filed’s AI automation platform, allowing them to increase prep output without altering current workflows or retraining staff.

For firms exploring the shift from transactional compliance to consultative advisory, the combined offer presents a rare convergence of readiness, risk management, and return. The platform architecture is pre-integrated and pre-compliant. Firms can implement it without costly migration efforts or disruptive technology shifts, enabling a faster path to monetizing advisory demand.

What broader signals does this partnership send about the future of professional services automation?

The Verito–Filed alignment highlights a growing trend toward ecosystem partnerships in professional services, where cloud infrastructure, AI automation, and domain-specific software converge into turnkey operational stacks. Rather than forcing accounting firms to patch together capabilities from disparate vendors, this partnership offers a ready-to-use environment that addresses performance, compliance, and capacity in one stroke.

The industry implications extend beyond tax. As automation accelerates across audit, payroll, and advisory verticals, infrastructure players like Verito are likely to become critical enablers of next-gen firm architecture. Likewise, AI-first platforms such as Filed are poised to replace human-dependent workflows not just through speed, but through compatibility and ease of adoption.

Filed’s selection for the AICPA/CPA.com Startup Accelerator lends institutional credibility to the venture, while Verito’s multi-year track record of uptime and support depth removes much of the perceived risk around transitioning compliance-heavy workloads to the cloud. If successful, this model could offer a blueprint for how small and mid-size firms modernize operations without becoming overextended in the process.

Key takeaways: What the Verito and Filed partnership means for accounting sector transformation

• Verito Inc. and Filed have formed a strategic alliance to deliver “Advisory-Ready Infrastructure” by combining cloud hosting and AI automation for accounting firms

• The partnership responds directly to industry-wide labor shortages and a backlog of low-value tax prep tasks draining firm capacity

• Filed’s automation platform integrates with mainstream tax software to deliver ready-to-review returns, reducing prep time by 40 to 80 percent

• Verito’s infrastructure ensures that automation operates with high performance, zero downtime, and full compliance with IRS and FTC requirements

• The partnership offers mutual client benefits, including preferred pricing and turnkey access to each platform’s capabilities

• Firms can redeploy thousands of previously unproductive hours into higher-margin advisory services without changing core workflows

• Leadership from both companies emphasized growth through operational capacity rather than headcount expansion

• The move reflects a broader industry trend of AI and infrastructure convergence in professional services ecosystems

• Filed’s accelerator backing and Verito’s #1 G2 rankings support a credibility-first approach to scaling automation across regulated workloads

• If broadly adopted, the model may accelerate SME firm modernization and reshape service delivery economics in the tax and compliance sector