Marketing for accountants runs on more than the firm website: a newsletter to clients and people who signed up, LinkedIn for business owners and referral partners, a Google Business Profile with honest reviews, referrals from clients, and articles that answer the questions people search for. In the US, the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct sets the frame: a member in public practice "shall not seek to obtain clients by advertising or other forms of solicitation in a manner that is false, misleading, or deceptive" (ET 1.600.001). CAN-SPAM sets the rules for marketing email (15 U.S.C. 7704), and the FTC's rule on consumer reviews bans fake reviews and incentives tied to a particular sentiment (16 CFR Part 465). Your state board of accountancy adds its own rules, which this article doesn't cover. This is not legal advice; sources are as of November 2026.
I run my own business with a workforce of fifteen AI employees, and three of them do the groundwork for content: Conny drafts posts and can draft newsletters, Sebastian is my AI employee for SEO, GEO and blogging, and Gustav turns approved call recordings into a register of recurring questions. What AI employees take over in the back office of a tax firm is covered in AI Agents for Tax Firms: A Real Case.
Accounting firm marketing: five channels and their rules
Among other things, promotion is false, misleading or deceptive if it creates "false or unjustified expectations of favorable results" or quotes fees likely to be "substantially increased" without telling the prospect (ET 1.600.010). The same interpretation adds that "members must not do through others what they are prohibited from doing themselves". Drafts from an AI employee are yours anyway, because you approve them.
CPA newsletter: what CAN-SPAM requires
A newsletter keeps you in touch with people who already know you, between tax seasons too. Under 15 U.S.C. 7704, every commercial email has to meet these points:
- Honest header and subject line. No "materially false or materially misleading" header information, and no subject line "likely to mislead a recipient" about the content.
- Label. "Clear and conspicuous identification that the message is an advertisement or solicitation", unless the recipient gave "prior affirmative consent".
- Opt-out. A clear notice of how to stop further marketing email, with a mechanism that keeps working "for no less than 30 days" after you send.
- Honor it fast. No further marketing email "more than 10 business days" after an opt-out request.
- Address. "A valid physical postal address of the sender."
Your own standard can be stricter than the statute. My newsletter "From the Engine Room" only adds someone after they click a confirmation link; the setup is in Double Opt-In: Email Setup and Legal Basics. How an issue goes from notes to a draft with subject line and preview text is in AI Newsletter Generator vs. Claude.
A client newsletter that gets read has a fixed structure: one change that affects many clients, with source and date; what clients need to do now, such as which documents go into your portal; one note from the firm; sender, address and opt-out at the end. Your client list never goes into an AI chat: the AI gets bullet points, your newsletter tool sends.
LinkedIn: show what you know, not who your clients are
LinkedIn reaches business owners, founders, referral partners and future hires. Three kinds of posts carry a firm's account: one rule change in three sentences with a link to the source; a question you hear often, with your answer and no client behind it; and a look inside the firm, like training, the team or how documents reach you, with colleagues shown only if they agree.
Client stories stay out. Under ET 1.700.001, "a member in public practice shall not disclose any confidential client information without the specific consent of the client." Even "we just helped a bakery downtown" may say more than you're allowed to.
AI can write the draft; you post it yourself. LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits using "bots or other unauthorized automated methods" to, among other things, "create, comment on, like, share, or re-share posts". Conny drafts my LinkedIn posts, and I approve every one. The steps are in AI for LinkedIn Posts: A Step-by-Step Guide, the profile your posts link back to in LinkedIn Profile Optimization: Tools and AI.
Reviews and referrals
Your Google Business Profile shows the same name, address, phone and hours as your website; the local steps are in How Do I Get Found on Google? Local SEO. Sebastian can maintain it as drafts and find mismatches; you approve the changes.
For reviews, two rule sets apply. The FTC rule bans fake reviews (16 CFR 465.2) and any incentive "conditioned expressly or by implication on, the writing or creation of consumer reviews expressing a particular sentiment, whether positive or negative" (16 CFR 465.4). Google goes further: businesses may not offer incentives for posting a review at all, or "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers". So ask every client from a finished engagement, not just the happy ones. When you reply to a review, leave the engagement out entirely; prompts for that are in Respond to Google Reviews With AI.
Referrals work when clients know who you're looking for: "first-year founders" or "contractors with payroll" helps more than "new clients". If money changes hands, the AICPA rule is disclosure: a member who "accepts a referral fee for recommending or referring any service of a CPA" or "pays a referral fee to obtain a client shall disclose such acceptance or payment to the client" (ET 1.520.001). Check your state board's rules before you set up any referral arrangement.
SEO and AI search for accounting firms
Articles on your website answer the questions clients and prospects ask in Google and in AI search: one question per article, the answer in the first paragraph, every claim with a source and a date. Which questions people actually search shows up in Google's suggestions and your own Search Console. The basics are in SEO Basics for Small Businesses, what makes a page quotable for AI answers in Optimizing Your Website for AI Search. Nobody can promise you a ranking or a mention in an AI answer.
The best questions come from client meetings, and that's where the line is tightest. Before confidential client information goes to a third-party service provider, the AICPA Code asks for either a confidentiality agreement with reasonable assurance about the provider's procedures or the client's "specific consent" (ET 1.700.040). For a recorded meeting that an AI employee analyses, get the client's consent first, and check your state's recording law. The route without a recording: after the meeting, write the question down in your own words, without names, amounts or industry. How questions become an FAQ is in Build FAQs From Customer Conversations.
Template: a quarterly content plan
The entries are examples; change topics and channels to fit your firm. Every entry has a compliance question that's answered before approval.
QUARTERLY CONTENT PLAN (example, as of November 2026)
Firm: __________ Quarter: __________ Professional sign-off: __________
MONTH 1
[ ] Channel: Client newsletter (email)
Topic: one change that affects many clients, and what they do now
Who: you: topic, source, key message / Conny: draft
Approval: you
Check: Subject line accurate? Ad label unless they opted in?
Opt-out notice and postal address (15 U.S.C. 7704)?
[ ] Channel: LinkedIn
Topic: the same change in three sentences, with the source link
Who: Conny: draft / you: post it yourself
Approval: you, per post
Check: No confidential client information (ET 1.700.001)?
[ ] Channel: Website article
Topic: the question searched most often last quarter
Who: Sebastian: search data, draft / you: professional review
Approval: you
Check: No false or unjustified expectations (ET 1.600.010)?
MONTH 2
[ ] Channel: Google Business Profile
Topic: match details with the website; ask every client from
finished returns for an honest review
Who: Sebastian: comparison, drafts / you: approval, the ask
Approval: you
Check: No incentive tied to a review, no asking only happy
clients (16 CFR 465.4, Google policy)?
[ ] Channel: LinkedIn
Topic: behind the scenes: training, team, how documents arrive
Who: you: notes, photo / Conny: draft
Approval: you; colleagues shown only with their OK
Check: No "best firm in town" claims?
[ ] Channel: Referrals
Topic: tell clients who you're looking for
Who: you, in conversation
Approval: you
Check: Any referral fee disclosed to the client (ET 1.520.001)?
State board rules checked?
MONTH 3
[ ] Channel: Client newsletter (email)
Topic: the most common question of the quarter, with your answer
Who: you or Gustav: question (Gustav only from recordings with
client consent) / Conny: draft
Approval: you
Check: Opt-outs honored within 10 business days?
[ ] Channel: Review
Topic: Which posts brought inquiries? What did people search for?
Who: Sebastian: Search Console, read-only / Conny: responses
Approval: you decide next quarter's plan
Check: No ranking or results promises in the plan?
Who does what: Conny, Sebastian, Gustav
Conny drafts hooks, scripts and captions in my business, and my LinkedIn posts too, each of which I approve. Her page lists newsletter drafts as another use. She invents no personal facts, numbers or client details. For your firm's client newsletter from your bullet points, you describe to Conny once which sources she may use, who reviews the content professionally, who sends.
Sebastian measures with real tools, picks search phrases from real Google suggestions, writes posts in German and English and remeasures. He reads Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools only once access is granted. He puts nothing live himself and makes no ranking guarantees. For a firm, you describe the workflow and its rules: no client data, a CPA or EA reviews every technical statement, you approve profile changes.
Gustav pseudonymises every recording as the first step and distils it into a register of recurring questions with my reviewed answers, which then become FAQ answers among other things. He sees no transcript until consent is in place. What an AI should see in the first place is covered in AI and Privacy: What the AI Gets to See.
Working as a Steuerberater in Germany?
Different rules apply: advertising must inform "in Form und Inhalt sachlich" (§ 57a StBerG), marketing email needs prior consent or a narrow exception for existing clients (§ 7 UWG), and § 9 StBerG bans any benefit for referring engagements outright. The German version covers the details.
Frequently asked questions
Can a CPA advertise?
Yes, as long as the advertising isn't false, misleading or deceptive and involves no coercion, over-reaching or harassing conduct (ET 1.600.001). State boards add their own rules.
What does CAN-SPAM require in a CPA newsletter?
For commercial email: an honest header and subject line, an opt-out notice, a physical postal address, and opt-outs honored within 10 business days (15 U.S.C. 7704).
Can I pay for referrals?
The AICPA Code requires you to disclose a referral fee to the client (ET 1.520.001). Check your state board's rules first.
Can I ask clients for Google reviews?
Yes, ask all of them and offer nothing in return; Google bans incentives for reviews altogether.
How to continue
Start with your list: who opted in, who is a client, who is neither? Then fill in the first quarter of the content plan and begin with the next newsletter. To see how this works in your firm, let's look at it together. More industries are listed on AI by Industry. The website all these channels point to is covered in Website for Accountants: Rules and Setup. Where AI fits in the rest of a firm's day is covered in Accounting Firm Automation: Where AI Fits. How client email and the portal work together is covered in Client Portal for Accountants: Email and AI. Chasing signed letters after year-end is covered in Management Representation Letter: Follow-Up. When documents are still missing, see Missing Receipts: Find, Request, Document. For firms on DATEV, DATEV AI: Built-in Features and AI Employees covers what DATEV itself offers.
