Learn more →

Introducing Meridian: The AI operating system behind $1M accountants 

Jessica McKellar

‍

We know accountants are inundated with pitches for yet another AI tool to learn and babysit on bits and pieces of their work. Meridian is different. It executes the full close according to each firm’s accounting policies and each client’s specific processes. No babysitting. No complicated tools to learn. Your team just reviews finished financials.

Today, Pilot is launching Meridian, the AI accounting platform that runs the month-end close from start to finish

What is Meridian?

Meridian is the AI accounting platform that closes the books end to end and produces review-ready financials for accountants. Built inside Pilot and refined across 8,000 businesses and more than 187,000 months of books, Meridian helps firms scale capacity without scaling headcount. Meridian has advanced support for QuickBooks Online today and also supports additional ledgers such as Xero and NetSuite, with additional ledgers coming soon.

How does Meridian work?

Connect Meridian to your client’s GL, upload supporting documents, and it handles the rest: executing the complete close according to your firm’s policies and client-specific processes.

You can also delegate complex projects and client support tasks to your Meridian AI accountant via a simple chat interface.

How is Meridian different from other AI accounting tools?

Other products may automate individual tasks inside the close. Meridian executes the full close. Other products may require teams to manage workflows, supervise agents, or move work between systems. Meridian returns finished books for review. Other products are new to production accounting work. Meridian was built inside Pilot and refined on the books for thousands of businesses over many years before it was released to firms.

Why are we launching Meridian now?

Accounting firms are under pressure from both sides of the market: demand from clients is rising while accounting talent remains constrained. For most firms, growth is still tied to headcount because the month-end close is labor-intensive, repetitive, and difficult to scale.

Meridian changes that equation. It fully closes the books end to end according to each firm’s accounting policies and each client’s specific processes. It onboards clients, closes historical books, handles edge cases, and produces a complete set of financial statements.

What outcomes does Meridian enable for accounting firms?

When the close is handled end-to-end in software, firm economics can change dramatically. Firms can take on more clients without scaling headcount at the same rate. Teams can spend less time on repetitive close work and more time on higher-value work.

How does Meridian fit into a firm’s existing systems?

Meridian has advanced support for QuickBooks Online today, and can also work with Xero and NetSuite, with additional ledgers coming soon. Meridian executes the work according to each firm’s accounting policies and each client’s specific processes.

  • Advanced automation: Automates onboarding, transaction processing, reconciliation, and real-time financial reporting.
  • Full month-end close: Autonomous close process supporting both cash and accrual-basis customers.
  • Human-level reasoning: Accounting agents apply contextual decision-making to handle complex or unusual cases, just like a senior accountant would.
  • Checklist and close controls: AI Accountant runs through built-in controls and validation gates, including reconciliation tie-outs, invoice clearing, depreciation, and a checklist of close controls developed across years of production work.
  • Seamless integration: Connects with banks, payroll, billing, and other financial platforms.
  • Auditable and transparent: Every transaction and decision is logged, providing transaction-level visibility and guardrails, for firms to review and approve or step in as needed.

Pilot has already seen the result: one accountant can carry a $1 million book of business. With Meridian, your firm can focus on the client relationship and the advisory work, while it handles the close.

Pilot as the proof

Pilot is the company behind Meridian, and one of the largest accounting firms serving small businesses and startups in the United States. In addition to supporting several thousand clients every month, Pilot built and operated the systems that power Meridian. Meridian is not a concept product or a lab demo. It is the same production-tested technology Pilot has used on real client books for years.

Meridian is available today for accounting firms. Learn more at https://meridian.pilot.com.

Frequently asked questions

What is Meridian?

Meridian is the AI operating system for accounting firms, combining an autonomous month-end close with an AI accountant engineered to handle complex bookkeeping and client support tasks. It onboards clients, configures accounting systems, closes historical books, handles edge cases, and produces a complete set of financial statements, so accountants only review the closed books. 

Who is it for?

Meridian was made for accounting firms of all sizes to help them autonomously close out their books and complete complex accounting tasks. 

Meridian was made by Pilot, an accounting firm that powers the financial back office for thousands of startups and small businesses. Pilot has built, perfected, and scaled this technology over the last 10 years and is now making this platform available to accounting firms so they can take on more clients and help unlock accounting access for more businesses in need. 

What problems does it solve?

Three out of four accounting firms are forced to turn down clients because they don’t have the capacity to serve them. Accountants are working as hard as they can, but they’re maxed because the close takes too long. For firms to overcome this, they needed to hire more, which can be difficult with the current challenges of the talent market.Meridian solves this by automating the entire close, which is the most time-consuming part of the accountants tasks. With Meridian closing the books, accountants just need to review, which frees up their time to take on higher-value tasks like advisory or frees their capacity to serve more clients.

How is it different?

Many similar tools that use AI to automate accounting work focus on only pieces of the close the close process, not the entire close. Meridian handles the entire close process from end-to-end. It’s superior to tools like Ramp Stack and Basis because it doesn’t require them to babysit agents performing micro-tasks.

Additionally, Meridian is easier to use compared to its competitors given that there are no complicated tools for accounting teams to learn. Since it completes the entire close, accountants only need to click a single button to run the close and review finished financials. There’s no learning curve or long onboarding process since there’s nothing complicated about the interface.

What outcomes does it enable?

Meridian enables accounting firms to grow. 

  • Firms can take on more clients.
  • Firms can offer value-based pricing for things like advisory or consulting. 
  • Accountants are able to take on more without burning out.
  • Clients get an accountant with more time to dedicate to their needs, resulting in better experience. 

Pilot has already seen the results: one accountant can carry a $1 million book of business. With Meridian, your firm can focus on the client relationship and the advisory work, while it handles the close

Our AI operating system that closes your books so you can grow your firm.

Learn more