Using playbooks
A playbook is a reusable task template that defines the standard steps for a type of engagement. When you assign a playbook to a new engagement, Kuberan AI automatically populates the engagement’s task list with those steps — so you never have to re-create a checklist from scratch.
Playbooks are one of the most powerful tools in Kuberan AI for building a consistent, scalable practice. The time you invest in building good playbooks pays back every time you open a new engagement.
Navigate to Playbooks
In the left sidebar, click Practice, then click Playbooks. This screen shows all playbooks available in your workspace.
Building a playbook from scratch
Let’s build a “Monthly Bookkeeping” playbook as a worked example.
Click Create Playbook
On the Playbooks screen, click Create Playbook. A new playbook opens with a blank task list.
Name your playbook
Give it a clear, specific name: “Monthly Bookkeeping” rather than just “Bookkeeping.” If your firm has variations (e.g. different steps for cash-basis vs. accrual clients), consider naming them to distinguish: “Monthly Bookkeeping — Accrual” and “Monthly Bookkeeping — Cash Basis.”
Add the engagement type
Associate the playbook with an engagement type (e.g. Monthly Bookkeeping). This filters which playbooks appear as suggestions when creating a new engagement of that type.
Add tasks
Click Add task and type the first step. For a Monthly Bookkeeping playbook, your tasks might be:
- Download bank and credit card statements from client portal
- Import statements into Books
- Reconcile chequing account
- Reconcile savings account
- Reconcile credit card — Visa
- Reconcile credit card — Mastercard
- Categorise uncoded bank transactions (target: 0 uncoded)
- Review and approve automatic bank rules
- Process accounts receivable — apply received payments
- Process accounts payable — enter and approve new bills
- Post payroll journal entries from payroll module
- Review GST/HST collected and paid — flag anomalies
- Check for stale dated cheques (> 6 months)
- Prepare adjusted trial balance
- Draft financial statements
- Manager/partner review
- Send financial statements to client
Add each task one at a time by clicking Add task after each entry.
Add descriptions to complex tasks (optional)
Click on any task to expand it and add a description. This is useful for tasks that require specific instructions:
- “Reconcile chequing account — Target: difference of $0.00. If unreconciled, check for duplicate entries or missing deposits before escalating.”
- “Post payroll journal entries — Pull the payroll register from the Payroll module. Post CPP, EI, income tax, and net pay to the correct GL accounts.”
Descriptions appear when a team member opens the task, so this is effectively your in-platform training documentation.
Assign default assignees (optional)
If certain tasks are always done by a specific role (e.g. partner review is always done by the partner, data entry tasks are always done by junior staff), you can set a default assignee role on the task. Kuberan AI maps this to the actual person when the engagement is created.
Leave the assignee blank if the task should always be assigned to whoever is assigned to the engagement overall.
Set due-date offsets (optional)
You can set a relative due date on each task — for example, “3 days before engagement due date” or “Day 5 of the month.” This gives each task its own deadline calculated automatically from the engagement’s due date.
This feature is particularly useful for review stages: if your engagement is due on the 20th and the partner review should happen by the 18th, set the review task to “2 days before due date.”
Save the playbook
Click Save playbook. It is now available to assign to any new engagement of the matching type.
Adopting a playbook from the library
Kuberan AI provides a library of starter playbooks for common Canadian accounting services. To use a library playbook:
On the Playbooks screen, click Playbook Library.
Browse or search for the playbook you want. Library playbooks include Monthly Bookkeeping, Quarterly Review, HST Filing, Corporate Tax Return, Personal Tax Return, Payroll Processing, and Year-End.
Click Adopt on the playbook you want. A copy is added to your workspace playbooks where you can customise it freely.
Assigning a playbook to an engagement
When creating a new engagement, select the playbook from the Playbook dropdown in the engagement creation form. The tasks are added to the engagement’s task list the moment you save the engagement.
You can also add a playbook to an existing engagement that was created without one: open the engagement, click Add Playbook, and select the playbook. The tasks are appended to whatever tasks already exist.
Tips for building effective playbooks
Be specific about what “done” means. Vague tasks like “Review financials” are harder to delegate than “Prepare adjusted trial balance — verify all accounts have reconciling items documented.” The more specific the task, the more confidently a junior staff member can complete it without asking for clarification.
Keep playbooks to a manageable length. Playbooks with 50+ tasks become hard to navigate. If you find your playbook growing very large, consider whether it should be split into two engagements (e.g. “Data Entry” and “Review & Filing”) with separate playbooks.
Version your playbooks seasonally. If your year-end playbook changes each tax season (new CRA forms, changed deadlines), duplicate the playbook, update it for the new year, and keep the old version archived. This preserves the historical record of what was done in previous years.
Use descriptions as training documentation. New staff members read task descriptions when they are unsure how to complete a step. Good descriptions reduce interruptions and accelerate onboarding.
Review and refine after every engagement. After completing an engagement, note any tasks that were missing, any that were unnecessary, or any where the instructions were unclear. Update the playbook before the next cycle.