Strong document automation that leaves jobs, time and billing in other tools.
Before the feature detail, the choice is architectural: keep FYI Docs at the centre and add the missing pieces around it, or run the firm and its clients on one rebuilt record.
A cloud ledger at the centre, a separate practice manager, AI tools reading a copy of the data, and paid connectors holding the parts together. Every join is another sync to watch, another subscription, and another place the same number can disagree.
COUNT rebuilt the ledger and the practice engine together. Practice Manager and COUNT Workspace are two experiences on one system, with the intelligence reading live data — a single source of financial truth for the firm and its clients.
FYI is excellent at what it sets out to do: get every email, document and template under control, and automate the routine admin around them. The catch is that it is one layer of the stack, so firms run it alongside a practice manager and a ledger and pay per user for each. COUNT puts documents, workflow and COUNT Workspace on the same record, so automation can act on the numbers as well as the files.
Firms consolidating documents, workflow and client accounting on one modern platform, where automation acts on the numbers as well as the files. One system, one subscription, no per-user stack.
Firms with a document and email problem who are happy to keep their existing practice manager.
How the two products differ on the things firms and businesses tell us matter most.
| Capability | COUNT | FYI Docs |
|---|---|---|
| Document management | Included | Core strength |
| Time, WIP and billing | Included | Not included |
| Client Workspace ledger | Included | Not included |
| AI across the portfolio | COUNT Intelligence and scheduled agents over ledger and documents | AI Tasks, scoped to documents |
| Products needed for a full stack | One | Two or three |
Expand any area for a line-by-line view of how COUNT and FYI Docs differ.
The area FYI is built for, and where the two products are closest.
| Capability | COUNT | FYI Docs |
|---|---|---|
| Email filing | Firm inbox with AI triage | Highly automated email filing |
| Templates and document generation | Included | Extensive template library |
| Version control and audit trail | Included | Included |
| Microsoft 365 co-authoring | Included | Deep integration, and a hard dependency |
| Client document requests | Questionnaires with upload and bank-statement import | Client requests included |
| Capability | COUNT | FYI Docs |
|---|---|---|
| Jobs and deadlines | Tasks, recurring tasks and projects | Jobs, usually alongside XPM |
| Time and WIP | Included | Not included |
| Billing | Firm billing with templates | Not included |
| Capacity planning | Included | Included |
| Period close and workpapers | Thirteen close modules with a review pipeline | Document workpaper templates only |
| Capability | COUNT | FYI Docs |
|---|---|---|
| General ledger | Included via Client Workspace | None |
| Transaction coding | Cruise Control: five matching passes before AI is asked | Not applicable |
| Client queries from uncoded items | AI-drafted from the ledger | Manual document requests |
| One system for files and figures | Yes | No |
| MCP server | Yes, ledger and firm-wide practice tools | Not published |
| Capability | COUNT | FYI Docs |
|---|---|---|
| Practice licence | No per-user fees; clients on COUNT free | NZ$30 to NZ$70 per user/month, five-user minimum |
| Firms under five people | Pay for what you use | Pay the five-user minimum |
| Time and billing | Included, no per-user fees | Elite tier only, at NZ$70 per user/month |
| Products needed alongside | None | A ledger, and a practice manager below Elite |
FYI Docs details sourced from public information as at August 2026: FYI, FYI NZ pricing. Pricing and features change; check the vendor for current details.
Bulk import your existing document library and folder structure.
Map filing rules and templates to COUNT document workflows.
Keep FYI read-only for one quarter while the team settles.
We'll import a copy so you can compare like for like.
