The Preparer's Walk-Through: Showing the Reviewer an AI-Drafted File Before Review

A file's order doesn't tell the Reviewer which entries concern the Preparer. The Preparer can name those entries before the Reviewer starts the full review. The Preparer already knows where the soft spots are. The Reviewer just hasn't been told.

A preparer walk-through for an AI-drafted file is a short briefing the Preparer gives the Reviewer before review starts: what the client sent, what the AI pass drafted, the entries the Preparer changed by hand and why, the open client questions, and the entries the Preparer is least sure of. The plugin drafts; the Firm's preparer prepares; the Reviewer signs off. The walk-through is a Firm step, run by people, in whatever systems the Firm already uses.

This piece gives an agenda, a bring-list, a note sheet for the Reviewer and the lines a walk-through never crosses. It sits between the Preparer's self-review and the review itself.

A briefing, not a review

The walk-through is a briefing, not a review. The Reviewer listens, asks questions and writes down where to look first. Nothing said in the room clears an entry, and nothing the Preparer explains counts as checked.

After the walk-through, the Reviewer still does the full review and signs off on the whole file. The walk-through only changes where the Reviewer starts. No file is done without the Reviewer's sign-off.

The review itself runs the way the Firm already runs it, such as the Reviewer's readback. Nothing in it gets lighter because the Preparer explained an entry well.

That's the trade. The Preparer spends a little time explaining, and the Reviewer starts with the entries the Preparer thinks need a second look instead of finding them by luck.

When it happens

In this method, the Firm holds the walk-through after the Preparer marks the file ready for review and before the Reviewer opens the first entry. It's a short briefing on one file, not a working session, and the Preparer doesn't fix entries or argue for them while it runs.

The Firm decides how it runs: at a desk, on a call, or as a written note when the two can't meet. Whichever form the Firm picks, the agenda stays the same and the Reviewer still writes the note sheet.

What the Preparer brings

The Preparer comes with the file as it stands, not a summary of it.

• The client's document list. What arrived, as received, with anything the client still owes marked as missing.
• The AI-drafted entry list. The version going to review, with the instruction and version used for the draft.
• The hand-edit log. Each row the Preparer changed, with the drafted value beside the edit and a short reason.
• The open client questions. Each question the client hasn't answered yet, with the entries it touches.
• The least-sure list. The entries the Preparer would look at first if they were reviewing, each with a reason in plain words.
• The self-review line. The result of the Preparer's own checks before marking the file ready.

The hand-edit log is the one the Firm already keeps, as in marking hand edits on the entry list. The walk-through adds the spoken reason, not a second log.

If something on this list doesn't exist yet, the Preparer says so. A missing hand-edit log isn't a reason to skip that part of the agenda, and it's worth a line on the note sheet.

The walk-through agenda

The Preparer talks through each step in order. The Reviewer writes on the note sheet as they go.

The last step matters. Reading the list back gives the Preparer a chance to correct anything the Reviewer misheard, and it ends the walk-through on a list of places to start.

The Reviewer's note sheet

The note sheet belongs to the Reviewer. It's a list of where to start, not a list of what's been cleared.

There's no "cleared" column and no "approved" column on purpose. The note sheet can't record a decision, because the walk-through doesn't make any. When the review is done, the Reviewer can keep the note sheet with the review notes in the Firm's file, so a later reader sees where the review began.

The note sheet isn't the sign-off packet either. In this method, the Firm builds the packet last, before the signature, and it shows what was checked; the note sheet comes before the review and shows only where to start.

Lines a walk-through never crosses

The walk-through stays useful only while it stays a briefing. These are the lines the Firm can write into its procedures.

• No approving entries out loud. "That one's fine" from the Reviewer during the walk-through isn't a review decision, and nobody treats it as one.
• No skipping the review because the walk-through went well. A clear, confident walk-through still leads to the full review of the whole file.
• No shortening the review to the look-first list. The list sets the order. The Reviewer still reads everything the review covers.
• No splitting the file. The walk-through doesn't cover some entries so the review can cover the rest.
• No edits during the walk-through. If the Preparer spots a mistake while talking, it goes on the note sheet. Any change happens afterward and goes in the hand-edit log.
• No stand-in Reviewer. A colleague who sat in on the walk-through doesn't take over the review or the sign-off.

If a walk-through crosses one of these lines, the Reviewer says so and the review runs in full anyway.

A Doe example

The names and file below are made up for illustration.

Jane Doe, the Preparer, has marked the synthetic Doe Holdings file ready for review and brings the listed materials, including her self-review result. Before Pat Doe, the Reviewer, opens it, Jane walks Pat through it at Pat's desk.

Jane starts with what the client sent and says a loan statement is still missing. Pat writes the loan entries on the note sheet. Jane names the instruction and version used for the draft and identifies the entries included in it; Pat notes those details and the entry list version on the note sheet. Jane then shows her hand-edit log, with the drafted page reference beside her corrected reference and a recorded reason for the change: the drafted reference pointed to the wrong page of a bank statement. Pat asks to see the page, and Jane points to it in the file.

The open client question is whether a transfer between accounts was a loan. Pat writes the entries it touches. Jane's least-sure entry is an allocation combined from separate documents, and Pat puts it at the top of the look-first list.

Near the end, Jane says the receipts all tie and Pat can probably skip them. Pat writes that down as what Jane said, and tells her the review covers the receipts anyway. Pat reads the look-first list back, and Jane adds nothing.

Pat then reviews the file, starting with the allocation, then the loan entries, then everything else. Pat finds a receipt entry that needs a fix and sends it back to Jane, who corrects it and logs the edit. After Jane obtains the missing statement and the client's answer, Pat reviews them alongside the allocation and the corrected receipt entry, completes the full review and signs off on the whole file.

Where TracePrep fits

We've built a TracePrep plugin that drafts these steps in your Firm's workflow, while your preparer decides and your Reviewer signs off. Join the waitlist and we'll tell you when plugin access opens.

Get on the list for plugin access

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. In TracePrep's workflow, the plugin drafts, the Firm's preparer prepares, and the Firm's Reviewer signs off. Access to the plugin is by waitlist. Keep client data inside the systems your Firm has approved.