General News
15 June, 2026
How to use AI wisely
BOOKKEEPERS are trusted with more business secrets than almost anyone: payroll, debts, cash flow, the lot.
So before asking what AI can do for the books, there is a better question. How much should it be trusted?
A free one-hour session in Cairns on Friday 19 June answers it in plain English, for bookkeepers, accountants and the small business owners they look after.
‘Build your AI confidence without risking client trust’ at The Junction Clubhouse from 8.30am, brings together three specialists that will share evidence-based practical ways to use AI safely, improve productivity and unlock new opportunities.
“For a bookkeeper, client trust is everything. The worry we hear is that one wrong move with AI could expose sensitive financial data,” said Cairns BAS agent Janelle Redgwell of Pro-Advisor Online, who helped bring the session together.
“We want people to leave knowing exactly where the safe lines are, and how to use these tools with confidence, not fear,” she said.
The speakers are Luisa Grant (Industry Skills Jobs Advisor Program), Suzie Cray (eMotion Video) and Mel Vearing (Industry Workforce Advisor Program).
Luisa Grant, from the Industry Skills Jobs Advisor Program, opens with the roadmap: how to shut down “Shadow AI”, the unapproved tools staff are already quietly using, how to set data no-go zones so client information never leaves the building, how to write prompts that genuinely save time and how to keep a human in the loop so nothing goes out unchecked.
Then comes proof it works. Suzie Cray, award-winning founder of Cairns video production and AI training business eMotion Video, brings a story most small business owners will recognise.
When her business partner stepped back, Ms Cray was suddenly running sales, marketing and every email reply on her own.
Instead of hiring, she trained AI to pick up those jobs, one at a time.
“You wouldn’t hand a new employee the banking passwords on their first morning and AI is no different,” Ms Cray said.
“It earns trust in stages. There are three and I’ll give the room the same test I use in my own business every day: which jobs the AI has earned, which ones it only does supervised and what it never touches, like client data.”
Ms Cray calls it the ‘three stages of trust and says the payoff is real. AI now drafts her marketing, answers routine email and runs her follow-ups, while she checks everything before it goes out the door.
Plus Mel Vearing, from the Industry Workforce Advisor Program, reveals the free workforce support many employers do not realise is available: programs, training and incentives Queensland businesses are already using to grow and strengthen their teams.
The hour is built for time-poor professionals who want the speed of AI with client trust kept front and centre.
Morning tea is provided. Register: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/7yxUT796sL
