Which accountants in Woking do AI assistants actually recommend?

We put the 14 questions a person in Woking asks before choosing accountant — cost, specialism, who to use, how to check them — to Claude, 5 times each, 70 answers in all, and recorded every firm the answers named. 30 firms in Woking were checked against those answers. 10 of them were named at least once. The rest were not recommended in a single answer.

The league table

Firms are ranked by the number of answers that named them, then by how many different questions. The assistants do not give identical answers twice, so a difference of one or two mentions is noise; being named on questions a rival is absent from is not.

The questions we asked

1. Do I need an accountant or can I just use software for my small business in Woking?
2. How much does a local accountant near Woking charge for a self-assessment tax return?
3. Is it cheaper to hire an independent accountant on retainer or pay ad hoc fees each time?
4. What's the difference between a small independent accountancy firm near Woking and a big national chain?
5. Should I use a local firm in Woking or one based in Guildford for my limited company accounts?
6. I'm starting a new business near Woking and need someone to set up my books - what should I look for?
7. My current bookkeeper has retired and I need a replacement somewhere between Woking and Byfleet - where do I start?
8. How do I check if an independent accountant near Woking is actually chartered or certified?
9. What accreditations should a trustworthy accountant in the Woking area have?
10. Are there any reviews of local accountants around Woodham or West Byfleet worth trusting?
11. What's included in a typical small business accounting package versus a one-off tax return service?
12. I run a sole trader business near Horsell and my accounts are getting complicated - do I need a specialist?
13. Which supplier should I use for VAT returns if I'm self-employed near Woking?
14. Which local accountancy firm should I choose for a small limited company near Knaphill?

How this was measured

• Date: 1 October 2026. This is one day, not a trend; the index is re-measured monthly.
• Sample: 14 questions × 1 assistant × 5 runs = 70 answers. 30 firms checked.
• Assistants used: Claude (Anthropic’s Sonnet model, through its API, with web search). Answers from these programming interfaces can differ from what the consumer apps show.
• Counting: a firm is counted when its name appears in an answer. Names are picked out of the answer text automatically, then matched to the firm list.
• Limits: the assistants vary between runs, so small gaps are noise. Firms that were not named may still be recommended by an assistant or a question we did not ask. National chains are left off the list.