| name | find-cpa-firm |
| description | Use whenever the user wants to find, shortlist, vet, or enrich US accounting and tax firms (CPA firms) — financial-statement audit, SOC 1/2 audit, corporate tax, bookkeeping for businesses, advisory/fractional CFO, M&A diligence, 409A valuations, R&D tax credits, IPO readiness, sales-and-use tax. Triggers on "find me a CPA firm for our delaware c-corp series A audit", "shortlist three audit firms with SaaS experience", "we need a tax advisor for our M&A", or "pull contact info for these 10 accounting firm domains", even when described indirectly (audit our books, fractional CFO support, file our 1120). Drives the ServiceGraph API (api.servicegraph.co) — a 100k+ US firm catalog filterable by industry, services, location, size, ratings. Skip personal/consumer tax preparation (1040, individual estate, retirement planning), in-house controller/CFO hires, "how do I file my taxes" DIY questions, accounting-software comparisons (QuickBooks vs Xero), non-US firms, individual freelance bookkeepers. |
| version | 0.2.0 |
| metadata | {"api_base":"https://api.servicegraph.co","dataset_id":"pro_services","industry":"accounting_tax"} |
find-cpa-firm
Drive the ServiceGraph API (https://api.servicegraph.co) to find,
shortlist, and enrich US business-to-business accounting and tax
firms (CPA firms) via the pro_services dataset.
The catalog is B2B-only. Personal tax prep (individual 1040s,
retirement planning, individual estate planning, personal bookkeeping
for freelancers) is out of scope — those firms were filtered during
the catalog audit.
Always pin industry:accounting_tax. Sub-services (audit, tax,
bookkeeping, advisory, M&A diligence, 409A, R&D credits, etc.) are
NOT separate tags — industry:accounting_tax is the most specific
structured level — so practice-area specialization is a keyword
substring search on firm text.
Any HTTP client works (curl, fetch, requests). Examples below use curl.
When NOT to use this skill
- Personal/individual tax matters: 1040 prep, IRA/Roth conversions, personal estate planning, "what should I do with my refund".
- Bookkeeping for a freelancer or solo creator's personal income.
- In-house finance hires (Controller, CFO, Accountant).
- DIY tax/accounting questions ("how do I claim X", "explain depreciation").
- Accounting-software comparisons (QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite).
- Non-US firms / individual freelance bookkeepers.
MCP server (preferred for authed calls)
If your harness has the ServiceGraph MCP server loaded (tools
containing servicegraph), prefer those — OAuth 2.1 + PKCE keeps the
token in the harness sandbox. Otherwise use the REST flow below.
API surface (dataset id: pro_services)
Every endpoint requires the bearer (Authorization: Bearer vk_…).
No anonymous tier.
| Endpoint | Cost | Use it for |
|---|
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields[?include_values=1] | free | Confirm accounting_tax is in the industry value list. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check?filter=… | free | Validate filter. |
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent | free | {intent} → DSL filter + sanity count. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=…&limit= | free | Brief firm cards + per-row unlock hint + total. |
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex | free | One row brief; detail only if unlocked. |
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks | 10 credits / firm | {apexes:[...]} ≤100; atomic; 30-day TTL on detail. |
GET /v1/me/credits | free | Balance. |
Cost model. Discovery / validation / search / brief reads are
free. Detail (url, phone, email, social, address, full platforms
map) costs 10 credits per firm and lasts 30 days.
Auth
vk_* API keys minted in the dashboard. Keep the token out of the
LLM context — never read .env* into your context; dispatch via
shell.
-
Try the call first through a shell wrapper that sources .env.local:
( set -a; [ -f .env.local ] && . ./.env.local; set +a;
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY" \
'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/datasets/pro_services/fields' )
-
On 401 prompt the user:
"Open https://servicegraph.co/profile/api-keys, create a
key, and add SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY=vk_… to .env.local here
(or export it). Tell me when done. Please don't paste the key
into chat."
-
Retry after the user signals ready.
Filter DSL
GitHub-search-style.
filter := orExpr
orExpr := andExpr ("OR" andExpr)*
andExpr := notExpr (("AND")? notExpr)* # whitespace = implicit AND
notExpr := ("NOT" | "-") notExpr | atom
atom := "(" filter ")" | predicate
predicate:= IDENT op valueOrList | bareword
op := ":" | "=" | ">=" | "<=" | ">" | "<"
valueOrList := value ("," value)*
value := IDENT | NUMBER | tagAtEvidence
tagAtEvidence := IDENT "@" ("low"|"medium"|"high")
bareword := IDENT | NUMBER # → keyword:<bareword>
Four rules that bite: AND binds tighter than OR (use parens);
comma list = OR within one predicate; negation is -x or NOT x;
bareword = keyword search (quote multi-word phrases).
Accounting-flavored examples (validate yours with /check):
industry:accounting_tax state:CA audit saas
industry:accounting_tax cpa state:DE,NY
industry:accounting_tax "m&a" diligence
industry:accounting_tax tax 409a
industry:accounting_tax "fractional cfo"
industry:accounting_tax "r&d" tax
industry:accounting_tax "soc 2"
industry:accounting_tax -company_size_signal:solo rating>=4
Practice area → keyword mapping:
| User asks for | Add as keyword(s) |
|---|
| Audit / financial-statement audit | audit |
| SOC 1 / SOC 2 audit | "soc 2" |
| Corporate tax / 1120 | tax, "corporate tax", 1120 |
| Bookkeeping (for a business) | bookkeeping |
| Advisory / fractional CFO | "fractional cfo", advisory |
| M&A diligence | m&a, diligence |
| 409A valuation | 409a |
| R&D tax credits | "r&d", "r&d tax" |
| IPO readiness | ipo, readiness |
| Sales-and-use tax | "sales tax", "sales and use" |
| International tax / transfer pricing | "international tax", "transfer pricing" |
Identifying firms — apex
Firms are identified by their apex domain (pwc.com, not
www.pwc.com/about).
Recipes
A. CPA firm for a Delaware C-corp audit
User: "CPA firm for our delaware c-corp series A audit, under 50 ppl."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:accounting_tax+audit+state:DE,NY,CA+-company_size_signal:large_50plus&limit=10
# Present, get pick of 3. "Unlocking 3 = 30 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
{ "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com"] }
B. SaaS-experienced audit firms
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:accounting_tax+audit+saas&limit=10
C. M&A diligence
User: "Tax advisor for our M&A — Series-B-stage tech company."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:accounting_tax+"m&a"+diligence+tech&limit=10
D. Fractional CFO (indirect intent)
User: "Fractional CFO to help us through a Series-A close."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:accounting_tax+"fractional cfo"&limit=10
If thin, drop the cfo qualifier — fractional alone catches
fractional finance leaders broadly.
E. R&D tax credits
User: "R&D tax credit specialists for biotech."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:accounting_tax+"r&d"+biotech&limit=10
F. Multi-state DTC sales tax
User: "Outside accountant for state and local tax filings — multi-state DTC business."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:accounting_tax+("sales tax" OR salt)+multi-state&limit=10
If barely any results, drop multi-state and surface the dimension
from the unlocked detail later.
G. BYO apex list — enrich domains
User pastes 8–20 accounting-firm domains:
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex per domain — free brief
(404 = not in catalog, no charge).- User picks N to fully enrich.
POST /unlocks = 10×N credits,
atomic, detail returned.
- Re-runs within 30-day TTL are free.
A 404 here often means the firm focuses on personal tax prep and was
filtered out of the B2B catalog.
Gotchas
- Always pin
industry:accounting_tax. Without it, "tax" / "audit" / "cfo" as keywords match management consulting and other industries.
- Refuse personal-tax asks. 1040 prep, IRA conversion strategy, personal estate planning, "should I use QuickBooks Self-Employed?" — not in catalog. Tell the user the catalog is B2B-only.
industry:accounting_tax is the only structured handle. Practice areas (audit, tax, M&A, 409A, R&D credits) are keyword-only. Multi-word areas split into ANDed barewords unless quoted ("r&d tax credits" → one phrase).- In-house finance hires (Controller, CFO, Accountant) are NOT procurement. Recruiting an employee is out of scope.
- Accounting-software comparisons (QuickBooks vs Xero vs NetSuite) are NOT procurement either.
- Briefs DO include
apex, name, location, ratings. They DON'T include url, phone_primary, email_primary, legal_name, address_full, full platforms — those require an unlock.
not_found / not_in_dataset 404 = not in pro_services. Skip; not charged.- Unlock is atomic. N apexes either all charge (up to 10×N credits) or none on 402.
- Within-TTL re-views are free (
was_cached:true).
Errors
JSON envelope: {"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}}.
| Status | Code | What to do |
|---|
| 400 | filter_parse_error | position included; fix and re-validate with /check. |
| 400 | kind_in_filter | Strip any kind: from filter — URL is authoritative. |
| 400 | field_not_in_dataset | Drop the disallowed field. |
| 400 | invalid_apex | Re-normalize. |
| 401 | unauthorized / invalid_audience | Re-prompt for fresh vk_…. |
| 402 | insufficient_credits | needed and balance in payload; nothing charged. |
| 404 | not_found / not_in_dataset | Skip; not charged. |
| 429 | rate_limited | Honor Retry-After. |
End-to-end example
User: "CPA firm for our delaware c-corp series A audit, recommend 5
options under 50 ppl, ideally with SaaS experience and 4-star ratings."
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check?filter=industry:accounting_tax+audit+saas+rating>=4+-company_size_signal:large_50plus
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=...&limit=10
# Present briefs. "Unlocking 5 = 50 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
{ "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com", "firm-d.com", "firm-e.com"] }
GET /v1/me/credits
