About

About Automata Practice Development

We are a managed automation company built exclusively for public accounting firms. We design, build, and run intelligent automation that gives accounting firms more capacity, faster turnaround, and fewer errors without adding headcount.

We are not a software platform. We are not a generalist IT firm. We are a team of engineers and Solutions Managers who understand accounting workflows deeply. We leverage decades of in-firm experience to advise and build automations that work the way accounting firms actually operate.

A robotic hand reaching toward a network of connected nodes
Our Mission

Why We Exist

Public accounting firms run on specialized, high-volume workflows that off-the-shelf automation tools were never built for. Most firms know they need automation. Few have the internal expertise to build it, maintain it, and expand it over time.

We exist to close that gap. Our mission is to give every accounting firm access to serious, well-run automation deployments. We bring the expertise in accounting automation development. Firms bring the workflows. Together we build something that makes the firm more capable and efficient.

Two professionals reviewing systems in a data center
Who We Are

The Team

Wesley Hartman

Wesley Hartman

Engineer, Educator, Entrepreneur

Wesley Hartman has been at the forefront of innovation since 2007, moving into accounting-specific technology in 2009 when he joined Kirsch Kohn & Bridge, LLP as Director of Technology. Over his 15 years there, he built and ran the firm's entire IT function from infrastructure and disaster recovery to a full paperless conversion, practice management migration and a national hybrid-workforce transition during COVID-19. In 2014 at the firm, he applied his software development skills and pioneered the firm's robotic process automation platform. Starting with a single automation that pulled K-1 data from spreadsheets directly into tax software, he expanded that platform over the following years into data mining, custom emailing, invoicing, and decision-support automations used across the firm.

In 2023, Wesley founded Automata Practice Development to bring that same automation capability to public accounting firms of any size as a fully managed service, eliminating the need for firms to build and maintain in-house automation expertise. Today he leads business development and strategy, working directly with Managing Partners, Firm Administrators and Operations teams to identify where automation delivers the most leverage.

Industry Speaker and Expert on Emerging Technologies

Wesley holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from California State University, Northridge, where his senior design project was an autonomous vehicle. Early hands-on experience with various sensor systems shaped his thinking that now underpins his approach to firm automation. He's been a Contributing Writer and Conference Committee Member for the AICPA since November 2021, writing a monthly Q&A column on technology in the accounting industry for the Journal of Accountancy and helping select sessions for the AICPA's annual Engage conference. He's a frequent speaker at Engage and other industry events with a strong belief in sharing practical, implementation-level guidance on emerging technology and efficiency for accounting firms instead of theories.

Personal Passions Beyond Automation

Outside of work, Wesley is married and trains in Aikido, tinkers in his garage woodshop, and spends every October building and running a Halloween haunted maze in his driveway for the local community. And every Friday, he has lunch with his CPA father-in-law. Reach him at whartman@automatapracdev.com.

Harrison Miller

Harrison Miller

Head of Growth & Partnerships

Harrison Miller is the Head of Growth & Partnerships at Automata Practice Development, where he helps accounting firms modernize their operations through automation and AI-driven process design.

Harrison started his career in public accounting, spending five years in audit working with complex organizations and seeing firsthand how much time firms lose to manual, repetitive workflows. That experience sparked his interest in technology, efficiency, and the future of accounting operations.

Before Automata

Before joining Automata, Harrison worked directly with firm leaders to understand their bottlenecks, capacity challenges, and technology gaps. His background gives him a practical, ground-level view of how firms actually work and how the right automation strategy can free teams to focus on higher-value work.

Area of Focus

At Automata, Harrison leads growth initiatives, strategic partnerships, and industry education efforts. He's focused on helping firms adopt tools that reduce administrative burden, improve accuracy, and create scalable, modernized practices.

Based in New York City, Harrison is passionate about helping firms work smarter, not harder. Feel free to reach out to him at hmiller@automatapracdev.com.

Russell Monteith

Russell Monteith, CPA

Director of Solutions & Delivery

Russell is a Certified Public Accountant and software engineer, one of the few people who can read a balance sheet, prepare a tax return, and write the code to automate it. At Automata, he leads the solutions team, bridging the gap between accounting expertise and the technology that powers it, while also contributing significantly to the day-to-day operations that keep the company running efficiently. He is a member of the AICPA, NYCPA, the NYCPA Technology Committee, and has deep expertise across multiple disciplines of software development.

Before Automata

Before coming onboard, Russell spent over a decade at public CPA firms, with the bulk of that time working at a boutique firm in Manhattan focused on the tax accounting needs of High-Net-Worth Individuals. He always had a passion for technology, and in 2020 recognized a gap between what accounting software promised and what it actually delivered so he decided to do something about it. After years of sharpening his development skills, grinding through algorithms, and building his first tax tool from scratch, he made the move into tech full time. He still works with a select group of tax clients each season, keeping one foot in the field that continues to inspire his best ideas.

Beyond Automation

Russell earned his bachelor's and master's degree in accounting from Binghamton University. Originally from Canada and upstate New York, he now lives in New York City. Outside of work, he enjoys exercise, sports, spending time with family and friends, being outside in nature, anime, board games, and food.

Feel free to reach out to him at rmonteith@automatapracdev.com.

Want to see what we've built?

Browse our deployed projects index to see the automations we've built for firms like yours, or book a discovery call to talk through your specific workflows.

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