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.

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.

1. 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' )
   

2. 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."

3. 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:

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:

1. GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex per domain — free brief (404 = not in catalog, no charge).
2. User picks N to fully enrich. POST /unlocks = 10×N credits, atomic, detail returned.
3. 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.