Have you been thinking ‘maybe I should try this ChatGPT thing’, but haven’t been sure how to get started? Well, it’s super easy and we’re here to show you what to do. Let’s dive in. 

1. Go to the ChatGPT homepage

The first thing you’ll need to do is head over to ChatGPT’s homepage: chatgpt.com. It doesn’t matter which browser you use, they all work the same. Most people use Google Chrome but if you’re on a Mac, Safari will do just as good a job. 

You’ll see from the screenshot that getting underway with ChatGPT means providing some basic log-in credentials. Enter your email address and hit continue. Alternatively, you can choose to sign in with your Google, Microsoft or Apple account. Each option is easy but for the purposes of this explainer, we signed in with an Apple account.

If you’re not signing in with a Google, Microsoft or Apple account, you’ll be taken to another screen to enter a password. Do that twice to confirm it, and you’re in business. However, if you used a Google, Microsoft or Apple account, you won’t need to enter (and remember) another password – it’s all automatically sorted for you.

Once you’ve done the above steps, the final hurdle is to enter your screen name and your birthdate. 

2. Tips for getting started

Now you’ve signed in and are good to go. You’ll be presented with a screen with some basic tips, which are worth reading. The most important ones are to not enter sensitive information and to check your facts. Why? ChatGPT uses everything you enter into the prompt box (that is, the box where you ask questions) to train its AI model. So, if you enter sensitive or confidential information, it goes straight into ChatGPT’s database and there’s a small chance it could be provided as an answer to someone else’s query. 

Don’t enter anything you don’t want someone else to potentially know.

Second, ChatGPT warns you straight up that it can get things wrong. These are called ‘hallucinations’ in the AI industry and they’re something to watch out for. The upshot is, don’t take anything ChatGPT tells you at face value – check the facts (and that could mean doing a Google search or just relying on your professional knowledge), before using anything the AI presents. 

3. The chat window

You’re now ready to start using ChatGPT. You’ll be presented with a basic window where you can enter your questions, which are called ‘prompts’.

You’ll see from the window there are several options, and one of the most powerful for CAs is the button where you can ‘summarise text’. This is a great tool when you have a long document and just want the key points (bearing in mind our earlier advice about not entering sensitive information). Hit that button, paste the text you want summarised and in a matter of seconds ChatGPT will give you the key points in the document.

You can also ask follow-up questions about the text you entered. This is one of the great things about ChatGPT: interacting with it is like a back-and-forth conversation because it remembers what you previously asked and lets you build on that query. 

4. Some simple exercises

ChatGPT isn’t really a search engine – it’s a little more like a coach. You could ask for assistance in the following ways:

• Briefly summarise the AML regulatory changes in Australia in FY2025–2026 and how they will impact accountants
• Draft an email to my clients communicating the upcoming tax deadlines and what information they will need to provide
• Create a bullet-point guide on how to use pivot tables in Microsoft Excel.

The more detailed your prompts, the better the responses can be. Plus, you can also ask ChatGPT to tailor its answers – ‘Explain X to me as if I were a high school student’, ‘Summarise the key points in a short list’ and ‘Provide links to your sources for all key data points’.

Read more

There are a number of other Acuity how-to stories that can help you on your genAI learning journey. 

Click here for ChatGPT in practice, ChatGPT prompts tax accountants can use with confidence and Four ways to upskill in AI [Not published yet, link to be added]

Click here to view Heather Smith FCA presenting short how-to videos: Guide to useful AI tools for accountants