Imported from jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace (plugins/mcp/servicegraph/skills/find-cpa-firm/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace --skill find-cpa-firm. Copyright stays with the author (MIT).

find-cpa-firm

Overview

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.

Prerequisites

• ServiceGraph access, either:
  • the ServiceGraph MCP server (https://mcp.servicegraph.co) loaded in your harness — this plugin's .mcp.json wires it up; OAuth 2.1 + PKCE keeps credentials in the harness sandbox — or
  • a ServiceGraph API key (vk_…, minted at https://servicegraph.co/profile/api-keys) available as SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY in the environment or .env.local for the REST path (setup steps under Auth below).
• An HTTP client for the REST path — the examples use curl.

Instructions

The loop is free-first: discovery, validation, search, and brief reads cost nothing; only unlock after the user confirms the spend.

1. Pick the call path — the ServiceGraph MCP tools if loaded, otherwise the REST flow (MCP server and Auth sections below).
2. GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1 — confirm the fields and values you plan to filter on exist.
3. Build the filter (Filter DSL below) and validate it with GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check — or draft it from plain English via POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent.
4. GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search — present the free brief cards and let the user pick.
5. Quote the unlock cost (10 credits per row, 30-day TTL) and get an explicit go-ahead.
6. POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks with the chosen apexes; report the revealed detail.
7. GET /v1/me/credits to report the remaining balance when asked.

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).

Output

All responses are JSON.

• Search returns free brief firm cards — apex, name, location, and rating signals — plus a per-row unlock hint and the match total. Briefs never include url, phone_primary, email_primary, legal_name, address_full, or the full platforms map.
• Unlock (POST …/unlocks) returns each unlocked firm's detail block — contact fields, address, socials, the platforms map — plus per-item billing; detail stays readable for 30 days.
• Errors arrive as a JSON envelope {"error": {"code": "…", "message": "…"}} — see Errors below.

Examples

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.
• 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": "..."}}.

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

Resources

• Upstream source: https://github.com/nostrband/ServiceGraph
• ServiceGraph API: https://api.servicegraph.co — keys at https://servicegraph.co/profile/api-keys
• Hub skill: servicegraph (this plugin) — the dataset-agnostic entry point when the user names ServiceGraph explicitly.