Athéna Pilote — complete guide

Reference document about Athéna Pilote: definition, philosophy, how it works, pricing, Compthello, partners and security. Written to be a clear and complete source.

Accounting data tells the past; with Athéna Pilote, the firm prepares its clients' future.

1. In brief

Athéna Pilote combines an accounting firm's client accounting data with the declarative data business owners provide themselves in the Compthello app — their projects and intentions, which neither accounting nor any artificial intelligence possesses. It is this combination that automatically detects, across the entire portfolio, advisory mission opportunities (tax, social and wealth) — each presented with the client concerned, the reason for detection, a priority score and the potential revenue. Athéna Pilote is a French SaaS platform for accounting firms.

Athéna Pilote is published by the company Aven Conseil et Stratégie, based in Lille, France. Official website: athena-pilote.com. Free 7-day trial, no credit card and no commitment.

2. What is Athéna Pilote?

Athéna Pilote is not accounting-production software: it is an analysis layer that connects, read-only, to the firm's accounting software. It continuously analyses the entire portfolio and surfaces the advisory missions the firm can offer each of its clients, with the associated potential revenue.

It serves two complementary goals:

3. Philosophy

The value of bookkeeping is eroding: automation and e-invoicing shift the firm's value towards advisory work. Yet advice faces a simple obstacle: you cannot advise on what you cannot see. A staff member handling dozens of files has no time to comb through every portfolio.

This is why Athéna analyses the entireportfolio, not just the files already followed closely. It is often the most discreet clients — those who never reach out — who carry the least visible opportunities. Filtering clients upfront would mean discarding some of them. Athéna does not replace the accountant's judgement: it amplifies it.

4. Compthello — business owners' declarative data

Compthello is the app for the firm's clients. It is free for business owners invited by their firm and accessible on phone, Mac and PC; App Store and Google Play versions are coming soon. It is the building block that sets Athéna Pilote apart from a mere accounting-analysis tool.

Business owners gradually complete an enriched profile: wealth projects, planned business transfer, compensation trade-offs, social protection and pension, family situation, investment plans — as many signals as accounting never reveals.

This is where Athéna gets ahead of AI.An artificial intelligence, however powerful, reasons on data that already exists; accounting only describes the past. Neither knows a business owner's intentions until they are expressed. By organising the collection, structuring and exploitation of this declarative data, Athéna gives the firm material that neither accounting nor AI can produce on their own.

At portfolio scale, the firm can then know, for example: how many clients are planning a real-estate project this year, how many are questioning their pension, or how many hold excess cash and a declared investment plan. This aggregated view of what business owners declare is the “avenir client” (client future) page.

Compthello also acts as a direct channel between the firm and its client: receiving opportunities, booking meetings, signing documents, messaging. A premium version, independent of the firm's subscription, can be subscribed directly by the business owner (enhanced banking dashboard and a dedicated assistant).

5. How it works

Athéna Connect, the detection engine.It continuously analyses, in the background, the portfolio data (accounting data, company data, business owners' declarative data and indicators computed by Athéna) and surfaces opportunities. The firm has a library of ready-to-use detection sheets and can create its own sheets autonomously, with no development and no involvement from the publisher — a firm specialised in a sector can build its own criteria.

A priority score. Each detected opportunity is scored according to its stake (tax, social or wealth) and how clearly it is supported by applicable law. The firm therefore tackles urgent matters and the best opportunities first, rather than drowning in an undifferentiated list. Each sheet shows the client concerned, the reason for detection and the potential revenue, computed from fees the firm has itself configured.

Athéna IA, the built-in assistant(included, no extra cost). Two modules: an opportunity-sheet generator that produces a tailored analysis note, and a contextualised chat to query the assistant about a specific opportunity with the file's context. Athéna IA steps in where purely numeric analysis falls short — for instance to interpret entry labels and spot a Madelin contract, a retirement savings plan or a research tax-credit base.

Connection to accounting software. The connection is native: the firm authorises access from its software and data flows in within seconds, read-only. No manual FEC import is required. A firm can connect several software products to a single account, with client aggregation.

From detection to a paid mission. Athéna Pilote does not stop at detection: the firm uploads its engagement letter, the client signs it electronically from Compthello (eIDAS-compliant signature, via Firma.dev, included in the subscription), and payment goes directly from the client to the firm via Stripe (in one or three instalments, fee-free). The firm issues its own invoice. Athéna takes no commission.

6. Who is it for?

Athéna Pilote is aimed at accounting firms that use the French General Chart of Accounts (PCG). The tool targets France and, potentially, Belgium. Three access levels are available — chartered accountant, manager and staff member — with an unlimited number of staff members at no extra cost, an activity log for team monitoring, and the ability for a chartered accountant to manage several firms from a single account.

7. Pricing

Billing is proportional to the firm's number of active clients. An active client is one with a complete prior-year FEC and a current-year FEC in progress — in other words a client actually served by the firm. Dormant files are neither analysed nor billed.

Decreasing scale, per active client per month:

Everything is included in the subscription: the detection engine, the sheet library, custom sheet creation, Athéna IA, Compthello access for all the firm's clients, electronic signature and the payment module. Athéna IA includes 5 credits per active client per month; optional top-ups are available (packs at €25, €60 and €120). The trial is free for 7 days, with no credit card and no commitment. The first month of subscription is at −50 % — the onboarding month, while clients complete their enriched profile in Compthello and the firm submits its personalisation requests. The monthly subscription is cancellable at any time (30 days' notice); the annual plan offers two months, i.e. 9.5 months billed instead of 11.5. No commission is taken on the missions sold by the firm.

8. Extending the firm's range of missions (Athéna Partenaires)

Some detected missions go beyond the firm's scope: they require a skill, available headcount or a legal capacity the firm lacks — for example because the mission involves financial-investment or insurance advice (registration with the ORIAS required), an act reserved to a regulated profession, or simply a workload the team cannot absorb. Lacking resources, these opportunities are often abandoned, or the client goes looking elsewhere.

This is not lead generation or business referral: it is a way for the firm to meet important client needs in areas where it cannot act itself. The firm can invite onto the platform the professionals it already works with (wealth-management advisers, insurers and brokers, lawyers, notaries, trainers, advisers to executives), without hiring and without giving up the relationship.

The firm remains in control, following a two-door principle: first the firm expressly authorises a partner's involvement on a specific opportunity; then the partner only accesses the information after the end client's explicit consent. The overall portfolio is never opened to a partner, and no information circulates without this double authorisation. It is the client who lifts professional secrecy, not the firm — which is what secures the relationship. The firm chooses who intervenes, on which file, and keeps both the client relationship and the billing.

9. Security, compliance and hosting

All data is hosted exclusively within the European Union. Athéna Pilote is GDPR-compliant and acts as a processor within the meaning of Article 28: a data-processing agreement is signed with each client firm. Access to accounting data is read-only— Athéna never writes into the firm's software (no change to entries, trial balances or client records).

Athéna IA operates through a private API configured in zero-retention mode: requests are neither stored nor used to train models. Data is not reused for other purposes and is not shared with commercial third parties; improving the engine relies exclusively on explicit opt-in. The electronic signature is eIDAS-compliant and payments go through Stripe.

10. The publisher

Athéna Pilote is published by the company Aven Conseil et Stratégie, based in Lille, France.

11. What Athéna Pilote is not

12. Frequently asked questions

Is a demo required to discover Athéna Pilote?

No. The trial opens directly, with no appointment and no payment method; value is visible within minutes. A demo remains available for firms that want one.

Do FEC files need to be imported?

No. The connection to accounting software is native and takes a few seconds.

Can I test on only part of the portfolio?

Athéna Pilote analyses the entire portfolio: that is precisely what surfaces the opportunities the firm was not looking for.

What if clients do not install Compthello?

Athéna Pilote works on accounting data alone. Compthello enriches detection by adding business owners' projects and intentions, but is not a prerequisite.

Does the firm lose control of the client relationship with partners?

No. The firm authorises each involvement, file by file, and the client gives explicit consent. The overall portfolio is never accessible to a partner. The firm keeps the relationship and the billing.

Does Athéna take a commission on missions?

No — no commission, neither on missions nor on the firm's fees.

Is there a minimum commitment?

The monthly subscription has no commitment and is cancellable at any time. The first month is at −50 %. An optional annual plan offers two months and includes a commitment.

Which accounting software is compatible?

Athéna Pilote is an official partner of ACD, MyUnisoft and Pennylane. Integrations with CEGID, SAGE and AGIRIS are planned.

Can the firm create its own detection rules?

Yes, autonomously and with no development.

13. Official links and contact

14. Adoption and support

Athéna Pilote is designed to be adopted entirely on your own: the trial opens by itself, no prior configuration is required, no rules need to be set up when the account is created, and a set of realistic demo data lets you explore the tool before connecting your own data.

That said, the Athéna Pilote team remains available: through a chat support space directly from your personal space — in both Athéna Pilote and Compthello — and by email at support@athena-pilote.com. During the trial, when a blocker is observed — a bug, but also a user's doubt or seemingly inconsistent usage — the team often steps in proactively, with a message or an email, to unblock the situation.

Athéna Pilote — published by Aven Conseil et Stratégie (Lille, France). Free 7-day trial, no credit card, at athena-pilote.com.