The map: first, supervised, never
Where machines win vs. where humans must stay
Automate first
- Bank feed import and matching
- Receipt & bill data extraction
- Recurring invoice generation
- Payment reminders on a cadence
- Duplicate detection
Keep human
- Write-off and credit decisions
- Anything a customer reads, in tone
- Tax positions and filings sign-off
- Fraud and anomaly judgment calls
- Period lock - the final 'this is true'
Why capture comes first
Every downstream report is only as good as what got recorded. Capture automation (feeds, extraction, recurring documents) attacks the root: it makes the books complete without willpower. Categorization AI is next - modern systems hit 95%+ on a trained ledger, and the honest ones route the uncertain 5% to a review queue instead of guessing.
The review queue is the product
Good automation doesn't remove you from the loop - it shrinks the loop to exceptions only. If a tool has no 'unsure' state, it's guessing somewhere, silently.
Measure review time, not tasks
'We automated 400 transactions' is vanity. 'The weekly books take 40 minutes instead of 4 hours, and error rates fell' is the metric. Time-to-trustworthy-books is the only number automation answers for.
A sane rollout
- 1
Pick one workflow
Usually bank matching - highest volume, lowest ambiguity.
- 2
Run it supervised for a month
Review everything it does. You're training your trust, not just the model.
- 3
Keep the audit trail on
Every automated action should say what acted and why - non-negotiable for your accountant.
- 4
Expand by pain
Next automate whatever now consumes the most review minutes. Repeat.