Monthly close for bookkeeping clients, with the client questions already written
Every month, for every bookkeeping client, someone works the bank feed items the rules missed, parks the unknowns in Ask My Accountant and emails the client a list. Then the close waits on the answers. The agent proposes a category for each item from the client's own history and writes the questions it cannot answer, so your bookkeeper starts the month from a review.
Examples use invented names and figures.
What the agent does
- Step 1Pulls the open items
From QuickBooks Online or Xero it collects the transactions the bank rules missed or parked in Uncategorized Expense and Ask My Accountant, along with receipts from Dext or Hubdoc that match nothing.
- Step 2Proposes categories
For each item it proposes a category from the client's history and your firm's rules, and shows the evidence, such as earlier transactions with the same payee or the matching receipt.
- Step 3Writes the client questions
Anything it cannot support goes on one short list, with each item as the bank describes it and its date and amount. A bookkeeper approves the list before it goes out through your portal or email.
- Step 4Checks the reconciliation
It compares each account with its statement and flags any difference with the transactions likely behind it. The bookkeeper gets one summary per client with the proposals and the open items.
Posting stays with your bookkeeper until the firm decides a rule is safe to apply on its own. Journal entries, capitalization, owner draws and 1099 vendor decisions stay with your staff, and so does anything a client's answer leaves unclear.
- Uncategorized items left on day 5 of the month
- Days to close per client
- Days a client takes to answer the question list
- Proposals your bookkeepers edit
- Staff hours per client per month
Questions about this agent
We already use Karbon or Intuit Accountant Suite. Do we need this?
Use what you own first. Karbon with Aider flags uncategorized transactions and reconciliation gaps and batches client questions, and Intuit Accountant Suite automates parts of categorization and month-end prep. A custom agent makes sense for the gaps those tools leave, such as firm rules applied the same way across QuickBooks Online and Xero clients, or answers that arrive by email and have to be applied back to the right transactions.
Does it post transactions on its own?
Not at first. Each proposal waits for a bookkeeper. Before a rule posts on its own, validate it against transactions a bookkeeper has already reviewed and write down what it may post. Exception monitoring and sample review continue after that.
Is bookkeeping data covered by Section 7216?
Our reading of the regulation is that information a client gives you for a bookkeeping engagement falls outside the definition of tax return information, even when the same facts later feed a return. Have counsel confirm that reading and which records the FTC Safeguards Rule covers, and apply the firm's security controls to bookkeeping files either way.