How AI accounting workflows work
Connect gives an AI app a permissioned connection to the accounting actions available in your workspace. Instead of pasted exports, you can ask it to read records, run reports, trace balances to transactions, and explain what it found.
The connection is broad. For supported operations, an AI app can read and search records and, when the platform and your permissions allow it, create, update, send, void, or delete records. The exact actions vary by provider, plan, and permissions.
The technical name for this connection is MCP. You do not need to learn the term to use it. Think of it as the bridge that lets the AI app use Connect’s accounting actions instead of pasted or outdated data.
What an AI app can help with
Section titled “What an AI app can help with”- Answer questions from records. Ask about balances, invoices, bills, payments, customers, vendors, or other connected data.
- Investigate a result. Start with a report total, find an unusual change, and trace it to the transactions behind it.
- Run a repeatable review. Use the same checks across several companies that your workspace makes available.
- Prepare accounting work. Ask the app to organize findings, draft follow-ups, or prepare supported changes for review.
- Make approved changes. When the platform supports the operation and you approve it, the app can carry out many supported accounting actions.
Keep your team in control
Section titled “Keep your team in control”The connection is tied to the workspace you connected. The AI app can use only the companies and permissions available to your account in that workspace.
For a workflow that could change records:
- Ask the app to confirm the workspace, company, and period.
- Ask it to show the records and proposed changes.
- Check the assumptions, amounts, dates, and accounts.
- Approve only after the plan is clear.
Start read-only while you learn.
What makes a workflow
Section titled “What makes a workflow”A useful accounting workflow has four parts:
- Starting information — the company, period, report, or records to inspect.
- A procedure — the checks or steps to perform.
- A decision point — what counts as an exception and when to stop.
- An output — a summary, follow-up list, proposed changes, or approved updates.
For example, “review last month’s accounts receivable” becomes a workflow when you define its period, checks, output, and approval rule.