Accounting automation – how to leverage AI in accounting firms?

What is accounting process automation? See some examples

Business process automation is the use of modern technology to take over repetitive, tedious tasks that were previously performed manually. This makes it possible to significantly reduce errors, save time, and improve the quality of customer service. We implement such solutions in many business sectors, including sales, marketing, HR, and recruitment. Accounting automation itself allows you to streamline work in both small accounting firms and the finance departments of large enterprises.

The most commonly automated accounting processes include:

• Document posting – automatic processing and booking of financial documents, such as expense or revenue invoices, through integration with accounting systems, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, and AI (Artificial Intelligence).
• Data entry from invoices and other documents – AI systems in accounting can automatically read data from paper receipts or electronic invoices and verify the accuracy of fields (e.g., tax ID, amounts, payment deadlines). This improvement eliminates errors resulting from manual data entry and transcription by employees.
• Payment monitoring – automation allows for real-time comparison of bank statements with accounting records, which simplifies the reconciliation process and the detection of payment discrepancies.
• Generating tax reports – automatic creation of tax returns (e.g., VAT, CIT, PIT) and legally required reports. With access to data, the system can collect the necessary information and generate files containing complete statements. This reduces the time required to prepare reports and lowers the risk of errors.

As you can see, accounting process automation simplifies and accelerates many daily duties, from entering invoices to generating tax reports. Additionally, automated workflows reduce the risk of errors and relieve employees of repetitive tasks. You can find more examples of accounting department automation on our page dedicated to finance and accounting: https://www.sagiton.pl/en/services/automation-of-financial-processes

Automation modules in software for accounting firms

Modern software for accounting firms increasingly includes advanced automation modules that support accountants at many stages of client service.

Examples of automation modules for accounting firms

These modules include built-in automations that are natively integrated with specific accounting tools. These may include modules for:

• automatic document recognition and bookkeeping,
• data validation,
• generating tax returns,
• or managing electronic document workflows.

Many systems also allow for connection with online banking, enabling automatic statement downloads and real-time payment reconciliation. By leveraging automation in this way, accounting firms ensure more consistent workflows and provide faster, more convenient access to up-to-date data.

Limitations of off-the-shelf accounting and invoicing automation tools

However, it is important to remember that every accounting firm and every company managing its own internal accounting uses a different workflow model. Consequently, software does not always meet specific process requirements. A technological solution should be tailored to a company's individual needs rather than implemented simply because of current market trends. If you work in the accounting industry, you have surely encountered the problem of digital blockers more than once – even though you have a modern system, you still perform most of your work manually. Why does this happen?

There can be many reasons, but at Sagiton Automation, we most frequently encounter three accounting process blockers:

1. Lack of time and training support
Accounting staff often lack the space or resources to learn how to fully utilize new tools or features available in their software. Amidst the pressure of daily duties, it is difficult for them to dedicate time to training or testing new solutions, which means the potential of automation remains untapped, and most processes continue to be performed manually and in a non-digitized format.

2. Lack of integration between accounting systems and other software used in the company
In many organizations, accounting software does not communicate seamlessly with other key systems, such as sales platforms, cloud storage, KSeF, or CRM. A lack of such connectivity means that when employees want to start billing clients, they must log into multiple tools and manually transfer data between them. This method of billing is inefficient—it slows down work and increases the risk of errors.

3. Lack of key company-specific features
Some accounting systems do not account for the specific needs arising from procedures in place at a given accounting firm or finance department. For example, one of our clients had an accountant who, due to limitations in their billing tool, could only automatically email an invoice to one person. Meanwhile, internal procedures required the document to be sent to both the client and the vendor. It was therefore necessary to implement additional workflow automation that "extended" the functionality of their accounting software, enabling simultaneous delivery to multiple recipients in accordance with internal policies.

Ready-made accounting system integrations and custom automations

Despite constant improvements in popular accounting software, many accounting firms choose to implement custom automations that are better suited to their unique processes and the challenges they face daily. Standard solutions often fail to fully address specific business needs, which is why system synchronization and custom-designed automation modules are becoming increasingly popular. Below are examples of new technologies that can enhance the tools used by both internal accounting departments and external accounting firms:

1. Automation for internal accounting

Below is a list of accounting automations that any company can use. These are internal solutions for finance and accounting departments.

Integration with sales or e-commerce systems

Are your company's finance and accounting processes still time-consuming, even though your staff uses dedicated software? Eliminate the need for manual data entry between tools with accounting automation! Integrating your internal programs will allow you to:

1. Eliminate error-prone manual data entry.
2. Significantly speed up invoice processing.

To streamline daily operations, it is worth integrating your invoicing system with solutions such as sales systems (POS, e-commerce), warehouse management systems (WMS), electronic banking, ERP systems, CRM, and tools for payment monitoring and debt collection.

Automated invoice payment reminders

Are your clients still not paying their dues on time, and you aren't taking any action? Using automation that monitors payment deadlines in real-time and automatically sends notifications to contractors can help you achieve smooth cash flow. Let's be honest: digitizing debt collection not only speeds up processes but also significantly relieves your staff. Chasing up clients is one of the less pleasant tasks, which is why it is usually delayed or, in some cases, not done at all. Leave it to automation and let your employees focus on more strategic tasks.

Custom reports and controlling dashboards

Do you use multiple tools with controlling functions but still lack a single, central place to manage your company's finances? Modern tools and artificial intelligence allow you to automate processes related to financial data analysis and flow while minimizing human error. Such controlling automation solutions can pull data from multiple systems, such as ERP or CRM, to update financial dashboards in real-time, providing you with quick access to data. Standard general ledger summaries often fail to provide the detailed analytics needed for strategic decision-making. With the right connections, you can create multidimensional analyses covering sales, costs, budgets, or cash flow forecasts – all on one clear financial dashboard!

Automated business travel expense reporting

Processing business travel expenses is one aspect of internal accounting work that changes relatively often. Regulatory updates mean that accountants must constantly keep track of rules regarding per diems, costs, and how business trips are documented.

Fortunately, this process can be significantly simplified through automation. As part of accounting digitization, it is possible to implement a system that automatically calculates per diems, organizes documents, and guides users through the various stages of the settlement process. This systematizes both the work of the accounting department and the process of document submission by the traveling employee. Additionally, AI in accounting can support this area through chatbots that answer employee questions regarding travel expenses—for example, required documents, settlement rules, or the next steps in the process. This makes the entire process more transparent and much less time-consuming for everyone involved.

2. Automating accounting firm workflows

Below are examples of the most cost-effective automations for accounting firms. See how to leverage AI in accounting to save your employees' time.

Task management system for accounting firms

Tired of employees constantly asking whether all client documents have been posted? In a modern accounting firm, it is worth automating the processes related to tracking the status of client bookkeeping.

Properly implemented accounting firm automation allows you to mark whether documents have been posted, if something is still missing, or if an invoice should be processed in the following month. Additionally, you can create a commenting feature (e.g., regarding a client's business suspension), ensuring that information flow is organized and every action is recorded in the system.

AI-powered call transcriptions for automated task creation

How many times this month has one of your employees forgotten to pass on important details from a client phone call? In a firm serving many business clients, good organization of requests received by phone is crucial. By using AI technology in your accounting firm, you can record calls made by accountants and create auto-transcriptions, which the AI then uses to generate tasks in your client service system. This type of process automation minimizes situations where employees forget details and have to contact the client again.

Additionally, everyone handling a specific company can have access to these transcripts, meaning accountants don't have to spend dozens of hours a month relaying information verbally or via email.

Automating correspondence and invoice tracking

Still wasting time every month reminding clients to send missing expense invoices? Automate the document follow-up process! Implementing an automatic recurring cost database combined with an accounting client portal allows the system to verify in real-time whether all invoices for a given month have been submitted, according to the accounting schemes set for each client.

If, for example, a leasing or utility invoice is missing, the system will automatically send a reminder, eliminating the need for manual document monitoring and sending follow-up messages.

Such automation not only streamlines accounting services but also eliminates human error and significantly lightens the daily workload of accounting firms.

Inter-departmental communication in an accounting firm

Does communication in your accounting firm still leave something to be desired? In modern accounting, efficient data flow between departments is becoming increasingly important. If you are still wondering what to automate, invest in the proper transfer of key data, such as payroll or timesheets. Good communication between departments speeds up invoicing and the issuance of HR documents. Integration with the call recording system mentioned in previous paragraphs can also provide support, ensuring that phone conversations with clients are automatically shared between departments. Thanks to these solutions, tasks run more smoothly, and financial data doesn't get lost in a flood of emails or casual conversations.

So, what is worth automating in accounting and finance?

Although modern accounting software offers an increasing number of built-in automation features, there are still many areas that can be improved and better tailored to the individual processes of a company or accounting firm. Integrations with sales, banking, or CRM systems, automatic document completeness checks, and more effective task and team communication management are just a few examples where additional automation can bring real benefits. If you see areas for improvement in your financial processes, contact us – at Sagiton Automation, we aren't afraid of complex processes and would be happy to help you design a solution tailored to your needs.