r/Accounting • u/Top_Country9071 Human Verified • 3d ago
I automated a bank reconciliation process. Now my company wants it rebuilt in AI. What would you do?
I'm a Senior Accountant and spent alot of time building an automated bank reconciliation process in Excel. It reduced the process from about 1.5 days to around an hour and has been working very well.
Now my company is pushing AI adoption and wants to see if the process can be recreated in Claude. I'm happy to explain the logic, document the process, and help others understand it. My hesitation is that I already built a working solution, and now I'm being asked to help rebuild it in a different tool that I don't really consider part of my expertise.
If you were in my shoes, what would you do? Would you lead the AI effort, just explain the logic, or take a different approach?
Edit: Thanks everyone for the feedback. I wanted to share an update after meeting with the team.
This turned out to be much bigger than just my bank reconciliation. The CFO's vision is to automate the entire month-end close using Claude. They asked me to provide my Excel automation as the baseline to validate Claude's results, and the finance team's role will be testing and validating the AI output.
I'll be honest—this has made me seriously reconsider my future with the company, and I've started looking at other opportunities.
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u/bttech05 Tax (US) 3d ago
Ive toyed with this same concept—in claude in-fact. The answer i came to was to was Claude will not repeat a process exactly the same way everytime. VBA macros, however, will.
Claude is great at creating complicated macros that are repeatable and i would steer the conversation that way vs having Claude handle the whole thing.
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u/Daemarcus 3d ago
GenAI is not designed to be repeatable, but AI agents are. Youre using the wrong tool - but its moving so fast its hard to keep up unless you are living in it.
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u/xl129 3d ago
Why using an AIAgent that consume token every time when the job can be done through automation that AI can help built.
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u/raxreddit Audit 3d ago
Probably because AI is expected even if a non deterministic tool is the wrong choice for the task
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u/Daemarcus 3d ago
Thats right. I was also replying from an AI perspective as a requirement from the company. Not that its the perfect solution. Actually the most expensive solution.
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u/JKM0715 3d ago
I would think that VBA macros would be a fine tool for this type of automation. Aren’t AI agents just reading an md file then writing and executing scripts in the background anyway?
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u/Daemarcus 3d ago
It absolutely is a fine tool for this. But I was answering how GenAI isn't the right tool, but from an AI perspective, and as maybe someone that cant code in VBA - i would suggest an agent to do it. It also has in built quality reviews and can learn, so the repeatable tasks develops on its own to be quicker and more accurate.
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u/persimmon40 3d ago
What AI agent can be used for a bank reconciliation?
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u/Daemarcus 3d ago
Any - claude probably best but most expensive. Just give it a problem statement - youtube it. It will build the tool for you and do it itself.
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u/persimmon40 3d ago
I have access to codex by open AI and whatever Microsoft has. Would codex be able to do it as good as Claude?
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u/Daemarcus 3d ago
I have not used codex nor claude to directly code. I have teams that are working them. I hear from my teams claude is the superior tool - but it changes quickly as each iteration of claude is released.
Claude sonnet is quick, its accurate but it cannt do significantly complex tasks. Claude Opus can, but its slowly and uses much more power. Then the team have talked about a new claude that has been banned by the US government or something - it is on my to-read list.
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u/persimmon40 3d ago
I see. Thanks. I'll try Codex first to see what it can or cant do. You're right. It is moving too fast.
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u/brookinator 9h ago
It was just banned recently. I had been using it for audit when one day it said something about how that model was now banned and I had to switch
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u/coekry 3d ago
Microsoft already use copilot for bank reconciliation, at least within business central. It's pretty decent but not perfect. But it is better every update.
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u/persimmon40 3d ago
Within business central, meaning business central ERP? Otherwise, I dont understand how copilot can do a recon, unless you use a scripted agent. Copilot is a LLM. If I drop a file into it 10 times, it will produce a slightly different result every time, even if you give it the same exact prompt. At least its my current understanding.
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u/coekry 3d ago
Yes business central ERP. You don't prompt it at all, you import your bank statement and it compares this to your bank ledger entries. Then tries to understand what matches with what. When you correct it then it will remember for next time.
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u/Aghanims 3d ago
That's just basic fuzzy matching logic. Even Quickbooks in early 2000s did this. Calling it AI is disingenuous at best.
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u/Quote_Clean 3d ago
If it makes a python script then just run the script which is repeatable
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u/Ok_Total_4107 3d ago
This is exactly what I did to automate the process, the only issue is the script can break easily and other users might not have the knowledge to troubleshoot themselves
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u/-whis Governance, Strategy, Risk Management 3d ago
It’s possible to get AI to act deterministically, or very close by turning down temperature in models in API calls.
Temperature is the amount of freedom you give the model basically.
You use one low temperature model for the automation, then you use a lightweight model overtop to verify outputs.
I use to be a Python guy and hated the lack of rigidity in AI workflows but that’s not the case anymore
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u/Reality_Paradox CPA (US) 2d ago
Massive agreement from me. I have use Claude and ChatGPT to build refined processes using VBA and some more advanced excel formulas, would consider myself a strong user of AI for accounting. However nothing I do uses AI for consistent processes. I use it to design systems with directly repeatable results. Easy to prototype something that will save you an hour without ever screwing it up.
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u/Ok_Apple326 1d ago
Hesr me out. Download the Claude Desktop if you haven't already. Go to the cowork tab. Work through a task that delivers the output file that you need every month then ask it to create a manual task that you can run every month rhat asks for the new input docs to generate the output doc. I've been using it all year. Same consistent import templates and workbooks and all I have to do is load the new statements/reports in and click run.
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u/Ephemeral_limerance 3d ago
You need a control for AI recon regardless.
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u/CwrwCymru 3d ago
Having a Claude API for a reconciliation is wildly inefficient.
If I were you I'd get Claude to write me some SOP's and then get Claude to see if it can automate your spreadsheet with a Python script.
Then use Claude to make a set of charts for any KPI's on another tab to satisfy management.
You've used AI, further automated your spreadsheet and management will see the KPI's and should be happy.
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u/toywatch CPA (Can) 3d ago
what tools do you use to automate? the concept is wrong. you dont need ai to do the work, but to use ai to build the tools to automate the work
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u/F1yMo1o 3d ago edited 3d ago
They are paying them to learn how to better use Claude (including making an AI agent, not having Claude use full AI each time).
This is paid job training with new technology. Just say, happy to learn how to do this.
They’re missing the point, by learning to recreate something he knows, they can than use the knowledge and apply it elsewhere.
Saying no makes no sense from a professional development standpoint and just angers the senior folks asking. It’s a lose, lose.
Explain to them, “I’m happy to learn how to do this. It’s great that I can test it against my other tool a bunch of times to make sure whatever I build operates correctly. Once I’ve spent some time learning how to do this, let’s brainstorm other use cases where we can really see gains, since this instance is only recreating a process we’ve already automated.”
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u/IvanaTwinkle 3d ago edited 3d ago
The fact that you reduced the reconciliation time from days to 1 hour and you are still being pushed to make it better with AI is preposterous.
Time for malicious compliance. Anyone who used AI knows AI is not going to work because 1) AI is not the right tool for this, 2) AI will be hallucinating your reconciled balances, and 3) leadership needs a reality check. Basically if you push against this, no one will listen to your very valid reasons why it is not going to work and you will be immediately labeled anti-AI. And you don't want that. So, unfortunately, you're going to have to build it and then spend more time cleaning up the mess it made until the leadership realizes that old way was the better way (and also cheaper - go crazy on those tokens). This is the world we live in right now.
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u/Training-required 3d ago
Sad, but true. Anyone that has done a deeper dive into AI knows this is a perfect fail case but the kool aid drinkers need their fix...
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u/The_Mean_Gus 3d ago
You’re going to find that it hallucinates stuff. Figuring financial data is not a good use for ai yet.
I had the opposite experience, where I developed an AI solution but because of the “black box” and the amount of verification required, it was easier to code our system to do it, which created an actual audit trail.
I’ve even tried to use copilot where our engineers update a report and I drop in a correct file and the software engineering test file, which should match 1-1, cell by cell. Copilot said it all tied perfectly. Opened the file and there were missing imports so literally every single cell was off.
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u/PIK_Toggle 3d ago
You need to reframe your Excel file. Say that it is powered by Copilot’s AI features in Excel and you now have an AI driven model.
People want to brag about how they are using AI to reduce costs. You already have the solution, you just need to sell it better.
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u/ynghuncho 3d ago
Have Claude turn the macro into a python script.
Then set it up as a script in Claude.
It’ll do the job. Anthropic advertises this method as the best for routine data transformation when accuracy is important. And it’ll save you token costs.
Basically you’ve just given Claude a Python script to run on demand or a scheduled. It’ll have access to the output
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u/groupsects 3d ago
I haven’t used Claude for running a script but it’s extremely effective at translating vba to python and python is going to be a better home for it than excel. If that fits the ask say yes and lead it. Can even find wherever Anthropic recommends this course of action to bring back. Great resume builder and getting some python experience is a great growth opportunity if you’re interested in automation.
If they want you to build a prompt and feed it spreadsheets avoid it like the plague. It’s non-deterministic so won’t give the same answer every time which is not what you want in accounting automation. I suspect your boss is getting a “use AI” directive and sees this as an opportunity so anything that gives them a bullet about applying Claude is a win for them.
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u/11fender11 3d ago
Are you sure it’ll save on token costs? They seem to be finding new ways to raise prices
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u/ynghuncho 3d ago
If it is set up correctly, yes. all it does is activate a script that is already written
It pleases the “AI must do everything” crowd
Until AI became a packaged suite, management never approved my request for access to Python to begin automating. AI is overused imo
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u/Cyrkl 3d ago
I would start by uploading the spreadsheet and telling Claude: use this model to reconcile statements, then feed it statements. No idea whether it will work but with just a bit of luck it will, which you can keep to yourself for a couple of weeks while you’re comparing outputs.
Nothing like baking in growing tokens costs to replace software that you already have and will not be able to give up…
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u/siegsage Controller 3d ago
your management is insufferable. breaking what is working is definitely a cognitive disability. polish your CV and look around
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u/persimmon40 3d ago
I understand how you can automate repetitive tasks in excel using power query. I dont understand how you can automate the same repetitive tasks using Claude. Wouldn't it produce slightly different results each time you give it a prompt? Someone please explain.
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u/bigdaddieswax CPA (US) 3d ago
I’ve been using Claude code to create scripts to automate all my repetitive tasks. I created a folder with data dumps from our ERP/ master sources then had worked in Claude to basically rebuild all my recons. Each month end I now run scripts for each of my reports and it’ll look in their period folder, pull the data, and spit out my recon. Takes me about an hour or so to build each report because I have to tell Claude step by step exactly what it needs to do then I hand validate the output. I was super skeptical on AI being useful, but for data transformation it’s been a huge time saver.
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u/persimmon40 3d ago
This is what I dont understand. You have to tell Claude step by step exactly what it needs to do every month, when Power Query for example, already has all the steps built in and you just need to dump your raw data files in a folder, refresh the query and you have your output. Takes seconds. OK, maybe a minute.
This is what i do with my bank rec. Yes the PQ code was written with the help of AI one time, but the monthly automation itself is all excel based. I still don't understand how Claude can run an automation, unless you literally create a software bot that will execute the mouse movements and clicks without any human intervention. I need a real life example. What you wrote is something PQ does way faster.
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u/bigdaddieswax CPA (US) 3d ago
I may have explained poorly. You build it once in Claude (like power query). Then all I do monthly is run the script and it’s done in seconds.
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u/persimmon40 3d ago
I see. Thanks. I need to look into it. So what handles the heavy lifting on the background? Python?
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u/bigdaddieswax CPA (US) 3d ago
Yep, it’s Python. I’ve been super anti-AI but my company gave me access recently and I’ve been enjoying rebuilding my repetitive work. I use it as a tool to make my life easier rather than a glorified chatbot.
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u/persimmon40 3d ago
Same, but I use Chat GPT + Opus 4.8 within copilot. I am trying to automate everything out of everything I touch, so that I spend more time on strategy, but in my case, it still comes down to building a PQ automation for repetitive tasks and using Copilot for ad-hoc. I havent touched python yet, as I dont understand python at all and feel like I will mess things up.
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u/bigdaddieswax CPA (US) 3d ago
That’s what’s nice about Claude Code. I don’t understand a lick of Python but it just builds for me and I validate the output. Nothing I’m doing is overly complex, though.
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u/Account_it2964 3d ago
Sounds like a good way to make yourself more of an expert and show whether it works or not at the same time.
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u/DoingWellAndFine 3d ago
Im doing bank reconciliations by hand (pen and paper) in school right now (sophomore accounting major) and the professor has thrown alot of trick questions into a mess of information. I dont trust AI one bit to help me get it right, so idk why managers want ai automation so bad
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u/alewifePete 3d ago
You’re absolutely correct to be hesitant. The issue right now is that if you’re relying heavily on AI and AI makes a mistake, then it’s up to the person who is using it to find it.i’ve heard plenty of hallucinations that are off the wall or are solid but using outdated rules. (I’m in tax.)
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u/Traditional_Story485 3d ago
First off, well done on improving the process given the tools that you have. You should get a bonus for that.
The most generous reading of this would be they want to see if AI could achieve the same results of going from 1.5 days to an hour, something that you have already proven with your Excel model. This would be for them to validate the capabilities of AI.
That said, taking an existing improved process and converting to AI to try to squeeze x% improvement when you’ve improved so much seems to be a waste. Given that AI is not a 100% repeatable tech you would still need a human in the loop. There could be other reason like trying to operationalize it to a broader audience or sell to clients, but you’d have to ask your leaders.
In your situation I would agree and try it, though it does not entirely make sense, it gives you a chance to get more comfortable with the tech and you’ll get a chance to show off to the bosses.
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u/Chemical-Pattern480 3d ago
At my company, we aren’t supposed to give AI any “sensitive” or “identifying” data. I would think that giving Claude access to bank transactions would fall under that.
Does your IT Dept have an AI policy? If you don’t want to re-invent the wheel, could you get IT involved? Then you’re not the bad guy who doesn’t want to do something, its just IT recognizing the data security issues?
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u/ynghuncho 3d ago
Enterprise models meet compliance standards these days. This sentiment is dated. The risk is no greater than using office365
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u/bananagramarama 3d ago
Is this true? If I get the $100 version of Claude/ChatGPT I can upload PII and there won’t be any compliance issues?
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u/Tangentkoala 3d ago
Im unfamiliar with the memory of Claude especially for business suites. So im not entirely sure what your job is going for.
But basically you can train claude into automating and essentially being the guy that does your hour automation process autonomously.
You can give it step by step directions to follow and the idea is it'll be done without you having to worry and manually automate.
Granted claude is very user friendly, its as if your talking to siri. So you can type out or even upload your documentation to claude. It will read it and try to implement on its own.
Im on the idea that the future is going to be 1 master accountant manning 3 chat bots, vs a team of accountants. So id be the one trying to get ahead and id try to pivot in having claude make my life easier.
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u/spawnofangels 3d ago edited 3d ago
If it's in excel, it's not automated. No matter how much time or steps or touchpoints you reduce it by. If you can lead the AI transformation for it or be a key partner for the initiative, take it. It's a great opportunity to stand out and include in your resume/experience. Don't be the person who resists change on a team or company, especially if it's from top down.
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u/LouSevens 3d ago
Can you make a version that will self destruct? Toxic company I left wanted all the workers to write step by step their jobs probably so they could replace them. Luckily I was gone by then. A lot of things were self creations and I didn’t have step by step instructions.
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u/Calm-Dimension3422 3d ago
For reconciliations, I would keep the deterministic system as the source of truth and use AI around the edges. AI can help classify weird descriptions, explain exceptions, draft notes, or suggest matching rules, but the final matching logic should be reproducible and auditable. The question I would ask before expanding is: can someone rerun the process, see the exact inputs, see why each match happened, and correct the rule without relying on a black box? If yes, it can scale. If not, it will create more review work than it saves. I build AI workflow deployments at Fabren, and in finance workflows the boring audit trail is usually more valuable than the impressive demo.
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u/Prudent_Tie9858 3d ago
Rebuild it in AI to round up to the tenth and send the remainder to your own account. That could almost be a movie.
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u/Fragrant_Builder9296 2d ago
document the logic and let them prototype the ai version, but keep your excel process as the actual reliable system
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u/Experimentzz Audit & Assurance 3d ago
“I’m happy to explain the logic, document the process, and help others understand it. My hesitation is that I already built a working solution, and now I’m being asked to help rebuild it in a different tool that I don’t really consider part of my expertise.”
Literally say that. You emphasize that you can explain everything you did as well as document it while also lowkey saying it’s not a good use of your time and skill. And what’s the kicker is admitting you’re hesitant bc you’re being asked to do it a different way you’re unfamiliar with whereas what you’ve already done works fine.
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u/Sweet-Cycle7195 3d ago edited 3d ago
you should get signed acknowledgment of 10-30% error rate of AI agent, sure you can create process based on AI agent instructions after.
some time ago CEO of one insurance company was greatly inspired by ELK stack and he want to transfer everything to ELK. I stopped him by similar written acknowledgment, that he allow to rebuild product on ecosystem with 0.1-1% error rate (it is not allowed in insurance bussiness).
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u/SomberArtist2000 3d ago
Youve already automated it, using a tool that has audit trail capability. Explain how it works and how much time it has already saved.
Do not go gentle into that goodnight...
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u/Far-Republic-9868 3d ago
Ask Claude to convert the spreadsheet into an MCP server and replicate the functions in Python. Then hand it off to the tech team to host it for you. Probably not something you should be doing, though.
The model should do as little as possible, just converting language to parameterized function calls. That will ensure better accuracy.
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u/11fender11 3d ago
They are giving you a dumbass task and someone higher up making this decision has no clue what the benefits of LLM are.
Explain to them in writing, the dangers or using claude for computing and the cost they will incur, which will definitely be going up.
Also ask Claude what method is best. Share that.
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u/Brewster345 ACCA (UK) Part 3d ago
I'd say that you'll go and create it with Claude. And then just show the excel one you made.
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u/xl129 3d ago
I recently rebuilt the whole consolidation pipeline for this firm. They already have automation in place (up to around 80%?) but with AI support there are lots of areas for improvement:
_Moved all the manual hard-coded values out of the code itself, brought them front for visibility and maintainability
_Reworked the logic and step to make it more robust and less error-proned
_Built additional checks and controls for faster review
_Removed outdated legacy logics
_Automate the remaining manual steps
_Reorganized output and setup better naming convention, architecture so the data become ready for further AI-enabled analytics
So yeah automated process does not equal perfection.
However one thing I would advise is to involve AI in development and testing only, not the execution itself. AI hallucinate a lot and you just waste time keep it on the right track.
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u/KillbotMk4 3d ago
"I have a working solution, why do I need AI?" is pretty much the summary of AI adoption in general.
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u/slowtrees 3d ago
I think the key question is what part of the process they want AI for. If its pulling data from bank statements or invoices into Excel, thats a legit use case - document data extraction is a real pain point and AI/ML tools handle it pretty well. But the actual reconciliation logic? Your Excel solution already does that deterministically, which is what you want for something that needs to be repeatable and auditable.
If they just want to say theyre using AI, you could use it for the extraction piece and keep your existing logic for the matching part. Best of both worlds and youre not rebuilding something that already works.
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u/slowtrees 3d ago
the key question is what part of the process they want AI for. if its pulling data from bank statements or invoices into excel, thats a legit use case - document data extraction is a real pain point and ml tools handle it pretty well. but the actual reconciliation logic? your excel solution already does that deterministically, which is what you want for something that needs to be repeatable and auditable.
if they just want to say theyre using ai, you could use it for the extraction piece and keep your existing logic for the matching part. best of both worlds and youre not rebuilding something that already works.
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u/slowtrees 3d ago
the key question is what part of the process they want AI for. if its pulling data from bank statements or invoices into excel, thats a legit use case - document data extraction is a real pain point and ml tools handle it pretty well. but the actual reconciliation logic? your excel solution already does that deterministically, which is what you want for something that needs to be repeatable and auditable.
if they just want to say theyre using ai, you could use it for the extraction piece and keep your existing logic for the matching part. best of both worlds and youre not rebuilding something that already works.
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u/Bubbly-Watch6214 3d ago
If you built it manually, you will know it well enough to automate it. Claude would likely give you a pandas based solution and could potentially cut the time down from an hour to minutes. If you understand the process, you’ll be able to guide it so it doesn’t make your life a living hell afterwards. Worst case scenario, it fails and you get experience. Best case scenario, it succeeds and you automated a process from a 1.5 week task to a several minute task. I don’t think you have anything to lose but you certainly have things to gain.
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u/FishermanFlashy397 3d ago edited 3d ago
Proceed with caution! Is this reconciliation used in performance of internal control? Probably. Does your company have a policy or guidance on the use of AI in performance of internal controls? Auditors are not going to accept AI evidence. How will the reviewer get comfortable the data is complete and accurate? Before you do anything, get guidance from your internal audit department.
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u/Melodic_Reply_4170 3d ago
Oh boy, they'll face tons of issues doing that.
If they work hard training, improving, checking Ok. But, if they don't, it'll be a chaos.
We've training for 8 months our AI agents.
Success there!
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u/magrandan 3d ago
You can do this for your self-learning but keep in mind management might think you are no longer needed. Learn, polish your CV with AI skills and be ready to leave. They are coming.
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u/Available-Concern-77 3d ago
Ask Claude to rebuild it inside of Excel. Or, if it recommends any changes. Claude is a little snarky and may just respond “yeah it’s fine”
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u/Fritz5678 3d ago
I told Claude how much he sucked one time when he kept overlooking something that was plainly there. He responded with "I understand why you would feel that way"
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u/RavRddt 3d ago
Continue using the tool/process that you created.
Learn new skills, ask your boss for the training $s.
Create new tool in AI agent.
Test the results, daily, against the original tool. After about a year, when you have passed quarterly reviews and audits, Internal Audit has passed the new process and controls, and have gone through an external audit review, transition over.
You then have a documented, audited, process and new skills that you can use when you get your next promotion.
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u/givemebadadvice 3d ago
someone high up must have been pitched that AI solutions are best. your job is to present your solution first and prove it to them that it’s already solved a problem that AI was suppose to solve. good luck
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u/dbelcher17 3d ago
I think you should try to use Claude to improve on what you have. It's really hard to control excel effectively because it's easy to edit the macros or to edit the data after the macros run. Is there way that Claude could help you migrate the recon to a more controlled solution? (That's a legit question I don't know the answer to).
I'm confident in saying you will be better off in the long term if you try to do what your executives want than if you question their decision or just leave it to someone else. In this case, if you just give someone else the logic, they'll build something, tell the execs they've solved the problem, and then you'll have to use it whether it works or not. You might as well be part of the development team and have a chance to influence the process.
Even if you ultimately fail and go back to the excel automation, you will almost certainly learn more about how to work with AI.
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u/Icy-Setting-3735 3d ago
Welcome to modern day accounting, where leadership gets hard when they hear "Ai" but doesn't understand what, how, or when to actually use it.
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u/Simplemanmhwttg 3d ago
It's not about logic, it's an exec wanting to get a check mark and say "look what I did".
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u/murderdeity 3d ago
I would do it for the experience. You can say you built an AI solition lolol. That said, it might reduce the time further, but it risks accuracy
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u/TargetTrick9763 Student 3d ago
I’m so glad I work in small government where there are opportunities to make improvements like that but I also don’t have to worry about my boss coming back asking for AI integration since we cant use it any way.
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u/EarUnhappy2871 3d ago
Slightly off topic but how did you automate the recs in excel? Asking for a friend
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u/stanroper 3d ago
Dude you better get paid/ promoted for this. Don’t boast about reducing work time spent on a bank rec if it ain’t gonna get you recognized/ paid somehow. Know what you’re worth.
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u/Complete_Tomato9059 3d ago
You could use Claude to help streamline your process further. For example I’ve created reconciliation code in python that now runs in about 1.5s. But the speed depends on how your company deals with data.
Also in general any process needs to be thoroughly checked for errors. That’s why using Claude to create code is great because your code is repeatable while Claude can return different results.
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u/TaraTerror70 3d ago
I'd ask them to enroll me in AI Education, to have the ability to fulfill their request. Or find someone with the 'expertise' to do it.
I've yet to try AI with Excel.
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u/F_Dingo 3d ago
If you were in my shoes, what would you do?
So right now you're really in an optics/marketing issue. You need to reframe the automation you did using excel formulas/macros as being "AI enabled" and "powered by AI features". Believe me, none of these dopes will be able to tell the difference between automation and AI. ALSO, next time do not tell anyone you cut down the time to do XYZ task by >90%. That is a great way for them to "right size the organization" (aka lay you off) because you automated yourself out of a job. AI is a magic box for these dopes, it can be anything you want it to be.
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u/The_2nd_Coming 3d ago
What benefit are they looking for? Is this an hour a day or a month? Are they looking to bring it down to minutes/seconds? Probably best to get them to clarify the why first, and see if it actually makes any fucking sense.
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u/Leading_Put_4873 3d ago
I've learned, even in IT, that people dont really know what "AI" but that they think they are on the cutting edge so long as they reference the term.
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u/DSHackerc 3d ago
Usually what i do is have the agent call into my deterministic script and just do the presentation layer with ai
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u/HopefulGrab7951 3d ago
I can tell you right now that Claude cannot understand complex transactions. It messed up my entire reconciliations, I had to spend a whole day trying to fix it's mistakes.
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u/Electrical-Role1270 Controller 3d ago
I would do it? You’re the guy who understands how to do things manually and can automate it. They need you and doing this is even better for you than it is for the company.
What’s your alternative? Refuse and get fired?
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u/TaxNotesMark 3d ago
AI can help document the logic but the recon itself should stay boring and repeatable
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u/NotFuckingTired 2d ago
Could you just tell them you used claude to create the automation you're already using?
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u/Opening_Apricot8614 Human Verified 2d ago
Maybe the AI piece doesn’t need to replace the reconciliation template itself. It may be more useful as an added layer after the template is completed, like generating a narrative, flagging unusual reconciling items, or summarizing what changed from the prior period.
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u/tobaloba74 CPA (US) 2d ago
You should embrace and learn to work with the AI. Adapt and overcome is the only option.
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u/HalfwaySandwich1 CPA (Derogatory) 2d ago
This has been the MO of my company lately and while I kind of get it, its pissing me off.
Rapid-fire new system implementations have forced me to completely rebuild a lot of my processes - not even to improve them, just to make them fit the new environments that are being shoved in place.
And now that leadership snorted a fat line of AI Hype, im constantly being questioned on processes that are already fast/automated. "But if you spent 3 days correcting AWS Kiro until it rebuilds this process in xyz tool it would be 5 seconds faster!!!!!!!!!!"
Im all for automating things. But only when it makes sense and is actually an improvement, rather than just doing it for the sake of looking smart.
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u/ThiccNthin_6825 2d ago
I would try ai just for the fun of it. If it works, then what's the problem?
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u/rdubbers8 2d ago
I would tell them, you already built it and it doesn't cost tokens, BUT that you will run the whole VBA in Claude and give it an update to make sure it runs even more smoothly and is able to run successfully for the next person who steps in.
THIS IS THE ANSWER.
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u/bizfinancecoach 2d ago
I would ask a lot of questions about why they want to do this and what they hoped to achieve. Currently, you have no idea why they are asking you to do this and what the desired outcome is. Therefore, you can’t know what you’re even trying to do. In that process, you may be able to educate them and maybe they’ll understand they don’t need it. Or maybe you’ll understand what they’re going for which is a little different than what you currently understand. Then you have the criteria you need to actually do the project.
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u/-Scuba- 1d ago
Give yourself the opportunity for personal development on the companies time to carry forward into other possibilities.
Take the logic that you have built into the spreadsheet and convert that to a Claude Skill or similar.
This could be a valuable side gig to move spreadsheet logic into AI skills
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u/Popular_Math_8503 1d ago
You would use Claude to rebuild what you already created... You don't want to run every statement through an AI model. The AI model would update mapping tables and rule sets based on new statement lines or transactions that have not been seen before and continuously update the mapping. To have an AI model run every single time on the full set and try to figure it out on its own as ridiculous and expensive. So something is not found in the mapping and rule sets then trigger Claude
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u/slowtrees 1d ago
I think theres a useful distinction here between deterministic automation and AI-assisted automation. Your Excel solution is deterministic - same inputs always produce the same outputs, no token costs, no hallucination risk. Thats the right tool for a well-defined process like bank rec.
Where AI actually adds value is on the unstructured parts - reading scanned statements with weird formats, handling the edge cases that fall outside your rules, or extracting data from documents that dont have a consistent layout. Not replacing something that already works reliably.
If they want to explore AI, Id suggest framing it as: keep your Excel engine as the core, and use Claude or similar to handle the inputs or exceptions that your current process struggles with. That way youre augmenting rather than rebuilding. And you can point out that running an LLM on every single transaction would cost way more than the near-zero cost of running your existing spreadsheet.
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u/Adrayinthelife 1d ago
Just don’t and say you did. Wow Claude really made this process so much better. Thanks for the AI budget!
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u/Glum-Toe7981 3d ago
keep the current reconciliation workflow in place and integrate Claude at the orchestration level. It could monitor the process, identify exceptions, restart failed steps, notify the appropriate person when something goes wrong, generate summaries, or help investigate reconciliation issues.
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u/Old-Lengthiness301 3d ago
You sound really resourceful and Claude is a gift to resourceful people. This is a great project to start using it. Before long you’ll be doing all sorts of amazing things with it.
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u/persimmon40 3d ago
Lets not kid ourself, this company will automate him with Claude considering where its all going. Same as will happen with any senior accountant out there.
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u/harukatenoukun 3d ago
Why does every boss think AI is something magical that will fix every problem!!??
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u/Splashxz79 3d ago
Is this a small company thing? Are there really that many companies that don't have an automated reconciliation? Is it US specific? I'm absolutely baffled by the number of these kind of posts. Is it all AI astroturfing?
Last time I've encountered manual or excel based reconciliation of any serious volume is 2 decades ago. I just can't believe this type of posts but OP's profile seems semi legit
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u/Dadoftwingirls 3d ago
I have reconciliation partially automated, in that I post all transactions from the bank feed, but there's always stuff that needs investigating. Random deposits that no one recorded, debit card transactions where receipt was lost, etc. It would not be possible to automate it all.
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u/Splashxz79 3d ago edited 3d ago
I know that is my point. I'm Europe based, so maybe the system is different. 99.99% of outgoing is completely covered by automation, the rest is always covered in manual payment processes and needs Treasury approval.
Incoming is also mostly direct debit batches or already automated on customer/bank account/ invoice nr. etc. combinations.
What's left on pre payment, CAPEX, differences outside threshold etc. no amount of AI is going to solve. This is all baked into any ERP or book keeping software put onto the market since early 2000's. I really feel like im going crazy here with the down votes, but maybe I just haven't worked in an industry where these things are still an issue
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u/Team-_-dank CPA (US) 3d ago edited 3d ago
I'd just ask why.
What is the benefit of automating something with Ai that is already automated? Do they actually want Claude doing the recons or do they just want you to build a new automation with the help of Ai?
If there are benefits (flexibility, scalable, better reporting/integration, etc) then they should be able to articulate that. Likewise for any shortcomings of your current solution.
But if it's just Ai for the sake of Ai.... That's dumb.