Expense Management
Expense management is a crucial aspect of any business, and AI is revolutionizing this process in a couple of simple steps. First, AI technology takes on the tedious task of absorbing vendor bills and credit card receipts by digitizing them and extracting and recording relevant information like vendor name, address, due dates, and dollar amounts. Your AI-powered accounting software will then automatically match these documents with the appropriate bank and credit card transactions through a connected feed. While expense management is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of AI in the back office, this process alone eliminates multiple hours of manual data entry work for your back-office team, minimizes errors, reduces the risk of IRS audits, and ensures compliance. Picture AI as your diligent assistant, categorizing expenses according to industry vertical and best practices while providing you with valuable insights and streamlining your financial operations.
Revenue Tracking
Revenue tracking is another area where AI can make a significant difference in your franchise business’ back-office operations. Point of Sale (POS) and franchise revenue systems serve as record keepers for all revenue generated. However, discrepancies between your POS system and your bank statement are all too common of an occurrence, and at times, difficult to pinpoint. Chargebacks, fees, and even front-office theft can cause the numbers recorded in the franchise system and the actual deposits to differ. AI technology can make quick work of reconciling these discrepancies in real-time and ensure accurate financial records by tracking the flow of dollars from collection to deposit and alerting you to potential issues. With AI as your vigilant watchdog, you can stay on top of your finances and address any irregularities right away.
Continuous Reconciliation and Month-End Close
Continuous reconciliation and book closing are time-consuming tasks traditionally handled by bookkeepers at the end of each month. However, with AI bookkeeping software, these chores can be automated and completed daily and in real-time. Artificially intelligent tools like Docyt will analyze transactions and accept them into your accounting system, even while you’re sleeping. Whether you have one-to-many, many-to-one, or many-to-many transactions, Docyt’s sophisticated AI can recognize these complexities and reconcile them in real time. Let’s say you receive ten bills from a vendor and pay them in three separate transactions. AI tools can match those ten invoices to the three payments and seamlessly update your general ledger in a matter of seconds. By keeping your books up to date on an accrual basis, you will save your bookkeeper exponential time at the end of the month and won’t have to wait weeks for your closing financials. AI becomes your reliable virtual bookkeeping assistant, ensuring the accuracy and timeliness of your financial records.
Docyt's automated reconciliation helps you catch expense and revenue mistakes early, identify fraudulent activity, and be on track for clean, up-to-date books.
Accurate Financial Reporting
Financial reporting is a critical aspect of managing a franchise business, and above all, it must be accurate. Leveraging AI technology to manage back-office tasks, not only assures you that your numbers are correct but plays an essential role in auditing your financials. While bookkeepers are meticulous, they’re human and can occasionally overlook discrepancies. AI accounting systems scrutinize your financial data to identify any irregularities that may have been missed. AI flags any discrepancies, duplicates, or missing transactions that are not always easy to catch with manual review. By leveraging AI’s analytical capabilities, you gain valuable insights and rectify potential issues before they become significant problems.
Realizing the AI Opportunity in the Back-Office
Integrating AI into your franchise business’s back-office operations clearly offers numerous benefits, including increased efficiency, reduced manual workload, improved compliance, and accurate financial reporting. As any franchise business owner knows, your time is limited, so being able to automate the back office is critical to business success. Docyt has helped a lot of small businesses adopt AI into their bookkeeping successfully, if you’re interested in learning more, contact Docyt today.
