Start with one finance workflow, record how it works today, and test automation alongside the existing process. The 30–90-day sequence below is a planning example. Whether you move to live use depends on the evidence: the result ties to its source, the controls hold, and the people responsible approve its use.
Before you build:
Choose one recurring task with a clear starting point and a result you can check.
Use fixed rules for predictable steps and AI for work such as drafting explanations or suggesting exceptions for review.
Compare the pilot with the existing process. Keep the test results and investigate differences.
Name the reviewer and the person who can approve live use before the test begins.
Find the repeatable work in your close
A free, 20-minute Close Teardown for accounting and CAS firm owners. Walk one typical close with Owen and discuss repeated work, what is worth building, and where a build would not help. Ask for a one-page map and receive it within 48 hours, with no purchase required.
What finance automation means
Finance automation uses software, fixed rules, and sometimes AI to carry out steps people currently do by hand: matching transactions, routing invoices, drafting commentary, or flagging items for review. Choose the method for the task.
Connections between systems move approved data between accounting software, banks, payroll, and other sources.
Fixed rules handle predictable checks, such as matching an invoice against an approved order.
Workflow software routes work through preparation, review, and approval.
AI-assisted steps draft explanations or suggest classifications and exceptions. A qualified person checks the result before anyone relies on it.
Keep those jobs distinct. A model that explains an unmatched transaction has not established that the transaction is correct, and a draft explanation is not permission to post an entry.
Choose the first workflow and define success
Pick a task where the source records are available, the work repeats, and someone can judge the result. Record the time spent, the number of items handled, the exceptions, and the corrections before building.
Close and reconciliations. Test proposed matches against the existing reconciliation. Measure correct matches and time spent on exceptions, including false matches.
Accounts payable. Test invoice capture, duplicate checks, and approval routing. Keep payment release with the authorized person.
Accounts receivable. Compare proposed cash applications with approved records and route disputed items for review.
Expense and payroll handoffs. Test coding and transfers against approved source records before a payment instruction or ledger entry is released.
Reporting. Compare draft commentary with the underlying report. Check both the numbers and the explanation.
Success needs a written threshold. For example, name the error rate you will accept, which exceptions always need review, and how much reviewer time the result may consume. A faster draft that takes longer to check has not saved the team time.
A 30–90-day planning example
Use these periods to organize the work. Adjust the schedule to the data, scope, and review requirements. A date on the plan is not permission to release.
Days 1–30: assess and align. List the manual tasks, check the source data, and name the people responsible for preparation, review, and release. If the workflow affects audited reporting, discuss the planned change and evidence requirements with your auditors early. Management remains responsible for the controls.
Days 31–60: design and test. Choose one bounded task. Write down what it may read, what it may change, what it must refuse, and what a reviewer needs to see. Build the comparison and refusal tests before extending the workflow.
Days 61–90: compare and document. Run the pilot alongside the existing process using invented, historical, or authorized test-company data. Keep the results and investigate discrepancies. Extend or stop the pilot if the evidence is insufficient.
After the test: decide. Decide whether to revise, extend, stop, or approve a defined live use. Complete the required permissions, control tests, and release checks before using real client data or posting to a ledger. For approved work, keep measuring results and reviewing exceptions.
Keep the controls and evidence with the work
For this pilot, we recommend a written record of the sources, software or model version, tests, exceptions, and reviewer decisions. These are practical internal-control recommendations; the evidence required for your reporting and audit depends on the work and the applicable framework.
Record the software or model version and changes to the workflow.
Trace each material result to the source records and transformations that produced it.
Assign a qualified reviewer and record who approved each output before anyone relies on it.
Keep tests, exceptions, and decisions in an approved location. Do not copy client data into unapproved logs.
Document who can approve release and what evidence they must review.
The free AI Register helps your firm inventory the providers already touching client work and the evidence you hold about them.
What our published case study shows
Project Falcon describes a system that ran on live client books inside a private equity portfolio. It records what was built, the approval controls, and the limits of that evidence. It describes that engagement; a new pilot needs its own tests and release decision.
Get started with Byram Advisory Group
Start with a free, 20-minute Close Teardown to discuss one typical close. The paid offers provide different kinds of help:
The Sprint is $2,000 once for one firm. You receive tested source code under a perpetual licence, a seed, and a build map. Your own workspace builds from it. Hands-on implementation is not included. Live connections and use on real work require later proof and permission.
The Bootcamp is $5,000 per firm for four live weeks, with The Sprint included. Your team builds and tests one starter workflow on invented or authorized non-production data and leaves with a handover record and a next-build plan. A complete platform and approval for client use remain later work.
The Build is a four-week engagement, scoped and quoted for your firm. Your firm owns the agreed system on payment in full. AI usage, hosting, and optional support are separate costs.
Running it is an optional monthly service, scoped and quoted separately. The accounts stay in your firm's name, and the firm keeps its system if the service ends.
FAQ
What is a finance automation roadmap?
It is a sequenced plan for choosing a workflow, recording the starting point, testing a change, reviewing the evidence, and deciding whether it should be used more widely.
How long should a pilot run?
There is no single appropriate duration. The 30–90-day sequence here is an example for planning one bounded pilot. Data readiness, scope, permissions, and testing determine whether it is ready for live use. Reaching day 90 does not establish that it is ready for production.
What evidence should we keep?
Keep the source records or approved references, the software or model version, test results, exceptions, and named reviewer decisions. Ask the people responsible for your reporting and audit which additional evidence applies to the work.
How much does The Sprint cost?
The Sprint is $2,000 once for one firm, with no seat limits or licence renewal. It provides source code, a seed, and a build map. AI usage, workspace subscriptions, hosting, and optional services cost extra. The full $2,000 credits against a Bootcamp seat without expiry. See the terms of sale for the purchase terms.