Example agent design
Bookkeeping and Reconciliation Agent for CPAs
A bookkeeping and reconciliation agent keeps a set of books current between closes. It categorizes bank and card activity under rules the accountant approved and keeps those rules current. It enters vendors, drafts bills from vendor invoices, flags likely owner draws, and reconciles each account on the schedule the client sets. This is a starting design. An AI Blueprint adapts it to your goals and the systems it will connect to.
Anything the rules do not cover waits for a person, by email or on a dashboard. ITECS runs this design on its own books, connected to HaloPSA and QuickBooks Online.
- Owner
- The client accountant or controller, who approves the rules and answers every flagged item
- Reads
- Bank and card feeds and the ledger in the accounting platform, such as QuickBooks Online, Xero, or Sage · Vendor invoices and receipts from the billing system and the mailbox · The approved categorization and owner-draw rules
- Never writes
- Payments, transfers, payroll, closed periods, or the rules themselves. It never moves money, and anything outside the approved rules waits for a person.
- Typical cost
- AI Blueprint $4,500–$7,500, credited toward the build. Typical first build $35,000–$75,000, or start local at $4,500–$9,500. Agent Operations after launch $2,500/mo for one production agent. See the first engagement
The workflow
Day-to-day bookkeeping today and with the agent
Planning comparison only. Scope, timing, and outcomes vary by data, workflow, approvals, adoption, and implementation conditions.
- Categorization
- TodayBank and card transactions categorized by hand, or by bank rules nobody maintains.
- With the agentCategorized under approved rules, with each rule kept current as vendors and patterns change.
- Vendors and bills
- TodayVendors entered and bills keyed from invoices by hand.
- With the agentVendors entered and bills drafted from the invoice, matched to the billing system where one exists.
- Owner draws and personal items
- TodayFound at year end, often by the tax preparer.
- With the agentFlagged as they appear and routed to the owner or accountant to confirm.
- Reconciliation
- TodayBank and card accounts reconciled at month end, in one sitting.
- With the agentReconciled on the client's schedule, with unmatched items listed with their detail.
- Questions
- TodayAsked in a batch at the close.
- With the agentSent by email or shown on a dashboard on the schedule the client sets, each with the transaction behind it.
How it runs
Five steps from bank feed to reconciled books
An illustrative solution design, not a reported client result. The AI Blueprint maps it to the client's chart of accounts, rules, and schedule.
Approve the rules
The chart of accounts, the categorization rules, the owner-draw rule, and the reporting schedule become the rules the accountant approves.
Accountant review point
Read the activity
Reads new bank and card activity in the accounting platform, vendor invoices from the billing system and the mailbox, and the existing bank rules.
Apply the rules
Categorizes the transactions the rules cover, enters new vendors, drafts bills from vendor invoices, and keeps the bank rules current.
Route what the rules do not cover
Likely owner draws, unmatched items, and new patterns go to the accountant by email or on the dashboard, each with its transaction.
Accountant review point
Reconcile and report
Reconciles each account on the client's schedule and sends the summary. The accountant answers the open items and keeps the close.
Accountant review point
Scenario
Illustrative client accounting services scenario
Illustrative planning scenario, not a reported client result or a named public case study.
- Starting point
- A CAS team keeps its clients' books in QuickBooks Online and Xero. Transactions are categorized by hand or by bank rules nobody has touched in a year, bills are keyed from emailed invoices, and an owner's personal purchases surface at year end. Reconciliations happen in one sitting at month end.
- Scoped outcome
- ITECS scopes a bookkeeping agent that applies the firm's approved rules to each client's bank and card activity, enters vendors, drafts bills from the invoices, and keeps the rules current. Items outside the rules, including likely owner draws, reach the client accountant by email on the schedule the firm sets. The accountant answers them and keeps the close.
Systems
The systems it reads
- Accounting platform
- The books, bank and card feeds, bank rules, vendors, and bills in QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage, or any accounting platform with an API, or in an internal accounting system with an API or a database the agent can reach.
- Billing or operations system
- Customer invoices and vendor bills from the system that issues them, such as HaloPSA for a managed service provider.
- Mailbox
- Vendor invoices and receipts in the accounts-payable mailbox in Microsoft 365.
- Approved rules
- The chart of accounts, categorization rules, owner-draw rule, and reporting schedule the accountant approved.
Technologies ITECS evaluates and integrates through supported import, export, or API methods confirmed in discovery; listing a product does not imply a formal partnership or a native connector.
Controls
Read-heavy and write-controlled by design
- Read-heavy
- Reads the systems listed above through access scoped to this workflow.
- Write-controlled
- Writes nothing listed under Never writes in the spec at the top of this page. Anything it drafts waits at the approval points below.
- Approval points
- The accountant approves the rule set. Every item outside it, including a likely owner draw, waits for a person by email or on the dashboard, and a rule changes only when a person approves the change.
- Audit trail
- Each run keeps its inputs, sources, output, and the reviewer's decision.
In this design
- Within the approved rules it categorizes, enters vendors, and drafts bills. Anything outside them, including a likely owner draw, waits for a person, and a rule changes only when a person approves the change.
- It never moves money. Payments, transfers, payroll, and closed periods stay with the named professional.
- Its output supports bookkeeping. It is not a review, a compilation, or an opinion, and an independence review comes before it touches an attest client's books.
- Return and client information is processed and stored in the US only, under no-training terms and written Section 6713 and 7216 confidentiality terms, and the agent is recorded in the firm's written security plan as an overseen service provider.
- Whether a client's consent is needed under Section 7216 stays with the firm's counsel.
- No agent signs, files, or posts anything outside rules a named professional approved. Returns, Form 8879, e-files, engagement letters, and closing entries stay with that professional.
- ITECS does not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice through its agents, and no design promises an outcome. The agent drafts and flags; the firm's CPAs review the work and make every determination.
Deployment fit
Where this design can run
- Hosted AI Agents
- Runs in a governed Linux environment ITECS operates, on frontier models through enterprise API agreements, connected to the accounting platform, such as QuickBooks Online, Xero, or Sage, and the billing system through controlled integrations, with human review and an audit trail.
- Local AI Agents
- A Local variant runs one bookkeeper's rules in their own Claude, Codex, or Copilot workspace, over the books that person already reaches. A scheduled, multi-client bookkeeper with email and a dashboard runs hosted.
Typical first engagement
Start with an AI Blueprint
The AI Blueprint sets the actual build rung and its fixed-fee not-to-exceed. The rows below show the typical path and the catalog range for each step.
- FirstAI BlueprintAgent Discovery & Technical Specification. Credited toward the build.$4,500–$7,500
- Typical first buildIntegrated / Line-of-Business AgentIt is an integrated build because it connects the accounting system, the billing system, and the mailbox, runs on a schedule, and keeps a reviewer workflow and an audit trail.$35,000–$75,000
- Or start localLocal Agent SprintOne workflow · 1–2 data sources$4,500–$9,500
- After launchAgent Operations, one production agent$2,500/mo
Prices from the published AI pricing catalog. Every guided or delivered agent build is archived in the ITECS client vault: workspace configuration, skills, prompt libraries, data-source maps, and usage documentation.
Customize this design
Bring your goals and your systems. The AI Blueprint decides the scope and the systems, not this example, and ends with a fixed-fee not-to-exceed for the build.
FAQ
Bookkeeping & Reconciliation Agent FAQ
Does the agent post transactions on its own?
Within the rules the accountant approved, yes. It categorizes the transactions those rules cover, enters vendors, and drafts bills. Anything the rules do not cover waits for a person, and it never moves money.
How are owner draws handled?
The owner-draw rule is set with the accountant at the start. Purchases that look personal are flagged and routed to the owner or the accountant to confirm, then recorded the way the client's rule says.
How does it ask its questions?
On the schedule the client sets, by email, on a dashboard, or in the firm's workflow tool. Each question carries the transaction behind it. The answer updates the books and, where the accountant approves it, the rule.
Can one bookkeeper start on their own desktop?
Yes. A Local Agent Sprint builds one bookkeeper's rules agent in their own Claude, Codex, or Copilot workspace. A scheduled, multi-client bookkeeper with email and a dashboard runs hosted.
Which accounting systems does it work with?
QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage, and any other accounting platform with an API, plus internal accounting systems that expose an API or a database the agent can reach. The AI Blueprint confirms the access method for the client's system before the build.
Does ITECS use this design itself?
Yes. ITECS runs this design on its own books, connected to HaloPSA and QuickBooks Online, with the same review path. The rules are approved, open items go to a person, and nothing moves money.
Is this tax or accounting advice?
No. ITECS does not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice through its agents. The agent applies rules the firm approved and drafts or flags for review; the firm's CPAs make every determination, and no design promises an outcome.
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