READ - When Ai Gets It Wrong, You Pay

Can't Ai do it in like 3 minutes?

Ai has changed how many bookkeeping tasks are handled, and in the right hands, it can be a helpful tool. But a recent conversation between a business owner and an experienced accountant highlighted a growing misunderstanding.

The client believed a large QuickBooks Online invoice import — involving thousands of transactions — should take only minutes because “Ai can do it.”

The accountant did her best to explain her value, but  - she really needed to ask some questions to help the client understand.

Better questions:

-              Do you know how to use Ai to do the task you need done? 

-              Do you know how to check the work to make sure it’s right?

-              Are you willing to learn to use Ai for these tasks yourself, making your own mistakes along the way and learning how to identify and fix those mistakes?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, you still need an experienced professional to tackle this for you.

Ai makes mistakes – and when they do, you pay - Admittedly, Ai can do a lot of things quickly and it’s pretty incredible to watch.  But know this, Ai admittedly makes mistakes! It’s always learning, but when it doesn’t know what to do, it guesses until it does know. Do you want Ai to learn from the mistakes it makes in your business bookkeeping?  When it comes to your business finances, those mistakes can be costly.  And Ai isn’t going to speak to your customers or the IRS on your behalf, and it can’t do anything to make it right for you. 

Example – true story:  Just a couple of weeks ago I was preparing 1099s for a client and one of their vendors had a unique situation.  The vendor was serving my client under one business name, but submitted a W9 under the name of a totally different business, an S Corp. This meant that the vendor would not receive a 1099 from my client. The question was, do we need a W9 from the vendor naming the business my client had been paying? If my client fails to issue a 1099, would they be penalized by the IRS?

After reading the IRS publication and several great articles from respected CPAs I was still unsure, so I asked Chat GPT to scour the internet and share it’s findings. 

Not only was Chat GPT unable to help resolve the question at hand, but it offered some information that was totally false regarding W9/1099 requirements, and following those guidelines could cost a business in the long run.  

(FYI – The client's CPA made a professional executive decision and we followed that advice.)

Even seemingly simple Ai tasks like “rules” for importing and categorizing transactions from the QBO bank feed can create a hot mess if the feature isn’t set up perfectly and no one is watching it to catch and correct mistakes.

The Bottom line is this:  Technology should support your business, not create uncertainty, and Ai is a powerful tool, but it can’t replace professional judgment, responsibility, or peace of mind.  That’s where an experienced bookkeeper still matters.

If you’d like help making sure your bookkeeping is accurate, compliant, and truly working for you, let’s connect.