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Record-to-Report

From bookkeeping entry to financial statements

Source documents read, entries proposed, bank accounts reconciled and month-end prepared on your dedicated instance, from the documents and exports you provide. The operator, the person who keeps your books, approves every entry.

What the accounting cycle covers in a small business

In a small or mid-sized business, the books follow the same rhythm every month: gather the source documents, record the entries, reconcile the bank accounts, clear the differences, close the month, then produce reports for management. At year-end, the file goes to the outside accountant, who prepares the financial statements.

A Belowdecks instance prepares this work from the documents and bank exports you provide. It reads the documents, proposes entries, matches bank lines, asks about differences and keeps the month-end checklist, then each entry waits for approval from the person who keeps your books. Supplier invoices and customer payments tracked by the purchasing (Procure-to-Pay) and order (Order-to-Cash) cycles on the same instance feed the reconciliation. If your accounting software has an API or an MCP server, the agent can read the chart of accounts and the general ledger from it; that connection is set up during installation.

The sections that follow use the fictional example of a food distributor in Laval. Nathalie, an accounting technician, is the operator: she receives the agents’ questions, approves their work and decides what goes into the books. The monthly bank statement, shown just below, is handled without her until the statements are approved, unless a line has no supporting document. In the cycle steps further down, Denis, in billing at a trucking company that delivers for the business, plays the end customer, the outside person who writes to the company.

Example: the monthly bank statement

Who does what when the March bank statement comes in

The statement file starts the accounting agent when it arrives. A function matches the obvious lines, then the agent categorizes the rest from past entries and prepares the draft month-end report. Nathalie approves the statements at the end, and she gets a question earlier only if a line has no supporting document.

  1. Step 1 of 4: The March statement lands in the folder. Who acts: The company’s bank, External system
  2. Step 2 of 4: A function matches 128 of 142 lines. Who acts: Agents
    • Exception. Only if a document is missing: question to Nathalie. Who acts: Nathalie, accounting technician, Operator
  3. Step 3 of 4: The agent categorizes the rest and drafts the report. Who acts: Agents
  4. Step 4 of 4: Nathalie approves the month’s statements. Who acts: Nathalie, accounting technician, Operator
Nathalie and the food distributor are fictional. The matching function runs without calling the AI model, so it has no token cost. The watched folder and the notification rule are set up with you at installation.

  • The company’s bank, External system

    Outside the mark,Sends an event

    The statement file lands in a watched folder on your server, or arrives by email at the statements address. It comes from a scheduled export by your bank if it offers one, or is dropped there by your team. The instance has no access to your bank accounts.

    • March statement, 142 lines
    • Or received by email

  • Nathalie, accounting technician, Operator

    Above the line,Decides

    Nathalie approves the month’s statements before they go to management, a step the company keeps in human hands. If a line has no supporting document, the agent asks her by email, with answer choices, and she answers from the link.

  • Agents

    Below the line,Works

    The accounting agent reads the statement and hands the obvious lines to the matching function, which uses no model tokens. It then categorizes the other lines from past entries, drafts the report and finishes with a verdict.

    • Accounting agent
    • Matching function

  • Belowdecks team

    Behind the scenes,Sets up and monitors

    We set up the watched folder, the matching function, the collections and the notification rule with you, then monitor the instance. We never make decisions on your company’s behalf.

    • Sets up the watched folder
    • Sets up the function with you
    • Monitors

Demo

The March bank statement, step by step, in the usual case and when a document is missing

The first tab follows the usual case: nobody steps in during the run, and Nathalie gets an email at the end. The second follows the same run when a transfer has no supporting document: the agent asks Nathalie, who answers from the email. Each step’s button moves the example on to the next one.

Who acts in this example

  • End customer Outside the mark: writes in and confirms their own request
  • Operator Above the line: decides
  • Agents Below the line: works
  • Belowdecks team Behind the scenes: sets up and monitors

The March statement arrives, and the function and the agent handle it on their own

A food distributor in Laval. The statement file starts the accounting agent on the morning of April 1. Nathalie, the operator, gets the closing email, then approves the month’s statements.

Belowdecks · Usual case

Example

Below the line

Agents Agents Now

  1. April 1, 6:10 a.m. The March bank statement file lands in the watched folder and starts the accounting agent

Step 1 of 6 April 1, 6:10 a.m. Belowdecks instance

People and company are fictional. The emails to Nathalie come from the notification rule and the agent’s questions. In this example, no email goes to a customer or supplier, and entries stay “proposed” until Nathalie approves them.

Eight steps

From the month’s documents to approved statements, step by step

For each step: what starts it, who acts (Denis, one of the agents, Nathalie or a function) and what gets recorded. When Nathalie steps in, she decides or answers, and the agent waits for her answer.

Legend

End customer
Someone outside the company: customer, supplier or candidate
Operator
A person on your team confirms, answers or decides
Agent
An AI agent on your instance does the work
Function
Fixed code, no model cost

  1. Step 1 of 8: Denis sends his invoice

    Trigger: Email received at the documents address

    Who acts: End customer

    Denis sends the trucking company’s invoice to the address set aside for source documents, where the sales reps’ receipts also arrive. The files are saved on your server. The accounting agent reads each document, notes the date, supplier, amount and taxes, and flags a likely duplicate.

    Recorded or delivered: Record added to the Documents received collection

  2. Step 2 of 8: Proposed entry

    Trigger: As each document is read

    Who acts: Agent

    From the document and your chart of accounts, the accounting agent proposes the entry: accounts, amounts, taxes and a reference to the document. It follows the classification rules written with Nathalie, for example which account to use for freight. The entry stays “proposed” until it is approved.

    Recorded or delivered: Line added to the Proposed entries collection

  3. Step 3 of 8: Matching the obvious lines

    Trigger: Statement file received

    Who acts: Function

    The bank statement file lands in a watched folder on your server or arrives by email at the statements address, and its arrival starts the accounting agent; the frequency is chosen during setup. A function matches the lines that correspond to a document or an entry by amount and date, with no call to the AI model and therefore no token cost.

    Recorded or delivered: Lines matched in the Reconciliations collection

  4. Step 4 of 8: Looking into differences

    Trigger: Unmatched lines

    Who acts: Agent

    The accounting agent examines the lines the function could not match. It looks for the matching document, including among the supplier invoices and customer payments tracked by the instance’s other cycles. For bank fees and recurring withdrawals, it proposes the account already used in past entries.

    Recorded or delivered: Difference matched, categorized or documented

  5. Step 5 of 8: Nathalie explains what the agent can’t find

    Trigger: Agent question

    Who acts: Operator

    For an outgoing transfer to the trucking company on March 14 with no invoice, the agent asks Nathalie with three choices: a deposit with the invoice to follow, payment of an invoice she attaches, or another explanation. Nathalie answers from the email or in the instance that it was a deposit, whose invoice Denis will send, and the agent picks up where it left off.

    Recorded or delivered: Answer noted on the reconciliation

  6. Step 6 of 8: Nathalie approves the entries

    Trigger: Team space

    Who acts: Operator

    Nathalie reviews the proposed entries in the team space, corrects them or rejects them. She then enters the approved entries in your accounting software, or the agent sends them through the software’s API if that connection exists; when requested in a conversation, that transfer goes through a confirmation card that Nathalie approves.

    Recorded or delivered: Approved entries

  7. Step 7 of 8: Month-end checklist and draft report

    Trigger: Month’s statement reconciled

    Who acts: Agent

    Once the month’s statement is reconciled, the accounting agent works through the closing checklist set up with Nathalie: bank accounts reconciled, missing documents, recurring entries to prepare (depreciation, prepaid expenses), questions still open. It then prepares the draft income statement and balance sheet, with significant changes from the previous month.

    Recorded or delivered: Draft in the Month-end close collection

  8. Step 8 of 8: Nathalie approves the month’s statements

    Trigger: Notification email

    Who acts: Operator

    A notification rule tells Nathalie the draft is ready. She reviews the entries still proposed, clears the open items on the checklist and approves the statements before passing them on to management, a step the company chose to keep in human hands.

    Recorded or delivered: Month’s statements approved

Fictional example: March close at a food distributor in Laval

A food distributor with 25 employees keeps its books in house with Nathalie, its accounting technician, and an outside firm prepares its annual financial statements.

During the month, the sales reps’ receipts and the invoices Denis sends for the trucking company arrive at the documents address. On April 1, the March statement file lands in the watched folder: the function matches 128 of 142 lines and the agent proposes an account for 13 others. For the March 14 transfer to the trucking company, which has no invoice, Nathalie answers from the email that it was a deposit. The agent then works through the month-end checklist, which shows a missing fuel receipt, and prepares the March draft report. Nathalie attaches the receipt, then approves the statements before sending them to management. When Denis’s invoice arrives, the agent matches it to the deposit.

At year-end, the agent prepares the twelve-month file for the firm: documents, reconciliations and answers to questions.

What gets recorded

The accounting collections and what the operator sees

Every line keeps its origin: the agent and the run that wrote it, or the channel it came in through (a conversation, the API or a manual entry).

Documents received

One record per document: date, supplier, amount, taxes and a link to the file stored on your server, with a warning when it looks like a duplicate.

Proposed entries

Accounts, amounts, taxes and the supporting document, with a status: proposed, approved or rejected. The operator reviews them in the team space.

Reconciliations

Each bank line with the entry it matches, or the difference still open and the question asked about it.

Month-end close

The items on the month-end checklist, with their status and owner, and the draft monthly report waiting for the operator’s approval.

Questions inbox

The agents’ questions about differences, with their answer choices. The operator answers from the team space or from the link in the email.

Verdicts and monthly report

Every run leaves a log of its steps, and the agent closes it with a verdict: Delivered, Partial or Blocked. On the 1st of each month, an email counts the runs, the verdicts and the questions handled.

Who decides what in this cycle

Every entry the agent prepares waits for approval by the person who keeps your books, Nathalie in the example. Your accounting software remains the company’s official record.

The agent gives no tax or accounting advice. It neither prepares nor files any return (GST, QST, source deductions, income tax), and the annual financial statements remain the work of your outside accountant.

Denis and the other suppliers write by email as usual, and no agent replies to them in this cycle. The instance works from the documents and exports you provide, with no connection to your bank accounts. The text of the documents the agent reads is sent to the AI model provider to be processed, through your company’s own account.

Questions about the accounting cycle

Does Belowdecks replace our accounting software?

Your accounting software remains the company’s official record, and the instance prepares the work upstream: it reads documents, proposes entries and reconciles statements. If the software has an API or an MCP server, the agent can read the chart of accounts and the general ledger from it, and send approved entries to it, a step set up to wait for a confirmation. That connection is set up during installation.

Without an API, your team enters the approved entries, or imports them from a file the agent prepares if your software accepts imports.

How does the instance get our bank statements?

From the exports you provide, as often as you choose: a CSV file dropped in a watched folder on your server, sent to the statements address or attached in a team space conversation. The file can come from a scheduled export by your bank, if it offers one, or from someone on your team. The instance doesn’t connect to your bank accounts and is given no access to your bank.

What happens when a transaction doesn’t match any document?

The agent asks the operator a question, with answer choices and a field for details. The operator gets an email and answers from the link or from the team space, then the agent resumes the reconciliation where it left off. As long as a question is open, the month-end checklist shows it.

How long does it take to set up this cycle?

It depends on how many bank accounts you have, the volume of documents and whether your accounting software has an API. The diagnostic answers that question for your company, then the Belowdecks team sets the cycle up with you and monitors the instance. The cycle can start with a single step, such as reconciling one bank account, before growing to entries and month-end.

Start with one step of your accounting cycle

The diagnostic starts from your tools and volumes and suggests which step to begin with.

Request a diagnosticSee the five cycles