The problem
Before month end you scroll each client's ledger for duplicate bills, suppliers coded three different ways and unreconciled items, because a mistake in the books becomes a wrong VAT return. If you look after 15 clients and the review takes 45 minutes each, that's 675 minutes, about 11 hours a month.
What the AI does
Dext's Data Health and Insights add-on connects to each client's Xero or QuickBooks Online file and runs checks: duplicate transactions and contacts, contacts coded inconsistently, dormant accounts, bank reconciliation and, for UK Xero clients, VAT return checks. It syncs every 48 hours, flags issues for review and gives each client a health score. You fix the problems in the accounting software yourself; it points, you decide.
A worked example
A bookkeeper in Taunton looks after 15 Xero clients and already uses Dext Practice Essentials for receipt capture. They add Data Health and Insights and work through each client's flagged list before month end instead of scrolling the ledger.
Before
45 minutes reviewing each of 15 ledgers: about 11 hours a month
After
About 20 minutes working through each flagged list: 5 hours a month
What it's worth
About $250£188€224A$361C$353 a month in your time, against $100£75€89A$144C$141 for the add-on. That is 25 minutes saved on each of 15 clients, 375 minutes or 6.25 hours, at an assumed $40£30€36A$58C$56 an hour. The add-on is $7£5€6A$10C$9 a client a month (15 x $7£5€6A$10C$9), excluding VAT, on top of Dext Essentials, which this bookkeeper already pays for.
How to set it up
- Check your Dext plan: the add-on needs Practice Essentials or Advanced.
- Connect each client's Xero or QuickBooks Online file to Data Health one by one.
- Start with two clients you know well and compare what it flags with what you would have found.
- Work through each client's flagged list before month end and dismiss false alarms with a note.
- Still reconcile the bank and review the VAT return yourself before anything is filed.
What goes wrong
- If you don't already use Dext Essentials, it costs from $16£12€14A$23C$23 a client a month on top, so 15 clients would be about $339£255€303A$490C$479 a month in total and the saving no longer covers it.
- Data syncs every 48 hours, so anything posted today may not be checked yet. Press sync before your review.
- It flags, it doesn't correct. Dismissing a flag removes it from the health score, so don't dismiss things just to tidy the number.
- VAT return checks are Xero-only and some are UK-only; QuickBooks clients get fewer checks.