The problem
Monthly bookkeeping clients send receipts in a shoebox, a phone camera roll or a stack of PDFs, and a staff accountant keys them in and matches them to the bank feed. If that takes 3 hours a month for each of 6 clients, it's 18 hours a month of data entry.
What the AI does
Dext is bookkeeping software that captures receipts, bills and statements from its mobile app, email or WhatsApp. It reads the supplier, date, amount and tax lines, categorizes each item by rules you set and publishes it to QuickBooks Online or Xero. The client snaps each receipt when it happens, and a staff accountant reviews what Dext read before anything is published. Its optional AI Assist add-on, listed at $10.50£7.89€9.39A$15.16C$14.84 a month until January 31, 2027, suggests automations from your past decisions, and you approve them before they take effect.
A worked example
An illustrative example built from typical figures, not a named business.
A four-person CPA firm in Columbus, Ohio, keeps the books in QuickBooks Online for 6 small-business clients, including two contractors and a restaurant, each with 100 to 200 receipts and bills a month. Each client gets a Dext business subscription, which the firm includes in its monthly fee.
Before
About 3 hours a month per client keying and matching receipts: 18 hours a month
After
About 1 hour per client reviewing and publishing what Dext read: 6 hours a month
What it's worth
About $480£361€429A$693C$678 a month saved, against $151£114€135A$218C$213 for six Dext subscriptions. That's 12 hours (18 less 6) at an assumed $40£30€36A$58C$57 for a staff accountant hour. Each business plan is $25.21£18.95€22.56A$36.39C$35.64 a month billed annually for 250 documents and 5 users, so six cost about $151£114€135A$218C$213 a month; monthly billing costs more.
How to set it up
- Start a free trial with one bookkeeping client and connect it to that client's QuickBooks Online file.
- Give the client the Dext mobile app and the email address for forwarding bills, and agree a habit: photograph every receipt the day it happens.
- Set rules for regular suppliers so their items get the category you use, and review every item before publishing for the first two months.
- Add Dext to the firm's written information security plan (IRS Publication 5708) as a service provider that holds client financial records.
- Roll it out to the other clients and price the subscription into each monthly bookkeeping fee.
What goes wrong
- The business plan is priced per business, and 250 documents a month is the default allowance. A busy restaurant may need a larger, dearer allowance.
- Dext also sells per-client plans for firms with a 10-client minimum, but the US page doesn't show their price. Ask Dext before you choose.
- A faded receipt can be misread. Sales tax amounts in particular need checking against the client's state rules; Dext reads them, it doesn't decide the treatment.
- Clients stop photographing receipts after a few weeks. Check each client's upload count at month end and follow up early.