Automate your bookkeeping process on Spendesk!
⚠️ AutoCat & AutoCatML are available on some billing plans only, please contact your CS manager or our support to know more.
Introduction
We created our AutoCat features to help you reduce manual data entry to save precious time in your bookkeeping process by autofilling and suggesting the values for the expense account, VAT rate and analytical fields.
There are two types of AutoCat on Spendesk:
AutoCatML (machine learning based predictions)
AutoCat (rule-based pre-filling)
AutoCatML: using machine learning to predict VAT, expense account and analytical fields
Definition of ML
"Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science which focuses on the use of data and algorithms to imitate the way that humans learn, gradually improving its accuracy." (Source, IBM 2020, What is Machine Learning?)
How AutoCatML works
The AutoCatML feature leverages your historical bookkeeping data to predict the values for expense account, VAT account and analytical field entries in 'Bookkeep>Prepare'.
It takes all relevant data points into consideration (e.g. supplier, analytic fields, cost center, amount, description and more...) and tries to identify patterns. The models behind this feature are calculated and maintained on an individual basis for each Spendesk account to have the best possible prediction results!
It only proposes values when the confidence of a correct value is high!
The models behind this feature improve over time! This means that the models learn from mistakes and adapt their predictions to improve their accuracy!
How to benefit from AutoCatML
If you’re on a qualifying plan, you will already have access to AutoCatML.
There’s no setup required - Marvin will be there in the background, learning from your bookkeeping straight away. As soon as you’ve used Bookkeep to prepare and export ~100 payables, you will start to see his predictions on new payables in Bookkeep>Prepare.
You can identify Marvin’s predictions when a field has the Marvin (robot) icon and magic borders.
To clarify the automation for each field we implemented icons that explain the automation:
ML feature for expense accounts, VAT accounts, analytical fields and amounts
OCR recommendations for VAT accounts and amounts
Manual supplier rule and link with expense accounts
Manual expense category rule and link with expense accounts
How to confirm or edit Marvin’s prediction
If you are happy with Marvin’s prediction, you can go ahead and click ‘Save’ or ‘Mark as ready’.
If you don’t agree with Marvin’s prediction, simply select the correct value in the field before you click ‘Save’ or ‘Mark as ready’. Marvin will learn from the value you changed it too, and take it into account for future predictions.
So, the more you do your bookkeeping with Spendesk, the more predictions you are going to receive which will save you significant time during your closing process!
AutoCat: create rules to pre-fill the expense account
AutoCat allows you to create two types of rule to pre-fill the expense account value in Bookkeep>Prepare:
Supplier rule
Expense category rule
Both rules help you save an enormous amount of time whilst also increasing your bookkeeping consistency.
Supplier rule
The supplier rule links a supplier to a specific expense account, so that each time a payable is created with that supplier, the expense account is pre-filled.
You can set up the supplier rule in two ways.
1. In Settings>Accounts payable
Select the supplier for which you want to set up a rule
Click the ‘edit’ icon under the ‘Accounting’ section
Select the expense account you wish to link to
That’s it!
2. Directly in Bookkeep>Prepare
When you select an expense account in Bookkeep>Prepare when the linked supplier does not have a rule setup, you are asked if you want to create a rule to link this expense account to the supplier on the payable
To create the rule, simple click “Create a rule”
You can edit or remove the rule in Settings>Accounts payable at any time.
Expense category rule
The expense category rule links an expense category to a specific expense account, so that each time a payable is created with that expense category, the expense account is pre-filled.
To setup and maintain your expense category rules:
Go to Settings>Analytical fields>Expense categories
You will see the column for “Linked expense account”
Select the expense category for which you want to set up a rule
Choose the expense account you wish to link to and click ‘Save my changes’
That's it!
When you see an expense account pre-fill in Bookkeep>Prepare, you can tell whether it was a pre-filled by a supplier rule or expense category by hovering on the 🔗 icon.
FAQ:
Can I add AutoCat rules in bulk? | Unfortunately not - for now you are only able to set them one by one. |
Can I associate a supplier or expense category to more than one expense account? | No, you are only able to link one expense account to any supplier or expense category. |
Can I link to the same expense account from multiple suppliers and expense categories? | Yes, you can link to the same expense account as many times as you need. |
Is there a limit to the number of AutoCat rules I can create? | No, there’s no limit! |
If I have a payable which meets the rule criteria for a supplier rule and expense category rule, which would get pre-filled? | When a payable meets both a supplier and expense category rule, the supplier rule will take precedence and will be pre-filled in Bookkeep>Prepare |