What AI can take over today
The work around accounting software often takes more time than the accounting itself. Someone opens an email, downloads a PDF, reads the supplier name, the amount and the VAT, looks up the right account and cost centre, and types everything in. AI is good at exactly this kind of reading and sorting. Typical tasks:
- Supplier invoices: read supplier, invoice number, date, amounts, VAT rates, due date and QR-bill payment details, then prepare a creditor entry.
- Receipts and expenses: photos of restaurant, fuel or parking receipts turned into expense lines with category and VAT.
- Delivery notes and order confirmations: compared with the original order, with differences in quantity or price flagged.
- Customer emails: requests such as address changes, invoice copies or payment questions recognised and an answer prepared.
- Payment reminders: a polite reminder drafted in the customer's language, based on the open item.
- Account suggestions: account, cost centre and VAT code proposed based on how similar documents were booked before.
How a flow looks in practice
Take a supplier invoice that arrives as a PDF in a shared mailbox. A typical automated flow has six steps. None of them requires your suppliers to change how they send documents.
- The invoice arrives by email, or someone scans or photographs it.
- The AI reads the document in German, French, Italian or English and extracts the fields you need.
- It checks the data: does the supplier exist, do the lines and VAT add up to the total, is the IBAN or QR reference the one you know, could this be a duplicate?
- It proposes an account, cost centre and VAT code, based on your chart of accounts and earlier bookings.
- A person sees the original document next to the prepared entry and approves, corrects or rejects it.
- Only after approval is the entry transferred to Bexio or Abacus through the software's interface, with the PDF attached.
Why the approval step matters
AI reads documents well, but not perfectly. A blurry scan, an unusual layout or a credit note that looks like an invoice can lead to a wrong value. The approval step catches these cases before they reach your books. It also keeps responsibility where it belongs: with your accounting team or your fiduciary.
In practice, approving takes seconds instead of minutes, because the person checks instead of typing. Over time you can decide that some documents, for example the monthly invoice from the same telecom provider with the same amount, only need a quick glance. Releasing payments should stay a separate, deliberate step.
Receipts and expenses
Expense receipts are small but numerous. Employees photograph them with their phone or forward them by email. The AI reads the amount, date, merchant and VAT, suggests a category such as travel, meals or vehicle, and groups the receipts by person and month. The finance team reviews the list and transfers it in one go. Receipts that cannot be read clearly are marked, so someone can ask for a better photo while the trip is still fresh in memory.
Emails around accounting
A good share of the emails in a finance mailbox are routine. The AI sorts them and prepares the next step:
- Invoices and receipts are recognised and sent into the document flow described above.
- Requests for an invoice copy get a draft reply with the right PDF attached.
- Payment questions get a draft that states the open amount and due date from your system.
- Anything unusual, such as a dispute or a complaint, goes to the right person without a draft.
What stays manual
Automation takes over the typing, not the decisions. These tasks stay with your people:
- Approving bookings and releasing payments.
- Year-end closing, accruals and anything that needs judgement about the period.
- Disputes with suppliers or customers.
- Checking new or changed bank details by phone, since fake bank details are a common fraud pattern.
- VAT returns and everything your fiduciary signs off.
Bexio and Abacus: what is different
Both systems can be connected to an AI flow, but the setup differs. The right approach depends on your licences, your modules and who runs the system.
| Bexio | Abacus | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical users | Small businesses, often keeping the books themselves | Growing SMEs and fiduciaries, often with a partner who configures the system |
| Connection | Cloud software with an interface for external tools | Interfaces depend on version, modules and hosting, usually set up with your Abacus partner |
| Good first use case | Supplier invoices and receipts | Supplier invoices with cost centres and approval rules |
| Who to involve | Whoever keeps the books, possibly your fiduciary | Finance team, Abacus partner and IT |
How to start
- Pick one document type with volume, usually supplier invoices. Estimate how many arrive per month and how long each takes.
- Collect 30 to 50 real examples, including difficult ones such as scans, credit notes and invoices in other languages.
- Agree on fields, checks and approval rules: who approves what, and above which amount a second person looks.
- Run a pilot on real data for a few weeks, with the approval step from day one, and measure time saved and corrections needed.
- Then connect the flow to Bexio or Abacus for good and add the next document type or the email inbox.
With Linxa, this usually starts with a free 30-minute consultation by video call, with no commitment. If a pilot makes sense, our Pilot package from CHF 4,900 (excl. VAT) covers one use case on real data in about four weeks. Hosting in Switzerland or the EU is available on request, and we do not train models on your documents.