AI accounting software means packages such as Xero, QuickBooks and Sage with AI working on the data already in the books: Xero’s JAX reconciles bank lines it is confident about, Intuit has announced AI agents for UK QuickBooks, and Sage Copilot gives insights on overdue payments, profitability and tax. Work that never reaches the ledger, such as customer emails about payments or documents sitting in inboxes, stays outside it. Praxen connects that work to your package in a 2–4 week pilot costing £2,900 (£2,030 with the launch offer), excluding VAT.
What the AI in each package does
Availability depends on your plan and changes as features roll out, so check what your own plan includes before you rely on one.
| Software | AI | What it does | Still to come or plan-dependent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xero | JAX and Smart Document Capture | JAX reconciles high-confidence bank transactions on bank accounts you opt in, and its Reconciled page shows what it matched and why. Smart Document Capture reads invoices and receipts into Xero. | Bank statement extraction, auto-created transactions and VAT checks, announced as coming |
| QuickBooks | Intuit AI agents | Agents for accounting, customer management, finance, projects and VAT, announced for UK QuickBooks in November 2025 | Which agents you get depends on your plan |
| Sage Accounting | Sage Copilot | Insights on overdue payments, customer activity, profitability and tax | An agent for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, announced by Sage |
What it saves inside the ledger
- Bank reconciliation. Each high-confidence match JAX makes is one line nobody ticks off by hand. Lines it is unsure about wait for a person.
- Keying in documents. Smart Document Capture reads invoices and receipts into Xero, and your team checks the details it has filled in.
- Spotting overdue payments. Sage Copilot points out overdue payments and customer activity, so you can see whom to chase without running a report.
- VAT. Intuit has announced a VAT agent for UK QuickBooks, and Xero has said VAT checks are coming. Confirm what your plan covers before you change how returns are prepared.
What it leaves outside
The built-in AI works on what is already in the books. These jobs happen before anything gets there, or in systems the package cannot see. If you run an accounting practice, chasing client records is a separate topic, covered in our guide to AI for accounting firms.
- Customer and supplier emails. “Has my payment arrived?” or “Can you resend last month’s statement?” come in by email and phone, and someone looks up the answer in the books and replies.
- Documents that arrive elsewhere. Supplier invoices in a shared mailbox, receipts on staff phones and statements by post have to reach the package before its document reader sees them.
- Figures from other systems. If sales from your online shop, timesheets or CRM deals reach the ledger as exports, someone still tidies and imports them.
- Your own approval rules. Which purchases need a director’s sign-off, or which customers get extra time to pay, are not in the vendor’s AI.
How to get more from the built-in AI
- Switch on what your plan already includes, starting with JAX reconciliation on one bank account if you use Xero.
- Tidy bank rules and merge duplicate supplier and customer contacts first, so each bank line has one obvious match.
- Route invoices and receipts into the package, by upload or by its email-in address where your plan has one, so the document reader sees every one.
- Review what was reconciled each week for the first month. In Xero, the Reconciled page shows what JAX matched and why. Move to a monthly check once the matches hold up.
- Keep a list of the jobs that still take hours outside the ledger, with rough hours for each. It becomes the brief for any automation beyond the package.
Where custom automation fits
Custom automation links the jobs above to your accounting package. Example scenario: a customer emails to ask whether their payment arrived. An assistant reads the email, finds the invoice in Xero, QuickBooks or Sage and drafts a reply with the payment date, and a person checks it and sends it.
The table shows what we charge. The time it saves depends on your volumes, so the pilot measures it on one job before anything wider is built.