Why Your Accounting Software Should Catch Mistakes Before You Do

"We co-developed this AI accuracy review with Puzzle, demonstrating our commitment to delivering the highest bar of accuracy for our clients. — Matt Tait, CEO, Decimal

Here's a scenario every bookkeeper knows too well: You're closing the books for March and notice something odd. IT expenses are scattered across three different categories—some in Software COGS, others in Operating Expenses, and a few in R&D. Same vendor, same types of transactions, but completely inconsistent categorization.

Now multiply this across dozens of vendors, hundreds of transactions, and multiple clients. What should take hours turns into days of detective work, hunting down inconsistencies that could have been caught months ago.

This is the problem with legacy accounting systems: they weren't built to guarantee accuracy, only to delegate it.

The Real Cost of Inconsistent Categorization

When transaction categorization is inconsistent, the problems compound quickly:

• 1099 prep becomes a nightmare when the same vendor appears under multiple names or categories
• Spend analysis is unreliable when vendor data is fragmented across different buckets
• Month-end close takes longer because you're chasing down categorization errors instead of focusing on insights
• Client trust erodes when financial reports contain obvious inconsistencies
• Fines, fees or worse…

The current solution? Manual review, spot-checking, and hoping your memory (or notes) catch everything. It's not scalable, and it's not reliable.

Introducing Accuracy Review: AI That Actually Helps Accountants

Puzzle's new Accuracy Review flips this model entirely, working at two levels to catch problems before they become costly errors.

Real-Time Transaction Accuracy Review

Our automated consistency engine continuously reviews 100% of your transactions and flags inconsistencies as they happen:

Vendor/Category Consistency Check: Flags when the same vendor appears across multiple expense categories. Consider when a vendor is applied to 4 different categories.

Description/Vendor Consistency Check: Identifies when identical transaction descriptions are assigned to different vendors (like "Accounting Fees" being tied to both "Burkland" and "Burkland Associates")

AI Statement Accuracy Review (Alpha)

At month-end, you can run a comprehensive AI review of your entire financial statement. Puzzle AI analyzes your books across all major accounting areas and provides specific, actionable recommendations.

The AI catches a wide range of potential issues, for example:

• Accounts Receivable irregularities: Like negative A/R balances that might indicate over-applied payments or invoice deletions
• Expense Classification problems: Such as credits in expense accounts that could be refunds or misclassifications
• Bank Reconciliation discrepancies: Including cash balance inconsistencies that suggest missing transactions
• Data Integrity gaps: Like disconnected data sources that could leave activity incomplete
• Equity Roll-Forward errors: Including retained earnings calculations that don't match prior periods
• And many other accounting accuracy concerns across your financial statements

Each flagged issue comes with a confidence level and specific next steps. Best of all, you can click directly on any concern to jump to the source data for immediate review—no more hunting through spreadsheets or multiple screens to understand what needs attention.

The result? Instead of hunting for inconsistencies during month-end crunch time, you get clean transaction data year-round, plus a comprehensive month-end checklist that ensures nothing falls through the cracks.

Built for Real Workflows, Not Tech Demos

We didn't build this feature in isolation. We co-developed it with leading accounting firms like Decimal, who manage hundreds of client accounts and know exactly where consistency breaks down.

The difference shows in the details:

• Bulk actions: Fix multiple transactions at once instead of editing them one by one
• Context-aware flagging: The AI understands that some vendors legitimately span multiple categories (like Amazon or Uber) and flags genuine inconsistencies, not false positives
• Client-specific logic: Bookkeepers can maintain different categorization standards for different clients while keeping each client's books internally consistent
• Direct navigation: Click on any flagged issue to go straight to the source for review and resolution

Time savings are immediate. What used to take hours of manual review now happens automatically, with results you can action in minutes.

Our Partnership Commitment

Unlike other players in the market, Puzzle doesn't offer accounting services because we partner with firms, not compete against them. When firms like Decimal trust us with hundreds of their client accounts, that partnership drives product development that actually solves real problems.

We're building tools that help accountants deliver higher-value work to their clients, not trying to replace them.

Get Started Today

Transaction Accuracy Review is available now to all customers on our Accounting plus Advanced Automation plan and above.

AI Statement Accuracy Review is currently in alpha. You can access it through Puzzle AI at month-end to run comprehensive accuracy analysis across your financial statements.

The goal isn't to eliminate human judgment—it's to give you the tools to apply that judgment more effectively and quickly. Your expertise in understanding client needs and business context remains irreplaceable. But now you can spend more time on that high-value work and less time on hunting down inconsistencies and potential errors.

Because accurate books shouldn't depend on perfect memory. They should depend on systems that actually help you get there.

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Ready to see how Accuracy Review works with your data? Log into Puzzle and check out the new Accuracy Review drawer in your Transaction page.

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