Dext launches AI Assist for accountants, bookkeepers

Dext has launched Dext AI Assist, a new tool for accountants, bookkeepers and finance teams.

Built into Dext's existing bookkeeping platform, the product is designed to learn from users' decisions, edits and preferences. It then suggests ways to automate repetitive, judgment-based tasks in future workflows.

The launch extends Dext's focus beyond document capture and data extraction, where bookkeeping software is already widely automated, into decisions that still require human review. These include transaction categorisation, the use of description fields, and the structure of data for reporting and workflow purposes.

Users retain oversight of every suggestion, with recommendations remaining visible and reviewable before they are applied. Feedback from those decisions is then used to improve how the software handles similar work over time.

Workload pressure

The launch comes as accounting and finance teams face heavier workloads, higher transaction volumes, broader compliance demands and pressure to produce financial information more quickly. Dext pointed to weak productivity growth in the wider UK economy as part of the backdrop to rising interest in tools that reduce administrative work while keeping professional review in place.

Rule-based automation has already reduced some manual processing in bookkeeping, but many firms and finance teams still rely on staff judgment for routine but nuanced tasks. Those decisions often vary between organisations, and even between clients within the same practice, making it harder to standardise through fixed rules alone.

AI Assist is intended to reflect those organisation-specific ways of working, rather than requiring users to reshape processes around rigid templates. Dext says this should help teams apply decisions more consistently across repeated transactions.

"Dext has already helped remove millions of hours of manual data entry from bookkeeping by automating document capture and processing at scale. With AI Assist, we're taking the next step: helping firms and finance teams apply their own judgement and way of working more consistently across every transaction," Sabby Gill, CEO of Dext, said.

"Every organisation, whether a firm or a finance team, has its own approach to categorising transactions, structuring data and managing workflows. AI Assist learns how you work and helps apply those decisions automatically, while keeping you fully in control. This frees up teams to focus on higher-value work like insight, advisory and strategic decision-making," Gill added.

Processing volumes

Dext said its platform processed 31.4 million receipts and invoices globally in January 2026. Using an estimate of three to four minutes to process each document manually, the company said that volume would amount to more than two million hours of administrative work, compared with about 206,000 hours spent by users processing the same documents through Dext.

According to the company, this suggests a reduction in processing time of more than 90%. Dext also said its platform has processed more than 350 million documents, which it presented as evidence of how far automation has already changed day-to-day bookkeeping work.

The new product is intended to build on that base rather than replace professional judgement. Dext said the system recognises patterns in how users handle client-specific issues, classify transactions and apply tax treatments, then uses those patterns to suggest similar decisions in future cases.

Stephen Edginton, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Dext, said, "We designed Dext AI Assist to work alongside users, not replace them. The platform already processes financial data at scale with high accuracy; AI Assist builds on that by learning how each team works and applying those decisions consistently. Human judgment remains central to the process, while AI helps reduce the manual effort that slows teams down."

Beta response

Early beta users reported gains in efficiency and consistency, according to Dext. One example came from Hillier Hopkins, where the software was used to help manage sales transactions that were being uploaded but were not yet ready to publish.

Alex Skipper, Cloud Accounting Director at Hillier Hopkins, said: "The biggest value is in reducing the need to review routine transactions, because the system is applying decisions consistently in the background. That not only saves time but also reduces errors and allows us to focus on the work that really needs attention."

"For example, we had a client where sales were being uploaded but weren't ready to publish. By setting up an agent, those transactions are now consistently ready without manual intervention, which has made a noticeable difference. It changes how you think about scaling bookkeeping: using technology to handle more of the routine work, so the team can focus on adding value," Skipper added.

Dext is part of IRIS Software Group and says it serves more than 700,000 businesses and over 12,000 accounting and bookkeeping firms worldwide.