Artificial intelligence-powered accounting automation technology startup Docyt AI Inc. has announced the debut in beta of what it says is the world’s first AI bookkeeper.

It’s essentially a kind of virtual assistant for accounting teams, designed to streamline back office accounting operations by automating previously manual tasks that are time-consuming. By enabling continuous reconciliation of accounting data, it can accelerate month-end closing procedures from a matter of days to just 45 minutes, the startup claims.

Docyt AI calls its AI bookkeeper “GARY,” which is an abbreviation of “Generative Accounting Retrieval sYstem.” It’s built on top of its flagship software-as-a-service platform for accounting automation. It leverages a combination of generative AI, precision AI and predictive AI models to handle tasks such as expense management, revenue accounting, industry vertical reporting and financial reporting of key performance indicators.

The month-end closing procedure is a standard process that’s widely used by organizations to account for all of the previous month’s financial transactions, and involves reviewing, recording and reconciling hundreds or thousands of accounting records. It has traditionally been one of the most time-consuming tasks for accounting teams, and can take up to two weeks, depending on the size of the organization and the complexity of its business.

According to Docyt AI, GARY automates the month-end close process, compressing the time it takes to achieve all of that reconciliation into a 45-minute window, making the procedure a simple formality for hard-pressed accounting teams.

Besides, GARY can also enhance account management by providing real-time assistance and key insights for human accountants, making it much easier for them to oversee individual accounts and garner insights that can be used to improve revenues. GARY also enables more efficient document retrieval. It can find any document almost instantly and quickly understand and summarize procedures following natural language commands.

Docyt AI co-founder and Chief Executive Sid Saxena said GARY promises to be an exciting breakthrough for almost every growing business, as it will dramatically simplify their accounting operations. “Today, the accounting field is cluttered with point solutions,” he said. “Docyt AI eliminates this with one powerful solution – integrating everything through AI-powered workflows for expense management, revenue accounting, and robust industry vertical reporting KPIs, forming a seamless ecosystem.”

Saxena believes AI-powered assistants like GARY have the potential to “revitalize” the accounting profession in the U.S. He said that while there’s a narrative that AI is coming for people’s jobs, the technology is desperately needed in the accounting sector, which is being eschewed by young people.

He points out that college-level accounting program enrollment is falling with each passing year. He cites data that shows how candidates sitting for the certified public accounting exam are receding at an annual rate of 7% per year, while an estimated 75% of actively practicing accountants are now eligible for retirement. All told, it’s believed that the U.S. workforce is losing around 136,000 accountants per year, he said.

As such, the U.S. is facing an imminent accountant shortage that can only be addressed with technology. By equipping accountants with automation tools like GARY, Docyt AI hopes to breathe new life into the profession.

Docyt AI said GARY is aimed primarily at small and medium-sized enterprises, which is why it has been designed to integrate with the popular QuickBooks accounting software which is believed to be used by more than 80% of such organizations. By integrating with QuickBooks, GARY can be deployed swiftly by millions of companies without needing to migrate to a new ledger system first. It provides an easy way for companies to adopt AI without abandoning their legacy financial workflows, the company said.

GARY is available in closed beta test mode for Docyt AI customers, and is expected to launch in public beta in the second half of the year. Businesses can sign up for the waitlist here.

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