The agent prepares the journal and its support; an accountant posts it. For each entry the agent calculates the amounts, attaches the source documents, checks the entry balances and fits the period, and flags anything unusual. The accountant reviews, edits if needed, and posts under their own name. The agent has no posting rights in the ledger, so the separation is enforced, not promised.
What is a journal entry, and who owns the process?
A journal entry records a transaction or adjustment in the general ledger with equal debits and credits. Most entries flow from sub-ledgers automatically. Manual journals are the rest: accruals, prepayment releases, depreciation where the asset register does not post, reclassifications, corrections, intercompany recharges and currency revaluations. They are a large share of close work, and auditors pay particular attention to them, because manual journals are how errors and deliberate misstatements most easily enter the books.
The financial controller owns the journal policy: who may prepare, who may post, which accounts need extra approval, and the close timetable. Accountants own their areas' journals. The argument for drafting before posting is made in finance agents should draft journals before they post them. The wider finance position is in AI agents for finance: books you can audit.
How does the agent draft, step by step?
- Agent, depth 1: identifies journals due. From the close checklist: recurring entries, accruals for goods received but not invoiced, prepayments to release, known reclassifications. Evidence: the checklist item behind each draft.
- Agent, depth 1: gathers the source. Receipts without invoices, contract terms, the prepayment schedule, the previous period's entry. Each source carries its provenance; ledger and sub-ledger data are sealed. Evidence: the sources attached.
- Agent, depth 2: calculates. Shows the arithmetic, not just the result. Evidence: the calculation sheet.
- Agent, depth 2: builds the draft. Accounts, cost centres, amounts, period, narrative, and whether it should reverse next period. Evidence: the draft.
- Agent, depth 1: runs pre-posting checks. Balances; period open; accounts active; no posting to restricted accounts without the extra approval; amount compared with last period and outside a set range flagged. Evidence: check results.
- Agent, depth 2: assembles the support pack in your journal entry support template. Evidence: the pack.
- Person, accountant: reviews and posts. Edits are made in the draft and kept, so the difference between the agent's version and the posted one is visible. Evidence: the posted entry, linked to the draft, under the accountant's name.
- Person, second approver: approves restricted accounts. Revenue, cash, equity, intercompany balances above a threshold, as the controller's policy sets. Evidence: the second approval.
| Step | The agent does | Depth | Stays with a person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identify | Lists journals due from the checklist | 1 | Adding non-routine journals |
| Gather | Collects source documents | 1 | Nothing |
| Calculate | Shows the arithmetic | 2 | Nothing |
| Draft | Builds the entry | 2 | Nothing |
| Check | Balances, period, accounts, ranges | 1 | Setting ranges |
| Support pack | Assembles evidence | 2 | Nothing |
| Post | Nothing | None | Accountant |
| Restricted accounts | Nothing | None | Second approver |
What stays with a person, and why?
Posting. Once an entry is posted, it shapes every report built on the ledger until someone notices and corrects it. A reviewer looking at a well-supported draft is fast and effective. A reviewer looking for a wrong entry among hundreds already posted is slow and often too late. Whether an agent could post at all, and under what bounds, is discussed in can an AI agent post journal entries.
Judgement entries also stay with people from the start. Provisions, impairments, estimates of uncertain liabilities: the agent can gather the data, but the number reflects a view the controller must hold and defend.
Reversals of posted journals follow the same rule. The agent can draft the reversal for an accrual due to unwind; reversing an entry a person posted is that person's or the controller's decision. See can an AI agent reverse a journal entry.
Which controls matter, and what evidence do they leave?
No posting rights. The agent's ledger role cannot post. Evidence: the role definition, and refused verdicts on any attempt.
Preparer and poster recorded separately. Evidence: the agent as preparer on the draft, the accountant as poster on the entry.
Edits kept. Evidence: the draft and posted versions side by side.
Range checks. An entry far from last period's equivalent is flagged before review. Evidence: the flag and the reviewer's note.
Restricted accounts need a second approval. Evidence: the second approver's name.
What should you measure?
- Drafts posted unedited, edited, or rejected, by journal type.
- Post-close corrections to journals the agent drafted, compared with those prepared by hand.
- Time from close start to all routine journals posted.
- Range flags and how many led to a change.
- Audit queries on manual journals.
Where does it usually go wrong?
Review becomes a click. Accountants post drafts without opening the support. Sample posted journals and check that reviewers looked; the edit rate is a rough signal.
Narratives are vague. "Month-end adjustment" tells an auditor nothing. Require a narrative that says what, why and where the support is.
The period is wrong. A draft prepared on the first day of a new month lands in the new period. The period check catches closed periods; it cannot catch a wrong but open one, so the reviewer must confirm it.
Recurring entries keep running after the reason ends. A prepayment release continues after the contract was cancelled. Link each recurring journal to its source and stop when the source ends.
Where Pryme fits
In Pryme, drafting a journal and posting one are separate capabilities, and a finance agent is usually certified for the first only. Each draft is filed with its sources and their provenance class, and the posted entry links back to it, so preparer and poster are always distinct.
Questions people ask
Can the agent prepare journals for several entities?
Yes, entity by entity, with each set reviewed by the entity's accountant. Intercompany journals are drafted in pairs, with both sides posted together.
Should the agent see the whole ledger?
It needs read access to the accounts it drafts for and the sources behind them. Wider read access is a separate grant to justify.
What if the reviewer disagrees with the calculation?
They correct the draft and note why. The correction becomes a test case when the agent is next certified.