In a bold step forward for finance technology, Dext launched Dext AI Assist, a smart AI agent designed to help accountants, bookkeepers, and finance teams streamline everyday bookkeeping decisions—without losing control.

Integrated directly into the Dext platform, AI Assist observes users’ decisions, preferences, and edits, then provides tailored suggestions to automate repetitive tasks across future workflows.

The goal is clear: reduce the time spent on routine judgement calls, freeing professionals to focus on delivering insight and strategic value.

Dext’s automation platform has already processed over 350 million documents with high accuracy, eliminating millions of hours of manual data entry.

AI Assist represents the company’s next frontier, tackling the subtler, organisation-specific decisions that sit atop the raw data.

Crucially, every recommendation from AI Assist remains fully transparent and reviewable. The human-in-the-loop design ensures users retain control while the AI continuously learns from feedback, improving consistency and accuracy across financial records over time.

With this launch, Dext is not just automating bookkeeping—it is redefining how finance professionals interact with AI, turning tedious tasks into actionable insights.

Helping Finance Teams Keep Pace with Growing Workloads

Accounting and finance teams are facing mounting pressure as transaction volumes surge, compliance demands expand, and clients expect faster, more actionable financial insights.

At the same time, productivity growth in Australia lags behind long-term trends, highlighting the urgent need for technology that removes operational bottlenecks while preserving professional oversight, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Although document capture and data extraction are now largely automated, many workflows still rely on human judgement.

The decisions—from transaction categorisation to how description fields are used and data is structured for reporting—differ between firms, clients, and teams.

They also reflect client-specific preferences and internal practices, creating a level of nuance that standard rule-based automation cannot address.

To truly enhance efficiency, finance teams need automation that adapts to the way they work, consistently applying these nuanced decisions across similar transactions.

The approach allows teams to maintain their preferred processes while letting the technology support, rather than constrain, their workflow.

Smart Automation That Adapts to Your Workflow

Sabby Gill, CEO of Dext, said, “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.” said Gill

“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 ally 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.” he said.

Next-Level Automation Driving Bookkeeping Efficiency

Dext’s existing automation already demonstrates the scale of efficiency technology can unlock. In January 2026 alone, the platform processed 31.4 million receipts and invoices globally.

Based on a conservative estimate of three to four minutes to manually process each document, this represents more than two million hours of administrative work.

Using Dext, users spent approximately 206,000 hours processing those documents, reducing processing time by more than 90%.

For firms and finance teams, this reclaimed time is increasingly redirected toward higher-value work such as financial analysis, strategic advisory and stronger client relationships.

Dext AI Assist extends how professionals already use Dext, by enabling them to automate the consistent application of decisions that reflect how they work.

AI That Enhances, Not Replaces, Professional Expertise

A core principle behind Dext AI Assist is ensuring automation remains transparent, controlled and aligned with professional oversight. Rather than replacing human decision-making, the system learns from it.

By recognising patterns in how users handle specific client nuances, categorise transactions and apply tax treatments, Dext AI Assist helps apply those decisions more consistently across future transactions. 

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.” said Edginton

”Human judgement remains central to the process, while AI helps reduce the manual effort that slows teams down.” he said.

Early Beta Feedback 

During beta testing, users reported measurable improvements in workflow efficiency and consistency.

Michele Grisdale, Founder, Rainforest Bookkeeping, says, “Dext AI Assist has already made a noticeable difference to how we work. It’s reduced the amount of manual entry and corrections we need to do, saving us several hours,”

“What stands out is the level of control; we can set the parameters and be confident the right assumptions are being applied, which is critical in accounting,” said Grisdale

“It feels like the system is learning how we work and applying that consistently across transactions. That not only saves time but also improves accuracy.”

“It’s easily the smartest AI tool I’ve seen to date and has real potential to change how bookkeeping gets done.” she said.

Dext AI Assist is now rolling out across the Dext platform. The feature will be available as a free trial until 23rd April, with additional capabilities planned as the system continues to evolve.

Trusted by over 12,000 accounting and bookkeeping firms and 700,000 businesses worldwide, Dext integrates seamlessly with all major accounting software and connects to more than 11,500 banks, suppliers, and marketplaces.

As part of IRIS Software Group since 2024, Dext continues to innovate with its clients to deliver a more seamless, end-to-end accountancy workflow that enables smarter, more timely financial decisions.