Fix your processes first. You can’t polish a turd with AI.
Your finance function shouldn’t be held together with spreadsheets and swear words. Excel is crying in cell B4!
Let’s talk about your finance function. Or, as you call it, Gladys and Colin (legends in their own right). They’ve been battling sky-high workloads and endless info requests since the dawn of time - all without the systems, workflows, or backup they deserve. Cue mismatched data, month-end rituals that make you question your life choices, consolidations that drag on longer than a Marvel marathon, and expense approvals that might as well require a blood pact and a full moon.
The result? You’ve built a finance team of full-blown “Stresszillas” - one month-end away from evolving into a “Nervousaurus Rex”.
And then you roll into the monthly meeting, casually dropping, “Don’t worry, AI can fix it,” like it’s some kind of magic wand. (Insert the internal screaming and unspoken expletives echoing through your team's collective brain.)
C’mon Mate.
That’s like strapping a car’s self-driving feature to your gran’s mobility scooter and acting shocked when it ploughs through the fruit aisle.
AI isn’t a miracle mop.
Artificial Intelligence is incredible. It can read documents, flag dodgy transactions, and pull insights faster than you can say "Ctrl+F."
But let’s be clear: it’s not magic. It runs on logic - and logic hates messy workflows!
Trying to slap shiny new AI onto broken, inconsistent, or straight-up medieval finance processes? That’s like asking Siri to clean up after your child’s 21st. She’ll mutter, “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” then quietly resign from your company.
Automation vs. AI: Know the Difference (Yes, They’re Not the Same)
I’m not claiming to be an AI guru — I know my limits.
That’s why I regularly call Dave (“the AI expert”) to wreck his head with 37 questions, fresh off my latest course and a stack of articles promising I can run a business in 5 hours a week.
Don’t mistake this for AI doubt. I love the stuff. I’m also a realist.
The next 18–36 months? Wildly exciting. But here’s the reality: most small businesses are miles away from being AI-ready - not because the tech isn’t there, but because the processes aren’t.
This isn’t a plug-and-play solution. You’ll need better workflows, new habits, training, and champions inside your team to drive it. All while juggling deadlines and customers breathing down your neck. It’s possible — but it’s not automatic.
So next time someone asks, “Can we automate this with AI?” — don’t be shocked when the answer is, “Well… maybe.”
To break it down:
Automation is repetitive task handling. It follows the rules you give it with no improvisation.
Think:
“If supplier bill is from X, post to Y.”
“If invoice is unpaid, send reminder.”
Basically, it’s your robotic intern with spreadsheet OCD.
AI, on the other hand, is like a curious new hire with a serious data addiction.
It learns patterns, makes suggestions, and occasionally corrects you — politely, if you’re lucky.
It needs training, guidance, and context. Just like any human. Get that right, and the results can be incredible.
Used together - with solid processes - they’re amazing. Like that magician at your 4th birthday party… except this time, magic really can happen!
But remember, process first!!!
Why your financial processes need a touch-up.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Are your data sources clean, reliable, and in one place?
Are your approvals and reconciliations logical and trackable or do they involve verbal agreements made in 2019 and someone’s “system” that lives entirely in their head?
Are people still printing invoices and filing them in the drawer of doom labelled "To do"?
Consolidation? Oh good, your favorite recurring nightmare.
If you whispered yes to even one of these… congrats, you’ve built a digital house of cards. Adding AI won’t fix it. It'll just help it fall faster — and more expensively.
Implementing AI on top of financial chaos is the business equivalent of spraying Febreze on a dumpster fire. You might not smell the problem for a while, but your budget, sanity, and IT department sure will.
So before you "AI your accounts," try this order instead:
Fix your processes – clean them, document them, love them. (Garbage in, garbage out. It’s not just a cliché. It’s your future cash flow.)
Add automation – integrate systems. start automating those repetitive tasks and eliminate the copy-paste grind. (No one should be manually emailing invoice reminders in 2025. No one).
Then, introduce AI – and let it do the fun, clever stuff. Now it can shine, not scramble.
Only then will you see actual transformation - not just a digital tantrum dressed in buzzwords.
Do it the wrong way? You’ll get digital transformation theatre.
Do it the right way? You’ll build something that doesn’t just look smart - it is smart.
This isn’t a shiny toy. It’s your business.
Treat it like it matters.
You can’t outsmart the mess you created
At Enubilous, we love tech. But we love working with financial systems more. So before you break out the buzzwords, let’s clean house. Because, as any accountant (or cleaner) will tell you:
You can’t polish a turd - even with AI.
