Can AI do my year end accounts?
Short answer
Partly. An AI working in a proper ledger can prepare the year end entries, such as accruals and depreciation, and produce the trial balance and reports. The statutory accounts and the Company Tax Return are still yours to approve and file, yourself or through an accountant.
What does a limited company have to do at year end?
After the end of its financial year, a private limited company must prepare full statutory annual accounts and a Company Tax Return (GOV.UK). The accounts go to Companies House. The Company Tax Return goes to HMRC on form CT600, sometimes with supplementary pages (HMRC manual COM130090).
The deadlines are set out on GOV.UK (deadlines):
- first accounts to Companies House: 21 months after the company was registered
- annual accounts to Companies House: 9 months after the financial year ends
- Corporation Tax payment to HMRC: 9 months and 1 day after the accounting period ends
- Company Tax Return to HMRC: 12 months after the accounting period ends
Which parts of the year end can AI prepare?
Most of the year end is bookkeeping, and that is where an AI does well when it has a ledger:
- accruals for costs that belong to the year but are not yet billed
- prepayments for costs paid in advance
- depreciation on fixed assets
- a check that bank, customer and supplier balances agree
- a list of receipts or bills still missing
- the trial balance, profit and loss and balance sheet
The AI can also explain each figure in plain words, which helps when you or your accountant ask why a number moved.
What stays with the directors?
Judgement and responsibility. Choices such as how to value stock, whether a debt is still collectable or which reliefs to claim depend on your facts. The directors approve the accounts. Someone has to file the accounts with Companies House and the CT600 with HMRC, which you can do yourself or through an accountant. An AI that keeps the books does not change who is responsible for them.
Where does Octobooks fit?
Octobooks is one example of a ledger built for this. It is a double entry ledger for small companies and freelancers in the UK, Germany and Austria, run through your own AI. Among its tools are proposals for accruals, depreciation and year end, the trial balance and reports with the prior period and prior year.
You set the switches. For each company you choose who releases a booking: you, your AI, two agents together, a rule you approved, or a stamp you type. Every entry stays in the audit trail, and a correction is a reversal plus a new entry. Octobooks does not file accounts or returns with Companies House or HMRC.
This page is general information. It is not advice on your own case.
More questions
- Is it safe to let AI book entries in my books?
- Can AI do the month end close?
- Do I still need an accountant if AI keeps my books?