Open Exact Online, run a report, export to Excel, format by hand. For a simple revenue overview you are quickly busy for 7 minutes. Multiply that by dozens of reports per month and you lose valuable time on work that does not really require any thinking.
With AI this changes completely. One question in plain Dutch and you get an overview straight away. No menus, no filters, no Excel. Just answers. Below we put three common scenarios side by side, with concrete time savings.
- Log in (~30 sec)
- Navigate to Financial → Reports → Revenue (~20 sec)
- Set the filter to the current month (~15 sec)
- Wait for the report (~10 sec)
- Export to Excel (~20 sec)
- Create a pivot table in Excel (~3 min)
- Format and interpret (~2 min)
Manually this takes you around 7 minutes.
Ask the AI:
"What is the revenue per customer this month?"
Within 10 seconds you get a clear overview of customer names, amounts and, if you want, a comparison with previous months. No pivot tables, no exports.
Manually in Exact Online
- Navigate to Financial → Debtors → Outstanding (~20 sec)
- Set the filter to age > 30 days (~30 sec)
- Sort by amount (~10 sec)
- Export for the meeting (~20 sec)
- Look up contact details separately in the CRM (~2 min per customer)
Manually this takes 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the number of customers.
Ask the AI:
"Debtors older than 30 days, including contact details"
Within 15 seconds AI combines financial data with CRM details in one overview. No switching between different screens.
- Run a report for Q1 this year (~3 min)
- Run a report for Q1 last year (~3 min)
- Export to Excel (~1 min)
- Calculate the difference and percentage (~5 min)
- Create a chart (~3 min)
Manually this takes you around 15 minutes.
Ask the AI:
"Compare the revenue of Q1 2026 with Q1 2025, per month"
Within around 20 seconds you get a clear display of the percentage changes per month and the total.
| Task |
Manually |
Via AI |
Time saving |
| Revenue per customer |
7 min |
10 sec |
98% faster |
| Debtor overview |
5-10 min |
15 sec |
97% faster |
| Quarterly comparison |
15 min |
20 sec |
98% faster |
| VAT preparation |
30-60 min |
2 min |
95% faster |
| Look up customer + history |
3 min |
10 sec |
94% faster |
The pattern is clear: the more complex and extensive the manual steps, the greater the time saving with AI. Want to see for yourself how many hours you can save? In our article on saving time in your bookkeeping with AI we work it out for you.
AI is powerful for retrieving and analysing, but for certain tasks the traditional interface remains handy:
-
Complex entries that require visual checking
-
Year-end closing with a fixed order of steps
-
Processing bank statements that you want to check line by line
AI is most effective for retrieving and analysing data. For transactions that require precise checking, the standard Exact Online interface remains the best choice.
An average bookkeeper spends 4–8 hours per month on routine reports and look-up work. With AI you save 80–95% of that time.
| Per month |
Per year |
Time saving |
| Time saving |
3–7 hours |
40–80 hours |
| Cost of AI connector |
€29–79 |
€348–948 |
| Bookkeeper hourly rate |
€75–125 |
- |
| Net saving |
€146–796 |
€1,752–9,552 |
Even at the lowest hourly rate you earn back the investment within the first month. More about AI in bookkeeping for SMEs and what it means for your practice.
Ready to start? With our step-by-step guide you are connected within five minutes. Start right away and experience how AI changes your Exact Online administration: faster, smarter and error-free.
Do the maths yourself. Start 30 days free →
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