Setting up AI access to your bookkeeping safely: a practical guide

You have decided to try AI in your bookkeeping. Good. But before you start, you want to set it up properly. Which administrations do you give access to? Who is allowed to do what? And how do you pull the plug if that becomes necessary?

Step 1: Choose which administrations you connect

At the first sign-up you select which Exact Online administration(s) the AI connector may access. Our advice: start with one. Choose an administration you know well, where you can check the data. Build trust before you add more.

Do you have a test administration in Exact Online? Even better. Use it as a practice environment. Try asking questions, creating invoices, requesting reports. Once everything works as you want, switch over to your production administration.

Adding more later is easy. You do not have to set everything up at once.

Step 2: Understand your Exact Online permissions

This is a point many entrepreneurs miss: the AI can only do what you can do in Exact Online. Your permissions are the permissions of the connector.

Do you not have write access to sales invoices? Then the AI cannot create invoices through your account either. Do you only have access to the financial module? Then the AI cannot retrieve CRM data.

A smart approach for larger organisations: create a separate Exact Online user account for AI access. Give that account exactly the permissions you want: read access to financial data, no write access to bank entries, no access to personnel data. This way you keep the AI access separate from your personal permissions.

Step 3: Use the trial period deliberately

You get 30 days to test the connector for free with your own data. Use that time strategically.

Week 1: Read only. Ask questions like “What are the outstanding invoices?”, “Show the revenue from last month” and “Who are my top 10 customers by revenue?” You learn how the AI answers, how fast it goes and whether the results are correct.

Week 2: Simple actions. Try creating an invoice through the AI. Pay attention to the confirmation step, you see exactly what is being created before it happens. Start small: an invoice for a familiar customer, an amount you can verify.

Week 3-4: Daily use. Integrate the connector into your work routine. Use it for the tasks you would normally open Exact Online for manually. Do you notice it goes faster? That is the moment to decide whether you continue.

Step 4: Adding team members

Every team member who wants to use the connector logs in with their own account. No shared login details. That is deliberate, every action is logged separately, so you can always see who did what.

The organisation model works simply: one subscription covers your entire team. The first administration is included, additional administrations automatically get a volume discount. You do not have to take out a separate subscription per person.

Roles within the team:

• Owner: manages the subscription and the invoicing
• Administrator: can invite team members and connect administrations
• Member: uses the connector within the assigned permissions

You invite new colleagues by email. They get their own login and inherit the permissions that belong to their Exact Online account.

Step 5: Revoking access

Trust is good, but control is better. You revoke access on three levels:

Per session: Logging out ends the active session. The connector immediately loses the ability to request data on your behalf.

Per authorisation: In Exact Online you go to My account > Apps & connectors. There you see which apps have access. One click and the connector loses all permissions. Immediately.

Per subscription: Cancellable monthly, with no obligations. No notice period, no penalty, no hassle. We are an official Exact Online partner, we earn your trust every month again, not through a contract.

Checklist: setting up safely

Everything at a glance:

• Choose one administration to start with (preferably a test environment)
• Check your Exact Online permissions, consider a separate AI user account
• Start with read questions in the first week
• Only test write actions once you have confidence in the results
• Add team members with their own accounts, never shared
• Know how to revoke access via Exact Online and via the subscription

Starting responsibly

The AI connector is ISO 27001 certified and independently pentested. But the safest configuration is one you have set up deliberately. Start small. Check results. Expand as your confidence grows.

This series on responsible AI use has covered four pillars: conscious choices, preventing unwanted actions, data privacy and configuration. Together they give you the basis to use AI in a way that is not only more efficient, but also safe.

Ready to start? Start your free trial period →