AI Categorization

AI Categorization holds the business context DayZero uses when it sorts transactions, plus the controls for what it may book without a person. Open Settings > AI Categorization and set it up once per business; Bank Rules still handle explicit patterns, and this profile fills in what a rule cannot capture.

Key capabilities

• Accounting basis: cash, accrual, or "Not set (use business default)"
• Industry label that replaces the business type the AI is told about
• Key personnel: name fragments that identify owners and officers, used to route owner draws
• Tax remittance account: the ledger sales-tax payments should post to
• Convention overrides: map a recurring counterparty to a preferred ledger name
• Notes for AI: free-form business context added to every categorization request
• Posting defaults card: the ledgers new invoices post to
• Automation card: switches for auto-categorizing, payment auto-linking, and overnight counterparty merging
• Needs the AI Pro add-on for the profile fields; the two cards below them show for every business

How it works

After each bank sync DayZero decides what it can book on its own. Your rules and defaults always apply; for everything else it suggests a category and compares its confidence with the line you set. An AI answer is only booked when a rule, a default, your history, or the bank's own category agrees with it.

flowchart TD
  sync["Bank sync adds transactions"] --> mine["Your rules and defaults apply"]
  mine --> suggest["AI, history, or bank category suggests the rest"]
  suggest --> sure{"Confident enough?"}
  sure -->|Yes| booked["Booked automatically"]
  sure -->|No| review["Waits in Suggested rules"]
  booked --> run["Recorded as a run you can review and undo"]

How to use it

1. Open Settings > AI Categorization. Choose a business first if none is selected.
2. Pick the Basis and type an Industry label such as SaaS, retail, or professional services. Leave the industry blank to fall back to the business profile type.
3. Under Key personnel, type a distinctive fragment of a name that appears on bank descriptions and click Add (or press Enter). Matching ignores capital letters.
4. Choose a Remittance ledger if you want tax authority payments to go to a specific account instead of a generic liability.
5. Under Convention overrides, enter a Counterparty key (for example stripe) and the Ledger name it should use (for example Merchant Fees). Click Add override for more rows.
6. Add anything the AI should know under Business context, then click Save settings.
7. In Posting defaults, choose a ledger for Invoice sales, Accounts receivable, Cost of goods sold, or Inventory, then click Save posting defaults. Use "Use the system ledger" to undo a choice.
8. In Automation, flip the switches and pick a confidence level, then click Save automation settings.

Pro tips

• Add last names or business names of owners as key personnel so personal payments land in owner draws, not expenses.
• Write overrides with ledger names exactly as they appear in your chart of accounts; keys are saved in lowercase.
• Use notes for policies the AI cannot guess, such as "We capitalize software over $5k. Payroll runs biweekly via Gusto."
• Raise the confidence line to 90% or 95% for a new client, then relax it once the suggestions have proved right.
• Leave a posting role empty unless you need it; an item's own income account still wins over the Invoice sales default.
• Changes apply going forward. Entries already posted do not move.

In-depth guide

Posting defaults

Each role accepts only the right kind of account: revenue for Invoice sales, asset for Accounts receivable and Inventory, expense for Cost of goods sold. Inactive ledgers are refused. Only admins can save. When the business already has invoice entries, a line under the form shows how many sit on the system ledgers and how many on the ledgers you chose, which tells you whether an earlier change took hold.

Automation controls

Every automatic change is recorded under a run that you can review and undo from Regent, the AI Assistant.

Accounting basis here versus the business

The basis on this page is only the hint the AI receives. When it is not set, DayZero uses the basis from Business Management, so the AI and your reports agree on cash versus accrual.

Edge cases

• Without the AI Pro add-on, the profile section shows an upgrade prompt with a View plans & add-ons button, and your saved data is untouched.
• Clearing every row and saving removes all overrides; empty rows are ignored.
• Saving the profile and saving the Automation card are separate; each button only saves its own card.