Examine financial records
Most of the output can be produced by software today.
Software can pull the data, run the comparison and write up what it found. The accuracy depends almost entirely on whether it is wired into the real system of record rather than a stale copy, which is the problem the tools and auth layer exists to solve.
| How automatable | Mostly automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Analysis and evaluation work |
| Jobs that do it | 14 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | Builders, Tools and auth |
| O*NET activity | Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards (4.A.2.a.3) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 14 occupations that perform it.
- Conduct research to identify the goals, net worth, charitable donation history, or other data related to potential donors, potential investors, or general donor markets.
- Conduct detailed bill reviews to implement sound litigation management and expense control.
- Review repair cost estimates with automobile repair shop to secure agreement on cost of repairs.
- Evaluate applications, records, or documents to gather information about eligibility or liability issues.
- Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions.
- Examine income records and operating costs of income properties.
- Review individual or commercial customer files to identify and select delinquent accounts for collection.
- Verify and inspect cash reserves, assigned collateral, and bank-owned securities to check internal control procedures.
- Investigate missing checks, payment histories, held funds, returned checks, or other related issues to resolve client or creditor problems.
- Review and update credit and loan files.
- Review filed tax returns to determine whether claimed tax credits and deductions are allowed by law.
- Review financial records, such as income statements and documentation of expenditures to determine forms needed to prepare tax returns.
- Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.
- Identify the ownership of each piece of taxable property.
- Review accounts to determine write-offs for collection agencies.
- Review selected tax returns to determine the nature and extent of audits to be performed on them.
- Review accounts for discrepancies and reconcile differences.
- Examine accounting systems and records to determine whether accounting methods used were appropriate and in compliance with statutory provisions.
What we would actually use
One recommendation rather than a shortlist, because a shortlist is just your problem handed back. This is what we would buy for analysis and evaluation work, and what it costs.
Start in the assistant with an export of the real data, because the accuracy problem here is a stale copy rather than a weak model. Make, at $9 a month, is the cheapest way to put the pull on a schedule once the analysis is worth repeating.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
The rest of the category
Context, not alternatives to weigh up. We name the layer rather than promise a named product does your specific task.
Matched from the kind of work, not from vendor marketing. Check any of them can reach the system your records actually live in — that connection, not the model, is where these projects stall.
How people actually do it
Step-by-step workflows that name this activity, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Others for analysis and evaluation work
Who does this work
14 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Accountants and Auditors
- Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate
- Claims Adjusters, Examiners, and Investigators
- Compliance Officers
- Credit Analysts
- Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks
- Credit Counselors
- Financial Examiners
- Fundraisers
- Fundraising Managers
- Insurance Appraisers, Auto Damage
- Loan Officers
- Tax Examiners and Collectors, and Revenue Agents
- Tax Preparers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Examine financial activities, operations, or systems”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.