CFOs and CIOs under pressure to modernize finance operations are finding that automation alone — including several generations of RPA (robotic process automation) — no longer suffices, with transparency and explainability rising to the same level of priority.
Accounting firms and finance teams inside organizations have begun adopting AI systems that reason rather than merely compute. One of the more ambitious entrants is Basis, a U.S.-based startup launched two years ago that builds AI agents to automate structured accounting work and keep human oversight firmly in the loop.
The move signals a shift in enterprise automation away from replacement and toward extension of human expertise. Basis’s agents combine model-driven precision with auditability and the controls finance professionals require for regulatory compliance and client confidence.
Basis designs its agents to handle routine accounting chores such as reconciliations, journal entries, and financial summaries. The platform runs on OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 and GPT-5, and it provides operators with tools to inspect each autonomous decision step, creating a traceable record of how a conclusion was reached.
Firms that have deployed Basis report up to 30 percent time savings and a related expansion in capacity for advisory services. That kind of uplift can shift workforce focus from manual posting and error checking toward higher-value analysis, a return on investment that older automation approaches have struggled to match at similar cost and speed.
A distinguishing feature of Basis is its focus on reviewable reasoning rather than opaque outputs. Every recommendation from an agent arrives with an explanation of the inputs consulted and the logic applied. That visibility allows accountants to validate results and retain responsibility for final outputs, a capability that matters in highly regulated sectors where audit trails and defensible decisions are nonnegotiable.
The platform treats accounting as an interconnected set of workflows instead of a series of isolated tasks. A supervising AI agent, powered by GPT-5 on Basis’s system, oversees end-to-end processes and assigns discrete pieces of work to sub-agents that run different models. The choice of model for a given task depends on task complexity and the nature of the data involved.
For instance, Basis calls on GPT-4.1 for rapid queries and clarifications because of its speed; GPT-5 takes on complex classifications and month-end close duties since it offers deeper reasoning and improved context handling. The company benchmarks each model against real-world accounting workflows to determine when it is appropriate to delegate more responsibility to agents.
Finance professionals can at any time review what an agent has done, the rationale behind specific choices, and the confidence level assigned to each recommendation. That combination of transparency and measurable confidence supports both operational accuracy and the governance controls auditors expect.
This flexible architecture helps firms scale AI while keeping accuracy under control as automation levels increase. The hybrid human–AI collaboration it supports resembles patterns emerging in areas like legal services and risk management, where experts and machines work together on complex, regulated processes.
Beyond accounting, the platform’s model-orchestration approach routes tasks to the most suitable AI based on performance and latency metrics. The same format can be applied to procurement, HR, or compliance operations — any function that processes large volumes of structured decisions and requires traceable logic and accountability.
Basis’s collaboration with OpenAI illustrates how reasoning engines can function inside secure data environments and deliver results that organizations can inspect and defend. The emphasis is not raw throughput but automation that builds trust in operators and in the models themselves, with systems designed to evolve while humans remain in control of outcomes.
AI in accounting is moving past simple entry automation toward systems that emulate accounting judgment and context awareness. For enterprise leaders, Basis’s architecture presents a path where model improvements make teams faster and more capable without ceding control to the automation.
(Image source: “Accounting charts” by World Bank Photo Collection is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)