What is Numeric?
For any small business owner, the month-end close can be a source of significant stress, often involving long hours spent hunting down numbers in spreadsheets. Numeric is an AI-powered accounting tool designed to directly address this pain point. It automates and streamlines the most complex parts of the close, including managing reconciliations and analyzing financial changes. In practical terms, it’s a system built for accounting professionals and business owners who want to increase the speed and accuracy of their financial reporting, allowing them to close the books faster and with much greater confidence in the numbers.
Key Features and How It Works
Numeric integrates with your existing financial systems, like an ERP or general ledger, to pull data and apply AI to automate traditionally manual tasks. This isn’t just about simple automation; it’s about adding a layer of intelligence to your accounting workflow.
- AI-Powered Automation: Numeric handles repetitive work like creating journal entries and running reconciliation checks. It learns your processes to reduce the amount of manual data entry and verification required each month.
- Smart Subledgers: Instead of manually maintaining detailed subledgers, the tool can apply predefined schedules and automatically post adjustments. This is particularly useful for things like prepaid expenses or deferred revenue.
- Flux Analysis Tool: One of the most time-consuming tasks is explaining why balances changed from one period to the next. Numeric’s AI drafts initial explanations for these fluctuations, giving your team a starting point that dramatically speeds up financial analysis.
- Technical Accounting AI: For more complex accounting questions, the tool can assist in drafting policy memos and technical documents, ensuring they align with current accounting standards.
- Integrated Reporting & Analytics: It connects directly to your general ledger to create dynamic financial reports, eliminating the need to export data to spreadsheets for manual report building.
Pros and Cons
Evaluating Numeric requires a clear-eyed look at its real-world benefits and potential drawbacks for a small business.
Pros
- Tangible Time Savings: By automating reconciliations and analysis, it directly reduces the hours your team or external accountants spend on the month-end close, which translates to lower costs or more time for strategic work.
- Improved Accuracy: Automation minimizes the risk of human error in spreadsheets and manual entries, leading to more reliable financial statements and a smoother audit process.
- Better Visibility: A faster close means you get critical financial insights sooner, allowing for more agile business decisions.
Cons
- Implementation Time: Setting up Numeric and integrating it properly with your existing financial software requires an initial time investment. It’s not an instant plug-and-play solution.
- Dependent on Data Quality: The tool’s effectiveness is directly tied to the quality of the data in your ERP or accounting system. It can’t fix underlying data organization issues.
- Potential for Overkill: For a very small business with extremely simple accounting, the full feature set might be more than what is currently needed.
Who Should Consider Numeric?
Numeric is best suited for growing businesses that are starting to feel the operational strain of manual accounting processes. If your month-end close takes more than a few days, relies heavily on complex spreadsheets, or you’re preparing for an audit, this tool is worth investigating. It’s a strong fit for:
- Small to mid-sized businesses using ERP systems like NetSuite who want to professionalize their close process without a significant increase in headcount.
- Controllers and finance managers tasked with improving efficiency and providing faster reports to leadership.
- Accounting firms looking for a scalable solution to manage the books for multiple clients more effectively.
- Startups that need to establish audit-ready financial processes early on to support rapid growth and fundraising.
Pricing and Plans
Numeric operates on a freemium model, which is ideal for businesses that want to test the platform’s value before committing financially.
- Free Tier: This plan allows users to get started with Numeric to test its core capabilities and determine if it’s a good fit for their workflow. It’s a genuine trial without a time limit, focused on essential features.
- Pro Plan: Starting at $15 per month, this plan unlocks the full suite of advanced features, including more extensive AI assistance, deeper integrations, and enhanced reporting capabilities. It is designed for teams that are ready to fully automate their financial close process.
For the most current details, it is always recommended to check the official Numeric website.
What makes Numeric great?
Numeric’s most powerful feature is its ability to use AI to automatically draft initial explanations for financial fluctuations, turning a multi-hour analysis task into a quick review. This goes beyond simple automation and provides a tangible return on investment by tackling one of the most intellectually demanding parts of the month-end close. While other tools might help with checklists or basic reconciliations, Numeric’s focus on AI-driven analysis and technical accounting support provides a deeper level of assistance. Its seamless integration with major ERPs means it works with your existing data, enhancing your current systems rather than forcing a complete overhaul. This focus on intelligent, deep-work automation is what sets it apart as a practical tool for modern finance teams.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much time does it take to set up Numeric?
- The initial setup time can vary depending on the complexity of your financial systems. A basic integration might take a few hours, while a more complex setup with custom workflows could take longer. The key is dedicating time upfront to ensure the integrations are clean.
- Will Numeric replace my accountant or bookkeeper?
- No, Numeric is a tool designed to empower accounting professionals, not replace them. It automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks, freeing up your accountant to focus on higher-value strategic work like financial planning, analysis, and advisory.
- What systems does Numeric connect with?
- Numeric offers seamless integrations with major ERP systems, most notably NetSuite. It also has strong compatibility with Excel for teams that still rely on spreadsheets for parts of their process and provides API access for custom integration needs.
- How secure is my company’s financial data with Numeric?
- Numeric is a cloud-based platform built with modern security protocols. It employs industry-standard data encryption both in transit and at rest to ensure that your sensitive financial information is protected and secure.