Month-end close. The steps are the same every month and the rules are already written down. What slows you down is waiting on paperwork and typing up the same summary forty times.
plainpath
Your playbook · After Discovery
24 Sep 2026
Prepared for Harbor Lane Bookkeeping
Your A.G.E.N.T. playbook
Your audit scored three processes, and each one has its own section below. The top one carries all five phases, every cell filled. The other two keep the scores the audit call gave them. The audit call heard Dana. Discovery sat with the people who run the work and read the numbers out of your own systems.
AFilled
Audit
How the work runs today.
Audit call · done
GFilled
Gauge
What it is worth, and how well an agent could run it.
Audit call · done
EFilled
Engineer
Design the agent and build a first version.
Discovery · done
NFilled
Navigate
Decide what the person does and what the agent does.
Discovery · done
TFilled
Track
Set the target and watch it.
Discovery · done
How to read this page
Measured
Read out of a named system. The page says which one, so you can check it yourself.
Said
A person told us and no system holds it. Anything still in that state on this page is marked.
What two weeks of Discovery changedAgainst the version you had at audit close
5 → 6 steps
Walked step by step with the people who run it, so a step nobody mentions still lands on the map.
20 → 21 score
Re-scored in code on measured evidence. An estimate cannot move this number; a reading can.
0 → 4 jobs
The audit call hears one person. The jobs inside the work come from the people who do them.
0 → 7 measured figures
Each one read out of a named system, with the query written down so it can be read again later.
Your processesScored in code · Gauge v2
Each process has the same two parts below: Audit, how the work runs today, and Gauge, five dimensions scored out of five each. Hands-on is the time spent on it each week today. The top one was confirmed in Discovery and re-scored on measured evidence. The others keep what the audit call heard.
| # | Process | Score | Hands-on | The read | Agent kind | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Month-end close | 21/25 | 22 hrs/week | Hand it over | Tasker | The steps are the same every month and the rules are already written down. What slows you down is waiting on paperwork and typing up the same summary forty times. |
| 02 | New client onboarding | 16/25 | 4 hrs/week | Speed it up | Assistant | The checklist is the same every time, so the setup and the chasing are easy to hand over. Mapping an unfamiliar chart of accounts is a judgment call that stays with a person. |
| 03 | Payroll questions from clients | 14/25 | 4 hrs/week | Speed it up | Analyst | Most of these have been answered before, but the answers live in one person's head and in a folder nobody can search. Getting them written down is the work before anything else. |
The kinds of agent
Assistant
Drafts and answers, you approve.
Analyst
Pulls it together and recommends, you decide.
Tasker
Does one step in a system, inside limits you set.
Orchestrator
Runs the whole flow across systems, escalates when unsure.
Guardian
Watches and flags, a person still signs off.
You also named one more process. It is in the full list below, with a first look at each.
Every process we heard
You named four processes. The three scored above have their own sections. We mapped the other one from what you told us, and gave each a first look: where we would start, from the hours, how repeatable the work is and what already covers it. A first look is a starting order, not a score. Discovery can take any of them on.
| Process | First look | What we heard |
|---|---|---|
| Month-end closeScored in full, section 1 | Scored in full | The steps are the same every month and the rules are already written down. What slows you down is waiting on paperwork and typing up the same summary forty times.Does the work: Two bookkeepers do the work, the owner signs off.How often: about 22 hours a weekSystems: QuickBooks Online, a shared drive, email. |
| New client onboardingScored in full, section 2 | Scored in full | The checklist is the same every time, so the setup and the chasing are easy to hand over. Mapping an unfamiliar chart of accounts is a judgment call that stays with a person.Does the work: The office manager sets it up, a bookkeeper takes the first pass.How often: about 4 hours a weekSystems: QuickBooks Online, a spreadsheet checklist, email. |
| Payroll questions from clientsScored in full, section 3 | Scored in full | Most of these have been answered before, but the answers live in one person's head and in a folder nobody can search. Getting them written down is the work before anything else.Does the work: Whoever picks it up, usually the senior bookkeeper.How often: about 4 hours a weekSystems: Email, Gusto, a folder of old answers nobody can search. |
| Quarterly sales tax filings | Not enough yet | Too little to rank. Not filed: hours a week, how repeatable it is, how complex it is. |
01
Month-end close
21/25
Hand it over
Highest score
A · Audit
Confirmed in Discovery · Priya Raman, Tom Alvarez
The process
Starts when
The last business day of the month, when the bank feeds are ready.
Ends with
A closed period and a one-page summary, one per client.
Who
Priya Raman (junior bookkeeper). Tom Alvarez (senior bookkeeper). Dana Whitfield (owner)
How often
40 a month.Measured
Waits on
3 days of waiting on someone outside the team, per run.Measured
The load
5.5 hours of people's time per run.Measured
Month-end close, end to endRead left to right. Every step is confirmed.
01
Pull the bank and card feeds
Priya
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online
Bank feeds
02
Match and categorize transactions
Priya
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online
Receipts from email
03
Chase the missing receipts
Priya
Outlook
Outlook
The uncategorized list, retyped by hand
04
Wait for the client, then re-match
Priya
Outlook, QuickBooks Online
Outlook, QuickBooks Online
3 days, median, on twelve of forty closes
05
Reconcile and close the period
Tom
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online
Matched transactions
06
Write the client summary
Tom
Shared drive
Shared drive
The closed books
The agent drafts it, a person reads it
Stays a person's call
Nothing reaches a client without the click it needs.
The steps, in full
| # | Step | Who | System | Data in | Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Pull the bank and card feeds | Priya | QuickBooks Online | Bank feeds | |
| 02 | Match and categorize transactions | Priya | QuickBooks Online | Receipts from email | |
| 03 | Chase the missing receipts | Priya | Outlook | The uncategorized list, retyped by hand | |
| 04 | Wait for the client, then re-match | Priya | Outlook, QuickBooks Online | The client's reply | 3 days, median, on twelve of forty closes |
| 05 | Reconcile and close the period | Tom | QuickBooks Online | Matched transactions | Human check |
| 06 | Write the client summary | Tom | Shared drive | The closed books |
Month-end close in fullThe six cells behind every step
Objective
Books closed by the fifth instead of the twelfth, so clients can act on the numbers while they still mean something.
Roles
Two bookkeepers do the work, the owner signs off.
Decisions
Which uncategorised charges to chase and which to book to a holding account.
Data
Bank feeds, card statements, receipts clients email in.
Systems
QuickBooks Online, a shared drive, email.
Output
A set of closed books and a one-page summary for each client.
G · Gauge
Re-scored in code on measured evidence
21/25
Was 20 after the audit call
22 hrs/week
Hands-on today
The read
Hand it overTasker
An agent could run this end to end and hand the result back to a person to check. The kind of agent is a Tasker: does one step in a system, inside limits you set.
Under 13
Fix the process before you automate it
13 to 19
An agent assists, a person still drives
20 to 25 · you are here
Hand it over, keep a checker
Repeatability5
Stability4
Outcome upside4
Readiness5
Risk3
Why this read
The steps are the same every month and the rules are already written down. What slows you down is waiting on paperwork and typing up the same summary forty times.
Why a Tasker
A fixed sequence of steps run the same way every time, with one person checking the result.
The output
A closed period and a one-page summary, one per client.
The outcome, in their words
“I stop losing the first week of every month to chasing, and we could carry sixty clients instead of forty.”
The jobs inside month-end close
| Job to be done | Impact | Repeatability | Complexity | Barrier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Get every transaction categorized | High | High | Low | The rules live in Priya's head. About one line in ten needs a judgment call. |
| Get the client to answer before the close | High | High | Medium | Twelve of forty clients wait three days or more. The list is retyped by hand. |
| Close the period without a bounce | High | High | Medium | Tom re-opens about one close in eight for a coding fix. |
| Tell the client what happened this month | Medium | High | Low | Forty summaries a month, written from the same template. |
02
New client onboarding
16/25
Speed it up
A · Audit
From your audit call · 24 Sep 2026
The process
New client onboarding. The checklist is the same every time, so the setup and the chasing are easy to hand over. Mapping an unfamiliar chart of accounts is a judgment call that stays with a person.
Starts when
A signed engagement letter comes back.
Ends with
A live client file with the chart of accounts mapped and the first month reconciled.
Who
The office manager sets it up, a bookkeeper takes the first pass.
How often
Two or three a month.Said
Waits on
On the client sending bank access and last year's books.Said
The load
About 5 hours of work spread over three weeks. About 4 hours a week of hands-on work. Three weeks from signature to a usable file, and the client is quiet the whole time.Said
New client onboarding, step by stepfour steps, read top to bottom
| # | Step | Who | System | Data in | Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Open the checklist | Office manager | Spreadsheet | The engagement letter | |
| 02 | Request access and prior books | Office manager | The client contact | ||
| 03 | Map the chart of accounts | Senior bookkeeper | QuickBooks Online | Prior-year books | |
| 04 | Reconcile the first month | Junior bookkeeper | QuickBooks Online | Bank feeds |
New client onboarding in fullThe six cells behind every step
Objective
A client who sees their first clean month inside two weeks stays.
Roles
The office manager sets it up, a bookkeeper takes the first pass.
Decisions
How to map the old chart of accounts onto ours.
Data
The engagement letter, prior-year books, bank credentials.
Systems
QuickBooks Online, a spreadsheet checklist, email.
Output
A live client file with the chart of accounts mapped and the first month reconciled.
G · Gauge
Scored in code · Gauge v2
16/25
Total score
4 hrs/week
Hands-on todaySaid
The read
Speed it upAssistant
AI can take the slow parts while a person stays in the loop at every step. The kind of agent is an Assistant: drafts and answers, you approve.
Under 13
Fix the process before you automate it
13 to 19 · you are here
An agent assists, a person still drives
20 to 25
Hand it over, keep a checker
Repeatability4
“Same checklist every time. Twenty-odd lines.”
Stability3
How settled the decisions inside it are. Read from the conversation as a whole, with no single line to quote.Our estimate
Outcome upside4
“The ones we get live fast are the ones who stay.”
Readiness3
Whether an agent can reach the inputs and the systems. Read from the conversation as a whole, with no single line to quote.Our estimate
Risk2
What happens when it goes wrong. Read from the conversation as a whole, with no single line to quote.Our estimate
Stability, readiness and risk are the dimensions read from an estimate rather than a system. Discovery measures them, and the total moves if the number does.
Why this read
The checklist is the same every time, so the setup and the chasing are easy to hand over. Mapping an unfamiliar chart of accounts is a judgment call that stays with a person.
Why an Assistant
It would run the checklist, request what is missing, and stop at the mapping for someone to decide.
The output
A live client file with the chart of accounts mapped and the first month reconciled.
The outcome, in your words
“A client who sees their first clean month inside two weeks stays.”
03
Payroll questions from clients
14/25
Speed it up
A · Audit
From your audit call · 24 Sep 2026
The process
Payroll questions from clients. Most of these have been answered before, but the answers live in one person's head and in a folder nobody can search. Getting them written down is the work before anything else.
Starts when
A client emails or calls with a payroll question.
Ends with
An answer by email, sometimes a correction in the payroll system.
Who
Whoever picks it up, usually the senior bookkeeper.
How often
Ten to fifteen a week.Said
Waits on
On the senior bookkeeper, who is the only one who knows the answers.Said
The load
About 20 minutes each, ten to fifteen a week. About 4 hours a week of hands-on work. One person is the bottleneck, and she is the same person who does the close.Said
Payroll questions from clients, step by stepthree steps, read top to bottom
| # | Step | Who | System | Data in | Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Read the question | Senior bookkeeper | The client email | ||
| 02 | Look up the payroll history | Senior bookkeeper | Gusto | The client record | |
| 03 | Write the answer | Senior bookkeeper | Old answers on the shared drive |
Payroll questions from clients in fullThe six cells behind every step
Objective
Answers in an hour instead of two days, and the senior bookkeeper gets her week back.
Roles
Whoever picks it up, usually the senior bookkeeper.
Decisions
Whether the answer is a policy question or a filing error.
Data
The client's question, their payroll history.
Systems
Email, Gusto, a folder of old answers nobody can search.
Output
An answer by email, sometimes a correction in the payroll system.
G · Gauge
Scored in code · Gauge v2
14/25
Total score
4 hrs/week
Hands-on todaySaid
The read
Speed it upAnalyst
AI can take the slow parts while a person stays in the loop at every step. The kind of agent is an Analyst: pulls it together and recommends, you decide.
Under 13
Fix the process before you automate it
13 to 19 · you are here
An agent assists, a person still drives
20 to 25
Hand it over, keep a checker
Repeatability3
How often the same shape of work comes round. Read from the conversation as a whole, with no single line to quote.Our estimate
Stability2
How settled the decisions inside it are. Read from the conversation as a whole, with no single line to quote.Our estimate
Outcome upside4
“If she got that time back she would be on the close instead.”
Readiness3
Whether an agent can reach the inputs and the systems. Read from the conversation as a whole, with no single line to quote.Our estimate
Risk2
What happens when it goes wrong. Read from the conversation as a whole, with no single line to quote.Our estimate
Repeatability, stability, readiness and risk are the dimensions read from an estimate rather than a system. Discovery measures them, and the total moves if the number does.
Why this read
Most of these have been answered before, but the answers live in one person's head and in a folder nobody can search. Getting them written down is the work before anything else.
Why an Analyst
It would draft the answer from what has been answered before and leave the sending to a person.
The output
An answer by email, sometimes a correction in the payroll system.
The outcome, in your words
“Answers in an hour instead of two days, and the senior bookkeeper gets her week back.”
Filled in Discovery
Engineer, Navigate and Track, written in Discovery for Month-end close with the people who run it.
3 · Engineer
The agent and its first version
Agent kind
Tasker. A fixed sequence of steps run the same way every time, with one person checking the result.
The first version
Day one it drafts and stops. The categorized list, the chase email and the summary land in a queue for Priya to read. Nothing reaches a client without her click. The categorization rules come out of her head and into a document first, and that document is the agent's rulebook.
What stays with a person
The one line in ten the rules do not cover. Posting the close. Signing off. Any client whose books feel off, in Priya's words, which the agent cannot feel.
Redesigned processToday beside the redesign
6 steps to 5 · 1 handoff to 2 · 1 wait gone
The number this should move: Business days to close all forty clients.
How it runs today
01
Pull the bank and card feeds
Priya · QuickBooks Online
02
Match and categorize transactions
Priya · QuickBooks Online
03
Chase the missing receipts
Priya · Outlook
04
Wait for the client, then re-match
Priya · Outlook, QuickBooks Online
Waits: 3 days, median, on twelve of forty closes
05
Reconcile and close the period
Tom · QuickBooks Online
06
Write the client summary
Tom · Shared drive
How it would run
01
Pull the feeds and code each charge by Priya's written rules
Agent: Books
02
Ask the client for each missing receipt as the charge posts, and match the reply when it comes
Agent: Chaser
03
Draft the client summary from the matched books
Agent: Summary
04
Rule on the lines the written rules do not cover
Priya, on exceptions
05
Reconcile and close the period
Tom
- Books Tasker Pulls the bank and card feeds and codes each charge by Priya's written rules.
- Chaser Assistant Asks the client for each missing receipt as the charge posts, then watches for the reply and matches it.
- Summary Assistant Drafts the one-page client summary from the matched books.
What changed, step by step
| # | Step | Who | Why, and how it grades |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Pull the feeds and code each charge by Priya's written rules Merged from steps 1 and 2 today First version |
Agent: Books | One pass, with no hand-off between pulling a charge and coding it. Value high · Velocity high · Viability high |
| 02 | Ask the client for each missing receipt as the charge posts, and match the reply when it comes Merged from steps 3 and 4 today First version |
Agent: Chaser | The chase starts when the charge posts, so the three-day wait overlaps the rest of the close. Value high · Velocity high · Viability high |
| 03 | Draft the client summary from the matched books Now the agent's First version |
Agent: Summary | Tom reads and edits a draft. Today he writes forty of them from nothing. Value high · Velocity high · Viability high |
| 04 | Rule on the lines the written rules do not cover A person sees exceptions only About 10% of runs reach a person. |
Priya, on exceptions | About one line in ten falls outside the rules, and a person decides those. Value high · Velocity medium · Viability high |
| 05 | Reconcile and close the period Kept |
Tom |
The first version is steps 01, 02 and 03. The other changes come after it.
Hours returned each month
91.5
Of 220 measured. 40 runs a month at 5.5 hours. After the redesign a person keeps only the steps still theirs, and reads the agent's work once a run.
Worth, each month
$5,673
Hours returned at the loaded rate of $62 an hour you gave us. It counts only what this work costs today.
Price and payback
$36,000
Fixed from the build plan, three weeks to a first version. Paid back in 6.3 months, which is price over monthly worth, computed in code.
4 · Navigate
Agreed with the people who run the work
Where the agent starts
Human augmentation. The agent does the work and brings it to you, and nothing goes out until you say yes.
Who checks
Priya reads every draft for the first three months. Tom checks the close as he does today.
Where the check happens
Before step 05, reconcile and close the period.
When it is unsure
It puts the line on the client question list rather than guessing. If it is unsure about a whole client, it stops and tells Priya.
What earns it more
A month with no coding bounce across the book. Then chase emails go out on their own, and Priya sees them after.
The off switch
Dana, in the admin, from day one. Priya can pause any single client's close without asking.
How we introduce an agent · the same way every time
01
It drafts, a person sends. No agent starts with the ability to act. Your team sees twenty drafts before it sees any autonomy.
02
Autonomy is earned on a number. It moves up a rung when the measured record says so, never on a feeling.
03
Mistakes land on a list. Anything it cannot finish becomes a visible card with its own written reason.
04
The off switch is yours. Shown on day one, per agent, reachable by your team without asking us.
5 · Track
Baselines read before the build
Each line names the system and the query the number comes from. The same query runs again later, so the comparison is the same number read the same way from the same place.
| What we count | Today | Target | Read from | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business days to close all forty clients | 7 | 3 | QuickBooks Online. Close dates by client, August period | Monthly |
| Hours per client close | 5.5 | 2 | A two-week time log. The same log, repeated at 60 days | 60 days |
| Chase emails per close | 2.4 | 1 | Outlook. Sent mail, by client, by month | Monthly |
| Closes re-opened for a coding fix, out of forty | 5 | 2 | QuickBooks Online. Audit log, reopened periods | Monthly |
| Clients carried per bookkeeper | 20 | 30 | Your client list. Active clients divided by bookkeepers | 12 months |
And one about usThe payback above is promised at 6.3 months. At 90 days we read the same hours log at the same rate and publish what it actually was. If it is more than 25% off, that is ours to explain.
What you keep if the agent is switched off
- Six steps written down. Two checked by someone other than the author running them once.
- Six exact start conditions. "When the feeds post for a client on the vendor list" passes. "At month end" does not.
- Three fields brought to one definition: client id, vendor name, category. Error rate on them read now and at 60 days.
- Two risk points with a written rule: the $500 no-receipt line, and any vendor Priya does not recognize.
Four signs it is making risk instead of value
- A step nobody owns.
- The same override, every time.
- A confidence score that never changes a decision.
- Anything that reached a client without the click it was supposed to need.
What this playbook leaves out
- A build plan for the other two processes. They keep the score the audit call gave them, in their own sections above.
- A full score for the process we only mapped. It has a first look in the list above, and Discovery can take it on.
- Any ambition the numbers cannot carry. It stays an ambition and never becomes a promise.
- Any figure you might read as yours. This page is for a made-up firm.
The next step
Approve the build plan
The price is fixed. The first version drafts and stops. Three weeks to a first version from your yes to the first drafted run.
$36,000 fixed
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