Automatic journal entries for accounting firms and bookkeepers: a practical guide
The short answer: automatic journal entries for an accounting firm are created when an AI system reads every invoice a client sends, identifies the vendor, applies the firm's classification rules and builds a complete double-entry journal entry with debit and credit accounts, VAT and an allocation number. The firm reviews it, approves it manually or automatically, and exports the entries to the bookkeeping software it already uses. The team moves from typing to reviewing.
Every accounting firm and bookkeeper in Israel knows the script: a quiet start to the month, then a last-week chase for invoices, receipts and card statements from dozens of clients. This guide shows what a journal entry workflow built on automated invoice processing looks like, what to set up in advance, and how to roll it out without disrupting daily work.
Why is month end at the firm a chase for documents?
For most firms the problem isn't professional knowledge but an uneven flow of documents. One client sends a blurry WhatsApp photo, another forwards ten attachments by email, a third arrives with a bag of receipts. Each document has to be opened, read, classified and typed in.
The result is familiar:
- Workload piled into the days before reporting, instead of spread across the month.
- Retyping the same regular vendors for the same clients.
- Copying mistakes in amounts, dates and reference numbers.
- Dependence on one employee who remembers how each vendor is classified for each client.
- Duplicate invoices recorded twice because the client sent them through two channels.
How do clients send documents to the firm?
The first step is giving clients a simple way to send documents as they arrive, not at month end. With DocMe (דוקמי), a client can send an invoice by WhatsApp, Telegram or email, drag a file into the web interface, or photograph it in the dedicated iOS and Android app. The app has a built-in scanner that detects the document's edges, and a PDF can also be shared into it straight from the phone.
Every channel is covered in the guide to uploading files to DocMe. For the firm, every document from every client lands in one place, however it was sent.
What happens to a document after it arrives?
This is where scanning and understanding part ways. DocMe AI is not OCR. Several AI models read each document independently and compare their results, so handwriting, a faded receipt, a tilted phone photo and a document that mixes Hebrew and English are all read in the right order.
The system identifies the vendor by company ID, business number, phone or name, even when the invoice spells the name differently from the vendor card. It extracts amounts, dates and VAT. The six steps run on every document are described on the AI understanding page.
How is an automatic journal entry built with VAT and an allocation number?
Once the document has been read, DocMe builds a complete double-entry journal entry according to the Israeli standard: debit and credit accounts, net amount, VAT, currency and exchange rate. Every line includes the account, amount, type (debit or credit), references and the Israel Invoice allocation number.
What makes the entry right for a specific client is the rules engine. For each vendor you can set:
- A default debit account.
- A VAT code.
- A transaction classification.
- A withholding tax percentage.
You can also set rules by document classification, plus AI-based rules that correct results according to the firm's own business logic. The system learns from the team's corrections, so a vendor classified correctly once for a client stays that way in later months.
Which checks prevent duplicates and mistakes?
Automation that guesses is worse than manual work. DocMe cross-checks amounts, dates and duplicates, and flags anything that doesn't add up for review instead of guessing. An invoice sent twice, once on WhatsApp and once by email, is flagged as a duplicate and is not recorded twice.
How does credit card reconciliation automation work?
Credit card reconciliation is one of a firm's most draining tasks: hunting, line by line, for the invoice behind each charge. DocMe automates credit card reconciliation: the invoices it has captured are matched to the corresponding lines on bank and credit card statements.
The team sees which charges are backed by an invoice and which are missing, and can ask the client for exactly those documents.
How do the entries reach the firm's bookkeeping software?
A firm doesn't need to replace its software. DocMe sends journal entries to software such as Rivhit, Atzmait, Hashavshevet and Priority, and can also export to Excel and PDF.
For firms that want one system working hand in hand with document capture, there is DocMe Books: bookkeeping software for accountants and bookkeeping firms, certified by the Israeli Tax Authority, with a one-click connection to DocMe AI so documents that have been read arrive as finished entries. Existing companies can be moved in with their chart of accounts, opening balances and history.
How do you manage dozens of clients in one system?
Software for accounting firms in Israel has to think in many clients. In DocMe you manage every client in one system with custom access permissions. Each client uploads documents on their own, and each employee sees only what they should.
Clients can also ask the AI chat questions about their own books in natural Hebrew, such as how much they spent this month or which vendor they owe most, on WhatsApp, in the app or on the web.
Automatic or manual approval: what is right for your firm?
Each firm chooses between automatic approval and manual review. A practical approach is to review every entry manually at first and switch to automatic approval once the vendor rules are stable. Flagged documents still get human review either way.
The monthly workflow: before and after
| Step | Manual process | With DocMe |
|---|---|---|
| Collecting documents | Reminding clients at month end | Client sends by WhatsApp, email or app as documents arrive |
| Reading the invoice | Opening each file and typing data | AI reads vendor, amounts, dates and VAT |
| Classification | From the employee's memory | Vendor rules: account, VAT code, withholding |
| Journal entry | Typed manually into the software | Full double-entry with allocation number |
| Validation | Spot checks | Duplicates and mismatched amounts flagged |
| Credit cards | Matching line by line | Invoices matched to statement lines automatically |
| Transfer to software | Typing or manual import | Export to the firm's software, Excel or PDF |
A practical rollout plan for a firm
It is best not to move every client over in one day. A staged plan looks like this:
- Pick pilot clients: two or three clients with regular vendors and a moderate document volume.
- Map vendors: list each client's main vendors with account, VAT code and withholding.
- Connect channels: give the client a short explanation of how to send documents by WhatsApp, email or the app.
- Full manual review: in the first month, review and correct every entry so the system learns from the corrections.
- Card reconciliation: add card and bank statements and check the matches.
- Expand: add clients gradually, and consider automatic approval only once results are stable.
Mistakes to avoid
- Starting without an organised chart of accounts for each client.
- Turning on automatic approval before the vendor rules have been checked.
- Letting a client send the same document through several channels without reviewing duplicate flags.
- Not deciding who at the firm is responsible for approving each client's entries.
- Not setting permissions, so every employee sees every client.
Summary
Automatic journal entries don't replace the accountant's judgement. They remove the typing, centralise the documents and leave the team with review, approval and the client relationship. A firm that starts with a small pilot, defines vendor rules and checks the results can extend the process to every client at its own pace.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the questions accounting firms and bookkeepers ask before getting started.
DocMe sends journal entries to Rivhit, Atzmait, Hashavshevet, Priority and other software, and can also export to Excel and PDF.
Yes. For each vendor you set a debit account, VAT code, transaction classification and withholding percentage, and you can add AI-based rules. The system learns from the team's corrections.
No. Each firm chooses between automatic approval and manual review, and documents that don't add up are flagged for review either way.
DocMe cross-checks amounts, dates and document details and warns about duplicates, so the invoice is flagged for review rather than recorded twice.
Not necessarily. They can send documents by WhatsApp, Telegram or email. Those who prefer can use the app with its built-in scanner.