Most accounting software avoids the toughest problems. Some ignore them altogether. Others patch them with point solutions that only manage one piece of the workflow.

At Stacks, we’ve chosen a harder path: solving end-to-end reconciliations and journal automation. These are two of the most complex, time-consuming, and critical areas of accounting, and they’re also the most impactful to automate.

Why These Problems Are So Hard

• Reconciliations are everywhere. Bank accounts, AR, AP, intercompany, inventory, fixed assets. Each involves multiple systems, data sources, and rules. Context matters. Matching isn’t enough; accountants need to explain variances, document evidence, and provide audit trails.
  
  

• Journals involve more than posting. Most tools automate uploading entries. But that’s the easy part. The real work involves preparing the journal, which includes gathering data, drafting explanations, obtaining approvals, and ensuring accuracy before any information is entered into the ERP.
  
  

• Point solutions don’t cut it. They manage tasks, create dashboards, or handle a single type of reconciliation. However, without deep integration and automation, accountants still do the bulk of the work.

Reconciliation Reimagined: From Management to Automation

Stacks goes beyond checklist management. We’re building reconciliation automation into the close process itself.

• Bank Recons at Scale
  Our AI-powered matching automatically compares bank transactions to ledger entries. Attachments, anomalies, and unmatched items are surfaced instantly. Users regularly hit 95%+ auto-match rates after just a few cycles.
  
  

• Non-Bank Recons Next
  We’re now extending this approach to AR and AP reconciliations. The goal is clear: automate the majority of the balance sheet accounts where manual matching, evidence collection, and explanations eat up days each period.
  
  

• Evidence That Lives with the Task
  Every recon carries its supporting docs, notes, adjustments, and review history. No more chasing folders or Slack threads. Everything is captured in the workflow, audit-ready by design.
  
  

• Frequency-Aware
  Not every account is monthly. Stacks supports quarterly and annual recons, preserving setup and rules when rolling forward.
  
  

Journal Automation: Beyond Posting

Stacks rethinks journals as a workflow, not just a push to ERP.

• Preparation
  AI suggests draft journals using source data and contextual explanations. For example, missing payroll accruals can be drafted with amounts, references, and links back to transactions.
  
  

• Review
  Controllers review journals in Stacks with all the evidence in one place. No more digging through spreadsheets or emails for backup.
  
  

• Posting
  Once approved, journals are posted directly to your ERP - clean, documented, and audit-ready.
  
  

• Excel Where It Helps
  Our Excel Assistant reduces a 37-click process for journal uploads to just one. But behind the scenes, controls, context, and audit trails remain intact.
  
  
  

Why This Matters

Automating recons and journals isn’t just about speed. It’s about:

• Accuracy: Reducing human error in high-volume, repetitive processes.
  
  

• Trust: Building audit trails and SOX-compliant workflows into the system itself.
  
  

• Impact: Freeing accountants from manual work so they can focus on exceptions, analysis, and business insight.
  
  
  

The Bigger Vision

These aren’t quick wins—they’re the hardest problems in accounting. But solving them has the biggest payoff.

Our vision is simple:

• Most of the balance sheet reconciled automatically.
  
  

• Journals prepared with context and posted seamlessly.
  
  

• Accountants spend their time on what matters: investigating anomalies, advising the business, and making better decisions.

This is what true accounting automation looks like. Not more dashboards. Not more task trackers. Real work, automated.