CLOUDCFO, INC., a Manila-based outsourcing firm, is integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its accounting products to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) gain valuable insights into their financial performance.

CloudCFO Chief Executive Officer Mickael Cardoso, who has worked with several multinational companies for years, co-founded the company in 2016 to help SMEs, which often faced long waiting times to generate financial reports.

“I’ve always found it insightful and actually interesting that most business owners operate this way — they work hard day to day, committing their financial resources, time, effort and sweat, but they don’t really know how things are going,” he told BusinessWorld.

“That’s kind of what we’re trying to unlock… We want them to know [their performance] every month, week, or even quarterly. ‘OK, I’m on the right track, and here’s how I can correct it.’”

CloudCFO offers accounting and financial services including bookkeeping, tax compliance, payroll processing, financial reporting and payment management. It also provides specialized corporate services such as management support tailored to each business, primarily SMEs.

As part of its AI integration, CloudCFO analyzes documents uploaded by clients to its platform, identifies their type — such as invoices — and cross-references these with past transactions and supplier records.

The system then determines how to handle similar cases based on historical data, automating the process without requiring manual inputs from accountants.

CloudCFO also uses the data to predict and streamline how certain situations should be handled for their clients.

“This really creates a lot of efficiency gains for us and potentially increases accuracy and faster turnaround times for customers,” Mr. Cardoso said.

The integration of AI elevates the role of accountants, he said, noting that they have spent a painstaking amount of time organizing and categorizing documents to ensure that files are properly stored for future access.

“It frees up time for more value-adding work, such as advisory and customer support,” the CEO said. “That’s what we’re excited about, and that’s what we see as revolutionary. The role of accountants will have to be reinvented, thanks to AI.”

After the automated bookkeeping process, CloudCFO ensures the accuracy of the data by getting these reviewed by their accountants and posting them to the customers’ accounts.

The company now has 300 clients, mostly SMEs in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, with plans to expand globally.

“We do want to expand abroad because we see the value of what we can bring and solve the problems and challenges that SMEs face in other markets, notably the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand,” Mr. Cardoso said. — Edg Adrian A. Eva