Agentic Bookkeeping

Hours, payroll, and invoices live in three systems. The bridge between them was a person retyping numbers that already existed. Now an agent reads the approved hours once, writes both sides of the week, and both sides tie before anyone opens the file.

Robotic hands working a calculator and checking a ledger
One month of build. One bookkeeper seat retired.Running on Method3's own books every week.

What we removed

The job was never bookkeeping. It was retyping.

The seat existed because three systems could not agree on a number without a human in the middle. That is an integration problem, and integration is what we do.

Friday, before

  • Pull an hours report out of the timekeeping system by hand
  • Retype the week into the payroll processor's import format
  • Retype the same week again as invoice lines, one client at a time
  • Look up pay rate and bill rate per person, per placement
  • Total the clients in a side spreadsheet to check the first spreadsheet
  • Find the two rows that disagree, then start the check again
  • Invoices leave Tuesday or Wednesday, on a good week
  • When one person is on vacation, the close waits for them

Friday, now

  • Hours read once
  • Payroll and invoices the same afternoon
  • Totals tie by construction
  • One screen. One signature.

What we see every Friday

An example week

One workbook, two sheets: the payroll import and the invoice run. Names, clients, and rates are invented. The arithmetic is real, computed live on this page.

method3-close-2026-09-18.xlsxWeek ending Friday 18 September
Payroll import sheet for the sample week, one row per approved hours record
RecordStatusNameClientCodeHoursPay rateAmountNote
H-48210ApprovedDana WhitfieldKeystone Mutual InsuranceR140.0$68.00$2,720.00
H-48213ApprovedDana WhitfieldKeystone Mutual InsuranceO13.5$102.00$357.00Release window, approved
H-48214ApprovedMarcus ElleryKeystone Mutual InsuranceR140.0$52.50$2,100.00
H-48217ApprovedPriya RamanKeystone Mutual InsuranceR136.0$57.00$2,052.00Four day week, no assumed 40
H-48220ApprovedNeil HargroveKeystone Mutual InsuranceR140.0$63.00$2,520.00
H-48223ApprovedCallie RutherfordKeystone Mutual InsuranceR140.0$49.00$1,960.00
H-48226ApprovedCurtis NakamuraHarborline LogisticsR140.0$74.00$2,960.00
H-48229ApprovedAlicia FontaineHarborline LogisticsR140.0$66.00$2,640.00
H-48232ApprovedAlicia FontaineHarborline LogisticsO16.0$99.00$594.00Cutover weekend
H-48233ApprovedRosa VillalobosHarborline LogisticsR140.0$48.00$1,920.00
H-48236SubmittedDominique SaylesHarborline LogisticsR140.0$55.00heldSubmitted Saturday. Held.
H-48239ApprovedTerrance BoydCumberland Health PartnersR140.0$61.00$2,440.00
H-48242ApprovedSimone GuerreroCumberland Health PartnersR132.0$44.00$1,408.00Part time on the placement
H-48245ApprovedWes TrimbleCumberland Health PartnersR140.0$38.50$1,540.00
H-48248ApprovedYvette KarrasCumberland Health PartnersR140.0$72.00$2,880.00
H-48251ApprovedYvette KarrasCumberland Health PartnersO14.0$108.00$432.00Go live support
H-48252ApprovedOmar HaddadiCumberland Health PartnersR140.0$64.00$2,560.00
H-48255ApprovedIngrid SolbergVantage Grid SystemsR140.0$79.00$3,160.00
H-48258SubmittedJoel AbernathyVantage Grid SystemsR138.0$41.00heldApprover out Friday. Held.
H-48261ApprovedMartin OkaforVantage Grid SystemsR140.0$69.00$2,760.00
H-48264ApprovedIsaac LindqvistVantage Grid SystemsR140.0$73.00$2,920.00
H-48267ApprovedTabitha OyelowoVantage Grid SystemsR136.0$45.00$1,620.00
H-48270ApprovedLena BrzezinskiAllegheny Precision CastingsR140.0$71.00$2,840.00
H-48273ApprovedLena BrzezinskiAllegheny Precision CastingsO18.0$106.50$852.00Line changeover
H-48274ApprovedDwight CastellanoAllegheny Precision CastingsR140.0$46.00$1,840.00
H-48277ApprovedFiona McArdleAllegheny Precision CastingsR140.0$53.00$2,120.00
H-48280ApprovedElias RuhlandAllegheny Precision CastingsR140.0$70.00$2,800.00
H-48283ApprovedArturo DelgadoSusquehanna Trust BankR140.0$81.00$3,240.00
H-48286ApprovedHannah WexlerSusquehanna Trust BankR140.0$58.00$2,320.00
H-48289ApprovedBertram OyelaranSusquehanna Trust BankR124.0$77.00$1,848.00Wind down, three days
H-48292ApprovedPeter VandermeerSusquehanna Trust BankR140.0$59.00$2,360.00
H-48295ApprovedNaomi StrandSusquehanna Trust BankR140.0$84.00$3,360.00
H-48298ApprovedSylvia ThorpeBrightline Pharma ServicesR140.0$76.00$3,040.00
H-48301ApprovedRaj BhattacharyaBrightline Pharma ServicesR140.0$67.00$2,680.00
H-48304ApprovedRaj BhattacharyaBrightline Pharma ServicesO12.5$100.50$251.25Batch record deadline
H-48305ApprovedGeorgia PellBrightline Pharma ServicesR130.0$42.00$1,260.00Three quarter schedule
Held, not approved, not paid (2)78.0$0.00
Approved, week ending 2026-09-181142.0$72,354.25
Contractors
31
Clients
7
Payroll hours
1142.0
Invoice hours
1142.0
Paid
$72,354.25
Billed
$109,997.25
Gross margin
$37,643.00 34.2%

Green is approved and moves. Blue is submitted and waits.

What the file proves

The two sheets tie

1,142.0 hours paid, 1,142.0 hours billed. Identical by construction, not reconciled after.

Held rows stay visible

78 unapproved hours sit on the sheet, tinted, out of both totals until someone signs.

Margin falls out for free

Pay and bill rate share a row, so margin arrives with the invoices: 34.2 percent this week.

The arithmetic

What the seat was costing

Two numbers, both computable. Neither of them is a slide.

$55k to $70ka year, fully loaded

Market rate for a full charge bookkeeper whose Friday was mostly data entry.

$62,683of cash, permanently forward

Four days off every invoice. On $5.72M a year of billing, that is cash that stops waiting.

Annual billings, divided by 365, times the days you stopped waiting.

Why it holds up

A close is a pipeline, not a personality

Four rules. That is the whole design.

Approved hours are the only source

Unsigned time does not pay, does not bill, and never quietly becomes 40.

Pay and bill are one read

Two views of the same data, so drift between them cannot be created.

Rates live on the placement

Change a rate once and both sides of the week move together.

The run stops instead of guessing

A missing rate halts the run and names the row. Loud on Friday beats quiet in March.

Where the people went

We retired a seat, not a judgment

The clerical work is gone. The accountability is not.

  • Exceptions and rate changes, which are decisions, not data entry
  • The sign off, before payroll leaves and invoices post
  • Cash, margin, and collections: the work finance people trained for

What it touches

Four integrations and a signature

  • Timekeeping system: approved hours
  • Placement record: pay rate, bill rate, client
  • Payroll processor: its native import file
  • Accounting system: invoices by client
  • Our portal: one person signs the week

Works with whatever ATS, payroll, and ledger you already pay for.

Want your Friday back?

We run this on our own books every week. We will show it to you first.