How is an AI-prepared reconciliation reviewed before sign-off?

Short answer

Like a staff accountant's work: the reviewer confirms balances tie to source, tests a sample of matches, clears every exception, and checks what the agent did.

An AI-prepared reconciliation gets the same review as one prepared by a staff accountant. The difference is where the reviewer spends time: less on re-performing matches, and more on testing them and on the items the agent couldn't resolve.

Confirm the tie-outs

Opening balance: Agrees to last period's reconciled ending balance.
Ledger balance: Agrees to the trial balance for the account and period.
Source balance: Agrees to the actual bank statement or subledger, for the correct date.
Check cell: Adjusted ledger and adjusted source balances are equal, or the difference equals the open exceptions.

Test a sample of matches

The reviewer picks matches across the period and traces each one to the bank line and the GL entry. The sample is weighted toward riskier items: large amounts, many-to-one matches, matches where dates or amounts differ, and anything near period end. If one sample match is wrong, the sample is widened before approval.

Work through the exceptions

Every unmatched item needs a cause and a proposed resolution. Timing items are confirmed as genuine and expected to clear next period. For true differences, the proposed correcting entry is checked for the right account, amount, and period. The reviewer also looks for items that were matched to make the reconciliation tie when they belonged on the exceptions list.

Check the record of the work

The reviewer confirms what data the agent pulled, which period and accounts it used, and any assumptions it made or questions it raised. Formulas in the workpaper are checked to make sure they reference the underlying data rather than hardcoded values.

What reviewers check in Ramp Stack

With Ramp Stack, the reviewer starts with the workpaper the agent built, a formula-backed workbook they can inspect and edit, then reads the Session Audit Log, which records each step the agent took in plain English. The last step happens in QuickBooks Online: Stack syncs cleared items but cannot mark transactions as reconciled, so the reviewer marks the reconciliation complete there after sign-off. Proposed entries post to QuickBooks Online, NetSuite, or Sage Intacct only after the reviewer approves them.