AI agents for business finance: what they can and can't do
What AI agents can do in bookkeeping, close, collections and compliance today, where a person must stay in charge, and how to judge a product.
The short answer
Segregation of duties means no single person can both make a payment and hide it: authorising, paying, recording and reconciling sit with different people. With two staff in Lagos you cannot split all four, so split the two that matter most (paying and reconciling), add the owner as approver above a set amount, and use compensating controls such as monthly statement review and system logs.
The four duties
Internal control frameworks such as GAO's Green Book (2025 revision, effective from fiscal year 2026) are written for US federal agencies, but GAO says non-federal bodies may adopt them, and the logic of separating duties is the same for a small business. Every payment involves four jobs:
- Authorise
- Decide the payment is due and approve it.
- Execute
- Release the money from the bank.
- Record
- Enter it in the books with the supporting document.
- Reconcile and review
- Check the bank statement against the books and question anything odd.
Fraud and costly error happen when one person holds two of these that should check each other, most often executing and reconciling. That person can pay something and make the books agree afterwards.
Splitting duties with two people
Suppose the Lagos office has an office manager and an accounts officer, and the owner is in the US.
| Duty | Office manager | Accounts officer | Owner (US) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raise payment request with invoice | Yes | ||
| Approve under the ceiling | Yes | ||
| Approve above the ceiling | Yes | ||
| Release payment in the bank | Yes | ||
| Record in the books | Yes | ||
| Monthly bank reconciliation | Yes | ||
| Review reconciliation and statement | Yes | ||
| Add or change a supplier's bank details | Yes, after a call-back |
The person who releases money does not reconcile it, and the person who reconciles does not release it. The owner holds the two powers that matter most from a distance: large approvals and changes to where money goes.
Compensating controls when you cannot split
Sometimes one person must do two jobs: a holiday, a resignation, a busy month. Then add checks that do not depend on headcount:
- Owner reads every bank statement in full each month, not a summary prepared by staff.
- Bank or app alerts for every debit go to the owner as well as to staff.
- A fixed list of approved suppliers, with bank details changed only by the owner.
- Payment limits set in the banking system, not only in a policy document.
- Every payment linked to an invoice or payroll record before it is released.
- A surprise review of a sample of payments each quarter, by the owner or an outside accountant.
When the owner is the bottleneck
A common objection is that putting the owner on every large approval and every supplier change will slow the Lagos office down, especially across time zones. Three things keep it moving. First, set the ceiling high enough that routine spending never waits. Second, batch: salaries, rent and monthly supplier runs can be approved once each. Third, name a deputy approver (a co-founder, a finance lead, a trusted board member) for when the owner is travelling, with the same limits written down. What you should not do is let the person who pays approve their own payments because the owner was unreachable. That is exactly the gap a fraudster or a careless month exploits.
A worked example: setting the ceiling
Example only. The office spends about ₦6,000,000 a month: ₦3,500,000 salaries, ₦1,200,000 diesel and internet, ₦800,000 rent set aside and ₦500,000 sundries. A ceiling of ₦250,000 per payment means everyday items run without waiting for New York, while salaries, rent and any large supplier payment come to the owner. If salaries are paid as one batch of ₦3,500,000, the owner approves one batch a month, which takes minutes. Check: 3.5m + 1.2m + 0.8m + 0.5m = ₦6.0m.
Records that make the control real
A control that leaves no record is hard to prove to an auditor or a tax officer. Nigeria's NTAA 2025 s.31 requires books and records sufficient to determine tax liability, kept at least six years. The IRS says purchases, sales and payroll generate supporting documents you need for your books (recordkeeping page, May 2026). Keep, for each payment: the request, the invoice, who approved it and when, and the bank confirmation. Approvals given in chat apps are weak evidence; see payment approvals by WhatsApp.
What to set up this month
- Write a one-page authority matrix like the table above and have each person sign it.
- Set the ceiling and the user roles in the banking system itself.
- Route all debit alerts to the owner.
- Move supplier bank-detail changes to the owner, with a call-back to a known number. See fraudulent bank change requests.
- Book a monthly 30-minute statement review in the owner's calendar.
Where Pryme fits
Pryme Business Accounts come with agents built by Pryme Intelligence. The Finance agent and Chief of Staff prepare payments and reconciliations; a person approves above a set ceiling, and every action is recorded. Security uses an authenticator app and a transaction PIN, described on security.
Questions people ask
What is segregation of duties in accounting?
Splitting authorising, paying, recording and reconciling between different people so that no one person can make and conceal an error or a theft.
How do you segregate duties with only two employees?
Keep paying and reconciling with different people, put the owner on approvals above a ceiling and on supplier bank changes, and add monthly owner review of full bank statements.
What are compensating controls?
Checks that reduce risk when duties cannot be split, such as owner review of statements, debit alerts, system payment limits and surprise sample reviews.
How long should a Nigerian office keep payment records?
At least six years after the year of assessment under NTAA 2025 s.31.
Sources
- GAO: The Green Book, Standards for Internal Control (2025 revision, effective FY2026) · accessed Oct 2026
- IRS: Recordkeeping (reviewed 1 May 2026) · accessed Oct 2026
- Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025 (gazette copy) · accessed Oct 2026
This article is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Products described are provided under the terms on this site and are subject to regulation and eligibility.