Could your company’s accountant just be AI? Kätlin Päll answers in Postimees

Have you ever copied last month’s invoice in Excel at the end of the month and just changed the number? Many new entrepreneurs use the latest tools in their work, yet still create invoices the same way they did twenty years ago.

In Postimees’ special project on business software, Kätlin Päll, CEO of Finbite and Bilnex, took on a question many business owners have been wondering about: how much of your bookkeeping can you hand over to AI today? Here are a few thoughts from the interview that stuck with us the most.

Read the full interview in Postimees (in Estonian)

An invoice is more than a PDF

Invoicing feels like the dullest part of running a business: you create it, send it off and forget about it. But that’s exactly where all your bookkeeping begins. A PDF invoice has to be entered into a system by hand later, and that time costs money, even if nobody ever records it as an expense. With ten invoices a month you barely notice it, but as your client list grows, so does the invisible manual work.

AI takes over the routine, but not the responsibility

The good news is that much of the work around invoices can already be automated. For smaller companies, Bilnex can already enter invoices on its own and, for example, prepare the VAT return. Accountants aren’t going anywhere. They simply spend their time advising business owners instead of entering data. There is one thing no software can take on, though, and that’s responsibility.

Change starts with the receiver, not the sender

The interview has another point that surprises many people. Plenty of e-invoices are already being sent in Estonia, yet only around 20,000 companies are set up to receive them. Once your company starts receiving e-invoices, you’re also legally entitled to request them from your suppliers, and that’s how the change moves down the chain.

So could a small company’s accountant just be AI?

Kätlin’s answer is more nuanced than a simple yes or no. In the Postimees article, she also talks about why Latvia and Lithuania are behind Estonia in adopting e-invoicing, what the EU’s 2030 rules mean for businesses and where Bilnex is heading next.

Ready to put Excel aside? Try Bilnex for free. Send and receive PDF invoices, e-invoices and Peppol invoices, let AI enter your purchase invoices and prepare your VAT return right in Bilnex.