CFOs are tired of watching their teams drown in email attachments and spreadsheet gymnastics. Here’s the thing: Business Central isn’t just an ERP anymore. It’s becoming an autonomous finance operating system.
But not every workflow is ready for full automation. Let’s break down ten finance processes you can actually trust to AI agents in 2026 without losing sleep over audit trails or compliance violations.
1. Vendor Invoice Processing: The Payables Agent monitors your AP inbox, extracts PDFs using Azure Document Intelligence, and creates draft purchase invoices complete with GL coding. It learns from your corrections, getting smarter with every invoice. You review drafts before posting—full visibility, zero data entry.
2. Intelligent Bank Reconciliation: Copilot matches transactions that standard rules miss, including lump-sum payments split across multiple invoices. For unexplained transactions, it suggests GL accounts based on descriptions like “Fuel Stop 24.” What used to take hours now takes minutes, and your audit trail stays intact.
3. Cash Flow Forecasting: Stop guessing. Azure Machine Learning analyzes your historical patterns, open AR/AP, sales orders, and purchase commitments to predict liquidity 30 to 90 days out. It updates automatically as new data flows in. No more spreadsheet crystal balls.
4. Sales Order Intake: The Sales Order Agent reads unstructured customer emails, identifies the sender, checks real-time inventory, drafts quote with proper pricing, and converts approvals to sales orders. Finance gets clean AR data without manual order entry clogging the pipeline.
5. Collections Prioritization: AI scores outstanding invoices based on customer payment history and behavior patterns. Your collections team knows exactly which accounts need attention today and which can wait. Cash flow improves when you chase the right dollars first.
6. Expense Reimbursement Employees snap receipts via mobile apps. The system calculates mileage automatically using GPS, routes approvals based on spending limits, and posts approved expenses directly to the general journal. No more expense report babysitting.
7. Fixed Asset Management: Posting a bulk equipment purchase? Business Central now auto-generates individual fixed asset cards for each item. Depreciation calculates across straight-line or declining balance methods automatically. Track maintenance schedules and disposals without manual sub-ledgers.
8. Inter-company Reconciliation: The Financial Reconciliation Agent matches transactions between legal entities, flags discrepancies across subsidiaries, and identifies unreconciled items using AI-suggested attributes. Month-end consolidation stops being a nightmare.
9. E-Document Processing: Incoming e-invoices via PEPPOL networks flow straight into Business Central. The system validates tax calculations against regional rules and routes documents for approval. Touch less processing meets compliance requirements.
10. Audit Trail Generation: New in Wave 2, the Audit Trail report provides a printable, formal record of every transaction touch, change, and posting across GL Registers and Entries. Auditors get transparency without you digging through tables.
What this really means is that your team can finally focus on analysis instead of data entry. These aren’t experimental features—they’re production-ready capabilities built with governance and oversight at their core.
At Direction Software LLP, we’ve spent 25 years implementing customized solutions across multiple technologies including Microsoft Business Solutions and we understand that AI agents only work when your underlying data structure is solid. Our experienced consultants focus on configuring Business Central properly before flipping the autopilot switch, ensuring you get the best solution for your business. Interested in learning more?
Contact us today for a demo or a customized quote, and stay connected with us on social media for the latest updates on Business Central capabilities.
About the author:
Biju Kurup
Biju Kurup is the Head of Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics Navision at Direction Software. With over 25 years of experience in the tech industry, he has been a part of Direction Software for more than 17 years. Biju excels at assisting clients in solving real-life problems and overcoming daily challenges by developing effective, technology-driven solutions