Connect Exact Online to ChatGPT or Claude: how it works

More and more business owners ask it: can I connect Exact Online to ChatGPT or Claude, so AI sorts out my invoices or answers my questions about the accounts? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is about how, because that is where handy and risky part ways.

Can ChatGPT or Claude work directly in Exact Online?

Not just like that. ChatGPT and Claude are language models: they read and write text. They know nothing about your accounts until something gives them that data. That happens in three ways:

1. You copy data into a chat. Pasting an export from Exact into ChatGPT. It works for a one-off question, but you share your accounts with a general chat service, and nobody tracks what happens to that data.
2. A third-party tool hangs the chatbot on Exact. There are connectors that give a chatbot access to your bookkeeping. Check what that tool may do: only read, or also book and delete?
3. An AI agent works through the official Exact connection. The agent gets its own user with only the rights it needs for its task. What it reads and what it prepares is set in advance. Under the hood it uses a language model like the one behind ChatGPT or Claude.

The first two look faster. The third is what you want when it comes to your accounts.

What can an AI agent do in Exact Online?

An agent does the repetitive work and prepares the result. You or your accountant approves. Examples:

• Preparing purchase invoices. The agent takes invoices from the mailbox, reads them and prepares the booking with the right supplier and ledger account.
• Preparing reconciliation. Which transactions have no invoice yet? The agent finds out and prepares a reminder per customer or supplier. That is how Buro Zondag does it.
• Answering questions about the accounts. "Has supplier X's invoice been paid?" The agent looks it up and prepares the answer.
• Checks before the VAT return. Flagging unusual rates or double bookings before you file.

More examples are on Exact Online and AI and in invoice verification in Exact Online.

Is it safe?

That depends on the approach. Three questions to ask, for any solution:

• Which rights does the AI get? Only reading, or also booking? An agent that prepares and does not book by itself can do little harm.
• Where does your data go? With a business subscription from OpenAI or Anthropic, your input is not used to train models by default. With a free consumer version that is different.
• Who checks the result? A person approves before anything ends up in your accounts.

More on how we arrange that is on security and management.

What does an AI connection for Exact Online cost?

Your first AI agent costs €750 fixed, with at most two connections, for example Exact Online and your mailbox. It is live within two weeks of the intake. Hosting and maintenance is from €50 per month per agent. A larger project, with more connections or steps, also starts from €750; the connections are then priced per piece in the quote.

How do you start?

Start with one task that comes back every week, such as purchase invoices or reconciliation. Describe that task and you get an AI agent design: which steps, which connections, what the agent prepares and what you check. The UnifyAI Agent does that in a few minutes. Want to know how connecting works in general first? Read connect Exact Online to AI.

Sources

• Exact Online developer documentation, Exact
• Enterprise privacy at OpenAI, OpenAI
• Commercial terms of service, Anthropic