Dext launches AI Connector for accounting practices

Dext has launched AI Connector for accounting and bookkeeping practices, giving users access to practice data through Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot.

The feature is available at no extra cost to Dext Advanced partners in the UK, Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

The product is designed to let firms query their own data in plain language, rather than rely on general-purpose AI systems that lack financial context. Users can ask about client cash positions, health scores, workflow bottlenecks, compliance issues, data health and team performance.

AI Connector pulls information from a practice's existing Dext account and returns answers based on the data already held there. Access is read-only and limited by a user's existing Dext permissions, with no ability to alter records through the tool.

How it works

Partners connect the service through their Dext account. AI Connector is listed in the Claude directory, available through ChatGPT plugins and works with Copilot.

Once connected, users can ask questions in natural language, and the chosen AI system retrieves the relevant data from Dext. Dext said only the specific data needed to answer a query is retrieved, after which the response is processed by the selected AI provider, whether OpenAI, Anthropic or Microsoft.

The launch comes as accounting firms use consumer and workplace AI tools more widely in day-to-day work. Dext said that shift has created risks because generic chatbot responses may not reflect a client's actual books or the operational picture across a practice.

Dext already presents this information in dashboards such as Practise Insights and team performance views. AI Connector adds a conversational route to the same data, letting staff ask direct questions in the AI tools they already use.

Examples include asking which clients have the lowest health scores, which clients took the most hours last month, what a client's live cash position looks like ahead of a call, or which clients are missing a dividends account before year-end.

Sabby Gill, Chief Executive Officer at Dext, set out the company's position on the launch.

"General-purpose AI is already part of how many practices work, but it doesn't know a practice's real numbers. AI Connector closes that gap: it puts the same Dext data our users already trust into the AI tools they're already using, so the answer they get back is grounded in their own practice, not a guess. This is an early step, and one we expect to build on," said Gill.

Control and access

Dext said the product has been built to retrieve information, not make decisions for the practice. That distinction matters for accountancy firms handling client records, compliance work, and operational oversight.

The business said AI Connector sits on the same underlying base as its existing AI products, which have been trained on more than 2 billion receipts and invoices collected over 16 years. Dext said that work has focused specifically on accounting data rather than general text.

Stephen Edginton, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Dext, said the feature was intended to support professional judgement rather than replace it.

"AI Connector is built to retrieve, not to decide. It's read-only and permission-aware by design, so a partner gets an answer from their own Dext data, and the practice keeps every judgement call. That's the model we believe AI in accounting should follow, and we'll keep investing here to unlock further value for our users," said Edginton.

Dext also said firms should review the data policies of whichever AI provider they choose to connect to the service. Responses are handled by the external provider selected by the user, and that provider's own rules on data use apply to that exchange.

Dext is owned by IRIS Software Group and says it is used by more than 12,000 accounting and bookkeeping firms and 700,000 businesses worldwide. It processes more than 350 million documents each year.