Guide for Controllers and Finance Managers
As a Controller or Finance Manager in Clerked, you have strategic oversight of the AP process. You monitor performance, ensure GL coding accuracy, audit approval chains, and manage entity configurations.
What you can do with Clerked
Clerked gives you instant visibility into the AP operation and the controls to enforce financial accuracy.
- Review configured spend, operations, and payment metrics in Insights when your company role includes Insights.
- Audit any invoice in seconds. The activity log traces the full history from arrival to ERP sync, including every edit, approval, and rule that fired.
- Ensure GL coding accuracy. Use the Agent to enforce coding standards and review suggested codes on any invoice.
- Control what blocks an invoice with validation rules.
- Set up controls that enforce your policies through approval chains and role-based access.
Your responsibilities
- Monitor AP processing metrics: volume, accuracy, turnaround.
- Ensure GL coding accuracy and review the Agent's suggestions on high-value invoices.
- Audit approval chains and confirm invoices followed the right policy.
- Manage entity configurations: features, integrations, and access.
- Review security and access regularly.
Your role in Clerked
Controllers and Finance Managers usually have the Administrator or Controller company role.
| Permission | Access |
|---|---|
| View all invoices, POs, receipts | Yes |
| Edit and upload invoices | Yes |
| Approve or reject invoices | Yes |
| Manage Agents and Agent Memories | Yes |
| Manage approval policies | Yes |
| Delete, restore, validate, and reroute invoices | Yes |
| Manage fields, Agents, and Agent Memories | Yes |
| Configure validation checks | Yes |
| View Insights | Administrator yes; Controller no by default |
| Manage organization users | Primary Administrator only by default |
For the full breakdown, see User Roles.
Key features you use
- Insights. Company metrics when your role includes Insights, within the current Insights scope.
- Insights Metrics. How metric cards, periods, scopes, and breakdowns work.
- Approval Policies. Set up and audit approval chains.
- GL Coding. Review and manage chart of accounts and coding accuracy.
- ERP Data. Browse the reference lists configured for the company.
- Validation. Configure which checks block invoices.
- Entity Settings. Configure entity-level features and settings.
- Security. Data protection, encryption, and access controls.
Daily workflow
- If your role includes Insights, open Insights and review the current company's configured metrics and assigned scope.
- Look at metrics and watch for spikes in errors or aging.
- Spot-check approval chains. Confirm invoices were routed through the correct approval policies and approved by the right people.
- Review GL coding accuracy. Check the agent's suggested codes on high-value invoices.
- Review user access periodically and confirm roles follow least-privilege.
Common tasks
Review Insights metrics
When your role includes Insights, open Insights, then choose a section, period, and available breakdown. See Metrics for definitions and methodology.
Set up approval policies
Define approval chains with the conditions configured for your company. See Create a policy and Edit policies.
Audit invoice history
Open any invoice and check the activity log. It records when the invoice was uploaded, who reviewed it, what was edited, which rules fired, and who approved it. The audit trail is on every invoice.
Review GL coding
Confirm invoices code to the correct GL accounts and dimensions. Review the agent's suggestions and any manual overrides. See GL Coding.
Manage entities
If your organization runs more than one entity, configure each one independently. See Entities and Entity Features.
Tips
- Review metrics weekly. Trends over time matter more than daily spikes. See Insights Metrics.
- Audit high-value invoices. Focus your approval chain reviews on invoices above a threshold where errors hurt the most.
- Keep approval policies simple. Complex policies with overlapping conditions are hard to maintain. Start narrow and expand only when needed.
- Use the Agent for consistent coding. Agent instructions reduce manual coding errors across the team.
- Review access quarterly. Use entity users to remove departed employees and update roles for people who changed positions.
Frequently asked questions
How are Insights metrics calculated?
Each metric comes from the platform metric registry and the current company schema. See Insights Metrics for periods, scope, breakdowns, and worklist links.
How do I audit an invoice's full history?
Open the invoice detail page and look at the activity log. Every event is timestamped: upload, AI extraction, edits, rule executions, notice resolutions, approvals, ERP sync. Every action shows the user who performed it.
How do I keep GL coding consistent?
Combine Agent instructions for automated coding, the agent's suggestions, and manual review for high-value invoices. The agent's coding accuracy improves over time as it learns from your corrections.
Can I see metrics across multiple entities?
Insights appears only when the selected company's role includes the Insights action. It shows that company's metrics within your assigned Insights scope. Use the company switcher to change companies.