Guide for Controllers & Finance Managers
As a Controller or Finance Manager in Mod AI, you have strategic oversight of the accounts payable process. You monitor AP performance, ensure GL coding accuracy, audit approval chains, and manage entity configurations. This guide covers the features and workflows that matter most to you.
What You Can Do with Mod AI
Mod AI gives you instant visibility into your entire AP operation and the controls to enforce financial accuracy. Here is what you can do:
- Get real-time AP metrics — processing volume, success rates, turnaround times, and error rates all on your dashboard
- Audit any invoice in seconds — trace an invoice's complete history from arrival to ERP sync, including every edit, approval, and rule execution
- Ensure GL coding accuracy — use rules to enforce coding standards and review AI-suggested codes on any invoice
- Monitor ERP sync health — verify that approved invoices are flowing to your ERP without errors
- Set up controls that enforce your policies — approval chains, role-based access, and automated rules that run on every invoice
Your Responsibilities
As a Controller or Finance Manager, you focus on:
- Monitoring AP processing metrics — tracking volume, accuracy, and turnaround times
- Ensuring GL coding accuracy — verifying that invoices are coded to the correct accounts
- Auditing approval chains — confirming that invoices followed the correct approval process
- Managing entity configurations — setting up entities, features, and integrations
- Overseeing ERP synchronization — ensuring approved invoices sync correctly to your ERP
- Reviewing security and access — ensuring the right people have the right access
Your Role in Mod AI
Controllers and Finance Managers typically have the Admin or Manager entity role, giving you full visibility and configuration access.
| Permission | Access |
|---|---|
| View all invoices, POs, receipts | Yes |
| Edit and upload invoices | Yes |
| Approve or reject invoices | Yes |
| Manage vendors, rules, and policies | Yes |
| Manage users | Yes |
| Manage entity settings | Admin only |
For a full breakdown of all roles and permissions, see Understanding User Roles.
Key Features You'll Use
- Dashboard & Metrics — High-level view of AP performance across your entities
- Dashboard Metrics — Detailed breakdowns of processing volume, success rates, and trends
- Approval Policies — Set up and audit approval chains
- GL Coding — Review and manage chart of accounts and coding accuracy
- Chart of Accounts — Manage your GL structure and dimensions
- Integrations & ERP — Monitor ERP connection status and sync health
- Entity Settings — Configure entity-level features and settings
- Security — Understand data protection, encryption, and access controls
Daily Workflow
Here is what a typical day looks like for a Controller or Finance Manager:
- Review the dashboard — Open the Dashboard to check processing volume, success rates, and pending items across your entities.
- Check processing success rates — Look at metrics to identify any spikes in errors or reprocessing rates.
- Audit approval chains — Spot-check invoices to confirm they were routed through the correct approval policies and approved by the right people.
- Review GL coding accuracy — Check that the AI-suggested GL codes are accurate, especially for high-value invoices.
- Check ERP sync status — Verify that approved invoices are syncing to your ERP without errors.
- Review user access — Periodically check entity users to ensure roles are up to date and follow the principle of least privilege.
Common Tasks
1. Review Dashboard KPIs
Open the Dashboard for a summary of your AP operations. Key metrics include invoices processed, average processing time, approval turnaround, and error rates. See Metrics for definitions and how each metric is calculated.
2. Set Up Approval Policies
Define approval chains based on invoice amount, vendor, or department. Higher-value invoices can require multi-level approval. See Creating a Policy for step-by-step instructions and Editing Policies for updates.
3. Audit Invoice History
Open any invoice and review its full history, including when it was uploaded, who reviewed it, what edits were made, which rules fired, and who approved it. This audit trail is available on every invoice.
4. Review GL Coding
Check that invoices are coded to the correct GL accounts and dimensions. Review the AI-suggested codes and any manual overrides. See GL Coding for how the coding system works.
5. Check Integration Status
Go to Integrations to see the status of your ERP connection. Check for sync errors and verify that your supported ERP is connected and healthy. See Connecting Your ERP if you need to set up or reconfigure the connection.
6. Manage Entities
If your organization has multiple entities, you can configure each one independently. See Entities for how to manage entity settings, and Entity Features for toggling entity-specific functionality.
Tips & Best Practices
- Review metrics weekly, not just daily. Trends over time are more useful than individual data points. Use Dashboard Metrics to spot patterns.
- Audit high-value invoices. Focus your approval chain audits on invoices above a certain threshold where errors have the greatest financial impact.
- Keep approval policies simple. Complex policies with many overlapping conditions are harder to maintain and debug. Start simple and add complexity only as needed. See How Approvals Work.
- Set up rules for consistent coding. Use rules to enforce GL coding standards across your team, reducing manual coding errors.
- Review access quarterly. Check entity users periodically to remove departed employees and update roles for people who have changed positions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are dashboard metrics calculated?
Each metric has a specific calculation methodology. See Dashboard Metrics for the exact definitions, time periods, and what is included or excluded from each calculation.
How do I audit an invoice's full history?
Open the invoice detail page and look at the activity log. It shows every event: upload, AI extraction, edits, rule executions, notice resolutions, approval decisions, and ERP sync. Every action includes a timestamp and the user who performed it.
How do I ensure GL coding accuracy?
Use a combination of rules for automated coding, AI suggestions from the Coding Agent, and manual review for high-value invoices. Over time, the AI learns from your corrections and improves its suggestions.
Can I see metrics across multiple entities?
Yes. The Dashboard shows metrics for the entity you are currently viewing. If you have access to multiple entities, you can switch between them to compare performance.