AI consulting
I help implement AI systems in your finance function, write the policy and controls that govern them, and hand them over to your team. Each engagement is scoped after a first conversation at no charge and quoted as a fixed fee.
I reply within one working day.
Approach
If the ledger is wrong, AI only produces the wrong answer faster. Every engagement starts with the records and adds AI last.
First
The scoping review checks the records and the systems and says what is broken, what it costs and what to fix first.
The scoping review ↓Second
Invoices in and out captured by the system rather than retyped, and creditors and debtors running inside the ERP before anything else is added.
ERP and accounting systems →Third
Dashboards that stay current, a brief each morning, models that answer the question the bank will ask, and agents where they fit and nowhere else.
See the work →Services
Each service can be bought on its own or follow on from the scoping review. Each is quoted as a fixed fee once the scope is agreed.
Scoping
Before any AI work starts, I review your data, systems and finance processes to decide where AI fits, what has to be fixed first and what the work involves. You receive a written scope with the order of work and a fixed fee quote for each part.
Fixed feeQuoted after a first conversation at no charge
Implementation
I join your project team on the finance side of an AI or system rollout, drawing on ERP projects I have implemented or run, including IFS Cloud, Sage X3, SAP and PeopleSoft. I help define what finance needs, test the workflows on real month end data and prepare the finance team to use them.
Where it fits, I also build an AI workflow on the systems you already own, such as a month end dashboard, a reporting pack or a reconciliation run by an agent, with its documentation and a walkthrough for your team.
Fixed feeQuoted once the scope is agreed
Policy
A written policy for your firm setting out which AI tools are approved, what data may be used in them, who reviews AI output before it is relied on and what is logged, drafted to sit alongside your existing policies and POPIA.
Fixed feeQuoted once the scope is agreed
Controls
A risk and control matrix for your use of AI, with each control tested and the evidence kept on file for your auditor.
Fixed feeQuoted once the scope is agreed
Monitoring
A review routine for the AI tools your team relies on: testing against answers already known, rechecking after vendor updates and keeping a log of what changed.
Fixed feeQuoted once the scope is agreed
Business case
One process assessed, the time saved measured against the cost of the tools, and the case set out with its risks and controls on one page for your board or MD.
Fixed feeQuoted once the scope is agreed
Together, the policy, the controls and the review routine form your AI governance framework, written for your firm rather than adapted from a template.
Scope
An engagement can be scoped at any of these levels, depending on your systems and how far your team wants to go. I work at all three every day in my own finance work.
Level one
Questions, drafting and analysis against your own documents, in a chat with the AI.
Level two
The AI works inside your files and systems alongside the person doing the work, preparing a daily brief, checking reconciliations or drafting the monthly pack for review.
Level three
Dashboards, financial models and automations written, tested and handed over as software the business owns.
Engagement
Your team learns the workflow at the desk, on live work, with the person who owns each task. For most teams this starts with a training day.
Complete when your team runs the workflow without me.
The system is scoped from the scoping review, built on the software you already own, documented and handed over with a walkthrough.
Complete when it runs on your systems and your team owns it.
One function, such as the debtor follow up or the monthly close checklist, is run with your team for a full cycle and then handed over with the instructions to repeat it.
Complete when the function runs a full cycle without me.
The first conversation is at no charge. All the work on this page is done on a fixed fee, quoted once the scope is agreed, so you know the full cost before anything starts.
Enquire
Tell me which systems you use and what you want AI to handle. I will reply within one working day to arrange a first conversation, at no charge.
fransua@kantonwest.com · +27 83 480 9301 · Cape Town
Fransua van der WesthuizenOwner & Principal
