Evaluate an AI financial assistant through one real ecommerce task

Start with a difficult step in the existing process

Establish what your ERP, marketplace tools and accounting software already do, and where people still spend time. For example, settlement exports may already be available, while linking fees, later-month refunds and bank receipts remains manual.

Do not assume ERP systems only record transactions. Microsoft’s Business Central documentation, for example, describes financial reporting, analytics and performance indicators. Compare against the capabilities your business actually uses, rather than an artificially weakened baseline. See Microsoft’s financial analytics overview.

Choose a task with a clear boundary, accessible source evidence and results a finance professional can check. Suitable starting points include explaining one store’s monthly settlement differences or reviewing a campaign’s contribution. Combining every store, tax and historical accounting correction into the first evaluation makes the outcome hard to assess.

Compare using the same evidence

Choose a completed business period. Preserve original files, sources, export filters, currency and time coverage. A finance professional familiar with the business should independently prepare reference findings and unresolved issues. Those findings also need evidence; an existing spreadsheet is not automatically correct.

Both approaches should receive the same inputs and authorization. Supply genuine business rules to the assistant, but do not give it the reference answer and count a restatement as independent analysis. Use an actually supported and authorized connection where login is needed. Do not copy another person’s account or use information you are not entitled to provide.

Include normal records and relevant difficulties, such as refunds in a later month, different events sharing an order number, settlement fees or unexplained adjustments. Missing information should be identified rather than guessed. If you create an additional test scenario, label it as a test copy and preserve the official originals.

The NIST AI Risk Management Framework 1.0 connects accuracy assessment with realistic evidence representative of intended use and a documented method. This guide applies that principle to a business trial. It implies no NIST certification of a financial product, and the framework is not a source of Chinese accounting or tax treatment.

Try a specific settlement-reconciliation request

The following is an example assignment, not work already completed for a customer:

> Reconcile this store’s marketplace settlements with bank receipts for this month. Distinguish refunds, fees, timing differences and amounts that remain unexplained, with traceable records. Show the issues requiring action first, then details our finance staff can review. Identify specific missing information. Analyze only; do not change official accounts or initiate payments.

Assess whether the deliverable supports actual use: owners should understand what needs attention, and finance staff should be able to locate the records and reasoning. Response length, chart count and specialist vocabulary are poor substitutes for that assessment.

These are acceptance checks for the chosen task, not a claim that any product has passed them.

Test new evidence and a correction

After the first result, supply a previously missing settlement adjustment that genuinely belongs to the selected period. Check whether the assistant updates affected findings, retains established facts and explains which differences remain unresolved.

Next, correct a mistaken interpretation: for example, a field represents cumulative refunds rather than refunds in the current event. Check that interpretation and calculations actually change. A reply saying “remembered” is insufficient. The revised work should remain traceable, without silently changing the period or overwriting originals.

To test a new month, supply another period and verify that earlier rules still apply before reusing them. Continuity must be observed through this follow-up work. One correct result cannot establish reliability across every store, month and transaction type.

Include review and rework in the cost

For each approach, record preparation, analysis, professional review, communication and rework time, together with actual tool or service charges. Comparing only the time to generate the first response misses correction work. Counting steps already automated by the ERP as newly saved by AI overstates the benefit.

Assess correctness, traceability and completion before comparing total effort. Define essential acceptance conditions according to the consequences of the task. Unreconciled amounts, unsupported conclusions or hidden material uncertainty require investigation and another check; an attractive combined score should not conceal them.

A small number of tasks supports a limited decision. Useful findings include “continue testing this store’s settlement reconciliation,” “the required platform connection is unavailable,” or “fees are still deducted twice after new evidence.” They do not establish a general accuracy or time-saving percentage. This guide includes no measured results and therefore makes no numerical efficiency claim.

Choose the next step from the findings

If reviewed results are reliable and total effort falls, extend testing to a nearby period or similar store. If calculations work but evidence is hard to obtain, address the source connection. If professional treatment remains unsupported, restrict autonomous execution and involve qualified finance or tax expertise. Keep the verified scope explicit as use expands.

CaiGeek is an AI financial assistant for mainland China’s small and medium-sized businesses, helping finance professionals perform work and owners obtain usable results. Connections, execution and deliverables depend on what is currently available and verified; not every platform is already connected. Software subscriptions and human managed-finance services are offered separately. Ongoing professional involvement needs an agreed scope and fee.

Use the marketplace settlement guide or profit-analysis example to select a task. The AI assistant and ERP guide discusses their roles. To discuss where your current process gets stuck, contact CaiGeek with the question and types of evidence involved. Initial enquiries do not require complete customer originals or login passwords.