FAQ & Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions

What is Kraal?

Kraal is an AI-powered accounting platform for CPA firms and other accounting professionals. It sits on top of ERPNext, giving each client a dedicated accounting instance while you manage everything from one modern interface.

What accounting system does Kraal use?

Kraal uses ERPNext as its accounting engine. Each client gets a dedicated ERPNext instance that is automatically provisioned when you create the client in Kraal.

How do bank feeds work?

Kraal can connect to bank and credit-card accounts through Plaid for automatic transaction intake. Plaid is optional and is a paid add-on per linked account. Clients who do not use Plaid can still be fully onboarded by uploading statements through the transaction processor.

Can I migrate a client from QuickBooks?

Yes. If a client uses QuickBooks Online, Setup & configuration walks you through the connection and Kraal syncs accounts, customers, vendors, items, invoices, bills, and payments into ERPNext. You can run both systems in parallel during transition or do a full cutover.

How does bank reconciliation work?

Open the Reconcile view, select a bank account and date range, and Kraal suggests matches using smart matching (amount, reference, and date scoring) plus AI-assisted matching for ambiguous transactions. Auto-rules handle common patterns like bank fees. Approve matches to link them to payment entries or journal entries.

What can the AI assistant do?

You can chat with the AI in any view to trigger syncs, check integration status, get help with reconciliation, create invoices and other documents, and get AI-powered explanations on reports. It can also stage accounting work for you: ask it to draft a journal entry, invoice, bill, or payment entry and it prepares an approvable draft. Staging never writes to the books — posting happens only after you explicitly confirm, under the same review and approval rules as any other entry. The assistant also knows each client's close state, so it checks whether a posting date falls in a closed or locked period before proposing a backdated entry.

Does Kraal ever post to the books without me?

On Max, yes: Kraal does the routine work within the rules your firm sets, and each action leaves a receipt. On Assisted, a person approves before Kraal posts or contacts anyone. Pause stops all new automatic work. See How Kraal earns autonomy and Autonomy & Safety.

Can we make Kraal ask a specific person before certain work goes through?

Put the client on Assisted. Kraal still prepares the work, and a person approves before it posts or contacts anyone. There is no separate rules table. See Autonomy & Safety and Team, Roles & Permissions.

Can the person who submitted a payment approve it?

No. For money going out and for locking a close period, a different person must approve. That includes firm Owners and Administrators.

We approve the same thing every month. Can Kraal stop asking?

A new kind of work starts with your approval. Once Kraal has proven that kind of work, it can become automatic for a client on Max. See How Kraal earns autonomy.

Is Kraal a replacement for human accounting judgment?

No. Kraal accelerates work and supports decision-making, but critical financial outcomes should always be reviewed by a qualified professional.

Who should use ChatIQ?

Operators, reviewers, and leads who need to ask client questions, generate reports, open workspaces, continue AI conversations, and validate AI-assisted results.

How should we onboard new clients?

Create the client, open its hub, and work through Setup & configuration. Kraal provisions ERPNext automatically, confirms chart of accounts readiness, asks whether QuickBooks migration is needed, lets you choose statement upload or optional Plaid for banking intake, and verifies launch readiness before the client is treated as ready.

What integrations are available?

Plaid (bank feeds), QuickBooks Online (migration and parallel-run), ERPNext (accounting engine), Gusto (payroll accounting), Avalara (sales tax), and Shopify and Amazon (ecommerce). See the Integrations overview for setup steps for each.

Troubleshooting playbook

1) Cannot sign in or access expected workspace

Checks:

• Confirm account verification is complete.
• Confirm your role and organization context are correct.
• Confirm your client access assignment.

If unresolved: escalate to workspace admin.

2) Client provisioning issues

If a new client's ERPNext instance hasn't been set up:

• Allow a few minutes for provisioning to complete.
• Refresh the clients list.
• If the status remains incomplete, contact support with the client name.

3) Bank feed not syncing

If bank transactions aren't appearing:

• Open the client's hub, then the banking job in Setup & configuration.
• If Kraal can repair the feed or retry a sync, it will do so automatically.
• If the bank requires consent again, Kraal will show a reconnect prompt.
• If the client does not want Plaid, upload statements instead and continue onboarding.

If unresolved: contact support from the readiness message. Do not disconnect working feeds as a first troubleshooting step.

4) QuickBooks sync errors

If the QuickBooks sync fails or shows errors:

• Open the client's QuickBooks job in Setup & configuration.
• Kraal checks token health, company identity, first-sync status, and baseline data.
• If the issue is recoverable, Kraal retries or requeues the sync automatically.
• If QuickBooks requires a user action, Kraal shows a reconnect or permission prompt.

If unresolved: contact support from the readiness message so Kraal technical staff can inspect the sync context.

5) Reconciliation issues

If reconciliation suggestions seem incorrect:

• Verify the bank account and date range are correct.
• Check that the relevant payment entries or journal entries exist in ERPNext.
• For unmatched transactions, try creating the corresponding entry manually, then re-run reconciliation.
• Use the AI assistant: "Help me reconcile the bank."

6) ERPNext connection problems

If ERPNext operations fail:

• Open Setup & configuration for the client and refresh readiness.
• Kraal checks the ERPNext connection and chart of accounts status automatically.
• If the issue persists, contact support from the readiness message.

7) Task stuck in queued/running longer than expected

Checks:

• Open task detail and review the event timeline.
• Confirm input scope is valid.
• Retry with narrower or clearer instructions.

If repeated: capture the task context and escalate.

8) Close period issues

If a close period is stuck or steps won't progress:

• Check that prerequisite steps are completed (steps are dependency-gated).
• Verify bank reconciliation is finished for the period.
• Ensure all transactions for the period have been posted.
• Check that a close template is assigned to the client.

Recommended escalation template

Use this when filing support tickets:

• User:
• Org/client:
• Workflow/task:
• Time observed:
• What happened:
• Expected behavior:
• Screenshots/artifacts:
• Business impact:
• Urgency:

Support-ready evidence checklist

• [ ] Reproduction steps.
• [ ] Relevant task identifiers.
• [ ] Current status and timestamps.
• [ ] Screenshot(s) of error state.
• [ ] Any attempted remediation steps.