How it works — Centinel
How it works

Approved sources in. Enforceable knowledge out.

Centinel builds the Accounting Constitution from the systems and information your team already uses—with permissions, recorded consent and human approval at every step where judgment matters.

STEP 01

Connect approved sources

You decide what Centinel can see, and how far. Structured records arrive from your ERP and banks; unstructured context from documents, email, chat and—where your team opts in—recorded conversations.

Capture approved accounting context from relevant team interactions. Consent is required, and the consent itself is recorded.

SourcesScope: Finance · 4 authorized users
ERP sync · HoldedStructured · API
Bank feed · BBVAStructured · Open banking
Email & SlackUnstructured · API
Call recording · Finance reviewsConsent recorded
Manual uploadPolicies · working files
STEP 02

Capture knowledge three ways

Pattern inference

Historical entries reveal how your team actually treats each supplier, account and cost center—candidate rules, backed by comparable cases.

418 AWS invoices → 3 observed treatments

Semantic document extraction

Contracts, invoices and policies are read for the terms that drive accounting: durations, amounts, renewal clauses, thresholds.

MSA-AWS-2025 → 18-month committed term

Conversational capture

Decisions made in reviews and calls become draft rules, actions and open questions—instead of evaporating when the meeting ends.

Weekly AP review → 4 draft outputs
STEP 03

Validate what matters, skip what doesn’t

Centinel doesn’t interrogate your team about everything it observes. Draft knowledge is queued by materiality and confidence—your controller confirms the rules that govern real money, and low-stakes patterns wait their turn.

Observed knowledge never governs on its own. Only confirmed rules are enforced.

Review queueOrdered by materiality
Reserved-capacity treatment€240k trailing spend
Needs confirmation
Does the €5,000 threshold apply to services?Open question · from transcript
Routed to Controller
Office-supplies coding pattern€1.2k trailing spend
Low priority · deferred
STEP 04

Observe continuously, improve with every review

The confirmed Constitution runs against accounting activity as it lands. Conflicts are flagged with evidence, corrections are proposed, material items route to the right approver—and each reviewed outcome sharpens the rules.

1Entry lands in the ERPINV-2026-0418 posted to monthly cloud expense
2Conflict identifiedViolates the confirmed reserved-capacity rule
3Correction proposedReclassify · amortise €2,700/month · evidence attached
4Human approvesController signs off · outcome feeds the Constitution

Nothing touches your ERP without sign-off.

Indicative onboarding

No ERP migration. No 18-month implementation.

WEEKS 1–2

Connect and baseline

Approved sources connected, historical records ingested, first observed patterns surfaced.

WEEKS 3–4

First Constitution review

Your team confirms the material rules; open questions are resolved in short working sessions.

ONGOING

Continuous assurance

Live audit over accounting activity; the Constitution grows more complete with every close.

Indicative sequence—actual onboarding is scoped with your team.

Start with the systems your team already uses.

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