# Beancount.io

> Plain-Text Accounting. Powerful, Precise, Auditable.

> When to use Beancount.io: plain-text, double-entry bookkeeping with git versioning. Best for AI agents that need to query balances via BQL, import bank CSVs to Beancount format, or make auditable ledger edits. Call via MCP (https://beancount.io/api-gateway/mcp) or GraphQL (/graphql) with scoped API keys. See /openapi.json for typed schemas and operationIds.

## When to Use

- [When to use Beancount.io - plain-text accounting for AI agents](https://beancount.io/): Reach for Beancount.io when you need: (1) double-entry bookkeeping with git-versioned plain-text ledgers, (2) BQL queries over financial data, (3) CSV/bank import to Beancount, (4) auditable transaction history. Local CLI use needs no account - see /docs/Basics/bea-cli and the no-importer CSV recipe at /docs/Solutions/import-bank-exports-cli. Hosted MCP use needs a Web Beancount account with a ledger-scoped grant: call the MCP server (https://beancount.io/api-gateway/mcp) or GraphQL API (/graphql) with scoped keys. Prefer BQL via runBqlQuery for balances/reports; use editLedgerFiles for atomic ledger edits, previewing with dry_run first because the commit path can report validation errors after the write. See /mcp and /openapi.json for tool schemas; the live tool enumeration is at https://beancount.io/.well-known/mcp.json.

## Product

- [Beancount.io](https://beancount.io/)
- [Pricing](https://beancount.io/pricing)
- [Transaction & net-worth tracking](https://beancount.io/tracking)
- [For couples](https://beancount.io/for-couples)
- [For professionals](https://beancount.io/for-professionals)
- [Give your AI agent a ledger](https://beancount.io/for-ai-agents)
- [Fava](https://beancount.io/fava)
- [Git integration](https://beancount.io/git)
- [AI accounting assistant](https://beancount.io/assistant)
- [Smart Import](https://beancount.io/smart-import)
- [Model Context Protocol (MCP)](https://beancount.io/mcp)
- [Open Ledger](https://beancount.io/open-ledger)
- [Bank Sync](https://beancount.io/bank-sync)
- [Beancount Cloud](https://beancount.io/beancount-cloud)
- [Download (iOS & Android)](https://beancount.io/download)
- [Beancount for Android](https://beancount.io/beancount-android)
- [Beancount for iOS](https://beancount.io/beancount-ios)
- [Security](https://beancount.io/security)
- [Compare accounting tools](https://beancount.io/compare)
- [Free browser tools](https://beancount.io/tools)
- [Bean Labs](https://beancount.io/bean-labs)
- [Changelog](https://beancount.io/changelog)
- [CSV to Beancount converter](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount)
- [OFX & QIF to Beancount converter](https://beancount.io/tools/ofx-to-beancount)
- [Ledger to Beancount converter](https://beancount.io/tools/ledger-to-beancount)
- [Chase CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/chase)
- [American Express CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/amex)
- [Capital One CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/capital-one)
- [Bank of America CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/bank-of-america)
- [Wells Fargo CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/wells-fargo)
- [Wise CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/wise)
- [Fidelity CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/fidelity)
- [Charles Schwab CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/schwab)
- [Citi CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/citi)
- [Discover CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/discover)
- [Ally Bank CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/ally)
- [Monzo CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/monzo)
- [U.S. Bank CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/us-bank)
- [TD Canada Trust CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/td-canada-trust)
- [Apple Card CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/apple-card)
- [Barclays CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/barclays)
- [YNAB CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/ynab)
- [Mint CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/mint)
- [Monarch Money CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/monarch)
- [Empower CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/empower)
- [N26 CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/n26)
- [Starling Bank CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/starling)
- [bunq CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/bunq)
- [ING CSV to Beancount](https://beancount.io/tools/csv-to-beancount/ing)

## Open Ledger Companies

- [Adyen](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/adyen)
- [Airbnb](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/airbnb)
- [Alphabet](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/alphabet)
- [Amazon](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/amazon)
- [Amd](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/amd)
- [Apple](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/apple)
- [Broadcom](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/broadcom)
- [Carnival](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/carnival)
- [Circle](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/circle)
- [Cisco](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/cisco)
- [Coinbase](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/coinbase)
- [Dell](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/dell)
- [Delta Air Lines](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/delta-air-lines)
- [Eli Lilly](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/eli-lilly)
- [Fedex](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/fedex)
- [Home Depot](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/home-depot)
- [Jpmorgan Chase](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/jpmorgan-chase)
- [Levi Strauss](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/levi-strauss)
- [Lowes](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/lowes)
- [Meta](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/meta)
- [Micron](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/micron)
- [Microsoft](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/microsoft)
- [Minimax](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/minimax)
- [Netflix](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/netflix)
- [Nike](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/nike)
- [Nvidia](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/nvidia)
- [Oracle](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/oracle)
- [Palantir](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/palantir)
- [Pepsico](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/pepsico)
- [Robinhood](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/robinhood)
- [Shopify](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/shopify)
- [Snowflake](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/snowflake)
- [Spacex](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/spacex)
- [Spotify](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/spotify)
- [Starbucks](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/starbucks)
- [Target](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/target)
- [Tesla](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/tesla)
- [Uber](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/uber)
- [Walmart](https://beancount.io/ledger/open_ledger/walmart)

## Developers

- [Beancount.io REST API Reference](https://beancount.io/docs/api-reference): Interactive Scalar reference for the public ledger REST API - inspect schemas, code samples, authentication, and operations
- [Beancount.io OpenAPI Spec](https://beancount.io/openapi.json): OpenAPI 3.1 spec for the Beancount.io API - use for function calling and code generation
- [Beancount.io GraphQL API](https://beancount.io/graphql): GraphQL endpoint - 12 operations, 22 types, supports scoped API keys and OAuth
- [Beancount.io MCP Server](https://beancount.io/mcp): Model Context Protocol server at https://beancount.io/api-gateway/mcp - ledger tools (runBqlQuery, listLedgerFiles, readLedgerFiles, editLedgerFiles with dry_run preview and atomic git commits) plus API-key management and bank-import tools; the tool set grows, so read the current enumeration at https://beancount.io/.well-known/mcp.json. Hosted access needs a Web Beancount account with a ledger-scoped OAuth 2.1 grant or token
- [Beancount.io API Docs](https://beancount.io/docs): Full API and product documentation - every doc available as text/markdown via Accept negotiation or .md suffix
- [Beancount.io Sitemap](https://beancount.io/sitemap.xml): Full site map with hreflang alternates - start here to discover all pages
- [Beancount.io LLMs Full](https://beancount.io/llms-full.txt): Complete English docs corpus concatenated - one fetch for the whole knowledge base

## Resources

- [A Founder's Guide to Essential U.S. Business Licenses & Permits](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/essential-business-licenses): Understanding the essential business licenses and permits needed for startups in the U.S. is crucial for legal operation and future growth. This guide provides a clear overview of the most common requirements founders should be aware of.
- [A Founder's Guide to the Startup Chart of Accounts](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/startup-chart-of-accounts): Learn how to create a well-structured Chart of Accounts for your startup that serves as a financial framework, enabling you to manage your finances effectively as you grow.
- [Awesome Beancount - Curated Resources & Tools](https://beancount.io/awesome-beancount): A comprehensive guide to the Beancount ecosystem. Discover tools, plugins, importers, and resources for plain-text accounting. From core engine to mobile apps, find everything you need for Beancount.
- [Beancount Demo - Try Plain-Text Accounting](https://beancount.io/demo): Experience Beancount's powerful plain-text accounting firsthand. Try our interactive demo to see how transparent, scriptable financial management works for developers and finance professionals.
- [Beancount Setup for Startups](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/beancount-setup-for-startups): Learn how to implement an efficient, open-source accounting system for your startup using Beancount. This guide offers a straightforward setup that ensures your financial records are accurate, auditable, and easily manageable as you grow from pre-seed to Series A.
- [Beancount vs Actual Budget: Envelope Discipline or a Ledger You Audit?](https://beancount.io/compare/beancount-vs-actual-budget): Actual Budget and Beancount are both free, open-source, local-first — and built for different jobs. An honest comparison of envelope budgeting in Actual versus double-entry accounting in Beancount: investments, multi-currency, data formats, bank sync, and which tool fits which reader.
- [Beancount vs Credit Karma: Free as in Ads, or Free as in Yours?](https://beancount.io/compare/beancount-vs-credit-karma): Credit Karma is free because ads and card referrals pay for it — and it has no budgeting tools. An honest Beancount vs Credit Karma comparison: the Mint migration's three-year history cap, what 'free' really means, Mint CSV migration, and where Credit Karma genuinely wins.
- [Beancount vs GnuCash: Comprehensive Comparison](https://beancount.io/compare/beancount-vs-gnucash): A detailed comparison of Beancount and GnuCash, highlighting their unique features, usability, platform support, and more, to help users choose the right accounting system for their needs.
- [Beancount vs Ledger CLI: Choosing a Plain-Text Accounting Tool](https://beancount.io/compare/beancount-vs-ledger-cli): Compare Beancount and Ledger CLI on syntax, validation, performance, reporting, imports, extensibility, Fava, and migration between plain-text ledgers.
- [Beancount vs Mint: What Replaces a Budgeting App That Shut Down?](https://beancount.io/compare/beancount-vs-mint): Mint shut down in March 2024 and Credit Karma has no budgeting tools. An honest look at Beancount as a Mint alternative: plain-text ownership, Mint CSV import, bank sync, mobile apps, and where hosted apps still win.
- [Beancount vs Monarch Money: Rent a Dashboard or Own Your Ledger?](https://beancount.io/compare/beancount-vs-monarch): Monarch Money is the most polished Mint successor — and a $99.99-a-year subscription around a database you can only leave through CSV files. An honest look at Beancount as a Monarch alternative: plain-text ownership, double-entry precision, CSV import, and where Monarch genuinely wins.
- [Beancount vs QuickBooks: Which Accounting System Fits Your Business?](https://beancount.io/compare/beancount-vs-quickbooks): An honest Beancount vs QuickBooks comparison covering bookkeeping, bank feeds, invoicing, auditability, automation, pricing, and migration for small businesses.
- [Beancount vs Simplifi: A Ledger You Own or a Budget You Rent?](https://beancount.io/compare/beancount-vs-simplifi): An honest Beancount vs Simplifi comparison. Simplifi by Quicken is a polished, paid-only budgeting app you rent; Beancount is a complete plain-text accounting system you own. Spending plans, investments, CSV migration, bank sync, and cost.
- [Beancount vs YNAB: Accounting Control or Guided Budgeting?](https://beancount.io/compare/beancount-vs-ynab): An honest Beancount vs YNAB comparison covering envelope budgeting, double-entry accounting, bank sync, mobile apps, investments, data ownership, and cost.
- [Beancount vs. hledger: Finding Your Financial Fit](https://beancount.io/compare/beancount-vs-hledger): Understand the key differences between Beancount and hledger to determine which accounting tool aligns best with your financial needs and technical comfort level.
- [Business Structure Decision & Setup Checklist](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/business-structure-guide): A practical checklist to help you choose the right business structure and navigate the initial formation steps for your startup, tailored for those seeking venture capital or accelerator funding.
- [Cash Flow Forecasting: The 13-Week Rolling Forecast Method](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/cash-flow-forecasting): Master your company's liquidity with a 13-week rolling cash forecast, plus a downloadable formula-backed workbook and sample Beancount ledger you reconcile by hand each Monday.
- [Contact Beancount.io — Get in Touch](https://beancount.io/contact): Contact Beancount.io for support, sales, partnerships, or security reports. Email hello@beancount.io, Telegram @beancount, or GitHub discussions. We respond within one business day.
- [Contract Templates: Customer & Vendor Agreements](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/contract-templates): Streamline your revenue generation with practical contract templates designed for Seed to Series B teams, ensuring compliance and efficiency in customer and vendor agreements.
- [Email Automation: A Founder's Playbook for Drip Campaigns & Retention](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/email-automation): Learn how to transform sign-ups into loyal users and sustainable revenue with effective email automation strategies. This playbook outlines essential practices for driving user activation and engagement through targeted, event-driven campaigns.
- [Employee Equity Plans: A Founder's Playbook for Stock Options & Vesting](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/employee-equity-plans): A practical guide for founders on designing employee equity plans, covering stock options, vesting strategies, and essential legal and tax considerations.
- [Financial Model Templates for SaaS, Marketplace, and E-commerce](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/financial-model-templates): Robust financial model templates designed for SaaS, Marketplace, and E-commerce businesses, ensuring your forecasts align with actual performance through seamless integration with Beancount.
- [Frequently Asked Questions](https://beancount.io/faq): Plain-text accounting, simplified — answers on pricing, features, security, and how to get started with Beancount.io.
- [Growth Metrics Dashboard](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/growth-metrics-dashboard): Learn how to effectively track key growth metrics like CAC, LTV, and churn with a straightforward dashboard. This guide provides clear definitions, essential calculations, and practical formulas for founders.
- [Hiring Toolkit: Job Descriptions & Interviews](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/hiring-toolkit): This toolkit provides early-stage founders with essential resources for crafting clear job descriptions and conducting structured interviews, ensuring a high hiring standard while minimizing bias.
- [Investor Database — VCs & Angels Directory](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/investor-database): A practical index of databases and directories that help founders connect with venture firms and angel investors tailored to their stage and region.
- [IP Protection Guide: Trademarks & Patents](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/ip-production-guide): Understand the essentials of trademarks and patents, including filing strategies, types of protection, and key timelines to safeguard your innovations and brand identity.
- [Pitch Deck Template](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/pitch-deck-template): Craft an effective pitch deck with this concise template that offers stage-specific guidance and integrates Beancount-powered metrics for a data-driven approach.
- [Privacy Policy - How we secure and protect your information.](https://beancount.io/privacy-policy): Beancount.io Privacy Policy - Learn how we collect, use, and protect your personal and financial information. Your data security and privacy are our top priorities.
- [Product-Led Growth: A Playbook for Onboarding & Viral Loops](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/product-led-growth): Learn how to effectively design onboarding experiences and viral loops to drive customer acquisition and enhance user engagement in early-stage companies.
- [Reads and Finds](https://beancount.io/reads-and-finds): A curated collection of ideas, tools, and teams that are reshaping how we build and learn.
- [Remote Team Playbook: Distributed Team Best Practices](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/remote-team-playbook): Creating a successful remote team requires intentional design and clear principles. This playbook outlines essential practices for building a high-output, low-drama distributed team, focusing on communication, wellbeing, and operational efficiency.
- [Salary Benchmarking: Market-rate Compensation](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/salary-benchmarking): Understanding market-rate compensation involves navigating various data sources and defining your pay philosophy. This guide provides a practical framework for founders and HR leaders to establish a defensible salary benchmarking system.
- [Startup Cheat Sheet](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/startup-cheat-sheet): Compact, battle-tested playbook for founders covering strategy, distribution, pricing, sales, fundraising, team, operations, moats, and templates.
- [Term Sheet Negotiation: Valuation & Control Terms](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/term-sheet-negotiation): Understanding the intricacies of term sheet negotiations is essential for founders. This guide provides insights into valuation and control terms, enabling you to make informed decisions that shape your startup's future.
- [Terms of Service](https://beancount.io/terms-of-service): Beancount.io Terms of Service - Review the terms and conditions governing your use of our plain-text accounting platform and services. Understand your rights and responsibilities.
- [The 5 Best Accounting Tools for AI Agents in 2026 (Sourced Workflow Comparison)](https://beancount.io/compare/best-accounting-tools-for-ai-agents): Which accounting tool fits an AI-agent workflow? Beancount.io, Xero, QuickBooks Online, Puzzle and hledger compared on the same seven agent-workflow criteria — installation, authentication, read/write scope, local versus cloud data, preview and validation, structured output, and repeated-import behavior — with dated official sources and one observed end-to-end run.
- [The 6 Best Empower Personal Dashboard Alternatives in 2026 (Formerly Personal Capital)](https://beancount.io/compare/empower-alternatives): Empower's Personal Dashboard — the free net-worth tracker formerly called Personal Capital — is the front end of an advisory business that starts at $100,000 in investable assets and charges 0.89% a year. Six ranked alternatives: Beancount.io, Kubera, ProjectionLab, Sharesight, Monarch Money and Quicken Simplifi, with real prices and a clear answer on whose investment history you can actually take with you.
- [The 6 Best Mint Alternatives in 2026 (Free and Paid, Ranked)](https://beancount.io/compare/mint-alternatives): Mint shut down in March 2024 and Intuit moved its users to Credit Karma, which does not budget. Six ranked Mint alternatives — Beancount.io, Monarch Money, YNAB, Actual Budget, Copilot Money and Credit Karma — with real prices, honest trade-offs, and a comparison of who owns your data when you leave.
- [The 6 Best Monarch Money Alternatives in 2026 (Ranked, With Real Prices)](https://beancount.io/compare/monarch-alternatives): Monarch's free tier is gone, its monthly price is 50% higher than it was in 2022, and retirement forecasting now sits in a $199.99 tier. Six ranked Monarch Money alternatives — Beancount.io, Actual Budget, Quicken Simplifi, Copilot, YNAB and Empower — with prices taken from each vendor's own page and a clear answer on who holds your history.
- [The 6 Best QuickBooks Alternatives in 2026 (Free and Paid, Ranked)](https://beancount.io/compare/quickbooks-alternatives): QuickBooks Online raises prices most years and Desktop is closed to new buyers. Six ranked QuickBooks alternatives — Beancount.io, Xero, Wave, FreshBooks, Zoho Books and GnuCash — with real prices, honest trade-offs, and whether your accountant will accept each one.
- [The 6 Best Quicken Alternatives in 2026 (Desktop and Cloud, Ranked)](https://beancount.io/compare/quicken-alternatives): Quicken went subscription-only, so software people bought once now bills every year. Six ranked Quicken alternatives — Beancount.io, Monarch Money, Moneydance, Actual Budget, Simplifi and YNAB — with real prices and a clear answer on which ones keep your data on your own machine.
- [The 6 Best YNAB Alternatives in 2026 (Cheaper, Free and Open Source)](https://beancount.io/compare/ynab-alternatives): YNAB's method works — its price is what people leave over. Six ranked YNAB alternatives, from free and open source to full double-entry accounting: Beancount.io, Actual Budget, Monarch Money, EveryDollar, Goodbudget and PocketSmith, with real prices and honest trade-offs.
- [The Founder's Monthly Legal Compliance Calendar](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/legal-compliance-calendar): A practical checklist for founders to maintain legal compliance each month, ensuring your startup remains attractive for investment and simplifies due diligence.
- [The SEO-Driven Content Marketing Playbook for Founders](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/content-marketing-playbook): Learn how to create an effective content marketing strategy that drives organic growth, attracts qualified traffic, and builds a sustainable competitive advantage for your startup.
- [The Ultimate Startup Formation Checklist](https://beancount.io/founder-resources/startup-formation-checklist): Establish a solid foundation for your startup with this comprehensive checklist, covering essential steps from co-founder alignment to preparing a fundraising-ready data room.

## Docs

- [Documentation](https://beancount.io/docs)
- [Adding First Transaction in UI](https://beancount.io/docs/add-your-first-transaction-ui.md): get-started. Step-by-step guide to recording your first transaction using Beancount.io’s web and mobile interfaces.
- [Beancount CLI quick start](https://beancount.io/docs/Basics/bea-cli.md): get-started. Install the bea command, create a local Beancount ledger, record your first purchase, and check your balances.
- [Query with SQL](https://beancount.io/docs/Basics/beancount-query-language.md): how-to. Master Beancount Query Language (BQL) for advanced financial data analysis. Learn SQL-like syntax to query and analyze your accounting data.
- [Cheatsheet](https://beancount.io/docs/Basics/cheatsheet.md): reference. Comprehensive Beancount cheatsheet with account structures, transaction syntax, commands, and practical examples for plain text accounting and financial record keeping.
- [Fava Options](https://beancount.io/docs/Basics/fava-options.md): reference. Complete reference for Fava's configuration options. Learn how to customize Fava's behavior using custom fava-option directives in your Beancount ledger files.
- [Quick Start](https://beancount.io/docs/Basics/getting-started.md): get-started. Quick setup guide to create your first Beancount ledger with essential configuration, file organization, and validation steps.
- [Inventory Management](https://beancount.io/docs/Basics/inventories.md): concept. Learn how to effectively manage inventory in Beancount, focusing on tracking assets like stocks and currencies, understanding cost basis, and calculating capital gains for better portfolio performance.
- [Options Configuration](https://beancount.io/docs/Basics/options-configuration.md): reference. Learn how to customize Beancount's behavior through options directives, ensuring your accounting system meets your specific needs. This guide covers core configuration options essential for effective ledger management.
- [Precision & Tolerances](https://beancount.io/docs/Basics/precision.md): concept. Learn how Beancount's precision and tolerance systems help maintain balance in double-entry accounting, especially when dealing with complex transactions involving multiple currencies and fractional values.
- [Language Syntax](https://beancount.io/docs/Basics/syntax.md): reference. Complete reference guide for Beancount language syntax including directives, transactions, account naming conventions, and formatting rules for plain text accounting.
- [Beancount CLI reference](https://beancount.io/docs/bea-cli-reference.md): reference. Find bea commands, options, report behavior, JSON output, exit codes, and fixes for common local-ledger errors.
- [Cash-Flow Roles](https://beancount.io/docs/cash-flow-roles.md): reference. Reference for the cash-flow-role open-directive metadata: one key, four values (cash, operating, investing, financing) that declare how the Beancount.io cash-flow report classifies an account.
- [Community Showcase](https://beancount.io/docs/community-showcase.md): reference. Explore how diverse users leverage Beancount's flexible system to create tailored accounting workflows, featuring innovative practices and tools like Fava for enhanced financial visualization.
- [Working Ledger Examples](https://beancount.io/docs/examples.md): reference. Copy five live, validated Beancount ledger patterns for household finances, envelope budgeting, freelance invoicing, rental property, and investment cost basis.
- [Beancount FAQ: Plain-Text Accounting Questions](https://beancount.io/docs/faq.md): faq. Answers to the questions people actually ask about plain-text accounting with Beancount — importing bank transactions, debits and credits, multi-currency, cost basis, business books, and how Beancount compares to Ledger and hledger.
- [Financial Reporting Templates](https://beancount.io/docs/financial-reporting-templates.md): reference. Unlock the potential of your finances with ready-to-use Beancount templates for Income Statements, Balance Sheets, and Cash Flow Statements, designed for freelancers and small business owners seeking clarity and control over their financial reporting.
- [Glossary](https://beancount.io/docs/glossary.md): reference. Plain-language definitions of the plain-text accounting and Beancount terms you will meet in your ledger — accounts, directives, postings, cost basis, booking methods, balance assertions and more.
- [Help center](https://beancount.io/docs/help-center.md): get-started. Choose a browser or command-line workflow, record your first transactions, import bank exports, and find the Beancount reference you need.
- [Industry-Specific Setups](https://beancount.io/docs/industry-specific-setups.md): how-to. Tailor your Beancount ledger to meet the unique needs of freelancers, small businesses, and personal finance. This guide provides practical setups, example snippets, and insights into effective financial tracking.
- [Introduction](https://beancount.io/docs/introduction-to-beancount.md): concept. Beancount.io simplifies investment tracking for stocks and cryptocurrencies, offering a user-friendly interface and powerful features tailored for engineers and financial minimalists.
- [Request Account Deletion](https://beancount.io/docs/request-to-delete-account.md): how-to. Learn the simple steps to request account and data deletion at Beancount.io, ensuring your privacy is respected and your information is handled with care.
- [Accounting with AI agents](https://beancount.io/docs/Solutions/accounting-with-ai-agents.md): how-to. Give an external AI agent two bookkeeping jobs: import a bank CSV with preview-first review, and answer a balance question from BQL and report output.
- [Real-Time Financial Analytics](https://beancount.io/docs/Solutions/analytics.md): concept. Learn how Beancount and Fava provide a streamlined approach to real-time financial analytics, enhancing your ability to manage finances with powerful visualizations and integrations.
- [Cryptocurrency Portfolio Tracking](https://beancount.io/docs/Solutions/cryptocurrency-portfolio-tracking.md): how-to. Complete guide to setting up and managing cryptocurrency portfolios in Beancount.io, including multi-exchange tracking, cost basis calculations, and performance analysis.
- [Import bank exports with the CLI](https://beancount.io/docs/Solutions/import-bank-exports-cli.md): how-to. Import an ordinary bank CSV with bea column mappings and rules: preview the entries, review duplicates, and apply validated transactions to your local Beancount ledger.
- [Real Estate Investment Tracking](https://beancount.io/docs/Solutions/real-estate-investment-tracking.md): how-to. Complete guide to setting up and managing rental property accounting in Beancount.io, including mortgage tracking, depreciation schedules, cost basis management, and property sale with depreciation recapture.
- [Scriptable Workflows](https://beancount.io/docs/Solutions/scriptable-workflows.md): concept. Learn how to automate financial tasks and create custom reports using Beancount and Fava through scriptable workflows. This guide covers everything from beginner-friendly automation to advanced plugin development.
- [Transparent and Auditable Accounting](https://beancount.io/docs/Solutions/transparent-and-auditable.md): concept. Beancount and Fava redefine bookkeeping with a transparent, traceable, and auditable approach, utilizing plain text files for clarity and accountability in financial management.
- [Use AI with Beancount: import, review, and query your ledger](https://beancount.io/docs/Solutions/using-llms-to-automate-and-enhance-bookkeeping-with-beancount.md): how-to. Use Beancount.io or a local ledger to categorize transactions with AI, review proposed entries, validate statement balances, and query your books.
- [Tax Preparation Guides](https://beancount.io/docs/tax-prep-guides.md): how-to. Streamline your year-end tax preparation with comprehensive, country-specific guides utilizing Beancount's detailed financial records. Learn about the tax filing process for the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, and Australia, and how to leverage Beancount data for efficient reporting.
- [Amortization](https://beancount.io/docs/Tips/amortize.md): how-to. Learn how to effectively manage amortization in Beancount, allowing you to spread out expenses over time for better financial clarity and management.
- [Budgeting in Beancount](https://beancount.io/docs/Tips/budgets.md): how-to. How to set up and visualize per-account budgets using custom directives in Beancount, with Fava integration.
- [Cryptocurrency Templates and Examples](https://beancount.io/docs/Tips/cryptocurrency-templates-examples.md): reference. Practical Beancount templates and real-world examples for common crypto scenarios including trading, mining, staking, airdrops, and DeFi activities.
- [Filtering and Searching Entries](https://beancount.io/docs/Tips/filtering-and-searching.md): how-to. How to use the filters and search features in the beancount.io web UI to find, analyze, and drill down into your financial data.
- [Forecasting Future Transactions](https://beancount.io/docs/Tips/forecast-plugin.md): how-to. Build a separate, validated Beancount scenario ledger with future-dated income, expenses, and loan payments.
- [Multi-File Support](https://beancount.io/docs/Tips/multi-file-support.md): how-to. Split a single Beancount ledger across multiple files with include directives — create, include, rename, and delete ledger files in the beancount.io editor to organize and archive transactions.
- [Real Estate Templates and Examples](https://beancount.io/docs/Tips/real-estate-templates-examples.md): reference. Practical Beancount templates and real-world examples for common real estate scenarios including property purchase, mortgage payments, rental income, depreciation, capital improvements, and property sale.
- [Share or Embed Your Ledger](https://beancount.io/docs/Tips/share-or-embed-your-ledger.md): how-to. Learn how to share your Beancount ledger with collaborators for editing or embed it on websites for public viewing.
- [Custom Links and Queries](https://beancount.io/docs/Tips/side-bar-link.md): how-to. Learn how to enhance your Beancount experience by implementing custom sidebar links and SQL queries to streamline your financial tracking and reporting.
- [UI Features](https://beancount.io/docs/Tips/ui-features.md): reference. Explore the main features of the beancount.io web interface for editing, querying, uploading documents, and customizing your Beancount workflow.

## Blog

- [Beancount.io Blog](https://beancount.io/blog): Plain-text accounting insights, tutorials, and updates from the Beancount.io team.
- [Water Softener Dealer Bookkeeping: Salt Routes, Service Contracts, and the Warranty Reserve](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/water-softener-dealer-bookkeeping-salt-delivery-service-contracts-warranty-reserve-guide): A water conditioning dealership runs four businesses on four different clocks — equipment installs, salt delivery, service plans, and rentals. Split them into separate income accounts, defer prepaid service revenue under ASC 606, accrue a warranty reserve at 2–5% of equipment sales under ASC 460, and capitalize rental units over a 7–10 year life instead of expensing them.
- [Washington's Homeowner Recovery Program Is Now Paying Claims: A Contractor Bookkeeping and Registration Survival Guide](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/washington-homeowner-recovery-program-contractor-bookkeeping-registration-guide): Since July 1, 2026, a Washington homeowner holding an unsatisfied court judgment against a registered contractor can collect up to $25,000 per parcel from L&I's Homeowner Recovery Program, and the state then pursues the contractor for reimbursement. This guide covers the eligibility rules, the $30,000 general and $15,000 specialty bond requirements, and the job-costing, change-order, retention and sales-tax bookkeeping habits that keep a dispute from ending in a judgment.
- [Your Employee Just Got Deployment Orders: What USERRA Requires of You, Even If They're Your Only Employee](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/userra-employee-deployment-orders-reemployment-health-coverage-employer-guide): USERRA covers every US employer with no headcount minimum. When an employee is called to military service, you must reemploy them promptly at the "escalator" position they would have reached, continue health coverage for up to 24 months, credit seniority and pension benefits as if they never left, and honor return deadlines of 14 or 90 days depending on service length. This guide lays out the five reemployment conditions, the anti-discrimination rules, what federal law does not require, and a before-during-after bookkeeping checklist for small employers.
- [Un-Electing S Corporation Status: How to Revoke Your S Election and What It Costs](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/un-electing-s-corporation-status-revoking-election-consent-five-year-guide): Revoking an S election takes a signed statement from shareholders holding more than 50% of shares, received by March 15 for a January 1 effective date, and it bars re-election for five tax years. This guide covers the required statement contents, mid-year short-year splits, the Section 1374 built-in gains tax on appreciated assets, and the post-termination window for tax-free AAA distributions.
- [Tax Refund Seized? How the Treasury Offset Program Works and How Injured Spouses Get Their Share Back](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/tax-refund-seized-treasury-offset-program-injured-spouse-guide): The Treasury Offset Program lets the Bureau of the Fiscal Service withhold a federal tax refund to pay past-due child support, defaulted federal student and SBA loans, state income tax, and unemployment debts, in that priority order. Creditor agencies must mail a Notice of Intent to Offset at least 60 days before referral, giving you time to pay, sign a repayment agreement, or dispute the debt. When the debt belongs only to your spouse, Form 8379 Injured Spouse Allocation recovers your share of a joint refund in roughly 8 to 14 weeks.
- [The Small-Business Retirement Wave: How to Build an Exit Buyers Will Actually Pay For](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/small-business-retirement-wave-succession-plan-exit-buyers-guide): A March 2026 survey of about 1,000 U.S. small business owners found 40% expect to retire within a decade while 70% have no formal succession plan. Buyers price a small business on seller's discretionary earnings times a 2x–4x multiple, discounted for owner dependency, customer concentration and unreliable books. This guide lays out a six-part, three-to-five-year plan — two target numbers, three years of clean financials, operational replaceability, risk de-concentration, a deliberate exit path (third-party sale, family succession, management buyout or ESOP), and a reverse-built timeline with a CPA and attorney — plus the three mistakes that shrink exits.
- [Phantom Interest Income: Why Original Issue Discount Taxes You on Money You Haven't Received Yet](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/phantom-interest-income-original-issue-discount-oid-tax-guide): Original issue discount makes you report interest income each year on bonds that pay no cash until maturity. This guide covers where OID hides — zero-coupon bonds, T-bills, TIPS, seller-financed notes — the 0.25%-per-year de minimis threshold, how to read Boxes 1, 2, 6 and 8 of Form 1099-OID, and the basis and state-tax mistakes that make investors overpay.
- [Paying Employees in Cash Is Legal — Paying Them Off the Books Isn't](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/paying-employees-cash-vs-off-the-books-withholding-w2-guide): Cash wages are wages — Publication 15 withholding, EFTPS deposits, Form 941 and W-2 reporting all apply in full. The illegal part is the missing paper trail, and it costs back taxes, stacked penalties, and personal liability for 100% of unpaid trust fund taxes under IRC section 6672.
- [New-Hire Reporting: The 20-Day Rule Every First-Time and Multistate Employer Must Know](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/new-hire-reporting-20-day-rule-multistate-employers-first-hire-guide): Every U.S. employer must report each new hire and qualifying rehire to a State Directory of New Hires within 20 days of the first day of paid work, and electronic filers may batch reports 12 to 16 days apart. This guide covers the six required data points, the one-state designation that lets multistate employers file to a single directory, California and New York independent-contractor reporting rules, and the federal penalty cap of $25 per unreported employee rising to $500 for collusion.
- [Does the Postmark Date Count as Your Tax Filing Date? The Mailbox Rule, Explained](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/mailbox-rule-postmark-filing-date-certified-mail-guide): Under Section 7502 a return mailed on or before its due date is deemed filed on the postmark date — but only if it actually arrives, and a postage-meter date never counts. Since December 24, 2025, USPS postmarks reflect regional processing rather than deposit, so certified mail or a free manual postmark is the proof that holds.
- [Can the IRS Audit Your Church? How the Two-Notice Section 7611 Process Actually Works](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/irs-church-audit-section-7611-two-notice-process-guide): Section 7611 lets the IRS examine a church only after a high-level Treasury official records a reasonable belief in writing, sends two separate notices, and agrees to finish within two years and stay away for five. This guide walks through each stage, the pre-examination conference, the five exceptions that remove the protection entirely, and the three bookkeeping failures that trigger most church inquiries in practice, namely unrelated business income, informal payroll, and campaign intervention.
- [Do You Owe Wages for the Hours Your Employee Spent Sleeping? FLSA Sleep-Time Rules for 24-Hour Shifts and Live-In Workers](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/flsa-sleep-time-rules-24-hour-shifts-live-in-workers-guide): Federal law lets employers exclude up to eight hours of sleep time from a shift of 24 hours or more — never from a shorter one — and only with adequate sleeping quarters, usually uninterrupted sleep, and an agreement. Every interruption is paid, and fewer than five consecutive hours of sleep makes the entire window compensable.
- [DMCA Designated Agent: The $6 Filing That Protects Any Site With User Content](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/dmca-designated-agent-safe-harbor-takedown-repeat-infringer-guide): Any business hosting user uploads, reviews, or listings loses DMCA safe harbor unless it designates an agent with the Copyright Office for $6, renews that designation every three years, and actually enforces a repeat-infringer policy. This guide covers registration, the six elements of a valid takedown notice, the 10-to-14-business-day putback window, and the records that prove compliance.
- [Lost Your Receipts? How the Cohan Rule Lets You Reconstruct Business Expenses](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/cohan-rule-reconstruct-business-expenses-lost-receipts-guide): The Cohan rule lets a court estimate an ordinary business deduction when you can prove the money was spent but not the exact amount — and Section 274(d) forbids that estimate entirely for travel, entertainment, gifts, and vehicles. Here is what reconstruction evidence actually persuades an examiner, why bank statements alone usually fail, and a six-step playbook for rebuilding a missing-receipt file.
- [How to Run a Bar Crawl Company: Ticket Revenue, Venue Splits, Guide Pay, and Permits](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/bar-crawl-company-bookkeeping-ticket-splits-venue-shares-guide): A bar crawl company sells admission, not alcohol, so it usually needs no liquor license, but a $25 ticket can lose over $3.60 to platform and processing fees before a single guide is paid. Here is how to structure written per-head venue deals, book pass-through covers as liabilities instead of revenue, defer advance ticket sales until the event, clear city pub-crawl permits, carry $1–2 million in liability coverage, and decide whether guides are W-2 employees or 1099 contractors.
- [When Your 401(k) Becomes a Large Plan: The 100-Participant Audit Trigger, the 80-120 Rule, and Your First IQPA Audit](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/11/401k-large-plan-first-audit-100-participants-80-120-rule-form-5500-iqpa-guide): Since 2023 plan years only 401(k) participants with account balances count toward the 100-participant large-plan line, so a 60-employee company can owe an $8,000 to $12,000 IQPA audit with its Form 5500. This guide covers the day-one count, how the 80-120 rule defers the audit, the July 31 and October 15 deadlines, and a first-audit preparation checklist.
- [Virginia's New Paid Sick Leave Law: The Small Employer's Timeline, Payroll, and Bookkeeping Guide](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/10/virginia-paid-sick-leave-law-small-employer-timeline-payroll-guide): Virginia's SB199/HB5 phases paid sick leave in by employer size — 50+ employees on July 1, 2027, 25+ on January 1, 2028, and every employer with at least one employee on January 1, 2029. Employees accrue one hour per 30 hours worked up to 40 hours a year, unused leave carries over, and violations expose employers to double damages plus attorney's fees. Here is how to configure payroll, audit an existing PTO policy, and book the compensated-absence liability.
- [Urban Farm and Market Garden Bookkeeping: Know Your Profit Per Crop](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/10/urban-farm-market-garden-bookkeeping-schedule-f-profit-per-crop-guide): How small growers keep books that answer "which crop made money?" — Schedule F expense categories, why cash accounting fits a market garden, the March 1 / January 15 farmer estimated-tax rule, the farm optional method for Social Security credits, and per-enterprise cost allocation by bed-feet and labor hours.
- [Paying Your Team in Stablecoins? The IRS Still Wants Its Cut in Dollars](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/10/stablecoin-payroll-crypto-wages-withholding-employer-guide): Wages paid in USDC are taxable at their U.S. dollar value on the date of receipt — subject to income tax withholding, FICA and FUTA, and reportable on Form W-2 — but the IRS will not accept deposits in crypto. A practical guide to split-pay withholding, state wage-payment law, and the bookkeeping a crypto payday requires.
- [Snowflake FY2027 Q2 Earnings: $1.49B Product Revenue and the Acceleration Test](https://beancount.io/blog/2026/09/10/snowflake-q2-fy2027-earnings-analysis): Snowflake's FY2027 Q2 product revenue hit $1.49 billion, up 37% year over year against a guide implying 30%, and management raised full-year product-revenue guidance to $6.07 billion (36% growth). GAAP operating margin improved to −17% from −30%, with the gap to a 15.3% non-GAAP margin almost entirely stock-based compensation.

## Bean Labs Research Log

- [Bean Labs Research Log](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs): Open experiments and findings from Bean Labs — the Finance AI Agent research initiative by Beancount.io.
- [Can your agent balance these books?](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/09/10/can-your-agent-balance-these-books): A synthetic three-row Beancount challenge with an independently derived answer — checking ends at 2958.50 USD, September profit at 1958.50 USD — completed by one recorded agent run with its failures kept in the transcript.
- [FinRAGBench-V: Multimodal RAG with Visual Citations in the Financial Domain](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/12/finragbench-v-multimodal-rag-visual-citation-financial-domain): FinRAGBench-V (EMNLP 2025) is the first large-scale benchmark for multimodal RAG with visual citations in finance, covering 112K+ document pages and 1,394 human-annotated QA pairs. Top models achieve only 20–61% block-level citation recall, and multimodal retrieval outperforms text-only by nearly 50 percentage points.
- [Can LLM Agents Be CFOs? EnterpriseArena's 132-Month Simulation Reveals a Wide Gap](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/11/can-llm-agents-be-cfos-enterprisearena-resource-allocation-benchmark): EnterpriseArena runs 11 LLMs through a 132-month CFO simulation tracking survival, terminal valuation, and book-closing rates. Only Qwen3.5-9B survives 80% of runs; GPT-5.4 and DeepSeek-V3.1 hit 0%. Human experts achieve 100% survival at 5× the terminal value. The critical bottleneck: LLMs skip ledger reconciliation 80% of the time, acting on stale financial state.
- [WildToolBench: Why No LLM Exceeds 15% Session Accuracy in Real-World Tool Use](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/10/wildtoolbench-benchmarking-llm-tool-use-in-the-wild): WildToolBench (ICLR 2026) evaluates 57 LLMs on 1,024 tasks drawn from real user behavior — no model exceeds 15% session accuracy, with compositional orchestration, hidden intent, and instruction transitions as the three sharpest failure modes.
- [LLM Confidence and Calibration: A Survey of What the Research Actually Shows](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/09/confidence-estimation-calibration-llms-survey): A systematic survey of LLM confidence estimation and calibration methods—white-box logit approaches, consistency-based SelfCheckGPT, and semantic entropy—reveals that verbalized confidence scores from GPT-4 achieve only ~62.7% AUROC, barely above chance, with direct implications for deploying uncertainty-aware agents in finance and accounting.
- [JSONSchemaBench: Real-World Schema Complexity Breaks LLM Structured Output Guarantees](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/08/jsonschemabench-structured-outputs-language-models): JSONSchemaBench tests 9,558 real-world JSON schemas against six constrained decoding frameworks and finds that schema complexity causes coverage to collapse from 86% on simple schemas to 3% on complex ones, with XGrammar silently emitting 38 non-compliant outputs and no framework covering all 45 JSON Schema feature categories.
- [FinMCP-Bench: Benchmarking LLM Agents for Real-World Financial Tool Use under MCP](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/07/finmcp-bench-llm-agents-financial-tool-use-model-context-protocol): FinMCP-Bench evaluates six LLM models on 613 real-world financial tool-use tasks backed by 65 MCP servers — the best model scores 3.08% exact match on multi-turn tasks, revealing a 20× performance collapse from single-tool to multi-turn scenarios.
- [FinTrace: Trajectory-Level Evaluation of LLM Tool Calling for Financial Tasks](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/06/fintrace-trajectory-level-evaluation-llm-tool-calling-financial-tasks): FinTrace benchmarks 13 LLMs on 800 expert-annotated financial task trajectories across 9 metrics, finding that frontier models achieve strong tool selection (F1 ~0.9) but score only 3.23/5 on information utilization — the step where agents reason over what tools return.
- [FinToolBench: Оцінка агентів LLM на основі використання фінансових інструментів у реальних умовах](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/05/fintoolbench-evaluating-llm-agents-real-world-financial-tool-use): FinToolBench поєднує 760 активних фінансових інструментів API з 295 виконуваними запитами для тестування агентів LLM на реальних фінансових завданнях — виявивши, що консервативна частота викликів GPT-4o у 22,7% забезпечує вищу якість відповідей (CSS 0,670), ніж агресивна TIR Qwen3-8B у 87,1%, тоді як невідповідність намірів перевищує 50% у всіх протестованих моделях.
- [OmniEval: Omnidirectional RAG Evaluation Benchmark for the Financial Domain](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/04/omnieval-omnidirectional-automatic-rag-evaluation-financial-domain): OmniEval (EMNLP 2025) benchmarks RAG systems across 5 task types × 16 financial topics using 11.4k auto-generated test cases. The best systems achieve only 36% numerical accuracy — concrete evidence that RAG pipelines need validation layers before writing to structured financial ledgers.
- [LLM Anomaly Detection Survey (NAACL 2025): Strong Taxonomy, Absent Tabular Coverage](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/03/llm-anomaly-ood-detection-survey): A critical reading of Xu and Ding's NAACL 2025 survey on LLM-based anomaly and OOD detection: the detection-vs-generation taxonomy holds up, but near-total absence of tabular coverage means financial AI practitioners must synthesize insights from vision models themselves.
- [Found in the Middle: Calibrating Positional Attention Bias Improves Long-Context RAG](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/02/found-in-the-middle-calibrating-positional-attention-bias): A training-free inference-time calibration subtracts positional bias from LLM attention weights, recovering up to 15 percentage points of RAG accuracy when retrieved documents are buried mid-context — and what it means for finance-specific agent pipelines.
- [Uncertainty-Aware Deferral for LLM Agents: When to Escalate from Small to Large Models](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/07/01/redact-uncertainty-aware-deferral-llm-agents): ReDAct runs a small model by default and escalates to an expensive model only when token-level perplexity signals uncertainty, achieving 64% cost savings over GPT-5.2-only while matching or exceeding its accuracy — a directly applicable pattern for Beancount transaction-categorization agents.
- [OpenHands: Open Platform for AI Software Agents and What It Means for Finance Automation](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/06/30/openhands-open-platform-ai-software-developers-generalist-agents): OpenHands is an MIT-licensed, Docker-sandboxed agent platform where CodeAct achieves 26% on SWE-Bench Lite — a sobering benchmark that establishes what AI agents can reliably do today, and why the first productive finance deployments should be tightly scoped rather than autonomous.
- [Fin-RATE: How LLMs Fail at Cross-Period and Cross-Entity Financial Analysis](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/06/29/fin-rate-real-world-financial-analytics-tracking-evaluation-benchmark): Fin-RATE benchmarks 17 LLMs on 7,500 expert-curated QA pairs from 2,472 SEC filings, revealing an 18.60% accuracy collapse under longitudinal tracking and a 54-point drop for finance-specialized Fin-R1 on cross-entity tasks — with the retrieval pipeline, not the backbone model, as the binding bottleneck.
- [FinDER: Real Analyst Queries Expose a 74% Recall Gap in Financial RAG](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/06/28/finder-financial-dataset-rag-evaluation): FinDER benchmarks RAG on 5,703 real hedge fund analyst queries against S&P 500 10-K filings; E5-Mistral achieves only 25.95% context recall, and abbreviation-heavy queries cost 8.2 precision points — evidence that query normalization, not better embeddings, is the first fix for finance AI pipelines.
- [Lost in the Middle: Position Bias in LLMs and Its Impact on Finance AI](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/06/27/lost-in-the-middle-language-models-long-contexts): The TACL 2024 paper by Liu et al. shows LLMs perform up to 20 points worse on information buried in the middle of long contexts — a U-shaped degradation affecting every tested model including Claude-1.3-100K — with concrete implications for how RAG pipelines should order retrieved passages in finance and accounting applications.
- [AD-LLM Benchmark: GPT-4o Hits 0.93+ AUROC Zero-Shot for Text Anomaly Detection](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/06/26/ad-llm-benchmarking-llms-anomaly-detection): AD-LLM benchmarks GPT-4o and Llama 3.1 8B across three anomaly detection roles — zero-shot detector, data augmenter, and model selector — on five NLP datasets; GPT-4o reaches AUROC 0.93–0.99 zero-shot, but LLM-based model selection remains unreliable, with direct implications for financial audit AI.
- [CausalTAD: Causal Column Ordering for LLM Tabular Anomaly Detection](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/06/25/causaltad-causal-knowledge-llm-tabular-anomaly-detection): CausalTAD improves LLM-based tabular anomaly detection by reordering table columns to respect causal dependencies before serialization, lifting average AUC-ROC from 0.803 to 0.834 over AnoLLM on mixed-type benchmarks — with direct implications for detecting anomalies in structured ledger data.
- [AnoLLM: Fine-Tuning LLMs for Tabular Anomaly Detection in Financial Data](https://beancount.io/bean-labs/research-logs/2026/06/24/anollm-llm-fine-tuning-tabular-anomaly-detection): AnoLLM (ICLR 2025) reformulates tabular anomaly detection as LLM density estimation — fine-tuning on normal rows and scoring by negative log-likelihood. It outperforms classical methods on mixed-type fraud datasets but offers no edge on purely numerical data, with real implications for detecting anomalies in Beancount ledger entries.

## Feeds

- [Beancount.io Blog RSS](https://beancount.io/blog/rss.xml): RSS 2.0 feed
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- [Beancount.io Changelog RSS](https://beancount.io/changelog/rss.xml): RSS 2.0 feed
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