Technical accounting memos with a citation on every sentence, drafted in the standard's own steps
A citation on every sentence, from your policies and the standards
See one case, screen by screen ↓Software that helps a finance team research an accounting question and document the judgment in a position memo the auditor can test. Technical Accounting Memos answers the question with a citation on every sentence from your policy manual, signed memos and the standards, and drafts the memo beside the answer in the standard's own steps.
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A life sciences finance team makes the same hard calls every quarter: a licence milestone under ASC 606, an asset acquisition with acquired IPR&D under ASC 805 and 730, collaboration cost-share under ASC 808, a lease hiding in a supply agreement under ASC 842, pre-launch inventory under ASC 330. Each question means hours in the policy manual, the prior signed memos, the audit committee papers and the Codification — and then a position memo the external auditor will test.
The paragraph in the standard is the easy part. The precedent is buried in hundreds of signed memos, and the written policy drifts from what the company actually did. A constrained milestone booked a quarter early is a revenue misstatement; a payment to founders who must stay, put into the price, overstates the acquired IPR&D charge. And the memo has to be written, cited and signed before the auditor's file is due.
Estimated split for one position memo on a significant judgment, by hand and with the solution. The four hours of writing and the half hour of review are the published figures in the footnote.
Six agents route the question, read the contract, the policy, prior memos and the standards, flag conflicts, draft the memo step by step and check every citation; the preparer decides each judgment and the controller signs.
Northwind Bio is closing Q3 2026. Memos go to the external auditor on Oct 16 and the audit committee meets on Oct 28. Here is Dr. Maya Chen's morning, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Five questions are on the desk: one sent to a person, three with a conflict between policy and practice. Sam Patel's question on the Tamsin purchase is already answered — an asset acquisition, 93.3% of the gross assets in TMS-118 — with 16 citations from 8 sources. Beside it, memo M-311 is drafted to step 4 of the ASC 805 asset acquisition analysis.
“Searches 63 policies · 286 memos · 41 audit committee papers · 9 standards topics”
Omar Haddad has asked for the Seiren milestone position before Oct 16. The Seiren licence was signed on Aug 30, 2026: Corventa outside the US, $75.0M upfront, $40.0M on approval in Japan, royalties of 12–18%. The new-question screen shows what the library holds and the three layouts a memo can take — ASC 606's five steps, the ASC 805 asset acquisition analysis, ASC 842's lease test.
“The structure follows the standard the question falls under, and keeps the paragraphs each step relies on.”
Maya asks: “Is the $40M Japan approval milestone in the Seiren licence variable consideration — and does any of it go into Q3 revenue?” The question router tags it ASC 606, Seiren licence, Q3 2026. The contract reader pulls §3.1 upfront, §3.2 Japan milestone and §3.4 royalties; the standards researcher finds 606-10-32-5, 32-8, 32-11, 32-12, 32-14 and 55-65; the policy and precedent retriever brings policy §3.4.2 and the Okabe memo of Feb 2025. The practice conflict checker finds that policy and practice agree.
Six sentences, ten citations, four sources, confidence 93%. The $40.0M is variable consideration, estimated at the most likely amount — $40.0M or nothing — and constrained, because approval rests with Japan's regulator. Q3 revenue from Seiren is the $75.0M upfront only, reassessed at each quarter end, as for the Okabe out-licence in 2025. Beside the answer, memo M-313 drafts itself in ASC 606's five steps, with step 3 marked as the deciding step.
“M-313 drafted — ASC 606 five steps, every sentence cited”
Step 3 keeps its paragraphs as chips — ASC 606-10-32-5 and 32-6, 32-8, 32-11, 32-12 and policy §3.4.2. Maya clicks 32-11 and the Source tab opens the plain-language summary with the passage highlighted: a regulatory milestone is included only when a significant reversal is not probable — usually not before it is achieved.
“A plain-language summary. The licensed standards text opens through the licence holder.”
M-313 opens as a document addressed to the audit file: question, the five steps, alternatives considered and rejected, and the conclusion. The checks list reads 18 citations from 4 sources, all verified, paragraph-level references, and the alternatives section present — the dated sign-off is still pending. The supply terms are left open with Omar as a possible material right, and the memo says that does not change the Q3 amount.
“Including the $40.0M now as the most likely amount: rejected — approval is outside Northwind's control.”
Tamsin holds $12.4M in escrow for its three founders for 18 months. Policy §7.2.6 treats payments that depend on staying as pay for future work; the Elmstead memo of Nov 2024 put a similar payment into the price. The agents do not decide judgments, so step 5 of M-311 is a decision card: option A follows the policy, $384.5M acquired R&D in Q3; option B follows Elmstead, $396.4M.
“Policy §7.2.6 and the Elmstead precedent point different ways. The agents do not decide judgments — pick the view the memo takes.”
Maya uses option A with the reason: the escrow is forfeited if a founder leaves before 18 months, so it pays for future services. Her decision, name and reason are recorded in step 5, and the memo drafter writes the rest — alternatives rejected, the conclusion and the financial statement impact: $384.5M of acquired IPR&D on Sep 22 and $0.2M of compensation in Q3, the remaining $12.2M over the stay.
The Tamsin charge is above $100M, so M-311 goes to Priya Raman, corporate controller, and Ruth Adeyemi, chief accounting officer. The signature meaning reads “Approved as management's position for Q3 2026”. Signing locks the version; any later change creates a new one.
“The signature, meaning and time go to the audit trail.”
The founder retention conflict is logged as gap G-1 — conflict, high, ASC 805 — with policy §7.2.6 on one side and the Elmstead memo on the other. Maya can draft the policy update or dismiss it with a reason, and the committee pack collects the updates for the meeting on Oct 15. Five gaps are open: three conflicts, one silent topic, one outdated wording.
The same close, seen by the five people who carry its judgments — what their quarter looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six agents route the question, read the contract, the policy, prior memos and the standards, flag conflicts, draft the memo step by step and check every citation; the preparer decides each judgment and the controller signs.
Reads each question and labels the standard, the deal or alliance, the entity and the period, then picks the sources to search.
Searches the policy manual, prior memos and audit committee papers for the passages that decide the question, with section and page, and always returns the most recent signed memo on the same facts.
Finds the paragraph-level standards references, such as 805-10-55-5A or 606-10-32-11, and the plain-language summaries for them.
Compares what the policy says with what signed memos actually did, shows the conflict under the answer and logs every difference as a policy gap.
Drafts the position memo in the standard's steps inside house template v4 — purpose, facts, literature, analysis, alternatives considered and rejected, conclusion, financial statement impact, sign-off — and turns each open judgment into a decision with each option's effect on the numbers.
Checks that every sentence in an answer or memo is supported by the passage it cites, ties out the numbers, and removes any sentence that is not supported.
Decide each judgment, then sign. The agents propose; a named person decides.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
How answers are cited, when a person steps in and who signs are settings. Changes take effect at once and are recorded in the audit trail.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Every sentence must cite a passage | On | On · Off |
| Flag differences between policy and practice | On | On · Off |
| Answer only from the library | On | On · Off |
| Send to a person below | 80% confidence | 70% · 80% · 90% confidence |
| Lay out each memo in the standard's steps | By standard — house template v4 around the steps | By standard — house template v4 around the steps · House template v4 only |
| Block sign-off without an alternatives section | Off | On · Off |
| Sign-off up to $100M impact | Corporate controller — Priya Raman | Corporate controller — Priya Raman · Technical accounting — Dr. Maya Chen |
| Above $100M impact | Controller and chief accounting officer — Ruth Adeyemi | Controller and chief accounting officer — Ruth Adeyemi · Corporate controller — Priya Raman · Technical accounting — Dr. Maya Chen |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample company data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (practitioner guides to technical accounting memos — about four hours to write a memo, about 30 minutes to review a drafted one). Standards named are the FASB Accounting Standards Codification, Topics 606, 805, 730, 808, 842 and 330, as context. People, companies, products and agreements named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that helps a finance team research an accounting question and document the judgment in a position memo the auditor can test. Technical Accounting Memos answers the question with a citation on every sentence from your policy manual, signed memos and the standards, and drafts the memo beside the answer in the standard's own steps.
The citation verifier checks each sentence against the passage it cites and ties out the numbers. A sentence it cannot support is removed, and an answer below the confidence threshold goes to technical accounting with every source attached.
Yes. On the sample Seiren licence it lays the memo out in ASC 606's five steps, marks the transaction price as the deciding step, and keeps the paragraphs each step relies on — here 606-10-32-5 to 32-12 and the company's policy §3.4.2 — as chips that open the passage.
Yes. The ASC 805 layout runs the screen test, measures and allocates the cost, treats acquired in-process R&D, milestones payable to the sellers and payments to sellers who stay. Where a judgment is open, such as founder retention, it shows each option's effect on the charge and a person decides.
The practice conflict checker shows the conflict under the answer with both passages — the policy section and the signed memo — and logs it as a policy gap. From there you can draft the policy update or dismiss it with a reason, and collect updates into a pack for the policy committee.
No. The standards researcher cites at paragraph level and works from plain-language summaries; the licensed standards text opens through the licence holder.
Yes. The agents never decide a judgment; the preparer does, and the decision, reason, name and time are recorded. The corporate controller signs up to $100M of impact, the chief accounting officer co-signs above, and a signed memo is locked.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your policy manual, signed memos, audit committee papers and memo template — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own judgments first.
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