AI Flux Analysis uses AI to automatically generate plain-language explanations for variances in your financial reports. Instead of manually writing up why each line item changed period over period, Double's AI reviews the underlying transactions and produces a description for you.
Getting Started
AI Flux Analysis lives inside the Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet in the Final Review section of your close page. To get started:
Open your Final Review task (e.g., a Profit and Loss report).
Click the Configure button at the top of the report.
In the Configure report modal, you'll see several options that affect how the AI flux analysis works.
Choosing a Table Layout
The Table layout setting controls where comments, variances, footnotes, and flux descriptions appear in the report. There are two options:
Column view — Comments, footnotes, and variances each get their own column, and the AI flux analysis description appears in a dedicated column next to the variance. This is the recommended layout for flux analysis, since it mirrors the traditional format you'd see in a flux report.
Actions inline — Comments, footnotes, and variances appear inline on hover next to each line item name. This is the current default view in your reports. This is a more compact view, but less ideal for reviewing flux descriptions side by side with variances.
We recommend using Column view for the best AI Flux Analysis experience.
Setting Materiality Thresholds
Materiality thresholds let you control which line items the AI analyzes. You can toggle thresholds on and configure two triggers:
Dollar amount — Only generate flux descriptions for variances above a specific dollar threshold (e.g., $1,000).
Percentage — Only generate flux descriptions for variances above a specific percentage change (e.g., 20%).
You can choose from the following triggers for variances and flux analysis:
Amount only - eg. show me all variances $1,000 or greater.
Percentage only - eg. show me all variances 20% or greater.
OR (when either threshold is met) - eg. show me variances that reach either $1,000 OR 20%.
AND (when both thresholds are met) - eg. don't show me a variance unless it's at least $1,000 AND 20%.
This helps keep the analysis focused on the variances that actually matter, rather than generating explanations for every small fluctuation.
Flux Analysis Options
Inside the Configure report modal, you'll also find additional flux analysis options:
Truncate analysis - When checked, longer AI-generated descriptions will be shortened for a uniform view. You can still click to expand each cell to read the full text.
Vendor level - If vendor fluctuations meet the variance thresholds, this option will generate an analysis when drilling down to the vendor level from an account in the report.
Parent account level - If an account has sub-accounts, choosing this option will show an analysis at both the sub-account and rolled up parent account level.
Totals/aggregates - If this option is selected, analysis will generate at the account totals levels (ie. Gross profit, Net income).
AI model selection - Choose which AI model to use for generating your flux descriptions. We set our favorite model as the default but you can choose the model that gives the output you like best.
Reading AI Flux Descriptions
Once the report is configured and saved, the AI will generate variance descriptions for each qualifying line item. You'll see these descriptions in the Flux analysis column.
Each description explains what caused the change — for example, it might note that a specific vendor payment occurred in one period but not the other, or that a one-off expense contributed to a spike in a particular account.
Editing Descriptions
AI-generated descriptions are fully editable. Simply click on any flux description to open it in a text editor, make your changes, and click away to save. This lets you refine the AI's output or add your own context before sharing with a client or manager.
Copying to Footnotes or Comments
Once you're happy with a flux description, you can quickly push it to other parts of the report:
Copy to footnote — Adds the description as a footnote on the financial statement, which will appear in management reports and interactive financial statements in the client portal.
Copy to comment — Adds the description as a comment on the line item, where you can tag teammates for review or discussion.
Just click on a flux description and use the Copy to footnote or Copy to comment buttons.
Refreshing Out-of-Date Descriptions
If underlying transactions change after a flux description has been generated, the description will be flagged as out of date and highlighted in orange. This lets you know that the explanation may no longer be accurate.
To refresh it, click on the out-of-date description and hit the Re-run button. The AI will regenerate the description based on the latest transaction data. You can also bulk refresh out-of-date items by clicking the Re-run affected button in the yellow banner at the top of the report.