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UpDraft FAQ
Answers to the questions new users ask most often. Refer to the Quick Start Guide or Video Tutorials for more information. Book live support time via Office Hours.
General
General Questions
What is UpDraft?
An AI agent platform for technical accounting and financial reporting.
What does it do?
UpDraft analyzes transactions, researches guidance, drafts memos, builds Excel workpapers and generates disclosures.
Who is UpDraft built for?
Corporate accounting teams, controllers, and accounting advisory firms. If your work involves analyzing complex transactions, UpDraft is for you.
Does UpDraft support IFRS or other non-US GAAP frameworks?
Yes. The platform supports US GAAP, IFRS, UK GAAP, Canadian GAAP, and Government GAAP. You must add the relevant guides for your framework to the knowledge base.
How do I know if UpDraft is getting the right answer?
UpDraft functions like a highly competent and hyper efficient team member but it is not an infallible expert. UpDraft also doesn't know what it doesn't know. If it's missing context there's no way for it to incorporate those details into the analysis. Treat UpDraft's work like you're reviewing a team members output. Push back and ask questions. UpDraft does the analytical heavy lifting; you make the final call.
Does UpDraft use its own training knowledge for accounting conclusions?
No. Every rule, test, criterion, and definition UpDraft applies comes from its Knowledge Base or a file you uploaded — never from the AI's original training data, which is by definition outdated.
Workflow
How a Typical Project Flows
Most projects follow this general sequence:
You don't have to follow this sequence rigidly. You can ask quick research questions at any time, skip Plan Mode for straightforward analyses, or jump straight to a specific issue. For complex transactions, the full flow produces the strongest results.
01
Create a project and upload your documents
Click "Start new Project" on the home screen and then upload anything relevant. Contracts, exhibits, schedules, amendments, etc.
02
Brief UpDraft like a team member
Describe the assignment to UpDraft like you would a team member. A few sentences of context: the deal, the deliverable, any important details that aren't contained within the provided documents.
03
Plan the project together
Planning takes a few minutes and dramatically improves the final output. UpDraft builds a workflow tailored to the transaction.
04
Execute step by step
Tell UpDraft to get started once the plan is complete and it works through each issue, sharing details in the chat and drafting the analysis.
05
Review and refine
Read the output as it's produced, push back where needed, and iterate until the analysis meets your standards. Ask UpDraft to self-audit it's own work.
06
Export
Download the finished memo in Word, the Excel schedules, and any draft disclosures.
Projects
Projects
What is a project?
A container for a single accounting engagement. It holds your documents, chat sessions, workflows, Key Terms, memos, and Excel outputs in one place. Think of it like a workpaper binder for a specific transaction.
Can I have multiple projects open at once?
Yes. Each project is independent. Switch between them from the dashboard or have them open in multiple browser tabs. If you close a tab while UpDraft is actively working, it will stop.
How do team members collaborate on a project?
Multiple users can access the same project as either viewers or editors.
Can a single project have multiple deliverables?
Yes. A project can include multiple memos, notes, and spreadsheets — e.g., a spreadsheet with the amortization schedule feeding a memo with the classification conclusion, plus a notes doc for preliminary research. All deliverables share the same Project Files, Key Terms, and guides, which keeps the analysis consistent across the engagement.
Files
Files
What file types can I upload?
PDF, DOCX, XLSX, and CSV files such as contracts, financial statements, Excel schedules, financial models & data sets.
How many files can a project handle?
There is a soft limit of 50 files per project. If you need to exceed this, let us know.
Can I add files after the analysis starts?
Yes. You can add files of any type at any time.
How does UpDraft treat different file types?
When you upload files, you categorize them as Contract, Financial Data, or Other.
1
Contract
Source of truth for transaction facts. UpDraft extracts Key Terms from these.
2
Financial Data
Supports calculations and schedules.
3
Other
Reference material (templates, prior memos, checklists). UpDraft uses these for context but does not cite them as authoritative sources for transaction facts.

Categorizing correctly matters. A precedent memo sitting in the Contract bucket gets read as deal facts.
Knowledge Base
Knowledge Base & Guides
What is the Knowledge Base?
A persistent library of authoritative accounting guidance that UpDraft can access across all of your projects without re-uploading.
What can I upload to the Knowledge Base?
Any PDF. Authoritative accounting documents, your firm's internal policies, audit methodologies, and precedent transaction memos are all common uploads.
Should I add my company's accounting policies?
Yes. Upload them to the Knowledge Base so UpDraft knows how guidance is applied in your specific domain.
Can I upload multiple guides on the same topic?
Yes. You can have EY and KPMG guides on the same standard and research across both, or specify which one to use for a particular analysis.
Key Terms
Key Terms
What are Key Terms?
The facts UpDraft extracts from your files: parties, dates, amounts, key provisions, defined terms, conditions, and other details relevant to the accounting analysis. They act as UpDraft's persistent memory of the transaction.
Why do they matter?
Once a fact is saved as a Key Term, UpDraft remembers it throughout the project. It doesn't have to re-read a contract to recall the maturity date or the earnout threshold.
Does UpDraft create them automatically?
Yes. During project scoping, UpDraft reads your files alongside your Knowledge Base, identifies the facts that matter for the analysis, and saves them in the Key Terms tab. UpDraft understands which Key Terms link to which accounting concepts, and it checks for missed terms as the analysis progresses.
Can I edit Key Terms?
Yes. Add new ones, or delete what's not relevant. Updates propagate: fix a Key Term once and it's fixed everywhere UpDraft uses it.
What if I don't have contract files — can I provide facts directly?
Yes. If no contracts are available, tell UpDraft the transaction facts in chat and it will save them as Key Terms (without file citations).
Research & Chat
Research & Chat
What kinds of questions can I ask?
Anything related to accounting standards, guidance application, or your uploaded documents. UpDraft researches the question using your guides, cites its sources, and delivers a structured response.
Can I ask follow-up questions?
Yes. The chat is conversational. UpDraft retains the full context of your conversation.
Does UpDraft remember things across sessions?
UpDraft remembers the project's persistent data: Key Terms, workflow plans, deliverables, and bookmarked guides. These carry over between sessions. UpDraft does not remember project-specific details or instructions outside of a project.
Can I redirect UpDraft mid-analysis?
Yes. If you want to change direction ("Skip the VIE analysis, focus on the earnout"), say so in the chat. UpDraft adjusts.
How do citations work?
Every response and memo includes citations back to the source guidance. Click any citation to open the guide viewer and see the exact passage UpDraft relied on. UpDraft cites contracts and other files the same way.
Modes & Workflows
Plan Mode, Agent Mode & Workflows
Plan Mode
For scoping larger analyses. UpDraft works with you to identify the right guides, extract Key Terms from your contracts, and build a structured step-by-step workflow.
Agent Mode
For execution. UpDraft follows the workflow, researches guidance, analyzes each issue, and drafts the deliverables. For small tasks where no planning is needed UpDraft will get to work immediately.
Do I always have to use Plan Mode?
No. For quick research questions, ad-hoc lookups, or simple analyses, you can work directly in Agent Mode. Plan Mode is most valuable for multi-issue analyses where you want a complete, structured deliverable.
What if my project needs more than one deliverable?
UpDraft creates a separate plan for each deliverable within a single project. If your engagement requires a memo, a supporting Excel workpaper, and a set of draft disclosures, each gets its own scoped workflow. All three share the same documents, Key Terms, and guides.
Can I switch between modes?
Yes. UpDraft switches modes automatically but you can also manually toggle modes. UpDraft will suggest Plan Mode when it thinks scoping would improve the output, but you can override and proceed directly.
Workflows
What is a workflow?
A structured plan that defines the steps and accounting issues for a specific type of analysis. UpDraft follows it to produce a complete, organized deliverable.
Do I have to build my own?
No. UpDraft includes prebuilt workflows for common transaction types and automatically checks for ones that match your transaction's fact pattern. You can also work with UpDraft in Plan Mode to generate a workflow tailored to your specific transaction.
Can I edit a workflow?
Workflows you create are fully editable. Ask UpDraft questions or give it direct edit instructions in the chat. Prebuilt workflows can be duplicated and then modified from within a Project.
Can I save workflows for my team to reuse?
Yes. Workflows you build at the project level can be saved and reused. UpDraft will surface the matching workflow when a similar transaction comes up in any project. Build it once, use it everywhere.
Deliverables
Deliverables
What deliverable types does UpDraft produce?
Memo
A structured Word document for formal analysis (technical accounting conclusions, footnote disclosures, review responses). Exports as Word.
Notes
A freeform markdown document for informal analysis, research summaries, or pre-memo thinking.
Spreadsheet
Multi-tab Excel workbook with live formulas for quantitative schedules, calculations, and checklists.
A single project can include any combination of these deliverables.
What does a memo look like?
A structured Word document with proper headings, tables, citations, and formatting. It includes the fact pattern, relevant guidance, analysis of each issue, and conclusions. UpDraft breaks a transaction down into issues and granular substeps that follow the guidance criteria.
How long does a memo take?
A straightforward lease analysis might produce a draft in 30 minutes. A multi-issue purchase accounting memo with 35+ source documents can take 1 to 2.5 hours. Either way, UpDraft is doing work that would take a senior accountant days or weeks.
Can I edit deliverables directly?
Yes. You can edit memos and notes deliverables yourself at any time. UpDraft sees your changes and picks them up in the next pass.
What kind of Excel outputs does UpDraft produce?
Multi-tab workbooks with live formulas. Purchase price allocations, lease amortization schedules, revenue recognition schedules, journal entries, and financial statement tables.
Are the Excel outputs connected to the memo?
UpDraft cross-references every source that feeds the spreadsheet (memos, contracts, or other files), as long as those sources are in the same project. Planning the Excel deliverable helps UpDraft understand the detailed relationship between the memo and any source files.
How does drafting disclosures work?
Disclosures draft from the conclusions and data in your project. UpDraft finds the criteria in your Knowledge Base from accounting guides or audit disclosure checklists. You can also task UpDraft with finding examples from public companies to benchmark.
Use Cases
Common Use Cases
What else can UpDraft do beyond writing a memo?
Teams use UpDraft across the full lifecycle of a transaction, not just the deliverable at the end. A few common patterns:
Standalone research
Open a project and use the chat as a research assistant. "Compare how each Big 4 firm approaches crypto asset accounting under ASC 350-60." "What are the key differences between ASC 842 and IFRS 16 for sale-leaseback transactions?"
Operationalize guidance
Point UpDraft at a specific flowchart or decision tree in a guide and tell it to apply that framework to your transaction. Static guidance becomes applied analysis.
Plain-English translations
Ask UpDraft to break down a dense indemnification clause or a gnarly guidance paragraph. Useful for getting up to speed on an unfamiliar topic or explaining a position to a non-technical stakeholder.
Portfolio comparisons
Upload a family of contracts (a book of leases, a set of revenue arrangements, a portfolio of debt instruments) and compare key terms side by side. Spot outliers and drafting inconsistencies instantly.
Pressure-test and compare positions
When a transaction hinges on a judgment call, have UpDraft model both paths side by side. Evaluate tradeoffs with the actual numbers in front of you and document that alternatives were considered.
Address auditor comments
Upload a memo with review notes and tell UpDraft to address them. It reads the comment, researches the relevant guidance, and drafts a response with citations the auditor can trace.
Journal entries
Once conclusions are set, ask UpDraft to draft the journal entries. Analysis to booking in the same session.
Excel exhibits embedded in deliverables
For structured numerical exhibits like disclosure tables, have UpDraft build them in Excel, then tell UpDraft to include it as an exhibit in your deliverable.
Disclosure benchmarking
Ask UpDraft to research how comparable companies disclosed similar transactions and compare language and structure against your draft.
Client call prep
Upload a contract and ask UpDraft to surface accounting risks and open questions. Walk into the call already knowing where the landmines are.
Visualize the logic
Ask UpDraft to create a decision graph or flowchart so you can see — and show others — the analytical path from facts to conclusion. Useful for walking partners, clients, or auditors through a judgment-heavy position.
Questions not answered here: support@tryupdraft.com