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Kulram

Bookkeeping you do by talking to it.

For sole traders in Sweden.

Prasannjeet Singh · Växjö · September 2026

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Thank you for taking the time. Kulram is bookkeeping you do by talking to it. It is built for sole traders in Sweden: people who run a business alone and also have to keep its books. I will keep it short. Who I am, the problem, how Kulram solves it, the research behind it, and what I need.
About me

Prasannjeet Singh

Living in Växjö since 2017. I run a sole proprietorship and keep its books myself.

I have built Kulram alone, evenings and weekends, for two years.

  • Software engineer at IST in Växjö for seven years, one of the people who decide how IST uses AI
  • MSc Software Technology, Linnaeus University. MBA alongside work
  • Research on reliable AI agents. PRISM accepted at REALM 2026, a workshop at EMNLP
  • Co-founded two companies before moving to Sweden
First, briefly about me. I have worked at IST here in Växjö for seven years as a software engineer, and I am one of the people who decide how IST uses AI. I have a master's in software technology from Linnaeus University, and an MBA that I did alongside work. I do research on making AI agents reliable. One paper, PRISM, has just been accepted at a workshop at EMNLP in Budapest. I will come back to it. I also run a sole proprietorship myself, so I keep my own books. Kulram I have built alone, evenings and weekends, for two years. [Only if asked about experience:] What I have not done yet is take a product to market. That is part of why I am here.
The market
1 018 821

companies in Sweden have no employees.

About three out of four companies in the country.

39 000

new sole traders start every year.

In every one of them, the owner is also the bookkeeper.

Sources: SCB Företagsdatabasen 2025 · Tillväxtanalys, new companies 2025
The market. In Sweden, one million eighteen thousand companies have no employees. That is about three out of four companies in the country. Every year around thirty-nine thousand new sole traders start. In all of them, the owner is also the bookkeeper. Backup: 39 000 is 52.9 percent sole traders of 74 436 new companies in 2025 (Tillväxtanalys). Roughly 580 000 to 650 000 sole proprietorships in SCB's register, depending on whether inactive firms count.
Kronoberg
21 753

workplaces without employees in Kronoberg county.

This is where I want to start: close to home, with owners I can meet.

Source: SCB Företagsregistret 2025
Here in Kronoberg there are almost twenty-two thousand workplaces without employees. This is where I want to start. Close to home, with owners I can actually meet.
What the law asks of the owner

What a sole trader has to do

None of this is why they started the business. They either learn it, or pay someone for every step.

01

Keep every document

Every receipt and invoice, kept for seven years.

02

Book every transaction

On the right account in the BAS chart, with the VAT split out.

03

Match the bank

Every row on the statement matched to a document.

04

File the VAT return

Monthly, quarterly or yearly, depending on turnover.

05

Correct mistakes lawfully

No deleting, no editing a sent invoice. Credit notes and correction entries.

06

Close the year

Year-end accounts and the NE figures for the income tax return.

In case accounting is not your daily work, this is what a sole trader has to do. Keep every receipt and invoice for seven years. Book every transaction on the right account, with the VAT split out. Match the bank statement to the books. File a VAT return every period. Correct mistakes the way the law prescribes. And close the year, with the figures for the income tax return. None of this is why they started the business. So they either learn it, or they pay someone for every step. Backup: VAT period is yearly below 1 MSEK turnover, quarterly from 1 to 40 MSEK, monthly above.
The problem

Where it breaks down

Nine problems, from my interviews and from public sources.

In detail next
From the interviews and the research I found nine concrete problems. They are all on this slide. I will go through the four marked in blue. If you want to see any of the others, I can open it. [To open another card: click it.]
02

Matching the bank statement

Every row has to be matched by hand to a receipt, an invoice or a till report.

05-02 SWISH 1234561 250,00
05-04 KORTKÖP ICA-55,00
05-05 BG 5050-12348 450,00
05-06 KORTKÖP CIRCLE K-812,40
05-09 KORTKÖP BAUHAUS-1 495,00
05-12 SKATTEVERKET-6 027,50
05-14 ÖVERFÖRING-3 200,00
05-18 KORTKÖP TELIA-399,00
05-22 BG GROSSIST-3 355,00
05-23 ZETTLE UTBET2 611,40
...50 more rows
Illustrative statement; red rows match no document. Interviews with three sole traders and one accountant, 2026.
The biggest one: matching the bank statement. Every row has to be matched to a receipt, an invoice or a till report. And the amounts rarely match exactly: card fees, one payment covering two invoices, a partial payment. In my interviews this was the task people postpone the longest. An accountant told me about a client who was months late with the VAT return. Not because of money. Because the matching was too painful to even start.
03

Every question has a price

A simple question to an accountant costs around 500 kr.

≈ 500 kr

for one answer: about half an hour at the median rate.

Not the accountant's fault. It is how hourly pricing works.

Median 950 kr per hour: Srf konsulterna 2022. 30 minute minimum: LK Konsult. Credit note: Mervärdesskattelagen 17 kap. 22 §.
Second: every question has a price. A simple question to the accountant costs around five hundred kronor. The median rate is about nine hundred and fifty an hour, and many firms bill in half-hour blocks. A typical example: an invoice was sent with the wrong amount. You cannot just edit it. The law requires a credit note that refers back to the original. Most owners do not know that, so they call. The effect is that people save their questions until year-end, when the decisions are already made. That is not the accountants' fault. It is how hourly pricing works.
05

The software makes you an expert

Every tool says it is simple. Then it hands you the manual.

Ta bort eller ändra felaktig verifikation i Fortnox BokföringFortnox help video
Stäm av konto i Fortnox BokföringFortnox help video
Lär dig grunderna och arbeta smidigt i Fortnox BokföringPaid course, 495 kr
Counts and titles, September 2026: support.fortnox.se, fortnox.se/utbildningar, bokio.se.
Third: the software turns owners into experts. Every tool says it is simple. Fortnox has seven hundred and eighty-seven help articles, a hundred and seventy-seven help videos and around fifty paid courses. Bokio, the simple one, has almost six hundred help articles. And three out of four new Fortnox users come in through an accounting bureau. These tools are built for accountants, and then sold to the owner.
07

Deadlines and late fees

VAT returns, employer returns, income tax, year-end. Miss one and a fee follows.

306 574

late fees on periodic tax returns in 2025.

Sources: Skatteverket annual report 2025 · skatteverket.se, deklarera moms
Fourth: deadlines. VAT returns, employer returns, the income tax return, the year-end. In 2025 Skatteverket charged more than three hundred thousand late fees on periodic tax returns. A late VAT return costs six hundred and twenty-five kronor, and twelve hundred and fifty if Skatteverket has to send a request. [Pause] The other five are on the overview: receipts, small VAT left unclaimed, legal corrections, rising prices and lock-in, and the stress of it all. Backup: 306 574 covers all periodic tax returns, not only VAT.
Interviews

What I heard

I interviewed three sole traders and one accountant.

  • Matching the bank statement is the task that gets postponed longest.
  • Questions to the accountant wait, because each one costs money.
  • Small receipts are thrown away: booking them costs more than the VAT they return.
  • Learning Fortnox or Bokio became a project of its own.
  • The stress builds before every VAT deadline.
Illustrative photo
[Check before the meeting: these five points must match your interview notes.] This is not only desk research. I interviewed three sole traders and one accountant. What came back was consistent. The bank matching gets postponed. Questions to the accountant wait, because they cost money. Small receipts get thrown away. Learning the software became a project of its own. And the stress builds before every VAT deadline.
Public sources

What owners write in public

Forums and reviews, 2008 to 2026. Click any quote to open the original.

"Sitter och har fruktansvärt ont i magen just nu. Har just insett att jag inte längre kommer klara av att ha en revisor.""I am sitting here with a terrible stomach ache. I have just realised I can no longer afford an accountant." Företagande.se, 2008 ↗ "Fortnox och dom här är bara att glömma, är alldeles för dyra med tanke på det lilla jag håller på i programmet.""Fortnox and those are out of the question, far too expensive for the little I do." Flashback, 2023 ↗ "Inte lätt att använda med hopp mellan olika mappar för att utföra minsta lilla sak""Not easy to use, jumping between folders to do the smallest thing." Trustpilot, Fortnox, Aug 2026 ↗ "Jag håller på att bli tokig på alla siffror, det måste ju finnas ett enklare sätt""I am going crazy over all the numbers, there must be a simpler way." Flashback, 2025 ↗ "Dum som man är så hade jag helt glömt bort momsdeklarationen.""Stupid as I am, I had completely forgotten the VAT return." Flashback, 2022 ↗ "När varje fråga har en okänd prislapp sparar företagare ihop sina frågor till bokslutet, och då är besluten redan fattade.""When every question has an unknown price, owners save their questions for year-end." Kameral, accounting firm ↗
In the press
Business owners' anger at Fortnox: "Det luktar övermod"EFN, 10 April 2026 ↗ Storm of criticism against Fortnox's new serviceRevisionsvärlden, 9 April 2026 ↗ Free version dropped, now Bokio is suedRevisionsvärlden, 14 May 2025 ↗
Quotes as published, one spelling corrected.
And it is not only my interviewees. This is what owners write in public, in forums and reviews, over many years. Every quote links to the original post. [If he is curious, click one: it opens in a new tab.] On the left, recent press: the reaction to Fortnox's mandatory fee this spring, and Bokio being sued after dropping its free plan.
The solution

How Kulram solves them

The same nine problems, in the same places. You tell Kulram what happened; it prepares the work, explains it, and asks for your approval.

In detail next
Now, how Kulram solves them. The same nine problems, in the same places. The core idea: you tell Kulram what happened, in plain words or with a photo. It prepares the booking, explains it, and asks for your approval. I will show four, with real screenshots from the app.
01 · Receipts

Photograph it. Approve it.

Kulram reads the receipt, proposes the booking with the VAT split, and asks. You say yes.

  • Since 1 July 2024 a complete digital copy may replace the paper.
  • The photo is kept for seven years and can be exported at any time.
Receipt read by Kulram in chat
Real screenshot, alpha build. Bokföringslagen 7 kap. 6 §.
A receipt. You photograph it. Kulram reads it, proposes the booking with the VAT split, and asks. You approve, and that is it. Since July 2024 the law allows a complete digital copy to replace the paper, so the photo is the record. It is kept for seven years and can be exported at any time.
03 · Questions

Ask, and it explains

The chat explains the rule and does the work. Questions cost nothing, and the owner learns.

Kulram web chat in Swedish
Real screenshot, alpha build, web.
A question. You ask in the chat, in Swedish or English. Kulram explains the rule, and does the work. On the right is a real conversation. A purchase described in one Swedish sentence, booked, then changed into an invoice, where Kulram asks whether ROT or RUT applies and explains the difference. The questions that cost five hundred kronor are now free, and the owner learns something each time.
06 · Corrections

Corrections done correctly

Say what is wrong. Kulram prepares the credit note or the correction entries, with the reference back to the original. You approve.

Ledger with a correction chain
Ledger on mobile with corrected entries
Real screenshots, alpha build: entry A-0006 corrected by A-0007 and A-0008.
A mistake. You say what is wrong. Kulram prepares the correct sequence: the credit note that refers to the original, or the correction entries in the ledger. You approve. In the screenshot, one entry is corrected by two others, and the ledger shows exactly what happened and when.
07 · Deadlines

Deadlines in view, returns prepared

The next deadlines are on the home screen. The VAT return is prepared from the books; you review it and file.

Home screen with upcoming deadlines
VAT, year-end, exports and bank
Real screenshots, alpha build.
Deadlines. The next deadlines are on the home screen. The VAT return is prepared from the books; the owner reviews it and files. The year-end has its own place, and the SIE file for the accountant is one export. [Pause] The other five are on the overview, if you want to see them.
Status

Built and running, in alpha

Web and Android. Also covered: invoicing with ROT and RUT, payroll, the VAT return, a simplified year-end with the NE figures, and SIE export for the accountant.

Before launch: import from the previous system in one step, and a login for the accountant.

Chats
Invoices
Web app, employees
Real screenshots, September 2026.
This is not a plan. It is built and running, as an alpha, on web and Android. Beyond what I showed: invoicing with ROT and RUT, payroll, the VAT return, a simplified year-end with the NE figures, and SIE export for the accountant. Before launch I will add an import from the previous system in one step, and a login for the accountant. [Offer a live demo at the end.]
The accountant

Beside the accountant, not instead of them

The owner gets control and understanding. The accountant gets clean material: every entry with its document, a SIE file, and the year-end figures prepared.

46 percent of accounting consultants say they spend too little time on advice, because the time runs out.Tidningen Balans survey of 104 consultants, 2024 ↗ "När du som kund lämnar in dina kvitton i en skokartong istället för den där appen som vi kom överens om, [...] då kommer du med största sannolikhet att debiteras för detta.""If you hand in your receipts in a shoebox instead of the app we agreed on, you will most likely be charged for it." Accounting firm column, Lokaltidningen Växjö, 2022 ↗
One thing I want to be clear about: Kulram does not replace the accountant. The owner gets control and understanding. The accountant gets clean material: every entry with its document, a SIE file, and the year-end figures prepared. The profession itself says consultants lack time for advice. This gives them that time.
The technical problem

Why AI alone cannot keep the books

  • Language models are very good at reading and understanding: receipts, messages, questions.
  • But they are probabilistic. The same request can give a different result, and a wrong answer can sound certain.
  • Errors compound over long flows.
  • A prompt is a request, not a guarantee. "Always ask before booking" holds most of the time.
  • Bookkeeping needs it every time: debit equals credit, the right VAT, nothing written without approval.
Illustration: five steps, each right 95% of the time
1 · Read the receipt95%
2 · Choose the account95%
3 · Split the VAT95%
4 · Ask for approval95%
5 · Write to the ledger95%
≈ 77%

of flows fully right. With ten steps, about 60%.

In my experiments, even with the full workflow in view, the three cheapest models attempted 876 actions the rules forbid (PRISM, 2026).
Now the technical part, because this is where most AI products break. Language models are very good at reading and understanding. But they are probabilistic. The same request can give a different result, and a wrong answer can sound completely certain. And errors compound. Take a flow of five steps, where the model gets each step right ninety-five percent of the time. The whole flow is right only about seventy-seven percent of the time. With ten steps, about sixty. A prompt is a request, not a guarantee. In my experiments, even with the whole workflow in front of them, three models attempted eight hundred and seventy-six actions that the rules forbid. In bookkeeping, most of the time is not good enough.
The approach

Bounded autonomy: the middle ground

More rulesMore autonomy
Scripted flow

Reliable, but rigid. Every path is coded by hand, and it stops being AI.

PRISM

The model moves freely inside the workflow. Deterministic code decides which consequences are allowed.

Autonomous agent

Flexible, but unpredictable. Nothing guarantees the outcome.

1

Every Kulram flow is declared: receipt, invoice, correction, VAT return. Steps, branches, rules.

2

Each turn the engine shows the model where it is, what has happened and what is still possible.

3

The model chooses the next move. The runtime admits or rejects the consequences.

4

Arithmetic and rules are code. Nothing reaches the ledger without them and the owner's approval.

In production: an open model on Kulram's own servers in Sweden. No bookkeeping data goes to OpenAI or Anthropic.
There are two extremes. You can script every step. That is reliable, but rigid, and it is no longer really AI. Or you can let an agent run freely. That is flexible, but nothing guarantees the result. PRISM is the middle ground. Every flow in Kulram is declared: the steps, the branches, the rules. Each turn, the engine tells the model where it is, what has happened and what is still possible. The model chooses its next move freely. But deterministic code decides whether the consequences of that move are allowed. Arithmetic and rules are code, not the model. Nothing reaches the ledger without passing the rules, and the owner's approval. And for privacy: in production the model will be an open model on Kulram's own servers in Sweden, so no bookkeeping data goes to OpenAI or Anthropic.
The research

PRISM, the research behind the engine

Accepted at REALM 2026, the Second Workshop for Research on Agent Language Models, at EMNLP 2026 in Budapest, 29 October 2026. To appear in the workshop proceedings.

88 scenariossix workflow domains, four models from three families
+0.13 to +0.28end-to-end task success from enforcement
32 to 63% fewer tokensat the same task success as resending the full workflow every turn
876 attempted · 0 admittedactions the rules forbid

Prasannjeet Singh, School of Informatics, University of Skövde. Runtime, workflows, scenarios and transcripts released with the paper.

First page of the PRISM paper
This is the research behind the engine: more than two years of work on making AI agents predictable. The paper is accepted at REALM, the Workshop for Research on Agent Language Models, at EMNLP in Budapest, on the twenty-ninth of October. It will be published in the workshop proceedings. Across eighty-eight scenarios, six domains and four models, enforcement raised end-to-end task success by thirteen to twenty-eight percentage points. It reached the same success as sending the full workflow every turn, with a third to almost two thirds fewer tokens. And of the eight hundred and seventy-six forbidden actions the models attempted, none got through. This engine is exactly what runs Kulram. [Offer to send the PDF after the meeting.]
Next step

What I commit to, and what I need

I commit to

  • At least half my working week from day one. Full time as revenue and funding allow.
  • An aktiebolag based in Kronoberg within six months.
  • Kulram is built on my own time and equipment. I want help documenting that properly.

I need help with

  • Compliance: a review of the bookkeeping rules and GDPR.
  • Running the AI model on dedicated servers in Sweden.
  • The first customers: marketing, and ten sole traders in Kronoberg to run one VAT period on Kulram.
  • A co-founder or first hire on the commercial side.
Finally, what I commit to, and what I need. I commit at least half my working week from day one, and full time as revenue and funding allow. I will form an aktiebolag based in Kronoberg within six months. And Kulram is built on my own time and equipment; I want help documenting that properly. What I need help with. Compliance: a proper review of the bookkeeping rules and GDPR. Running the AI model on dedicated servers in Sweden. The first customers: marketing, and ten sole traders here who run one VAT period on Kulram. And a co-founder, or a first hire, on the commercial side.

Thank you.

Kulram

kulram.se

Prasannjeet Singh

That is Kulram. Thank you. I am happy to take questions, or to show you the app live.