Changelog

Punchcard product updates

Release notes for Punchcard's audit AI platform, including CoAudit, workpaper automation, PBC request workflows, sampling reports, Excel imports, authentication, and platform reliability.

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Workpaper Cycle Prevention, Activity Feed Client Filter Fix, and Reliability Improvements

Punchcard now blocks circular column dependencies the moment you create them, fixes a broken Client filter in the activity feed, and resolves several hangs and silent failures that affected daily audit work.

CoAudit Workpaper

  • Circular column dependencies are blocked the moment you create them: if a formula, column reference, acceptance criteria prompt, or column name change would form a cycle with existing columns, the edit is rejected before it saves — the warning banner appears immediately with clickable column badges identifying every column involved, so you can correct the issue without navigating away. Only the specific edit that would introduce the new cycle is blocked; unrelated changes and recovery edits on a workpaper that already has a pre-existing cycle proceed normally.

  • Clear message when file association conflicts with a running automation: if you try to match or drop a file onto records that are currently being updated by a running automation, you now receive an actionable message — "These records are being updated by another operation. Please retry in a moment." — instead of the operation hanging silently for several minutes before failing.

Activity Feed

  • Client filter now correctly scopes the feed: selecting a client organization in the activity feed filter now actually narrows results to that client's activity. Previously, choosing a client appeared to apply a filter but continued showing activity across all clients.

AI Chat

  • More reliable during long or data-heavy sessions: improvements to how the AI assistant manages context across extended audit sessions reduce the likelihood of unexpected failures or incomplete responses when working through large workpapers or multi-step automations.

General

  • Expired sessions redirect to sign-in: when your session expires and cannot be automatically renewed, you are now taken to the sign-in screen instead of encountering a confusing error with no clear path forward.

  • Simultaneous tick mark applications no longer conflict: if two auditors apply the same tick mark at the same time, both operations now complete successfully instead of one of them returning an error.

Match actions fixed, AI reasoning redesigned, PDF viewer more reliable

Punchcard fixes a critical issue where Add Match results weren't showing in the workpaper grid, redesigns AI cell reasoning to be scannable and basis-first, and makes the PDF viewer recover automatically from blank-page failures.

Workpaper Match Actions

  • Adding a match now appears in the grid immediately — clicking "Select Match" in the cell detail panel reflects the new association right away. Previously the grid cell stayed blank until you refreshed the page, even after a successful match.
  • Removing a match from the cell detail panel now works correctly — matches cleared through the panel are actually removed and no longer reappear after a refresh.
  • Moving a match that partially fails now shows an accurate result — when some records couldn't be moved because they were protected, you now see which records were kept rather than a false "Match moved" confirmation.
  • Adding a match no longer causes a brief flash on the match button or flicker in the cell detail tab bar.

AI Cell Reasoning

  • Cell reasoning now leads with the decisive basis — the first line states the key finding directly; each following line presents one supporting fact with its source citation. Lines prefixed with ✗ (shown in red) call out discrepancies or exceptions the AI encountered and how it resolved them. This makes it easy to scan what the AI found without reading through a paragraph of prose. Cells generated before this change continue to display as before.

Lasso & Citations

  • Drawing a new lasso makes that region the primary citation — the newly drawn bounding box becomes the top citation for the cell, displacing the previous primary. Citations still referenced in the cell's reasoning text are preserved; stale ones are removed. This applies to single-lasso, sum-lasso, and citation-removal paths.
  • Drawing a lasso on a match or tick column attaches evidence without changing the column's result — the pass/fail outcome or match state is preserved; only the supporting citation is updated.
  • Lassoing any cell in a Collective-mode column syncs all siblings — the same value and primary citation are applied to the whole group. Each sibling keeps its own individually referenced citations.
  • Fewer unresolved citation pills on complex financial statements — citations in match and testing attribute columns now reference precise locations in source documents using structural coordinates, virtually eliminating greyed-out (unresolved) pills on dense tables and financial-statement layouts.

Re-Pasting Data into a Workpaper

  • You can now explicitly skip mapping a column — the column mapping step (shown when you replace workpaper data that has downstream references) now always offers a clear skip option. For match columns the default is still to remove the old column; for columns referenced by a prompt or formula, the option is available but not pre-selected, so you have to make a deliberate choice to proceed.
  • The mapping step shows only when something would actually break — if every referenced column still has a matching name in the new data, the step is skipped automatically and your references carry across correctly. The step now also correctly detects when a match column depends on an entire datasource, not just a single named column.
  • Unresolved columns warn rather than block — if a prompt-referenced column is left unmapped, the modal explains what will be affected (including which specific columns) and lets you continue and fix the prompt later, rather than preventing the save entirely.

PDF Viewer

  • The viewer recovers automatically when the browser reclaims display resources — if a blank or black page appears due to the browser dropping the rendering canvas (common when switching between many tabs), the viewer silently remounts and restores your current page without any action on your part. A built-in limit prevents this from looping if recovery fails repeatedly.
  • PDFs open faster in multi-panel views — files are fetched and cached once per session and shared across all panels that show the same document, eliminating redundant downloads when the same file is open in multiple places.

Other Fixes

  • Panel resize handles are much easier to grab — the draggable divider between panels in the task view now has a wider interactive area, so you no longer need to position the cursor precisely on a 2-pixel line to resize.
  • Chat accurately reports when a document isn't ready — if a file's text hasn't been extracted yet or extraction failed, the chat names the file and explains the specific status (still processing, no extractable text, or failed) instead of silently skipping it or showing a generic placeholder.
  • Financial Statement Review manual footings no longer flag scaled columns incorrectly — manual footings in TEUR or "in thousands" columns are now validated using the same rounding tolerance as automated footings, so legitimate rounding residuals are no longer flagged as discrepancies.

Run selected cells, CoAudit writes with evidence, and improved citations

Punchcard lets you run AI testing on exactly the cells you select, adds reasoning and evidence when CoAudit fills in values through chat, and significantly improves document citation resolution on complex financial statements.

New

  • Run AI testing on exactly the cells you select: Drag to select any range of cells in the workpaper grid (or Ctrl+click individual cells), then choose Run from the right-click menu or the panel that appears. AI testing runs only on those cells — fill empty values only, or overwrite existing ones — and the confirmation dialog shows a count per document group before you commit.

  • CoAudit fills cells and creates matches with reasoning and evidence from chat: Ask CoAudit to fill in a specific cell value or match a document to a row, and the result now appears with AI reasoning, supporting evidence, and clickable citation highlights in the document viewer — stamped as AI-authored so it is distinguishable from manual edits. Writing over already-reviewed or locked cells requires your approval before the change is applied.

  • Switch between files when reviewing a collective cell: When a workpaper cell aggregates values from multiple files, the filename label in the document viewer header is now a dropdown listing every contributing file. Click to switch — and any citation you draw after switching is saved against the file you are viewing, not the original.

Improvements

  • More citations resolve to clickable document highlights: Citations on complex financial statements now resolve to highlighted regions far more reliably, including values in non-contiguous table cells (such as a label on one row and its amount on another) and scattered multi-value fields (such as a list of dates or amounts across different lines). Previously many of these appeared as unlinked text with no highlight in the PDF viewer.

  • The free-text "Something else" option is always present on AI questions: When CoAudit presents a multiple-choice question in the chat, the open-ended "Something else…" text field is now always shown — you are never limited to only the options the AI offered.

  • Number and date formats always match the engagement's firm: Workpaper cell values, pasted data, and sampling imports now consistently apply the number separators and date order configured for the engagement's firm — even when your account is pointed at a different firm. Previously, a European firm's amounts could display or import incorrectly in some sessions.

  • Accepted and rejected cell states update the grid immediately: Accepting or rejecting a cell value is now reflected in the workpaper grid right away, without needing to refresh the page.

  • Scoped runs show only the relevant progress: When CoAudit runs AI testing on a specific column or document group rather than the whole workpaper, the in-progress indicator now lists only the items being processed.

  • Auto-generated chat titles match the conversation language: When CoAudit automatically names a chat, the title is now written in the same language as the conversation.

Bug Fixes

  • Citations drawn on a sibling file now save correctly: After switching to a different file in the collective cell viewer and drawing a citation, the annotation is saved against the file you were viewing — not the original file the cell pointed to.

  • Fill-empty runs now reach downstream document groups after a manual match: After manually accepting a file match in an upstream document group, a subsequent fill-empty run now correctly processes the newly eligible downstream rows instead of skipping them.

Improved citation resolution and workpaper automation reliability

Punchcard fixes citation links inside table-formatted chat responses and improves workpaper automation consistency for firms with a preferred language.

Bug Fixes

  • Citations inside table-formatted content now link correctly. When a chat response presented information in a table, citations embedded in table cells previously failed to link back to the source document. They now resolve as expected.
  • Workpaper automations apply your firm's preferred language throughout. Each step in a multi-step workflow analysis now uses the firm's configured language, so AI evaluation responses are consistent end-to-end rather than reverting to a default.
  • Workpaper automations are more resilient. An optional lookup that previously could abort an entire automation run on a transient error now recovers gracefully, keeping the rest of the run on track.

AI Language Matching and Regional Format Support

Punchcard now responds in the auditor's language across all AI features, and sampling correctly handles European number and date formats — plus a range of workpaper navigation and reliability improvements.

Features

  • AI responds in your language. CoAudit chat, cell reasoning, match agent, testing attributes, review checklists, and math validation notes all now reply in the language you write in. Write in French, get French back. English is the fallback when the language is ambiguous.

  • Sampling handles European and regional number formats. Pasting EU-formatted amounts like 1.234,56 (dot as thousands separator, comma as decimal) is now recognized and parsed correctly without manual reformatting. MUS, Random, and Journal Entry threshold inputs — performance materiality, tolerable misstatement, floor amounts — also accept your firm's regional number format. Dates in day-first firms (e.g. DD/MM/YYYY) resolve correctly when the firm's format is configured; format tokens are case-insensitive, so dd/mm/yyyy and DD/MM/YYYY both work.

  • Sampling PDF receipts use the firm's currency and date format. Currency amounts and dates in sampling reports now display in your firm's configured format. Currency symbols that can't be embedded in standard PDF fonts (₹, ₩, ₪, ₺, ₽, ₫) are shown as their standard three-letter codes (INR, KRW, ILS, TRY, RUB, VND) so values remain readable.

  • Currency declared in source documents is preserved in the workpaper. When the AI extracts a dollar amount from a document and your firm is configured for euros, the cell now shows the dollar sign while the firm's separator style still applies. The source document's currency no longer gets replaced by the firm's display currency.

Workpaper improvements

  • Multi-question AI cards now show a visible Next button. When the AI asks a series of questions, the primary button reads Next on each question (enabled once the current question is answered) and morphs to Submit on the final question. The previous keyboard shortcuts still work; the button makes the forward path discoverable.

  • Arrow and Tab navigation no longer changes the file viewer or side panel. Moving between cells with arrow or Tab keys now updates the cell detail panel only. Opening the file viewer or switching the right sidebar still requires an explicit click.

  • Escape key follows a clear priority order in the Workpaper. If the CoAudit chat is expanded full-screen, the first Escape collapses it. If a cell is selected, the next Escape clears it. If either side panel is open, the next Escape closes both.

  • Workpaper load failures now show a Retry button. If the workpaper fails to load (for example, during a brief interruption), the page now shows a friendly message and a Retry button instead of a loading spinner with no way to recover.

  • Re-run now always forces fresh results. Previously, re-running automations could silently produce no changes when the underlying data appeared unchanged. The Re-run action now always triggers a full re-evaluation.

  • Circular column dependencies surface an immediate error. If two columns reference each other in a cycle, automations now fail right away with a clear message identifying the involved columns, instead of silently retrying.

  • Bulk validate and flag now work correctly across multi-cell selections. Using Ctrl+click to select cells across multiple rows and then validating or flagging them in bulk now processes all selected cells, not just the first group.

  • Citation highlights appear immediately after a match automation run. Clicking a citation in a freshly matched cell now highlights the correct location in the document viewer without needing a page refresh.

  • Testing attribute results appear immediately after running. Pass (✓) and fail (✗) verdicts, evidence bullets, and citation highlights now appear in the grid as soon as a testing attribute automation completes, without requiring a page refresh.

  • Validated cells no longer show anomaly indicator badges. Cells that have been accepted/validated no longer display the amber count badge. Rejected cells retain the badge since the anomalies are typically the reason for rejection.

  • More citations now correctly highlight in the document viewer. The AI sometimes returns citations containing formatted text (HTML table markup, ellipsis spans, punctuation) that previously couldn't be located in the source document, leaving citation pills with no highlight. These citations now resolve correctly for a wider range of document formats.

Fixes

  • Deleting a testing attribute in the Memo now confirms the result. If the server was unable to remove the attribute, the row is automatically restored and an error message is shown, rather than appearing deleted until the next page load.

  • Sampling receipts are no longer downloaded automatically when saving. Clicking Save Data no longer triggers an immediate Excel and PDF download. The receipt is now included in the workpaper export. The per-datasource "Download sampling report" button still provides on-demand receipt downloads.

  • Opening Notification Settings no longer freezes the page. Previously, opening and then closing the Notification Settings dialog could leave the page unresponsive until a full reload. This is now fixed.

  • @mention suggestions no longer cover the word being typed. The suggestion popover now positions itself so it doesn't obscure the text you are typing, and the list scrolls correctly for long lists of results.

  • Evidence and citation edits in the cell detail panel no longer silently fail. Editing or deleting an evidence bullet on a cell whose citation was matched from plain text (rather than a bounding box region) now saves correctly.

  • Downloading a deleted file from the activity feed now shows a clear message. If a referenced file has been removed, clicking its download button now shows a "File unavailable" notice instead of failing silently.

  • Double scrollbar in the chat sidebar on Windows and Linux is fixed. The CoAudit chat sidebar no longer renders its own vertical scrollbar alongside the message list's.

Skills onboarding, redesigned Informed By view, and workpaper reliability improvements

Punchcard introduces a first-time Skills intro guide, replaces the workpaper's 'Informed by' tree with a cleaner per-source bullet summary, and ships a round of reliability fixes across file viewing, chat, and export.

Skills

  • First-time Skills intro: New users now see a compact, one-time prompt anchored to the chat composer's "+" button introducing the Skills feature — "Save prompts as Skills: write a prompt once, reuse it in any chat, for yourself or your whole firm." Dismissing it in any chat silences it everywhere.
  • Typing / always opens the Skills picker: The / shortcut in the chat composer now opens the picker even when you have no skills yet, showing a "No skills yet" message with direct links to browse or create your first skill. Previously the picker stayed hidden entirely, leaving no path forward.

Workpaper

  • Redesigned "Informed by" section: The panel section explaining how an AI-produced cell value was derived now shows a concise bullet list — one bullet per contributing document group — instead of an expandable recursive tree. Each bullet names the group and describes in plain language how that group's data shaped the result, with inline document citations you can click to jump to the supporting page.
  • Value references open the source document in place: Clicking a referenced upstream value in the "Informed by" section now opens the document viewer at the page where that value came from — without navigating away from your currently selected cell. You can verify the evidence behind each input while staying in context.
  • "..." file menu now matches the right-click menu: The three-dot button on each file row in the file explorer now offers the same options as right-clicking — including Move to another datasource and Undo Split for multi-segment files, which were previously available only via right-click.
  • Undo Split refreshes the file list immediately: After merging a split file's segments back into a single document, the file list now updates automatically — no page refresh required.
  • Document viewer recovers gracefully from rendering failures: If a file can't be displayed (for example, due to a corrupted PDF), the viewer now shows a clear message with a Try again button and a Download option. The rest of the workpaper — the grid, sidebar, and all other panels — stays fully functional. Previously, a viewer failure could take down the entire workpaper page.
  • Workpaper Excel export uses hierarchical row numbers: The "#" column in exported Excel workpapers now shows the same hierarchical address (e.g. 1.1, 1.2, 2.1) as the workpaper grid view, rather than a flat sequential counter.

Co-Audit Chat

  • Working indicator stays visible for the full response: The activity indicator now remains on screen for the entire duration of a Co-Audit response — including brief pauses between steps — instead of disappearing early while the Stop button was still showing.
  • Escape key correctly collapses the expanded chat: When the chat panel is open in full-screen mode, pressing Escape now collapses it back to the sidebar. Previously, Escape navigated away from the task instead of collapsing the chat.

File Processing

  • OCR progress updates in real time: Files being processed for text recognition now show live status updates, replacing a frozen spinner that previously gave no indication of progress.

Reliability

  • Login fixed for users at organizations sharing an email domain: Users at firms where multiple accounts shared the same email domain could encounter login failures on every attempt. This is now resolved.

Skills: Reusable AI Prompt Templates for CoAudit and Workpaper Automations

Punchcard adds a Skills library where auditors can save, share, and reuse AI prompt templates directly in CoAudit chat and workpaper automation columns.

New: AI Skills

Skills are named, reusable sets of AI instructions you save once and reference anywhere in your audit work — a Personal skill is private to you; a Firm skill is shared with everyone at your firm.

  • Use a Skill in CoAudit chat by typing / or selecting one from the "+" Skills menu in the composer. The skill's instructions are automatically included when you send — you can still add your own context before hitting send.
  • Reference a Skill in workpaper automation columns by typing / in any retrieval, match, or deep-analysis prompt field. Firm and Punchcard skills are available here; the skill's instructions are applied automatically at run time across every record.
  • Browse and manage all your Skills in the Skills library, opened from the "+" menu in CoAudit chat. Search by name or description, filter by Personal / Firm / Punchcard scope, and view, edit, or delete skills you have access to. Saving a change to a Firm skill shows a confirmation before it affects your whole team.
  • Co-Audit can author and refine Skills directly from the chat — ask it to save the current approach as a reusable skill without leaving the conversation. Saving a Firm skill from chat requires your confirmation first.
  • Sent messages display skill names as inline badges; clicking a badge opens the skill's full detail view.
  • The Skills editor supports full formatting — Enter, undo, bold, italic, and list indentation work as expected.

Memo

  • Testing attribute descriptions in the Memo now use the same rich-text editor as the Audit Procedure field on the workpaper — format text and include assertion references without the description reverting to plain text or showing markup on reopen.
  • Co-Audit now treats Testing Attributes as part of the memo. Asking it to "complete the memo" or "fill in the memo" will include the testing attributes alongside the narrative sections, rather than treating them as a workpaper-only concern.

Request Table

  • The amber acceptance-criteria badge on a failing file upload is now a clickable button that opens the system validation notes for that file directly — no need to navigate through the Files tab first.
  • Auditor-internal notes written against specific workpaper values no longer appear in the shared client-facing columns of the Request table.
  • When a cell contains multiple files, the warning badge now correctly identifies the specific file that failed acceptance criteria rather than defaulting to the first file in the cell.

Board

  • The selection checkbox in board list view now appears when you hover anywhere on a row, not just directly over the small checkbox icon.
  • Tooltips in board list view no longer clip behind the sticky row header.

Engagement Settings

  • The Private engagement toggle is now clearly shown as disabled — with an explanatory tooltip — for auditors who don't have permission to change an engagement's privacy setting. Previously the toggle appeared enabled, allowed a click, and then silently reverted, with no explanation.

Bug Fixes

  • Opening an engagement link you don't have access to now shows an access-denied message immediately instead of displaying a loading screen that never resolves.
  • Inviting a team member or client no longer stays stuck on "Sending…" indefinitely. If there's a delay, the form surfaces an error message so you can try again.
  • The task chat panel and task overview no longer go blank during certain navigation or AI-streaming transitions.
  • The @-mention suggestion popup in text editors no longer causes a crash when you close a dialog while the suggestion list is still open.
  • When asking Co-Audit to create a custom file in the chat, it can now load any task file using the same references it uses for reading and searching — files that were visible but couldn't be processed before will now work correctly.

Workpaper run limits, engagement ID fix, and reliability improvements

Punchcard now warns or blocks oversized workpaper automation runs before they start—with guided corrective actions—plus reliability and display fixes across engagement creation, chat, PDF viewer, and the workpaper grid.

Workpaper Automation

  • Run size protection with guided actions: Before any automation run starts, Punchcard checks whether the workpaper exceeds safe operating limits. Oversized workpapers now show a clear, quantified notice in the run dialog — a hard block if the limit is exceeded (with a direct link to "Test a sample" via JE Sampling, or CoAudit guidance), or an amber warning that still lets you proceed when you're close to the limit. The check appears the moment you open the run dialog, before anything is submitted.
  • Larger formula-only workpapers: When every column uses formulas or lookups with no AI prompts, automation can now process significantly larger datasets. Because no per-row AI cost is involved, the record limits are substantially relaxed for these runs.
  • Correct column order for formula runs: Workpaper columns that reference the values of other columns now run in the right order, so dependent columns always see up-to-date upstream values rather than stale or empty ones.
  • Smarter auto-matching setup: When you paste selection data or attach a document group to an oversized datasource, Punchcard no longer automatically configures AI matching in a way that would immediately be blocked when you try to run it.

Engagement Creation

  • Identifier collisions are now blocked, not silently resolved: If the identifier you enter for a new engagement is already in use, submitting the form now stops and highlights the collision — with a one-click "Use [suggestion]?" button to accept the recommended alternative. Previously, submitting would silently create the engagement under a different identifier than you chose.

PDF Viewer

  • Zoom buttons always work: The + and − zoom buttons in the workpaper PDF viewer no longer become stuck after zooming. Previously, certain cancelled zoom actions could leave the controls unresponsive until the page was reloaded.

Chat & AI

  • Extraction results stay visible: After asking the AI to extract structured data from a document, the results table now stays visible at the top level of the conversation — including the Copy Raw Data button and clickable PDF-linked cells. Previously, these were collapsed into the "worked for N seconds" summary once the AI finished, making them inaccessible until manually expanded.
  • Working indicator during background steps: In task chat, the "AI is working" indicator and Stop button now remain visible while the AI completes background steps (such as running automations) after its reply has appeared. Previously, the interface could look like a completed message while the Stop button lingered with no visible explanation.

Memo

  • No more mis-routed clicks on accounting policy add: The "+" button to add an accounting policy now shows a brief disabled state while engagement variables are loading. Previously, clicking during the loading window could silently add a plain text entry instead of opening the variable picker.

Platform Reliability

  • Workpaper cell values display correctly: Date, number, and currency cells in the workpaper grid now show formatted values (e.g., 01/06/25, 1,200.00) instead of raw stored values that were appearing after a recent update.
  • Task creation no longer freezes: The new task and request creation form no longer becomes unresponsive after you submit it.
  • Invited clients and guests log in reliably: First-time invited clients and guests no longer encounter an error on their very first login when there is a brief disruption to authentication services.

Grouped AI Approvals, Improved Financial Statement Review, and Reliability Fixes

Punchcard consolidates multiple CoAudit action requests into a single approval card, improves sync scroll and proof-mark precision in Financial Statement Review, and resolves PDF viewer, Excel viewer, and chat stability issues.

CoAudit Chat

  • Grouped action approvals: When the AI requests several actions at once — such as moving multiple files into document groups — all pending approvals are now consolidated into a single grouped card. A "Preparing N approvals…" indicator appears while the AI is still working, then a single Approve all / Reject button handles the entire batch. After approval, the card shows a result summary inline (e.g., "Moved 5 of 6 files — receipt_03.pdf couldn't be moved").
  • Reject with reason: Declining an approval now reveals an optional text field where you can explain why. The AI receives your note and can adjust its next steps accordingly.
  • Clearer choice prompts: When the AI asks you to choose from a list of options, the card now uses distinct, clearly labeled Submit and Cancel buttons — making it easier to respond without ambiguity.

Financial Statement Review

  • Sync scroll preserves your alignment: When reviewing current-year and prior-year PDFs side by side, enabling Sync Scroll now locks in whatever alignment you've already set manually, rather than snapping both panes back to identical page positions. Scroll together from wherever you left off.
  • Prior-year tick mark editing: Clicking an existing tick mark annotation while in Prior Year Consistency mode now opens the full context menu — giving you the same edit and delete controls available in other review modes.
  • Shift-constrained proof marks: Hold Shift while drawing a line, arrow, or double-line to snap it to horizontal, vertical, or 45° diagonal. Useful for drawing precise accounting double-underlines and tie-out arrows.

Workpaper

  • Document group file uploads fixed: Creating a new document group from a client request and then uploading files into it now works reliably. Previously this could fail silently, leaving the group unable to accept files.
  • Datasource rename conflict explained: Renaming a datasource to a name already used in the same task now surfaces a clear message explaining the conflict. Previously the rename would silently revert with no feedback.

Reliability

  • PDF viewer recovery: The PDF viewer no longer gets stuck with unresponsive zoom controls and dead page navigation when first opened inside a panel that was collapsed or hidden. The viewer now recovers automatically when the panel is expanded.
  • Excel viewer stability: Opening the Excel viewer on a file whose AI citations reference a sheet that no longer exists no longer crashes the viewer.
  • Task chat stability: The CoAudit chat panel no longer goes blank when navigating between tasks in the same session.
  • Team and client invite error messages: When adding a team member or client user to an engagement fails, the notification now explains the specific reason (for example, "identity provider temporarily unavailable — try again shortly") instead of showing a generic error.

Live Automation Progress, Board Status Filtering, and Request Comment Fixes

Punchcard now shows real-time workpaper automation progress in CoAudit chat, clicking the board's status chart filters your task list, and comment badges on request files open the right thread.

What's New

  • Guide link in the sidebar: A Guide link now appears under Co-Audit in the left navigation for all users. Auditors are taken to the platform guide; clients are taken to the client-specific guide. Both open in a new tab.

Improvements

  • Workpaper automation progress in CoAudit chat: While a workpaper automation is running, a compact bar above the chat input shows which step is active and how many remain. A Cancel button lets you stop the run at any time. Previously, in-progress steps showed no activity indicator and could appear stalled.
  • Private engagement setting is now easier to find: The option to mark an engagement as private has moved to the Overview section of Engagement Settings, where it sits alongside other engagement details rather than inside a separate options menu.
  • File deletion takes effect immediately: Deleting a file now removes it right away, without the previous short delay or undo prompt.

Bug Fixes

  • Board status chart now filters your task list: Clicking a status segment in the right-side panel on the engagement board now filters the board to show only tasks with that status. Clicking the same segment again clears the filter. Previously, clicking had no effect on the task list.
  • Comment badges on request table files now open the comment thread: The blue badge on a file cell in the Request Table now appears only when there are open, unresolved comments — not for resolved or reply-only threads. Clicking the badge takes you directly to that file's comment thread instead of opening the file viewer.
  • CoAudit formatting in task descriptions and memo sections: When CoAudit updates a task description or a memo section, the content now appears correctly formatted instead of showing unwanted markup characters.
  • Activity feed filter panel no longer shows misleading counts: The filter flyout in the activity feed was displaying counts based only on the items loaded on screen, which could be lower than the true total. The counts are now hidden to avoid confusion — filtering still works as expected.
  • Documents containing tables now process reliably: Some files with embedded table content were getting stuck and retrying repeatedly without completing. This has been resolved.

Faster sampling on large workpapers, South African number format support, and navigation fixes

Punchcard speeds up workpaper data handling on large engagements, adds South African number format support to Financial Statement Review, and fixes several navigation and editing issues.

Performance

  • Pasting and saving sample data on large workpapers is dramatically faster. On data-heavy engagements, operations that previously timed out or took more than ten seconds now complete in a fraction of that time — including both loading sample data and saving it with complex column dependencies.
  • Workpaper cell edits and other workpaper actions load faster on engagements with large volumes of records, improving responsiveness across the board on data-heavy engagements.

Features

  • Financial Statement Review now supports South African number formats. Firms using comma-decimal, space-grouped formatting (for example, "1 234 567,89") are correctly parsed and displayed throughout Financial Statement Review — including calculations, recalculation tolerance checks, and document matching.

Bug Fixes

  • "Import Excel file" and "Copy from Request" are now available in the sampling modal when a workpaper template already has selection columns defined. Previously, only clipboard paste was offered in that state; all three entry methods are now consistently accessible.
  • Pressing Escape while editing a task title now cancels the edit and restores the original title, instead of leaving you stuck in edit mode with a partially typed name saved.
  • The app no longer hangs on the "Welcome Back" loading screen. An intermittent issue that prevented the app from forwarding to your engagement board on a cold load has been fixed.
  • Clicking the logo or home button no longer routes to a broken page for users on certain engagements — the app now always resolves to a valid destination.
  • The "Select All" checkbox in the multi-engagement client invite dialog now shows an indeterminate state when some — but not all — engagements are selected, making the current selection state easier to read at a glance.

Redesigned task workspace with persistent CoAudit panel and keyboard shortcuts

Punchcard's task workspace has a new layout — CoAudit opens as a resizable left panel with a keyboard shortcut, sidebar states are remembered across sessions, and a smoother animated transition connects the engagement board to individual tasks.

Redesigned task workspace

The workpaper, overview, and memo pages now use a unified two-row header and a new panel layout.

  • CoAudit is now a resizable left panel — drag its right edge to set the width you want; your preference is saved and restored on your next visit. Press [ to open or close it at any time.
  • Files and Workflow live in a right panel toggled with ]. Both panels remember their open/closed state for the session.
  • Breadcrumb navigation in the top bar leads with the Punchcard logo and shows the full client → engagement → task path, with the task's short ID in parentheses for quick reference.
  • Smooth board-to-task transition — clicking a task card from the engagement board now animates the workspace into place rather than replacing the page.
  • Full-screen CoAudit is still available via the expand button; press ESC to return to the split view.
  • On mobile, CoAudit starts closed so the task content is visible immediately.

Workpaper improvements

  • Problems panel is now resizable — drag the divider between the grid and the detail panel to set your preferred split; the height is saved automatically and restored without any flash on reload.
  • Analysis findings appear at the bottom of the Problems list, below all configuration and data issues, so the most actionable items stay above the fold.
  • Problems badge count now reflects only configuration and data issues — analysis findings are still listed in the panel but no longer inflate the count.

Bug fixes

  • Saving a task as a template or cloning an engagement no longer fails silently when the task uses shared document groups.
  • Engagement board no longer shows a blank page when following a board link that needs to redirect to the correct audience view.
  • Applying the same tick mark simultaneously from two open tabs no longer produces an error — both actions now resolve correctly.
  • Inviting a team member with an incorrectly formatted email address (for example, two addresses pasted together) now shows a clear validation message instead of failing.

CoAudit interactive questions, workpaper citation accuracy, and UI improvements

Punchcard adds inline multiple-choice questions to CoAudit so it can ask before acting at decision forks, fixes AI citation links in multi-document workpapers, and improves clarity when removing a shared document group.

Features

  • CoAudit can now ask you a question when a decision isn't clear: at genuine decision forks — for example, whether to reuse an existing shared document group or start a fresh one — CoAudit now pauses and presents an inline multiple-choice card instead of guessing. Single-choice questions use radio buttons; multi-select uses checkboxes. You can also add a free-text note. Related questions are grouped into one tabbed card with keyboard navigation: arrow keys move between options, left/right arrows page between questions, Enter advances or submits, and Escape returns focus to the composer. Once submitted, the card dims and shows a compact summary of your answers.

Improvements

  • Removing a shared document group is now clearly labeled: when a document group is attached to more than one workpaper, the confirmation dialog now reads "Remove" — detaching it from this workpaper only, leaving all other workpapers and their files intact. The permanent-deletion warning (including the amber callout that all uploaded files will be destroyed) continues to appear only when this is the last workpaper using the group.
  • Category label on task cards is now a quick-edit button: clicking a task's category badge on the board or list view opens the category picker directly, the same way clicking the priority or due date does.
  • Download All gives a clearer error when some files fail: when bulk-downloading reference files, the error message now distinguishes between files that are permanently gone (deleted from storage) and files that failed due to a temporary problem — so you know whether retrying will help.
  • Non-previewable files show a download button instead of a blank pane: opening a file that cannot be displayed inline (such as a .txt or .csv) in the Workpaper viewer now shows the filename, a short explanation, and a Download button, rather than leaving the viewer empty with no indication of what happened.
  • German income statements handle mixed TEUR and % columns correctly: financial statements that present currency (TEUR/MEUR) and percentage columns side by side now apply rounding and unit labels per column — percentage values are no longer rounded as if they were TEUR amounts in the math calculator.
  • New engagement short identifier shows a usable suggestion when taken: if the identifier you enter is already in use, Punchcard now shows a collision-free suggestion you can apply in one click, instead of a static "already in use" message with no next step. (Also fixed: the availability check was incorrectly reporting every identifier as taken — this is now resolved.)

Bug Fixes

  • Sample table columns no longer reverse or shuffle on re-open: columns pasted into the selection data modal now appear in the same left-to-right order on every open. Previously they could reverse each time the edit modal was opened, causing columns to appear in the wrong order.
  • AI citations in the Workpaper now link to the correct source file: when CoAudit analyses a group of documents together — for example, a batch detail spreadsheet alongside a bank statement — citations now correctly link to the file the AI actually read, not always the primary document in the group. Affected workpapers include collective analyses such as three-way match engagements.
  • Files uploaded in standalone CoAudit chat are always accessible: uploading multiple files at once in a standalone chat session could leave some files inaccessible, producing a permissions error when the AI tried to reference them. This is fixed.
  • Engagement board shows an access error if your membership is removed mid-session: if your team membership is revoked while you have the engagement board open, the board now shows the standard "you don't have access" message instead of going blank.
  • Tasks marked as client-facing now reliably appear in the client view: in certain workflows, toggling a document group to "provided by client" did not always make the owning task visible to the client. The task visibility now stays in sync whenever a client-facing datasource is configured.
  • Users with accented or non-ASCII characters in their email address can now receive notifications: users at firms where email addresses contain umlauts or other non-ASCII characters (common in German-language firms) are prompted on first login to verify an alternative delivery address, ensuring they receive email notifications going forward.

Private Engagements, Excel Cell Styling, and TEUR Math Validation

Punchcard adds private engagement controls, native Excel color and comment rendering, and TEUR-aware math validation with automatic rounding tolerance for scaled financial statements.

New Features

  • Private engagements: Mark any engagement as private from the engagement settings page options menu (⋯). A private engagement — and all its tasks — is hidden from firm colleagues who aren't explicitly named as team members. Only named members and admins can see it. The toggle updates immediately and reverts automatically if saving fails.

  • Excel viewer renders cell colors and comments: The Workpaper Excel viewer now faithfully recreates background fill colors and font colors from the original file, so color-coded headers, highlighted rows, and styled tables appear exactly as they do in Excel. Cells with comments or notes show a small red triangle in the corner; hovering reveals the comment text.

  • TEUR-aware math validation: The Financial Statement Review calculator now detects when a document is presented in thousands or millions (TEUR, MEUR, "in thousands") and automatically adjusts. Operand values display as integers matching the statement convention, a quiet unit label confirms the active scale, and the verdict reads "≈ Validates on rounding" when a footing passes within the tolerance band but isn't an exact tie. Column totals that appear before their operand columns — common in some European reporting layouts — are now also validated correctly.

  • Plain text and RTF files can now be uploaded: .txt and .rtf files are now accepted for upload and AI extraction, joining PDFs, Excel files, and CSVs.

  • Real-time identifier availability when creating an engagement: The short identifier field now checks availability as you type and shows an inline hint if the chosen identifier is already taken — for example, "ACME" is already in use. This engagement will be created as ACME2. — so you know the final identifier before submitting.

  • CoAudit can link workpaper columns as engagement-wide variables: When working with the CoAudit agent on a Workpaper task, you can ask it to mark a column's extracted output as an engagement-wide variable, making those values available for reference across all tasks in the engagement.

Bug Fixes

  • Excel citations now highlight the correct cell: Citation highlights in the Excel viewer now land on the right cell even when the spreadsheet has leading blank rows or columns before the data area.

  • Citations on repeated values highlight one cell, not a span: When a cited value (such as "$0") appears in multiple cells of the same table row, the citation now highlights a single cell rather than drawing an incorrect band across unrelated cells.

  • Page no longer freezes after closing a confirmation dialog: Clicking Cancel on a confirmation dialog — such as a file delete confirmation — could leave the entire page unresponsive to clicks. This is fixed.

  • Workpaper automation correctly populates records for shared datasources: Running automation on a task that shares a datasource no longer produces an empty grid. Each task now generates its own records correctly.

  • Financial Statement Review handles partial document processing more gracefully: If one section of a document encounters a problem during processing, the successfully processed sections are now preserved so the review can continue rather than failing entirely.

  • CSV exports with title rows now import correctly: CSV files that begin with a report title line or blank line before the column headers — common in GL and payroll exports — are now recognized and imported correctly.

  • Office lock files are rejected at upload: Temporary Office files (those beginning with ~$) are now immediately rejected with a clear unsupported-file error rather than being silently submitted for processing.

Performance

  • Excel viewer opens large files faster: Cell color scanning is now limited to the visible portion of the sheet on open, so large workbooks no longer cause a noticeable delay when first viewed.

CoAudit auto-sorts file uploads and can move files by request

Punchcard now automatically routes files uploaded in CoAudit chat to the right document group, with a new conversational file-move tool — plus Excel cell colors and comments are extracted for AI analysis.

AI & CoAudit

  • Files uploaded in CoAudit task chat are now auto-sorted into the correct document group as soon as they finish processing. A persistent trail in the conversation records what happened — "Uploaded invoice.pdf", "Sorted 3 files into Invoices · Bank Statements" — so you always know where your files landed, even after leaving and returning to the chat.
  • Ask CoAudit to move a misrouted file: if a file ends up in the wrong group, tell CoAudit ("move invoice.pdf to the Invoices group") and it will move it without leaving the chat.
  • Excel cell background colors and cell comments are now captured during file processing. Cells with color-coded classifications or embedded auditor notes in Excel workbooks are now visible to AI extraction columns.
  • Excel files with formulas now show correct values instead of blanks. Formulas that previously computed to empty — common in programmatically produced spreadsheets — are now evaluated correctly.
  • Chat messages with file attachments now reliably receive AI responses. A bug where certain messages appeared to send successfully but never produced a reply has been resolved.

Workpaper & Automations

  • Testing attribute automations now pick up every file, including those added after the first run. Previously, files uploaded to a shared document group after you first ran an automation were silently skipped. All files are now included on every run.
  • "Fill empty" reruns now correctly process all rows, including rows that were added since the previous run.
  • Automations and Match Agent runs stay isolated to the correct workpaper when a document group is shared across multiple workpapers. Results no longer bleed between workpapers sharing the same document group.

Engagements & Clients

  • Engagement identifiers no longer block creation or editing when already in use. The identifier field now adjusts automatically (e.g. SAND → SAND2) instead of returning an error that requires you to try again.
  • Document groups created from PBC request imports are now available in the document group picker across other workpapers in the same engagement, so evidence collected for one workpaper can be reused without re-uploading.
  • Creating new client organizations is faster. The New Client form now responds immediately after clicking Create instead of freezing on firms with many existing clients.