---
title: Ask the advisor and approve a proposal
description: Open the advisor rail, ask a question about your own numbers, read the citations, and approve, edit or dismiss a proposal.
order: 23
updated: 2026-09-16
keywords: advisor, AI, proposal, approve, citations, Cmd+J
---

The advisor answers questions from the same figures the dashboard shows and turns suggested actions into proposals for a person to approve.

**Before you start:** any login. You see only what your role can see. Approving a proposal needs the permission the underlying action needs.

## Ask a question

1. Press [[Cmd+J]] on any house screen, or click **Ask the advisor** on the dashboard. The rail opens on the right with **Ask** and **Approvals** tabs.
2. Type the question. Examples: "Why is food cost up this week?", "Which invoices are waiting?", "What should I check before close?"
3. The answer streams in with fact citations underneath. Click a citation to open the figure it used.

If the model connection fails, the rail shows a clearly labelled local fallback rather than a made-up answer. You can cancel a run at any time.

## Turn an answer into a proposal

When the advisor suggests an action, choose **Make a proposal**. The proposal card shows:

- the risk class,
- the exact action and its details,
- a before-and-after diff, marked _exact_ or _approximate_.

## Approve, edit or dismiss

Open **Approvals** in the rail or **Proposals** in the sidebar.

| Choice                | What happens                                                                                                                                            |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Approve**           | The action runs as proposed. Your name and time are recorded.                                                                                           |
| **Edit then approve** | You change the details, give an edit reason and a rollback note, tick that you reviewed it, then approve. An edit identical to the original is refused. |
| **Dismiss**           | Nothing runs. Your reason is recorded.                                                                                                                  |

## Escalate or flag

Send a thread to a person with **Escalate to support**, or **Flag** an answer you believe is wrong. Flags are reviewed by an owner under **Settings › AI**.

## Finance copilot

**Money › Finance › AI intelligence** has a finance-scoped attention queue and **Ask the ledger**, with the same rules: it never posts, pays or files.

## Related

- [Set up the daily briefing](/docs/how-to/set-up-the-daily-briefing)
- [How the advisor works](/docs/explanation/how-the-advisor-works)