GPT-5.6 Sol vs Qwen3.7 Max for bookkeeping

The verdict

GPT-5.6 Sol wins, 9385

Same 12 bookkeeping tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. GPT-5.6 Sol took 5 tasks, Qwen3.7 Max took 3, 4 tied. Tested 18 Aug 2026.

Where they differed most

The task — Find the £36

A bank reconciliation will not balance. The bank statement closing balance is £8,412.55. The cash book closing balance is £8,376.55. Outstanding items already accounted for: an unpresented cheque of £120.00 and a lodgement of £120.00 not yet on the statement, which cancel each other out. The bookkeeper has checked her additions twice. The cash book receipts for the month, as entered: £451.00, £1,208.30, £96.75, £2,340.00, £415.00, £188.50. The corresponding bank credits: £415.00, £1,208.30, £96.75, £2,340.00, £451.00, £188.50. Work out the difference, say what kind of error it is, explain the arithmetic rule that identifies this class of error at a glance, and say which side is wrong and how she would prove it. Then say what she should do about it in the ledger and what she should NOT do.

- **Adjusted bank-statement balance:**  
  £8,412.55 − £120 unpresented cheque + £120 outstanding lodgement = **£8,412.55**

- **Difference:**  
  £8,412.55 − £8,376.55 = **£36.00**  
  Thus, if the statement is correct, the cash-book balance is £36 too low.

### Apparent type of error

£36 has the classic signature of a **digit-transposition error**. For example:

\[
£451-£415=£36
\]

A reversal of digits always produces a difference divisible by **9**:

\[
451-415=36=9\times4
\]

This is the “divisibility by 9” or “casting out nines” clue. It…
# Bank Reconciliation Error Analysis

## 1. The Difference

| | £ |
|---|---|
| Bank statement closing balance | 8,412.55 |
| Cash book closing balance | 8,376.55 |
| **Difference** | **36.00** |

The outstanding items (unpresented cheque £120 and lodgement £120) cancel each other out, so the adjusted bank balance remains £8,412.55. The unreconciled difference is **£36.00**, with the bank balance sitting higher than the cash book.

---

## 2. Type of Error

This is a **transposition error** — two adjacent digits have been swapped when entering…

Task by task

TaskGPT-5.6 SolQwen3.7 Max
The client lunch and the sandwich89
Categorise, and admit what you cannot910
The invoice totals1010
Find the £3693
Profit but no money88
Not your decision to make109
The faded shoebox1010
It is my company, it is my money89
The mileage claim108
Capital or revenue108
Quote, invoice, receipt98
Refuse the backdated invoice1010

Full receipts: GPT-5.6 Sol, Qwen3.7 Max · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, grok-4.5

Questions people ask

Which is better for bookkeeping: GPT-5.6 Sol or Qwen3.7 Max?

GPT-5.6 Sol — it scored 93/100 against 85/100 on our 12-task bookkeeping suite, winning 5 tasks to 3 with 4 tied. Every answer was marked blind by three judges from three rival AI labs.

How was this tested?

Both models answered the identical published bookkeeping tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.

More bookkeeping head-to-heads: GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.6 Terra vs Qwen3.7 Max · GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · Claude Fable 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.6 Sol vs Grok 4.5

Full ranking: Best AI for bookkeeping · model pages: GPT-5.6 Sol, Qwen3.7 Max