Monthly Brief
Close your accounts for a month. Nia, Jijenga's AI analyst, seals the data and delivers a verdict.
TL;DR
The Monthly Brief is how you close a month. Once you generate it, that month is sealed — no further changes. Nia analyses your data and delivers a written verdict: headline, narrative, insights, and recommended actions.
What it is
The Monthly Brief is not just a report. It's the act of closing your accounts for a month.
When you generate a brief, two things happen at once: Jijenga seals that month's data permanently (no edits, no re-categorisation after this point), and Nia — Jijenga's AI analyst — runs a full forensic analysis of your financial month and writes you a structured verdict.
This is the moment of truth. Nia reads your income, expenses, category patterns, and month-over-month shifts, then tells you exactly what happened and what to do about it.
Navigate here via MORE → INTELLIGENCE → Reports.
Before you close a month
The quality of Nia's analysis depends entirely on the quality of your data. Before generating a brief, the brief card shows you exactly where things stand:
Categorization bar — shows what percentage of your transactions have been classified. The threshold to generate is 80%. Below that, the month is marked NEEDS_WORK and the primary action is to go categorise transactions first.
Month states:
| State | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| OPEN | Month is still in progress | Nothing yet — it's not over |
| NEEDS_WORK | Below 80% categorized | Categorize transactions first |
| CAUTION | Some transactions were auto-classified with low confidence | Review flagged transactions, or close anyway |
| READY_LOW_COVERAGE | Categorized but few days have data | Upload more statements, or close with partial data |
| READY | Clean, well-categorized, good coverage | Close the accounts |
How to close a month
Open Reports and find the month
Go to MORE → INTELLIGENCE → Reports. Each past month has its own card showing its current state and categorization percentage.
Clear the queue first
If the month shows NEEDS_WORK or CAUTION, tap to go to Categories and clear the queue. The more accurate your categories, the more accurate Nia's analysis.
Tap 'CLOSE [MONTH] ACCOUNTS'
When the month is READY, tap the close button. A confirmation modal appears reminding you this is irreversible. If there are still low-confidence transactions, it shows how many and offers the option to review them first.
Watch Nia work
After you confirm, a terminal-style progress screen runs for about
30 seconds while Nia analyses your data:
RUNNING_FORENSIC_ALGORITHMS... → DETECTING_SPENDING_PATTERNS... → GENERATING_INSIGHTS... — then the brief reveals.
Read your brief
The sealed brief contains everything Nia found. Read it in full — the recommendations in particular often surface savings you'd miss in the raw numbers.
What the brief contains
Verdict — Nia's headline judgement of your month (one bold sentence), followed by a written narrative explaining what the numbers say about your financial behaviour.
/// SYSTEM INSIGHT — a single highlighted insight from Nia, the most important pattern detected in your data.
Key numbers:
| Metric | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Net Flow | Total income minus total expenses for the month |
| Savings Rate | What percentage of income you kept |
| Burn Velocity | Your average daily spend across the full month |
| Debt Ratio | Share of income that went to loan repayments and Fuliza |
Insights — a list of findings tagged POSITIVE, NEGATIVE, or NEUTRAL, each tied to a specific category with a supporting data point. These are Nia's observations, not averages — they reflect what actually happened in your month.
Actions — recommended steps, each tagged with priority (HIGH, MEDIUM, or LOW) and effort level. Where Jijenga has enough data, actions include a potential savings figure in KES.
The seal is permanent
Generating a brief seals the month. After generation:
- You cannot edit category assignments for that month
- You cannot re-import statements that cover that period
- The brief is fixed — it reflects your data at the moment of closing
This is intentional. Closing your accounts is a financial discipline, not just a report. The seal gives the monthly number a meaning it wouldn't have if it could always be revised.
Export
Tap the EXPORT button on any sealed brief to download the executive summary as a PDF. The brief is formatted for print — useful for personal records or sharing with a financial advisor.
Tips
- Close a month only when it's complete — don't rush the close while the month is still active
- A brief with 95%+ categorization gives Nia the cleanest data to work with; the insights are noticeably sharper above that threshold
- The recommendations always include an effort level — start with LOW effort, HIGH priority actions first
See also: How to Categorize Transactions · Operating Statement