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Directory / Prompts / Finance & bookkeeping

Sort a small pile of expenses

Updated

Problem it solves

Receipts are a pile. You want them grouped the way your bookkeeper already groups them, with the odd ones flagged.

Best tool

  • ChatGPT (free chat)
  • Claude (free chat)
  • Gemini (free chat)
  • Copilot (free chat)

Paste a small table into the free chat. That is enough for one pass. Copilot inside Excel is paid with Microsoft 365. Do not connect a bookkeeping login, and do not paste a full customer list.

Copy-paste prompt

Group these expenses into the categories below. If one does not fit, put it in "ask the bookkeeper" instead of forcing it. Do not invent a tax deduction.

Categories we use: [your categories]
Expenses: [date, vendor, amount, and what it was for]
Period: [month]

Replace every [bracket]. If you cannot fill one, delete that line.

Example output

A usable draft is a grouped list and an “ask” pile. It does not say something is deductible. It does not change an amount.

Tips

  • This is not bookkeeping advice and not a tax filing. Your bookkeeper or accountant decides the category that matters.
  • Paste a small month, not an export full of customer names. Your bookkeeper still accepts each line.

Time saved

Estimate: sorting a short month is faster with a first grouping. You or your bookkeeper still have to accept each line.

How to use it

  1. Copy the prompt. Copy the prompt on this page into a free chat.
  2. Fill every bracket. Replace each [bracket] with a fact from your own notes. If you cannot fill one, delete that line instead of guessing.
  3. Edit before you use it. Read the draft against your notes. Delete any price, date, name, or promise you did not supply. You decide what gets sent.

Where this came from

  • Original to this library.