Document your chart of accounts

Draft an account usage guide from historical transactions, review it with your finance team, and reuse it during month-end reviews.

An account usage guide explains which transactions belong in each account. An AI client can draft one from your ledger, but historical postings are not proof of your accounting policy. Review the draft with your finance team before using it to assess new transactions.

The accounts, counterparties, and figures shown are illustrative.

Before you start

• Connect an AI client with read access.
• Choose the company and historical period to review.
• Gather your existing account definitions and accounting policies, including rules that cannot be inferred from transactions.

Draft and review the guide

1. Ask the client to list the company’s accounts and review activity within the selected period. Accounts with no activity during that period should be listed separately; this does not mean they are unused in other periods.
2. Ask for a short definition of each active account, examples of transactions that appear to fit, and ambiguous transactions that need review. Each example should include its date, amount, and source reference.
3. Compare the draft with your accounting policies. Correct definitions based on recurring misclassifications, and decide how your team handles ambiguous expenses such as equipment, employee benefits, and meals.
4. Save the approved guide as project instructions in your AI client. If the client supports skills, you can use a SKILL.md file: a Markdown file containing reusable instructions. See Reuse instructions with your AI client.
5. Keep the guide with the workspace it describes and update it when your accounts or policies change.

Try: “Review Example Corp’s account activity for January to August. Draft an account usage guide with source references, list accounts with no activity in that period, and flag uncertain classifications for our review.”

Use the guide at month-end

Ask for a monthly close review against the approved guide. For each proposed finding, the client should identify the transaction, explain the relevant rule, and distinguish an apparent mismatch from a confirmed error. Your finance team decides whether a correction is needed.

The counterparties, accounts, and figures shown are illustrative.

If the guide gives the wrong advice

Check the historical examples and policy used to write that account’s definition. Correct the guide, then ask the client to review the affected findings again. Do not change ledger postings solely because they differ from an AI-generated definition.

Next steps

Review the monthly close

Compare monthly transactions with your approved account guide.

Reuse instructions with your AI client

Save reviewed instructions for future work.