Categorize transactions: AI agent prompt
Sort bank transactions into accounting categories.
FinanceBookkeepingbeginnerWho this is for
Owners doing their own bookkeeping from a bank or card CSV.
Not for
Tax decisions: ask your accountant how to treat anything flagged.
What you need
A CSV of transactions and your list of categories.
The prompt
Categorize these transactions into [your chart of accounts or: income, software, ads, travel, meals, contractors, other]. Flag anything unclear or possibly personal. Transactions: [paste CSV]
Worked example
A fictional business, so you can see what to paste in and what a good answer looks like. The example answer was written with AI help and its numbers and dates were checked; your AI's answer will be worded differently, so check it the same way.
Sample input (what you paste in)
Categories: income, software, ads, travel, meals, contractors, other. 2026-10-02, STRIPE PAYOUT, +1,840.00 2026-10-03, CANVA PRO, -16.99 2026-10-05, META ADS, -220.00 2026-10-09, AIRBNB, -412.00 2026-10-12, UPWORK *J.LEE, -350.00 2026-10-15, AMAZON MKTPLACE, -64.20
Example output (illustrative)
| Date | Description | Amount | Category | Note | |---|---|---|---|---| | Oct 2 | Stripe payout | +1,840.00 | income | | | Oct 3 | Canva Pro | -16.99 | software | | | Oct 5 | Meta Ads | -220.00 | ads | | | Oct 9 | Airbnb | -412.00 | travel | FLAG: business trip or personal? | | Oct 12 | Upwork, J. Lee | -350.00 | contractors | | | Oct 15 | Amazon | -64.20 | other | FLAG: unclear; check what was bought |
Check before you use it: Look at every flagged line yourself; the AI can't know whether a trip or purchase was personal.
How to use it
- Copy the prompt above.
- Replace every [bracket] with your own details (or fill in the blanks on AgentPlaybook Real Estate, which remembers your answers for the next prompt).
- Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and review the answer before you use it.
Works with: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, QuickBooks AI
Real-world example: snowflake.com/en/artificial-intelligence/agents/examples/
Featured in: Free AI agent prompts for small business (beginner-friendly) · ChatGPT prompts for bookkeeping, accounting firms and small-business finance
Before you use it: what to check
Already built into this prompt
- Flag anything unclear or possibly personal.
Check yourself
- Remove names, contact details, account numbers and other personal data the task doesn't need before you paste, and check your AI tool's data and training settings.
- Read and edit the draft before it reaches a customer or goes public. If you later automate this prompt, start with "draft and notify me", not "send automatically".
- Check names, dates, numbers and any claim against your own source material before you use the answer. AI can misread or invent details.
Using an AI agent? Download this prompt as a SKILL.md agent skill with these checks built in, or get the .zip for Claude.ai. How to install skills.
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