---
name: al-225-catch-up-months-of-overdue-bookkeeping-by-filing-each-ven
description: "When the books are a year behind, the slow part is pulling every statement and deciding where thousands of transactions go. Let an AI do the sorting, but only by your own history: a vendor you've filed the same way before goes there again, and anything uncertain comes to you once and becomes a rule. In posts from Oct 15-20, 2026, Kris Collo described doing this for a friend's private school: an AI agent downloaded 15 months of bank and card statements and check images, loaded over 2,000 transactions into the free accounting app SlowBooks Pro overnight, filed vendors seen 3+ times in the same category 80% of the time, and sent only a few dozen to the general manager. The line-by-line pass also found a double-paid accounting fee and charges that kept running after being cancelled (his figures, unaudited). Use when the user wants help with bookkeeping backlog cleanup (finance) for a small business."
---

# Catch up months of overdue bookkeeping by filing each vendor where your books already put it

When the books are a year behind, the slow part is pulling every statement and deciding where thousands of transactions go. Let an AI do the sorting, but only by your own history: a vendor you've filed the same way before goes there again, and anything uncertain comes to you once and becomes a rule. In posts from Oct 15-20, 2026, Kris Collo described doing this for a friend's private school: an AI agent downloaded 15 months of bank and card statements and check images, loaded over 2,000 transactions into the free accounting app SlowBooks Pro overnight, filed vendors seen 3+ times in the same category 80% of the time, and sent only a few dozen to the general manager. The line-by-line pass also found a double-paid accounting fee and charges that kept running after being cancelled (his figures, unaudited).

## Inputs to collect first
Ask the user for anything below that they haven't already given you. Don't guess missing facts.

- Business name
- Months
- CSV with date, payee/description, amount
- An export with payee and category
- Chart of accounts

## Instructions

Do the task below with the user's inputs in place of each [bracket].

Help me catch up my overdue books for [business name]. Here are my bank and card transactions for [months]: [paste or attach CSV with date, payee/description, amount]. Here's how my books categorized past transactions: [paste or attach an export with payee and category], and my category list: [paste chart of accounts]. Rules: 1) If a payee appears at least 3 times in my history and went to the same category at least 80% of the time, use that category and show the count (e.g. 5/6). 2) Otherwise don't guess: put it on a questions list with your best guess and where this payee usually goes. 3) Clean up payee names first (drop store numbers, dates and card-processor prefixes like 'SQ *'). Give me two tables: 'Filed by history' and 'Questions for me'. Then list anything odd you noticed while reading every line: duplicate payments, recurring fees, subscriptions still charging, unusual amounts. Don't post anything to my accounting software; I'll review first. After I answer the questions, turn each answer into a simple rule (payee -> category) I can reuse next month.

## Safety checks (share these with the user)

- Check every figure, price and total against your own records before anything is sent, posted or booked. A person approves refunds, discounts, payments and price changes.
- 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.
- Say clearly which parts need a person to review or approve before anything is sent, paid, posted or filed.

## About this skill

- Works with: ChatGPT, Claude, SlowBooks Pro, QuickBooks, Google Sheets
- Based on this real-world example: https://agentsfinance.io/entries/case-private-school-bookkeeping-backlog-slowbooks-pro-ai-agent-2026/
- Free prompt from AgentPlaybook Real Estate: https://agentic-library.netlify.app/prompt/al-225-catch-up-months-of-overdue-bookkeeping-by-filing-each-vendor/
- To install in an agent that supports Agent Skills, save this file as SKILL.md in a folder with the same name as `name` above (for example in your skills directory). Install steps for Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cursor and Codex: https://agentic-library.netlify.app/skills/