Invoice Organizer

Bulk-categorize a CSV of invoices or receipts, detect duplicates, and produce a tax-ready monthly summary.

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Table of Contents

• Keywords
• Quick Start
• Core Workflows
• Tools
• Reference Guides
• Templates
• Best Practices

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Keywords

invoice, invoices, receipt, receipts, expense, expenses, bookkeeping, accounting, tax, tax prep, categorization, vendor, reimbursement, monthly summary

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Clarify First

Before categorizing, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• Receipt CSV fields — date, vendor, description, amount drive categorization and duplicate detection
• Tax bucket scheme — US Schedule C vs UK self-employment vs generic sets which categories the summary maps to
• Recurring-vendor rules — known vendor→category mappings to seed category_rules.json and cut the uncategorized bucket

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

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Quick Start

Categorize 200 Receipts in 1 Minute

1. Export receipts from your bank or expense tool as a CSV with columns: date,vendor,description,amount,currency
2. Run:

   python scripts/invoice_categorizer.py receipts.csv
   

3. Review the categorized output and override anything wrong via the rules file
4. Export the monthly summary for handoff to your accountant

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Core Workflows

Workflow 1: Monthly Bookkeeping

Goal: Convert a month of unstructured receipts into a categorized, tax-ready summary in under 10 minutes.

Steps:

1. Export receipts as CSV from your bank, card, or expense tool
2. Run: python scripts/invoice_categorizer.py receipts.csv
3. Review the uncategorized bucket — these need rules added or manual override
4. Add rules to assets/category_rules.json for any recurring vendors
5. Re-run; uncategorized count should drop each month as the rules file grows
6. Drop the monthly summary into assets/monthly_summary_template.md

Expected Output: Categorized expense list + monthly totals by category + duplicate-suspect list.

Time Estimate: 10 minutes/month after initial rules are seeded.

Workflow 2: Duplicate Detection

Goal: Catch double-entered receipts before they reach the books.

Steps:

1. Run: python scripts/invoice_categorizer.py receipts.csv --json
2. Inspect the duplicates_suspected list
3. Confirm whether each is a true duplicate (same charge entered twice) or a coincidence (same amount on different days at different vendors)
4. Remove confirmed duplicates from the source CSV; re-run

Expected Output: Cleaned CSV with no duplicate rows.

Time Estimate: 2-3 minutes per month.

Workflow 3: Vendor Spend Review

Goal: Find spend creep — vendors whose monthly total grew significantly without you noticing.

Steps:

1. Run categorizer for the last 3-6 months separately
2. Compare per-vendor totals month-over-month
3. Flag any vendor where total grew > 25% with no obvious business reason
4. Either renegotiate, switch, or accept; revisit quarterly

Expected Output: Vendor-spend trend list with flagged growth.

Time Estimate: 15 minutes per quarter.

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Tools

invoice_categorizer.py

Reads a CSV of receipts/invoices and:

• Categorizes each row by vendor + description against rules in assets/category_rules.json (extensible)
• Aggregates totals per category and per vendor
• Detects likely duplicates (same vendor + amount within 3 days)
• Flags uncategorized items for manual review

# Human-readable summary
python scripts/invoice_categorizer.py receipts.csv

# JSON for programmatic use
python scripts/invoice_categorizer.py receipts.csv --json

# Use a custom rules file
python scripts/invoice_categorizer.py receipts.csv --rules my-rules.json

Expected CSV columns: date, vendor, description, amount (currency optional) Date formats accepted: YYYY-MM-DD, MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY

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Reference Guides

• references/expense_categorization_guide.md — Standard expense categories, common tax buckets (US Schedule C, UK self-employment, generic), how to map vendors to categories

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Templates

• assets/category_rules.json — Default rules; extend with your recurring vendors
• assets/monthly_summary_template.md — Format for handing the monthly summary to an accountant

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Best Practices

• Categorize monthly, not annually. Annual catch-up bookkeeping always misses receipts and produces guess-categorization.
• Grow the rules file over time. First month: 30% uncategorized. Sixth month: < 5%. The compounding return on rule-writing is high.
• Keep evidence. Categorization is bookkeeping; receipts (PDFs, photos) are tax evidence. Store separately from this script's output.
• Don't trust auto-categorization for tax filing. Use it for prep; have a human (you or your accountant) sign off before filing.
• Currency consistency. If you have multi-currency receipts, convert at month-end FX rate before this script; it does not handle FX.

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Integration Points

• Pairs with finance/ skills for budgeting and forecasting
• Feeds into c-level-advisor/cs-cfo-advisor cash-flow workflows
• Used by solo-founder persona for monthly close