Expense categorization

Use this to prepare expenses for review. A proposed category is not a posted entry and not tax advice.

Required inputs

Ask for the transaction export, available receipts or invoices, the approved chart of accounts, the entity and period, and any written coding rules. Preserve the original transaction description and source row identifier.

Work each item

For every transaction return:

Field	Rule
Source	File or system plus row identifier
Date	Use the source date; keep transaction and posting dates separate
Vendor	Use the receipt or source text; do not infer a legal name
Amount	Keep sign and currency
Evidence	Receipt, invoice, contract, or missing
Proposed category	Exact approved account name, or unresolved
Reason	One sentence tied to the evidence
Confidence	High, medium, or low
Review need	The one fact or owner needed next

Use high confidence only when the evidence and written rules point to one approved account. Use medium when the purpose is clear but more than one account could fit. Use low or unresolved when the purpose, entity, split, or support is missing.

Checks

• Total source rows, total amount, categorized rows, and unresolved rows.
• Find exact and likely duplicates without deleting either one.
• Keep refunds, reversals, transfers, owner transactions, and payments apart from operating expenses.
• Flag foreign-currency items and preserve both source and settled amounts when supplied.
• Show any row excluded from the total and why.

Safety rules

Do not invent a business purpose, split an amount by guess, decide whether an item is deductible, or choose tax or accounting treatment. Do not post entries or edit the source. Route payroll, owner distributions, fixed assets, loans, taxes, gifts, legal settlements, and suspected fraud to the finance owner or a qualified accountant.