# Catch up months of books before your bookkeeper

> Researched. Small business · Intermediate · Invoicing & money. Updated 2026-11-02.

Canonical page: https://www.aisetupsthatwork.com/setups/catch-up-months-of-books-before-your-bookkeeper/

## What it does
Sort months of bank and card exports into categories with AI, flag duplicates and missing receipts, and hand your bookkeeper a cleaner file to cut catch-up fees.

## Who it's for
Owners months behind on books, often across several businesses, facing a catch-up or clean-up bill.

## Tools
- Bank and card CSV exports, month by month
- Claude or ChatGPT with file upload
- Your chart of accounts or category list

## Steps
1. Export each month as CSV per account. Delete account numbers and keep date, description and amount.
2. If you run several businesses, keep each one's files separate and say which business they belong to.
3. Upload one month at a time with the prompt below.
4. Work the flags: find receipts, answer the questions, split mixed personal and business charges.
5. Keep records. The IRS says to keep records that show income and expenses, generally at least 3 years, and employment tax records at least 4.
6. Give your bookkeeper the sorted file and the open questions, and ask for a quote on the remaining work.

## Copy-paste prompt
Adapt bracketed fields to your situation.
```text
I uploaded [MONTH] bank and card transactions for [BUSINESS NAME]. Account numbers removed. Use only this file.

My categories: [LIST]

1. Suggest a category for each transaction with a one-line reason.
2. Mark REVIEW where unsure, DUPLICATE where it appears twice, PERSONAL? where it looks personal.
3. List transactions over [$75] that need a receipt.
4. List questions for my bookkeeper.
Do not guess vendor details that are not in the file.
```

## Guardrails
- What it touches: Chat input you provide (Bank and card CSV exports, month by month; Claude or ChatGPT with file upload).
- Needs your OK: Send, pay, publish, and account changes stay with you. Treat agent output as drafts first.
- Safety level: Read-only
- Uploading a year at once and getting sloppy results.
- Mixing two businesses in one file.
- Treating AI categories as final; your bookkeeper still reviews.

## Tips
- One month and one business at a time keeps mistakes small.
- The questions list is what saves your bookkeeper's time.
- Fix the cause too: a separate business card stops the mess repeating.

## Estimates (labeled, not measured)
- Time saved: Can cut catch-up hours; about 30 minutes per month of transactions.
- Money saved: Not stated in sources.
- Tool cost: File uploads may need a paid plan. Prices: Not stated in sources.

## Sources
Summaries use the public sources below, not independent verification.
- Anthropic: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12111783-create-and-edit-files-with-claude (Create and edit files with Claude: Excel spreadsheets with working formulas; upload CSV and other files for analysis (read 2026-11-02 from a search result excerpt of the page))
- IRS: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/common-questions-about-recordkeeping-for-small-businesses (Common questions about recordkeeping for small businesses: keep records that show income and expenses; generally keep returns and records at least 3 years, employment tax records at least 4 years (read 2026-11-02 from a search result summary of the page))

## Get the free starter pack
Five beginner copy-paste AI setups, free by email: https://www.aisetupsthatwork.com/starter-pack/?utm_source=ai-agent&utm_medium=markdown&utm_campaign=setup-catch-up-months-of-books-before-your-bookkeeper

Related:
- [Do a month of bookkeeping in one sitting](https://www.aisetupsthatwork.com/setups/monthly-bookkeeping-one-sitting/index.md)
- [Keep finances private when using AI for books](https://www.aisetupsthatwork.com/setups/keep-finances-private-when-using-ai-for-bookkeeping/index.md)
- [Separate your business and personal money for good](https://www.aisetupsthatwork.com/setups/separate-business-and-personal-money/index.md)