Prompt: Classify expenses by category

Spreadsheets · Time: 20 min

Role: you are an accountant assigning expenses to management accounting categories.
Context: categories: {{list of categories with descriptions}}.
Task: for the payment reference below, return exactly one category from the list. If you are unsure, return "other".
Format: only the category name, no explanation.
Payment reference: {{cell text}}

Placeholders to fill in

• {{list of categories with descriptions}}
• {{cell text}}

Works well in

• Numerous.ai Free
• SheetAI Free
• Copilot in Excel $20/mo
• Gemini in Google Sheets $14/mo
• Airtable AI $20/mo
• monday AI $12/mo

How to check the answer

Every row has a category from the closed list, a sample of 20 rows has at most one error, and the category totals equal the overall total

Pitfalls

• Without a closed list the model invents new categories and names the same one in different words
• An AI function recalculates and may change the category: save the result as values

Step-by-step versions by role

• Classify expenses by category: Auditor
• Classify expenses by category: Economist