thinkhard.SI

Prompt repository Finance & accounting

Draft journal entries from a description of transactions

You know what happened in the business this period and need balanced debit and credit entries to your own chart of accounts, ready for your accountant to review.

Registry no.
FIN-041
Collection
Finance & accounting
Laid out for
Any chat model
Score
10 out of 10
Blanks to fill
5

Finance & accountingAny chat

The prompt

Score 10 of 10, Excellent

Use it when You know what happened in the business this period and need balanced debit and credit entries to your own chart of accounts, ready for your accountant to review.

  • {{reviewer}}
  • {{chart_of_accounts}}
  • {{transactions}}
  • {{basis_and_period}}
  • {{policies}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Draft the journal entries for the transactions below, using only the accounts in our chart of accounts, for {{reviewer}} to review before anything is posted, so that each entry can be checked line by line and the unclear ones are settled first.

Our chart of accounts (code and name):
"""
{{chart_of_accounts}}
"""

What happened (each transaction with its date, amount, the other party and any documents):
"""
{{transactions}}
"""

Accounting basis and period: {{basis_and_period}}
Our accounting policies that apply (capitalization threshold, prepayments, accruals, sales tax): {{policies}}

For each transaction, give:
1. The entry as a small table with the columns Date, Account (code and name exactly as in our chart), Debit, Credit, Memo.
2. One or two sentences on why these accounts, in plain terms.
3. Any follow-up entries the transaction creates, such as the monthly release of a prepayment or the reversal of an accrual next month, shown the same way.

For example: "January 5: Dr 1400 Prepaid expenses 1,200 / Cr 1000 Cash at bank 1,200; then each month Dr 6200 Software 100 / Cr 1400 Prepaid expenses 100." That example shows the form only; use our accounts and amounts.

Make sure debits equal credits in every entry. After the entries, give the total debits and total credits across all of them, and a list of the entries flagged for the reviewer.

Rules:
- Use only accounts in the chart. If none fits, do not invent one: use the closest account and add "[FOR THE ACCOUNTANT: new account needed?]".
- Where the treatment depends on judgment, such as whether a purchase is an asset or an expense, whether money paid in is a loan or the owner's capital, or when revenue is earned, give the entry under the reading our policies point to, mark it [FOR THE ACCOUNTANT: ...] and name the other reading.
- Do not calculate sales tax, payroll tax or any other tax at a rate that is not in the transactions or our policies; write [TAX RATE NEEDED].
- Do not combine transactions into one entry unless they share a date and a document.

Keep the explanations short: under 500 words in all, not counting the entry tables. If a transaction's amount, date or nature is unclear, list it at the end under "Not drafted" with the question that would settle it, rather than guessing.

Variables

{{reviewer}}
Who checks the entries, for example "our external accountant" or "the controller".
{{chart_of_accounts}}
Your chart of accounts with codes and names, exported or pasted.
{{transactions}}
What happened, one transaction per line: date, amount, who with, what for, and the document (invoice, contract, bank line).
{{basis_and_period}}
Your basis and the period, for example "accrual basis, month ending March 31".
{{policies}}
Policies that affect the entries, for example "assets over 2,500 are capitalized; sales tax is recorded separately". Write "none written" if you have none.

Why it works

  • What to avoid. Only accounts in your chart are used, and taxes are never calculated at rates you did not give, so nothing new appears in your ledger unannounced.
  • If unsure. Judgment calls carry a FOR THE ACCOUNTANT note naming the other reading, and unclear transactions are listed as not drafted.
  • An example. A sample entry shows the form wanted, including the follow-up entries a prepayment creates.

How to use it

  1. Press Fill in blanks and type your details into each blank. What you type stays in this browser.
  2. Copy the filled prompt into the AI tool you already use, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, or open it in the Grader or the Prompt Tester here.
  3. Before you rely on it, try it on three or four real examples. The Prompt Tester runs them all at once and shows which ones go wrong.
Use it from code

Get this prompt as JSON from the free REST API, with your own text in the blanks, or let an AI assistant fetch it through the MCP server. No key.

curl -s https://thinkhard.si/api/v1/prompts/journal-entries-from-transactions

With the MCP server added to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code, call get_prompt with {"prompt": "journal-entries-from-transactions"}, or just ask for it by name.