# FINANCES — Cowork Instructions # [Your Name] | Last updated: [Month Year] --- ## HOW TO USE THIS FILE This file is optional, and it's the advanced step. The other two templates (expense-categories.md and monthly-report-template.xlsx) are enough to get a real monthly report out of Cowork. This file is what you add once you want Cowork to stop flagging things that are actually normal for your specific accounts and life, and to stop guessing at details you could just tell it once. It's written in first person, as if you're briefing an assistant who's never seen your finances before, because that's exactly what it is. Rewrite the sections below with your own information. Delete anything that doesn't apply to you, and add sections for anything specific to your situation that isn't covered here. --- ## Who I am My name is [Your Name]. [Add anything relevant to how you track money, e.g. your location, whether you run a business, whether you split expenses with a partner or co-founder.] I track finances for [one entity / two entities]: 1. [e.g. My Business] — business expenses 2. [e.g. Personal] — my personal living expenses *(If you only track personal finances, delete the business entity above and adjust the rest of this file accordingly.)* --- ## DATE FORMAT — CRITICAL I use [DD-MM-YYYY / MM-DD-YYYY] date format. Statement files are named [describe your naming convention, e.g. "[Bank] [Month] [Year]"]. When reading transaction dates INSIDE the PDFs, always parse them as [your format] unless the statement clearly indicates otherwise. Example: a date shown as 03/02/2026 inside a PDF means [explain what that date actually is in your format, so Cowork doesn't misread it]. When logging dates in the Transactions sheet, convert to YYYY-MM-DD for consistency. --- ## MY ACCOUNTS — what each card/account is For each account or card you use, copy this block and fill it in. The more specific you are here, the fewer things Cowork will get wrong or flag unnecessarily. ### [Account Name] ([Business / Personal / Mixed]) - Entity: [Business / Personal / Mixed, and explain the mix if relevant] - Currency: [e.g. USD, EUR] - Purpose: [What this account is actually for, and any quirks. E.g. "day to day spending," "overflow account used when another card is low," "travel and larger purchases only."] - Statements folder: Statements/[matching sub-folder]/ - Known recurring charges: [e.g. rent amount and day of month, any bill that comes every 2 months instead of monthly, anything else predictable] - Note: [Any special handling instructions. E.g. "this account sometimes holds business subscription charges when the main business account is low, that's expected, don't flag it," or "this account should only ever show transfers, flag anything else immediately."] *(Repeat this block for every account or card you want Cowork to know about.)* --- ## CURRENCY RULES - [Which expenses are in which currency, and why] - Do NOT re-convert currencies. Log the amount exactly as it appears on the statement. - If a charge appears in a different currency than the account's usual one (e.g. a foreign charge converted by the card issuer), log the billed amount in the matching currency column and note the original currency in the Notes column. Leave the other currency column blank. --- ## FOLDER STRUCTURE Describe your actual folder setup here so Cowork knows exactly where things live. Example: FINANCES/ Statements/ [Entity or Account]/ [Sub-folder]/ ← which statements go here Outputs/ Monthly Reports/ ← completed monthly .xlsx files go here Tax Prep/ ← tax-flagged summaries Expense Summaries/ ← one-off exports Receipts/ [Entity]/ ← receipt photos/PDFs Templates/ monthly-report-template.xlsx ← always use this as the base expense-categories.md ← canonical category reference --- ## TEMPLATE USAGE Always use Templates/monthly-report-template.xlsx as the base for monthly reports. Never modify the template itself, copy it, rename the copy (e.g. 2026-01-Monthly-Report.xlsx), fill it, and save it to Outputs/Monthly Reports/. Use Templates/expense-categories.md as the canonical reference for categorizing every transaction. If a merchant isn't listed, use the closest matching category and flag it in the Notes column. --- ## KNOWN RECURRING CHARGES List any subscriptions or recurring charges you expect to see, which account(s) they can legitimately appear on, and how to categorize them. This is especially useful if the same subscription sometimes shows up on more than one card. Example: [Tool/Service Name] ~$[amount]/mo [What it is] Categorize as: [Category] / [Entity] Free tiers or $0 services (flag if a charge suddenly appears): [Service name] $0 [What it is] Any new charge you don't recognize: categorize with your closest matching category, and flag it so you can confirm it and add it here for next time. --- ## FLAGGING RULES Always flag in the Monthly Summary flags section if: - Any single transaction over [your threshold, e.g. $500 / €400] - Any unrecognized merchant name - Same merchant charged twice in the same month - [Any account-specific thing that should always be flagged, e.g. any non-transfer transaction on an account that should only show transfers] - Missing receipt for a business expense over [your threshold] - [Anything else specific to your situation] Do NOT flag (things that are normal for your situation, but would look odd to someone seeing your accounts for the first time): - [e.g. "Subscription X appearing on Card Y instead of Card Z, this is intentional overflow"] - [e.g. "Bill X missing some months, it only charges every 2 months"] --- ## OUTPUT NAMING CONVENTION Monthly reports: Outputs/Monthly Reports/[YEAR]-[MM]-Monthly-Report.xlsx Tax prep files: Outputs/Tax Prep/[YEAR]-TaxPrep.xlsx Expense summaries: Outputs/Expense Summaries/[YEAR]-[MM]-[description].xlsx --- ## NOTES Use this space for anything else Cowork should know that doesn't fit above. Some examples of the kind of thing worth including: - Anyone else's expenses that occasionally run through your accounts, and how those should be handled - Your timezone, if it affects how you'd want statement dates read - Where this folder is stored/synced, and any files that should never be deleted - Any accounts with irregular statement history (e.g. a card that only has statements starting a few months ago), so gaps aren't mistaken for missing data