The Bookkeeping Cycle

The bookkeeping cycle runs once for each month or VAT period. In Claude Code, run /bookkeep with the date range. Your agent runs each step and stops wherever a person has to decide. The engine works through hundreds of lines, and your agent brings you only the lines it cannot place.

pull ─▶ collect ─▶ match ─▶ chase ─▶ categorise ─▶ review ─▶ post ─▶ reconcile ─▶ file

Before Each Cycle

Your agent runs prima-bookkeeper doctor first, and if any check fails, it stops and reports it. A lapsed connection or a changed tax rate needs your attention before anything posts. A failed connection needs auth again for that provider.

The Steps

Step	Command	What happens
Pull	pull --from 2026-05-01 --to 2026-05-31	Fetches the bank lines from every API-connected account. A CSV-fed account waits for its file
Collect	collect	Reads your folders, drop folder and mailboxes, and stores each new invoice, receipt or credit note
Match	match-documents	Links each payment to the document that covers it
Chase	chase	Lists the payments with no document, by supplier and by the VAT at stake
Categorise	categorise	Proposes an entry for each line and lists the lines it cannot place
Review	batch create	Builds a batch of proposed entries for you to check
Approve	batch approve <id> --by "Your Name"	Records who approved the batch and when
Post	post <id>	Writes the approved entries to your ledger and reads each one back
Reconcile	reconcile	Matches the bank against the ledger and lists what is left over on each side
File	file --all	Files every linked document into your archive

Each command takes the same --from and --to dates where a range applies. For a CSV-fed account, the pull names the file and the account, as pull --csv statement.csv --account aib-current shows.

Where Your Agent Stops for You

• Probable document links. A document may match on supplier and date but differ on amount, such as a currency difference. Your agent shows you both and links them only on your word.
• Unclassified lines. When the rules cannot place a line, the tool marks it unclassified with no ledger account, and it never treats it as a business expense by default. Your agent shows it with a proposed answer and the reason. It records only the answer you give, and each answer becomes a rule for that supplier.
• Lines the tool marks for review. When a supplier’s country and the proposed VAT treatment disagree, your agent raises it before it builds the batch.
• The batch. Your agent shows you the full table of proposed entries and waits. It approves the batch only after you say so, under your name.
• The first failure. If a post fails, your agent shows the error and stops. A rerun after the fix skips what already posted.

Check Each Proposal Against Its Invoice

The supplier’s own invoice governs the VAT on an entry, and a supplier’s usual rate is only an expectation. In this version, the proposals take their VAT from the rules. Your agent therefore compares each proposal with its linked document and raises any difference with you. A difference may be VAT on the invoice where the proposal has none, a different rate, or an invoice with lines at two rates.

Posting

Your agent runs a dry run first, which shows what would post and writes nothing. It then posts the batch for real. Before each entry, the tool checks its own records and then your ledger for an entry that already covers the bank line. Every entry carries the bank line’s id, and every entry is read back. On Sage, each entry must come back paid with nothing outstanding.

The Review Gate lists every check between a proposal and your ledger.

Reconciling

reconcile writes one report for each bank account. It lists the matched lines, the bank lines with no ledger entry and the ledger lines with no bank line, and any possible duplicates. A bank line with no entry is often a transfer, a drawing or a sale keyed elsewhere, and your agent says which looks likely and lets you decide.

At the End of the Cycle

Your agent summarises what posted, what was skipped and why, which documents are still missing with the VAT at stake on them, and what is still open. At the end of a VAT period, follow VAT Return Preparation.