Expense Accounting

What it is: One row per bill or valid supporting document, carrying the nature of the expense, the document behind it, the applicable tax information and the ledger account together.

Overview

Works out the smallest useful Expense Accounting setup for the business in front of it, then builds it only when asked. The default output is a short recommendation, not a spreadsheet. Artifacts - CSV, SQL DDL, JSON Schema, Notion mapping - are produced on request, from one field list so they cannot drift apart.

Three guardrails shape the whole table.

Tax is recorded, never assumed. Being VAT-registered does not tell you the rate, whether the expense is taxable, whether input tax is recoverable, whether the amount is tax-inclusive, or whether a reverse charge or another treatment applies. TDS is not part of an expense entry at all unless the business actually deducts it. Every tax field in the minimum schema is optional until a rate and a treatment have been supplied by the user.

An expense entry is not a payment. Payment mode, payment date, payment reference, net payable, TDS and department are payment-stage facts. They do not appear in an expense-only setup. If the user asks for payment tracking, that is a deliberate scope change and the fields are added then, not by default.

The document must be the real document. Where no formal invoice exists, an internal supporting document is defensible only where the transaction would not normally produce one - purchases from farmers and individual suppliers, wage sheets, rent agreements and rent records. The absence of an invoice does not automatically justify raising a purchase "Kharche/Kharpai". Document Type, Internal Support Justified and Justification exist to hold that decision, and a reviewer holds it, not this skill. No label in the Document Type list makes any document legally sufficient.

Layer: Layer 5: Expense & Payroll. Fits: Starter stage. Table code: n/a.

When to Use This Skill

• expense register
• petty expense sheet
• expense book with tax
• bill and voucher log
• expenses booked to the right account

Also use it when the user describes the same process happening in a spreadsheet, on paper, or in someone's inbox.

Do not use it for: payroll calculation, tax filing, tax-return preparation, legal advice, deciding whether a transaction is legally deductible, deciding which tax rate applies, deciding whether a supporting document is legally sufficient, or processing real employee, customer, supplier, PAN, VAT or banking data. This skill produces templates only.

How It Works

Follow the shared execution contract. The module-specific rules below define only domain fields, decisions, calculations, and safety constraints.

Step 1 - Identify intent

Read the request and pick the intent before asking anything.

• "set up" / "build" / "create" -> a new structure; go to Step 2.
• "our expenses are in a sheet" / "we currently record ..." -> capture the existing process first, then Step 2.
• "is this right" / "review this" / "audit this" -> a check, not a build; answer from what they share and do not rebuild.
• "how do I ..." -> advice; answer directly and offer a build only if it helps.

Step 2 - Ask only what is missing

Treat ambiguous replies as unanswered and ask which explicit option the user means. Record unknown values as Unknown; Unknown is not zero. A record must not be Done when a required check fails.

One message, one question, no batching. Skip anything the user already answered, in any earlier message. Ask only questions whose answer would change the recommended structure or the requested artifact. Stop as soon as the remaining unknowns would not change the output. Record Unknown and move on when the user does not know, and never ask the same unknown twice.

The opening question targets the highest-value missing fact. Do not ask for the largest expense category as a warm-up because it does not change the table structure.

For a new setup the usual first question is:

Q: What do you want to record: expense entries only, payments too, or both?

Then, only as needed:

• Existing process - Are you starting from scratch, or replacing an existing sheet or book?
• Categories - What expense categories do you actually use? If the user does not know, keep Category configurable. Do not impose a standard category list as though it were confirmed.

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