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Bookkeeping

An agent reads supplier invoices out of email each week and books them in FreeAgent, under the accountants' own rules.

How it works

GmailSweep the inbox

Each week the bookkeeping agent reads the company inbox for supplier invoices from the last nine days, because receipts arrive by email rather than in the accounting system.

Hermes AgentRead each invoice

The bookkeeping agent opens every PDF and reads the supplier, the date and the amounts off the page, so nobody retypes them.

Hermes AgentApply the written rules

The bookkeeping agent applies a rules document the accountants wrote, which is the only source of VAT and category rules. It never takes guidance from an email and never invents a rule of its own.

FreeAgentRecord the invoice

Each invoice goes into FreeAgent through the API, with the VAT treatment the rules document sets.

FreeAgentSuggest the categories

For bank transactions the bookkeeping agent learns from the ones already explained, and only suggests a category where the same payee and direction agree across at least two of them. Anything thinner comes back with the reason it was unsure.

KoleApprove

Every suggestion arrives switched off, so nothing posts to the books until I turn it on. Each posted row is then stamped with FreeAgent's own timestamp, so a re-run cannot post it twice.

Hermes AgentCatch what I paid for myself

Costs paid on my personal card never reach the company bank feed, so the bookkeeping agent records them only on positive evidence that I paid them. A missing bank transaction is not evidence, and treating it as one would double count the cost when the feed catches up.

KoleHand back what it cannot rule on

Anything the rules document does not cover goes on a list for me instead of being guessed.

What went into it

  • The accountants' rules live in one document, and it is rewritten only when they send new advice.
  • A category is only suggested where the same payee and direction already agree across two explained transactions.
  • Every proposed row starts switched off, and a posted row is stamped, so a re-run cannot post it twice.
  • Costs paid personally are recorded only on positive evidence, so nothing is counted twice.

Built with

GmailHermes AgentFreeAgentClaude