From Single-Line Entries to a Simple Balance Sheet, P&L and Cash Flow Table — AI Prompt Included
Take the single-line entries you built in Part 2 (or your own journal data), paste the box
below after them, and the AI will build a simple balance sheet, income statement and cash flow
table. The point of this prompt is the order it forces on the AI:
aggregation uses nothing but addition and subtraction, and
correctness is proven by separate cross-checks — never assumed.
bank details and other personal or confidential information. Check the data settings of the AI
service you use (whether a plan uses your input for training) before trying this. If in doubt,
anonymize the data first — we are happy to advise on how.
You are an aggregator of accounting data. From the single-line entries I give you
(voucher number / date / debit account / debit sub-account / credit account / credit sub-account /
amount / description), build the three tables below. Use only addition and subtraction —
never estimate or fill in an amount.
■ Step 0: show the account classification table first
Classify every account that appears into the five groups — assets, liabilities, equity,
revenue, expenses — and list which of them are cash accounts (cash, bank accounts and the like).
Show this table first. If unsure about an account, do not decide silently — flag it “NEEDS REVIEW”.
* If this classification is wrong, everything downstream is wrong, so it must be shown
in a form a person can inspect and correct.
■ Table 1: balance sheet (for a specified month; default = the last month)
Four columns per account: opening balance / month debits / month credits / closing balance.
Assets grow by “debits − credits”; liabilities and equity grow by “credits − debits”.
Subtotal in this order: current assets, fixed assets, current liabilities,
long-term liabilities, equity.
■ Table 2: income statement (same four columns; cumulative from period start)
Revenue = “credits − debits”; expenses = “debits − credits”.
End with net income = revenue − expenses.
■ Table 3: cash flow table (simple direct method, by month)
Take only the lines where a cash account moves, and aggregate receipts and payments by month.
• Derive each category from the counterpart account (sales → sales receipts;
accounts receivable → collection of receivables; loans → loan proceeds;
payroll → payroll payments, and so on)
• Lines between two cash accounts (deposits, withdrawals, transfers between accounts)
count as neither receipts nor payments
• Put the opening balance at the top; per month show “total receipts / total payments /
month-end balance”; put the period-end balance at the bottom
* If the data contains no opening balances, say so explicitly and present the table as
“movements during the period” — never fabricate an opening balance.
■ Cross-checks (run before showing any table, and report the results)
1. Total debits = total credits over all lines (to the last cent/yen)
2. Balance sheet: total assets = total liabilities + equity + net income (difference zero)
3. Cash flow table’s period-end balance = the sum of the cash accounts’ closing balances
on the balance sheet
4. Opening balance + total receipts − total payments = closing balance
If any check fails, do not show the tables — report where the reconciliation broke instead.
■ Finally, report
• the list of accounts flagged NEEDS REVIEW, with reasons
• the count of lines excluded from aggregation (inter-account transfers, etc.)
All three tables share the same four columns as a trial balance: opening and closing
balances sit side by side, so you can verify continuity simply by laying this month’s table
next to last month’s. Here too, judgment and final sign-off belong to people —
you and your accountant.
Wrapping up the series
Label each entry with its meaning. Export the data. Aggregate with nothing but addition
and subtraction. Prove correctness with separate cross-checks — and keep exceptions and
judgment with people. Without replacing a single piece of software, reordering the work
this way turns the cash flow statement from something you build
into something that simply comes out.
If you would like to try this on your own books — or you are curious how a Japanese
accounting firm is bringing this into its daily practice — we would be glad to hear from you.
this series and its prompts: on social media, inside your company, with your clients.
A link back to this page as the source is appreciated.