expense-tracker

# Expense Tracker ## Quick Start Record, categorize, and monitor business expenses against budgets. Validate documentation, detect duplicates, and alert when spending approaches category limits. ## Workflow 1. Parse expense details from user input: item, amount, date, category, department, project 2. Classify into a category: Operations, HR, Marketing, IT, Travel, or Other 3. Ask for any missing required fields (amount, date, category) 4. Check for duplicate entries in existing records 5. Calculate budget impact: cumulative spend, remaining budget, percentage used 6. Flag expenses over $500 for manager approval 7. Generate alerts if spending reaches 80%+ of category budget 8. Output structured expense record with budget status ## Examples **Example 1: Recording an office expense** Input: "Log $625.00 for new office chairs, Operations department, March 15" Output: ``` EXPENSE RECORD ============== Date: 03/15/2026 Category: Operations Department: Operations Amount: $625.00 Description: New office chairs Documentation: Not yet available Approval: Required (>$500) BUDGET STATUS (Operations) ========================== Spent this period: $4,520.00 Total budget: $10,000.00 Remaining: $5,480.00 Usage: 45.2% Alert: None ``` **Example 2: Near-budget warning** Input: "Record $400.00 for Google Ads campaign, Marketing dept" Output: ``` EXPENSE RECORD ============== Date: 03/18/2026 Category: Marketing Department: Marketing Amount: $400.00 Description: Google Ads campaign Documentation: Not yet available Approval: Not required BUDGET STATUS (Marketing) ========================== Spent this period: $4,200.00 Total budget: $5,000.00 Remaining: $800.00 Usage: 84.0% Alert: Warning: approaching limit (>80%) ``` ## Tools - Use `Read` to load budget files and historical expense data - Use `Grep` to search for duplicate or related expense entries - Use `Write` to persist new expense records and update running totals - Use `Bash` to run calculations on aggregated expense data ## Error Handling - If required fields are missing (amount, date, category) -> ask user to provide them - If expense category is unclear -> present the category list and ask user to choose - If budget data is unavailable -> record the expense but note budget comparison is not possible - If duplicate entry is detected -> warn user and ask for confirmation before recording ## Connectors (Optional) This skill works standalone. When connected to external tools, it unlocks additional capabilities: | Connector | What it enables | |-----------|----------------| | ~~accounting | Pull transactions and categorized ledger entries directly | | ~~ERP | Access department budgets and cost center mappings | | ~~spreadsheet | Import/export expense data from spreadsheets | | ~~banking | Reconcile expenses against bank transaction feeds | ## Rules - All expenses must reference supporting documents (invoices, receipts) - Alert when spending reaches 80% of category budget - Default currency is USD - Expenses over $500 require manager approval notation - Every expense must be tied to a category, department, and date - Round to two decimal places ## Output Template ``` EXPENSE RECORD ============== Date: [MM/DD/YYYY] Category: [Expense category] Department: [Department name] Amount: [Amount in USD] Description: [Detailed description] Documentation: [Available / Not yet available] Approval: [Required / Not required] BUDGET STATUS ([Category]) ========================== Spent this period: [Cumulative amount] Total budget: [Allocated budget] Remaining: [Remaining amount] Usage: [Percentage used]% Alert: [None / Warning: approaching limit / Over budget] NOTES ===== - [Any additional observations, warnings, or required actions] ``` ## Related Skills - `budget-planner` — For building and adjusting budgets that expenses are tracked against - `invoice-generator` — For generating invoices related to billable expenses - `financial-report` — For producing spending summaries and financial performance reports - `payroll-helper` — For payroll-related expense calculations