Summary
I walk through how I use an AI agent, Cowork, to automate the repetitive month‑end tasks of categorising bank‑feed transactions, applying the correct VAT treatment, and chasing receipts. I explain the five‑phase framework—analysis, planning, execution, validation, and self‑learning—that lets the agent run on my company’s FreeAgent ledger, fetch invoices from my mailbox, and propose entries only after my approval. The agent builds vendor‑specific rules (e.g., reverse‑charge for Anthropic, UK VAT for Zoom) and even detects changes such as a shift in IWG’s invoicing country, updating its rule set automatically. After a run, it posts a summary to Slack, I review and sign‑off, and any missing receipts trigger a re‑run. The system is ready out‑of‑the‑box, scalable to multiple clients, and is meant to augment—not replace—human accountants.