You finished the Foundation module with three documents: a categorization-rules.md, a data-checklist.md, and a finance-controls.md for your books. This toolkit makes them infrastructure. A file you wrote once helps one close; a file your team installs — that Claude reads on every task — helps every report, forever.
Everything here is copy-able. Replace the Mizan placeholders (the GCC bookkeeping SaaS whose own finance team runs through the module) with your own, save the files in the folder your team works in, and open it in Claude Desktop. From then on, every finance task in that folder starts from your real rules, your real data standard, and your real controls — instead of each close re-deciding them.
The whole pack is four files and a handful of prompts. That’s the point — a foundation small enough to actually get installed beats a beautiful one that lives in a binder nobody opens. Keep the raw financials out of it: this folder holds your reporting infrastructure, never a single account number or payroll row.
The finance CLAUDE.md
This is the standing context Claude reads automatically when it opens your project folder, so nobody has to re-explain the books every chat. Keep it short and current — it points at the three foundation docs rather than repeating them.
# CLAUDE.md — [Company] finance & ops
## The books
[Company] is [one-line — what we do]. We report in [AED], file [UAE VAT 5%,
FTA], close [monthly], and present to [the board / the owner] in [English and
Arabic].
## The three source-of-truth files — read these first
- categorization-rules.md → HOW every number is classified (vendor→category,
capex/opex, the gray areas decided once)
- data-checklist.md → WHETHER the data is trustworthy (profile-first,
trace-to-source, show-the-work, spot-check)
- finance-controls.md → WHO approves what (separation of duties, what's
sensitive, the sign-off gate, the bilingual standard)
Always read the relevant ones before reporting. If a total conflicts with the
rules, the files win — flag the conflict, don't quietly re-categorize.
## How we work with you
- You draft; a person decides. Show the formula or steps for every total, and
trace every figure to a source row. State nothing as fact you can't source.
- Apply categorization-rules.md exactly — never re-guess a category by feel.
- Bilingual reporting is authored, not translated. Ask which language leads.
## The controls gate (never skip)
- Anything that moves money — a payment, refund, credit note, journal entry —
is NEVER approved by whoever prepared it. Draft it; route it to the approver
named in finance-controls.md BEFORE it executes. You prepare; a person signs.
## What's safe in this folder
- Safe: the rules/checklist/controls docs, the chart of accounts, anonymized
or aggregate totals, public filings.
- Never here: customer account numbers, payroll detail, bank credentials,
customer PII, raw exports with personal data. Tell me if a file looks like
it has them, and I'll read the local copy through the permission prompt only.On Desktop you create and edit this in the file pane — no commands. Anthropic’s docs call the “Ask permissions” mode the one recommended for new users; leave it on, and the first time Claude reads this file you’ll approve it in the prompt.
The categorization-rules.md template
The rulebook every report inherits — how each number is classified, kept in one place so the same vendor lands in the same bucket every month. The reasoning column is the discipline: a gray area decided in your head gets re-guessed; one decided in writing holds in the audit.
# categorization-rules.md — [Company]
## Recurring vendors → category (always the same bucket)
[Vendor] → [Category] (note: e.g. "never 'software'")
[Vendor] → [Category]
...
(List every vendor you see monthly. The point is zero re-guessing.)
## Gray areas, decided once (with the reason)
- [the ambiguous spend] → [the category], NOT [the other]. Reason: [why].
- ...
## Capex vs opex
Rule: capitalize [assets ≥ AED X with >1yr life]; everything else is opex.
## Never auto-categorized without a human
- any new vendor seen for the first time
- anything that could cross the capex threshold
- [your other exceptions]The data-checklist.md template
The profile you run before you trust a file, and the rules that keep every total defensible. Run it on every export, every time — the stop it forces is the whole value.
# data-checklist.md — [Company]
## Run BEFORE any total (every export, every time)
[ ] row count stated
[ ] every column's meaning named
[ ] blank rows flagged and excluded (noted)
[ ] duplicate IDs found and investigated BEFORE summing
[ ] dates normalized to ONE format
## The trace-to-source rule
Every figure in any report names: source file + the rows summed.
A number that can't name its source does not ship.
## Show the work
Every total ships with its method in one line ("summed X by Y, excluding Z").
## Spot-check
Re-add ONE total by hand against the raw file each close. Matches → trust the
method. Doesn't → stop; the file is dirty.The finance-controls.md template
Who’s allowed to approve what, what’s sensitive, and the bilingual standard — the controls every report inherits so the sign-off is never improvised under deadline.
# finance-controls.md — [Company]
## Separation of duties (preparer ≠ approver)
Prepares: [role / Claude drafting] Approves: [role]
- payments / refunds / credit notes → [approver], [threshold]
- journal entries > [AED X] → [approver]
- the board figure / tax filing → [signers]
## Sensitive — stays in the workspace (never pasted out)
[account numbers · payroll · bank credentials · customer PII · contracts]
Claude reads the LOCAL copy via the file pane; each read approved in the
"Ask permissions" prompt.
## A human owns every number out
Claude drafts; a person traces it to source and signs. No rubber-stamping.
## Bilingual reporting standard
Numerals Western · currency [AED] · dates [Gregorian] · tables RTL.
Leadership summary + board narrative authored in Arabic, not translated.
Arabic figures clear the same trace-to-source + sign-off gate.The saved-prompt library (Foundation)
The recurring foundation jobs, as prompts you reuse. Paste them in the chat with the right files open; on the Terminal & Automation track these become slash commands so they’re one keystroke, but you need none of that to use them today.
Write the categorization rules from real spend
"Read this vendor/spend export [open the file]. List every recurring vendor
and propose a category for each, following normal finance practice. Flag the
gray areas (could be two categories) and ask me to decide them — don't guess.
Then write categorization-rules.md with the vendor→category list, the gray
areas I decided, and a capex/opex rule. Note any vendor that's new."
Profile an export before I trust it
"Run the data checklist on this file before any total: how many rows, what
each column means, blank rows, duplicate IDs, and any dates not in one
format. List exactly what's wrong and what you'd exclude or normalize.
Don't sum anything yet — I want to trust the file first."
Pressure-test a total's traceability
"Here's a total in my report: [the number]. Show me exactly which source
file and which rows produce it, and the formula you'd use. Then re-add it a
second way to check. If you can't trace it to source rows, say so."
Set the bilingual reporting standard
"Draft the bilingual reporting standard for finance-controls.md: numerals,
currency, date format, and table direction for our Arabic reports, plus the
rule that the leadership summary and board narrative are authored in Arabic,
not translated. Then write a 3-line Arabic sample explaining one number, so
I can check the register."
Refresh the foundation
"Our books changed: [new vendor / new threshold / restructured accounts].
Read categorization-rules.md, data-checklist.md, and finance-controls.md and
tell me which rules are now stale, what to update, and propose a versioned
diff. Don't rewrite silently."Installing it (Desktop, no setup)
- Save the four files —
CLAUDE.md,categorization-rules.md,data-checklist.md,finance-controls.md— in the folder your finance team works in. - Open that folder in Claude Desktop and approve the read in the “Ask permissions” prompt.
- Start any task by opening the relevant docs; the prompts above do the rest.
That’s the whole install. The foundation you built in the module is now shared infrastructure — and Module 2 of the track extends this same pack with the monthly-report templates that build on it. If you’re standing this up across a team rather than for yourself, read the operating guide for the data, controls, and rollout layer that belongs underneath.