A Claude skill that replaces one-shot "just do it" accounting execution with a structured six-phase process: Scoping → Requirements → Methodology → Execution Plan → Execute → Review & Sign-off.
Inspired by Anthropic's structured-vibe-code skill for software development, adapted for
accounting workflows where judgment, auditability, and documentation are the point.
Accountants doing substantive work — reconciliations, accrual builds, close deliverables, audit PBCs, flux analyses, new recurring processes, technical memos — who want an LLM to do the heavy lifting without giving up control of the judgments that matter.
Not for quick lookups, single-cell fixes, or anything under ~15 minutes of real work.
The accountant owns every judgment. The LLM does the work.
At each phase gate, the accountant explicitly approves before the process moves forward.
Every decision — materiality thresholds, source-of-truth selections, methodology choices,
JE structure, sign-off — is documented in DECISIONS.md as it happens. The workpaper folder
itself becomes the audit trail.
For every task, the skill maintains these artifacts in workpapers/<task-name>/:
| File | Created In | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
SCOPING.md |
Phase 1 | Objective, accounts, period, stakeholders, materiality |
REQUIREMENTS.md |
Phase 2 | Source-of-truth inputs, desired outputs, required tie-outs |
METHODOLOGY.md |
Phase 3 | Chosen method, alternatives rejected, thresholds, cutoff rules |
EXECUTION_PLAN.md |
Phase 4 | Ordered task list, tie-out checkpoints, filing plan |
DECISIONS.md |
Phase 1+ | Running log of every decision checkpoint |
CHANGELOG.md |
Phase 5 | Execution evidence trail with timestamps |
REVIEW.md |
Phase 6 | Tie-out results, reviewer package, sign-off status |
See EXAMPLES/ar-subledger-recon/ for a fully worked example
running a fictional AR subledger-to-GL reconciliation through all six phases.
Drop the structured-vibe-accounting/ folder into either:
- Per-project:
<your-repo>/.claude/skills/structured-vibe-accounting/ - Global (all projects):
~/.claude/skills/structured-vibe-accounting/
Claude Code auto-discovers skills in these locations. The skill will be offered when it detects a trigger phrase or an accounting-flavored task.
Copy SKILL.md into wherever your tool loads custom instructions or agent skills. The
content is self-contained.
Once installed, you can:
- Let the skill auto-trigger when you start a recon, accrual, or other substantive task
- Invoke it explicitly: "Use the structured-vibe-accounting skill to help me reconcile..."
Applied at every phase:
- Formulas, not hardcoded values. Workpapers must be self-verifying.
- Investigate every non-zero difference. Never leave variances unexplained.
- Preparer ≠ poster. Entries stay in draft / pending until reviewed.
- Ask before destructive actions. Always confirm before posting, overwriting, or deleting.
- Follow the plan. Surface divergences; never improvise silently.
- Preserve reproducibility. The workpaper folder is the audit trail.
- One task at a time. No partial work across tasks.
- Handle sensitive data appropriately. PII / payroll / unreleased financials stay out of commits and external uploads.
The skill is intentionally firm-agnostic. To adapt it to your environment:
- Add your firm's materiality guidance to Phase 1.3
- Point Phase 2.1 at your specific source systems (ERP name, sub-ledger names)
- Add firm-specific policies to Phase 3 (chart of accounts mapping rules, approval matrix, close calendar)
- Add any firm-specific execution principles in Phase 5
Keep firm-specific adaptations in a separate file that references or extends this skill, so the base skill stays portable.
See the version field in SKILL.md frontmatter and the updated date. Follows semantic
versioning — breaking changes to the phase structure bump the major version.
MIT. See LICENSE.
Adapted from Anthropic's structured-vibe-code skill. The
six-phase structure, approval-gate philosophy, and artifact-as-audit-trail pattern are
preserved from the original — the accounting-specific content is new.