What's Next For Accounting? - Issue #93
Jason Staats
July 27, 2023
ChatGPT’s new ‘Custom Instructions’ are a way to tailor responses, without having to prompt it with specific instructions each time. It’s now available in ChatGPT Plus, but is expected to be available on all versions soon.
It’s a great way to put ChatGPT on rails, and make it easier to use for your colleagues, spouses, and mother-in-law to get up to speed quickly.
I’ll run you through one example, and at the end share 5 instruction sets you can swipe to help your team get more out of ChatGPT.
To enable custom instructions, go to Settings > Beta Features > Turn on custom instructions. Now under the menu in the bottom left you’ll have a new option to customize those settings.
Think of the first box as preferences. Instruct it according to your preferred communication style. Be concise, use bullet lists and tables, use British English etc. The second box is to tailor the output, and this is where we can get creative.
For example: ‘When writing emails, always use the following tone of voice: …’. If you don’t have a prompt describing your tone of voice yet, swipe this great instruction prompt from Jeremy Nguyen.
If your team’s still getting up to speed with ChatGPT, this ‘use my own tone of voice’ instruction is a great way to better align ChatGPT’s output with the expectation of the user.
But these instructions can be tailored to do just about anything. Here are some more instruction prompts to swipe:
Anything researcher - Generate structured research from the web
Bank statement extractor - Convert the text of a bank statement into a CSV transaction download
Financial statement script generator - Create a script from a set of financial statements outlining notable results
Tax researcher - Structured tax research that will generate a workpaper
Transaction researcher - For unclear bank transactions, have ChatGPT identify & provide background for the merchant
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📅 This Week
ChatGPT is now available on Android
Excel just got an “Automate” tab - Microsoftie Ashley the CPA runs you through it here
Canopy launched Insights
Use AI to write Excel formulas
AI expense management app Fyle now supports submitting receipts via SMS
Right or wrong I see 10x as many AI legal apps being shipped relative to tax + accounting. Airstrip had to take down the landing page for their AI legal copilot after overwhelming demand
This AI generated South Park project generates scripts, visuals, music & voices into a cohesive episode. It’s an example of how large abstract tasks like preparing tax return are ultimately broken down into various little bite-sized jobs
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