ChatGPT prompt for drafting your expense policy

This is the prompt we run the third time someone asks “can I expense this?”. It drafts a one-page expense policy from your decisions. Its rule: wherever you have not decided, it inserts a [DECIDE] marker with a pro and a con, instead of choosing for you.

The prompt to copy

Draft a one-page expense policy for a {N}-person team. My decisions: company card vs reimburse: {answer}; approval needed above: {amount}; allowed categories: {list}; travel norms: {answer, or leave blank}; software purchases approved by: {who}.
Write it plainly: what's pre-approved, what needs asking first, how to submit, when you get paid back, and 3 concrete yes/no examples.
Where I left a decision blank, insert **[DECIDE: option A / option B]** with a one-line trade-off — do not choose for me.

Replace the fields in curly braces with your decisions, and leave blank the ones you have not made yet, then run.

When to use it

As soon as the same expense question comes up for the third time. In a few minutes, you go from permanent vagueness to a clear page everyone can check, with the few open points clearly marked for you to settle.

What you get back

1. A one-page policy: pre-approved, ask-first, how to submit, reimbursement timing.
2. Three concrete yes/no examples that clear up the common doubts.
3. A [DECIDE] marker wherever you left a decision blank.
4. A one-line trade-off for each open call, without the AI choosing for you.

Real example: partial decisions → policy ready to finalize

Input: at Brightside Studio, an 8-person brand agency, founder Maya fills in her decisions but leaves the travel rule blank:

8-person team. Company card vs reimburse: reimburse against receipts.
Approval needed above: £150. Allowed categories: software, work travel, client meals, office supplies.
Travel norms: (left blank). Software purchases approved by: Maya.

Output, the part that matters:

Work travel

[DECIDE: reimburse actuals / daily allowance]

• Actuals: fairer, but needs every receipt and line-by-line checking.
• Daily allowance: simpler to run, but may over- or under-pay depending on the day.

Notice what the AI did not do: Maya set no travel rule, so the AI invented none. It put the trade-off in front of Maya, with the pro and con of each option. Replacing the marker takes a minute of decision; adopting a rule nobody chose creates disputes later.

This prompt is part of the library that ships inside the kit, with its usage note.