Expense categories

An expense category connects your money to the accounting: it maps each expense to a group-6 account in the Spanish chart of accounts (purchases and expenses). Instead of remembering that a software subscription goes to a 62x account or that rent goes to 621, you pick a category with a readable name and Aikount takes care of the accounting account behind it.

What they are for#

• They organize spend into concepts you understand (software, utilities, advertising, travel, fees…), not just account numbers.
• They feed the accounting. Each category points to a PGC account, so categorizing well is booking well at the same time. What you see per category reconciles with the ledger and with the P&L result.
• They're used in two places: on purchases (expense invoices the agent reads by OCR) and on bank movements (charges with no invoice yet, such as fees or direct debits).

A category is a business-friendly label with an accounting account behind it. Changing an expense's category changes the group-6 account it posts to.

Where they appear#

On purchases#

When the agent reads a purchase invoice, it extracts supplier, base, VAT and total, and books it already categorized into group 6. The suggestion is editable: if the category is wrong, you correct it and the journal entry readjusts. See Categorization (PGC) for the purchases flow.

On bank movements#

Not every bank charge comes from an invoice of yours (fees, membership dues, subscriptions). Those movements are also classified by category so the spend lands on its group-6 account. For recurring spend you can automate this classification with Auto-categorization rules.

Example#

A monthly charge from a design tool:

• Category: Software and subscriptions.
• PGC account: for example 629 (other services) or whichever services account you use for software.
• Result: the amount adds to the P&L as an operating expense and shows up grouped with the rest of your software, not lost among loose movements.

Relation to accounting#

Categories are the friendly layer over the Spanish chart of accounts: they let you work by concept while the correct account is recorded underneath. If you want to understand the accounts behind them (6xx expense groups, 7xx income), read Spanish chart of accounts.

Tip: keep categories few and well defined. It's easier for an expense to always land in the same place —and for your rules to hit— with a short, clear list than with dozens of overlapping categories.