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Finance & Admin

Monthly Statement Summarizer

Bank and card statements become a one-page plain-English monthly summary.

Saves about ~1 hr per week

What it does

  • Reads your monthly bank/card statement PDFs
  • Categorizes spending into buckets
  • Compares against last month's categories
  • Emails a readable one-page summary

How it works

  1. Statement PDF lands in the watch folder
  2. AI reads transactions and categorizes
  3. Category totals computed and compared
  4. Summary emailed

What's included

  • Statement feed
  • Category prompt
  • Monthly comparison email

Set it up yourself

Follow these 4 steps in order. You will need accounts for: Gmail, Claude.

Step 1: Set the statement feed

  1. Create a Drive folder 'Statements' and a Gmail label with a filter for statements.
  2. Download (or auto-forward) your monthly statements there — many banks send a PDF by email.
  3. Wire the workflow to watch for new PDFs.
  4. Name months consistently (bank-2026-10.pdf).
  5. Test with last month's statement.

Watch out: Getting bank statements automatically varies by bank — if your bank doesn't email PDFs, you may download them manually once a month and drop them in the folder.

Step 2: Add the categorization prompt

  1. Build: 'Read this statement. Sort every transaction into: Software, Office, Travel, Meals, Payroll, Payments Received, Other. Return JSON: {buckets[{name, total, txns[]}]}.'
  2. Add your category list to match your books.
  3. Handle reversed/canceled transactions.
  4. Paste with API key.
  5. Test on last month's statement and spot-check.

Watch out: Test with a real statement — banks use inconsistent merchant names, and the category mapping needs your specific vendors.

Step 3: Compare month over month

  1. Store each month's bucket totals in a 'Statement Summary' sheet.
  2. Compute deltas vs the prior month.
  3. Flag categories up > 25%.
  4. Build the summary: totals, deltas, notable changes.
  5. Test the comparison.

Watch out: The month-over-month delta is what makes the summary worth reading — a static 'you spent X' summary is trivia; the delta is the signal.

Step 4: Email the summary

  1. Weekly-ish schedule to send the summary once the statement arrives.
  2. Keep it one page: totals by category, deltas, top surprises.
  3. Send to your email.
  4. Review quarterly against your budget.
  5. Optionally feed the categorized data into your expense logger's ledger.

Watch out: Keep it one page — the entire value is a 30-second financial overview; anything longer becomes a report you stop opening.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Monthly Statement Summarizer automation do?

Bank and card statements become a one-page plain-English monthly summary. Reads your monthly bank/card statement PDFs

How much time does Monthly Statement Summarizer save?

It is estimated to save ~1 hr per week. Actual savings depend on your volume.

Which tools does Monthly Statement Summarizer use?

It works with Gmail and Claude.

What does Monthly Statement Summarizer include?

Statement feed, Category prompt, Monthly comparison email.

Can I set up Monthly Statement Summarizer myself?

Yes. The do-it-yourself guide on this page walks through 4 steps, from getting access to testing the finished automation.