Accounting policy for AI coding
Overview
Your accounting policy is written guidance that tells Ramp's AI how your business codes expenses. Ramp builds a first version from your coding history, and you can edit it at any time to explain your GL accounts, departments, and other accounting fields.
This guide applies when the Accounting Policy section is available in your account.
Open the Accounting Policy page
Open your policy from the Accounting Policy page. You can also reach the page from the Accounting card on the Policy page or the Accounting policy card in AI coding settings. The page requires a connected accounting provider; if you haven't connected one, Ramp opens the accounting connection page instead.
What the accounting policy guides
Where purchase-order AI coding is enabled, it can use your policy's guidance documents and option descriptions. Ask Ramp can also use your guidance documents to preview transaction coding without changing the transaction.
Ramp uses your accounting policy to better understand each accounting field and as an input when deciding how to auto-code card transactions. To control whether AI coding runs and which fields it codes, see AI coding.
Your policy doesn't replace accounting rules. Rule-based and manual coding take priority over AI coding.
Who can view and edit the accounting policy
Viewing the policy requires permission to view accounting and access to the policy documents. Editing a guidance document requires edit access to that document. Changing option descriptions or using Ask Ramp to draft accounting-policy edits requires permission to manage accounting.
A role name alone doesn't guarantee document access. Custom Roles need the relevant accounting permissions and access to the policy documents, too.
If you need access, ask a Ramp Admin to update your role. See Editing a user's role.
How Ramp creates your accounting policy
When generation is available for your account, Ramp can build a first version from your coding history or documents you upload during setup. Automatic history-based generation requires at least 300 synced transactions and other account eligibility checks.
If the setup walkthrough is offered, it explains the policy. In the Teach Ramp how you code step, you can upload any documents that help explain your coding. Ramp accepts CSV, DOC, DOCX, JSON, MD, PDF, TXT, XLS, and XLSX files, up to 10 files of 10 MB each. Ramp uses uploads as source material for your policy rather than copying them in word for word. Processing can take a couple of minutes. If you skip this step, select Continue on the Teach Ramp how you code banner to upload later.
Ramp doesn't start a new initial-generation request for an existing policy you've edited.
Write accounting policy guidance
The Accounting Policy section of the page has these parts:
- General guidance: your overall coding approach and any rules that apply across fields.
- One section per accounting field: for each active accounting field that isn't hidden, such as GL account or Department, a guidance document followed by a table of that field's options. Subsidiary, merchant, free-form text, and date fields don't get a section.
Type directly into any guidance document to add or change guidance.
Add descriptions for accounting field options
Each field's options table lists the field's active options with an Accuracy badge showing how often Ramp's AI coded that option correctly. Use the search, Category filter (No data, Low accuracy, High accuracy), and sort options to find options that need attention.
- Edit a description: click a cell in the Description column and describe when to use the option.
- Get help writing a description: select Improve automation on an option row, explain how to code it, and select Save. The modal shows recent transactions coded to that option, and Ramp refines your instruction into the option's description.
How accounting policy edits are saved
There's no draft or publish step. Each saved change becomes the current version of your policy right away, and AI features that read the policy use the current version.
- Guidance documents: Ramp saves automatically about 2.5 seconds after you stop typing.
- Option descriptions: a description saves when you click out of the cell or press Cmd+Enter (Mac) or Ctrl+Enter (Windows). Press Escape to cancel your changes.
Draft accounting policy edits with Ask Ramp
Select Ask Ramp at the top of the page to get help with your policy. For example, ask Ramp to review past transactions or to update the policy from a file you upload.
Ask Ramp doesn't change your policy on its own. It drafts proposed edits as cards in the chat. Each card shows the section or option and a before-and-after comparison, and the page scrolls to the affected section.
- Accept an edit: select Accept to apply and save the change immediately.
- Reject an edit: select Reject to leave your policy unchanged.
Review the comparison against your current text before you accept. If the text changed after Ask Ramp drafted an edit, you may see "This edit could not be applied because the original content has changed". Ask Ramp to suggest the edit again from the latest version.
Other policy sections on the Accounting Policy page
Depending on your account, the page may also include these separate sections. Ask Ramp doesn't draft edits for them.
- Accrual Policy: accrual settings such as the book closing date, accrual timing, and accrued liability accounts. See Ramp's Accruals feature and Bill accruals in Ramp.
- Prepaid expenses: thresholds and guidance for when Ramp suggests amortization. See Ramp amortization with accounting integrations.
Frequently asked questions
How does the accounting policy interact with rules and manually entered coding?
For card transactions, valid manually entered coding takes priority over ordinary accounting rules, and matching rules take priority over AI coding. This isn't a different priority order for Admin-entered versus Employee-entered values.
Standard card AI auto-coding also excludes accounting fields that employees are required to complete. Keep using accounting rules for explicit rule-based coding; policy guidance doesn't replace them.
Who can edit the policy, including users with Custom Roles?
See Who can view and edit the accounting policy. Accounting permissions alone don't guarantee access to a guidance document. If you can't access or edit it, ask a Ramp Admin to check your role and document access.
Does the policy affect AI coding?
Yes. Your accounting policy influences AI coding.
Can I upload files to create or update my policy?
Setup uploads provide source material for initial policy generation; see How Ramp creates your accounting policy. Setup generation doesn't require the 300-transaction history minimum used by automatic generation.
To update an existing policy, open Ask Ramp, use its attachment control to upload a file, and ask for proposed policy edits. Review and accept or reject those edits as described in Draft accounting policy edits with Ask Ramp. This proposes changes rather than regenerating the whole policy.
How is this different from Bill Pay and expense policies?
These are separate policies: the accounting policy provides coding guidance, the Bill Pay review policy guides bill review, and the expense policy guides expense compliance and review. Editing one isn't the same as editing the others. See AP Agents available in Ramp Bill Pay and Policy Agent Overview.
Why is my policy empty?
Automatic generation depends on coding history and account eligibility; meeting the history minimum alone doesn't guarantee generation. If setup uploads are offered, you can supply source documents without that minimum. If you have document edit access, you can also write guidance directly.
Can I use custom accounting fields?
Active, visible custom accounting fields with selectable options can have policy sections. Free-form text and date fields don't appear. For the other exclusions, see Write accounting policy guidance.
What does Accuracy mean?
For an accounting option, Accuracy is the share of historical AI predictions of that option that matched the final coding when card transactions synced. A rule or a person changing the prediction can count as a mismatch; transactions matched to bills at sync are excluded. The score describes historical predictions, not a guarantee about the next prediction.