Firm project instructions draft prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when your team keeps retyping the same rules into every AI chat: quote fees only from the schedule, say fees are estimates, never give tax advice by email, send documents through the portal. Each retyped rule is a chance to forget one. A project in Claude or ChatGPT holds one set of instructions that every chat inside it follows, so you write them once and fix them once.
This prompt drafts those instructions from the policies you list. You still read every line, because an instruction the firm never agreed to will be followed just as faithfully as one it did.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are helping the client services team at [FIRM], an accounting firm, write project instructions for an AI assistant. Context: The project will hold our [KNOWLEDGE FILES] as knowledge. Our tone: [TONE]. Emails are signed by [SIGNER]. Our client policies are: [POLICIES]. Task: Write instructions that tell the assistant how to write, which files to quote from, and what it must never do. Use only the policies I listed. Turn each policy into one clear rule. Add a rule that if a service or fee is not in the files, it says a named person will review it instead of guessing. Do not add any policy I did not give you, and list anything you were unsure about separately. Format: Plain text under 180 words: one short paragraph on voice and sign-off, then a list of rules starting with Never or Always. After it, a separate list headed Questions for the partner.
Fill in the blanks
[FIRM]- Your firm's name.
[KNOWLEDGE FILES]- The firm documents the project will hold, such as a fee schedule and engagement letter terms. No client returns or IDs.
[TONE]- How replies should sound, for example warm, clear and professional, short sentences, no jargon.
[SIGNER]- The name and title that goes under every email.
[POLICIES]- The rules clients need to hear, one per line or separated by semicolons.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson A Claude Project for Your Accounting Firm: Fee Schedule, Engagement Terms and Tone. Millbrook Accounting, Dana Whitaker and Maya Brooks are made up and come from the A Claude Project for Your Firm lesson. The filled prompt below is an illustration of how Dana might draft the instructions, not the lesson's exact text.
Role: You are helping the client services team at Millbrook Accounting, an accounting firm, write project instructions for an AI assistant. Context: The project will hold our 2026 fee schedule and engagement letter terms as knowledge. Our tone: warm, clear and professional, short sentences, no jargon. Emails are signed by Dana Whitaker, Client Services. Our client policies are: quote fees only from the fee schedule; fees are estimates that assume complete, organized documents; new services need an updated engagement letter signed before work begins; never give tax advice or guess what a client will owe, offer a call with Maya instead; clients send documents through the secure client portal, not by email. Task: Write instructions that tell the assistant how to write, which files to quote from, and what it must never do. Use only the policies I listed. Turn each policy into one clear rule. Add a rule that if a service or fee is not in the files, it says a named person will review it instead of guessing. Do not add any policy I did not give you, and list anything you were unsure about separately. Format: Plain text under 180 words: one short paragraph on voice and sign-off, then a list of rules starting with Never or Always. After it, a separate list headed Questions for the partner.
What a good answer looks like
- Every rule traces back to a policy you listed, with nothing added.
- There is a clear fallback when a fee is missing: a named person reviews it.
- The tax advice rule offers a call instead of an answer by email.
- Open questions are parked under Questions for the partner, not turned into rules.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Read each rule against your engagement letter. Delete anything the firm has not agreed.
- Test the project with a real fee question and compare the quote with the fee schedule.
- Keep client returns, IDs and account numbers out of the project knowledge.
- When a rule changes, edit the instructions once rather than correcting each chat.
Why this prompt works
Instructions written from your own policy list are short, specific and checkable. Asking the AI to list what it was unsure about stops it from inventing a rule to fill a gap, which is the mistake that matters most when a client reads the reply.
Practice it in the free lesson
A Claude Project for Your Accounting Firm: Fee Schedule, Engagement Terms and Tone: Create a Claude project for your accounting firm, give it your tone and client policies, add your fee schedule and engagement letter terms as project knowledge, and get a client fee quote that uses all of it. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Claude, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Turn a Great Prompt into Reusable Instructions · Replace Your Custom GPT with a ChatGPT Project
Terms used here
Related prompts
- Engagement fee increase letter prompt: Tell an accounting client your fee is going up: old fee, new fee, start date, your real reasons and what they do next, in a calm…
- Client bookkeeping question reply prompt: Answer a client who asks why a transaction was categorized a certain way, in plain words, with what you know and an offer to…
- Brand skill brief prompt: A copy-ready prompt that gives Claude your colors, fonts, logo placement and voice so it drafts a brand skill that keeps…
More sops and operations prompts
- Form show/hide rule prompt: Turn a form rule into one plain sentence an AI form builder can read: which field should appear, for which answer, and hidden…
- Google Sheets columns plan prompt: Plan the Google Sheets columns for an n8n automation: header names, what goes in each, who fills it, and which must match your…
- Incident follow-up action plan prompt: Turn an incident report into a short action plan with owners and due dates. A ChatGPT prompt that suggests options and leaves…
Frequently asked questions
- Does this work for ChatGPT Projects as well as Claude?
- Yes. Both keep instructions that apply to every chat in the project. The Claude version is in the firm project lesson and the ChatGPT version is in the GPT to Project lesson.
- Should client files go into the project?
- No. Firm documents such as fee schedules and templates belong there. Tax returns and IDs do not.