As of 13 August 2026, AI can create a business travel budget.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open a blank spreadsheet and create columns for trip, month, destination, traveller, category, quantity, unit cost, VAT treatment, source, confidence and total.
   2. Gather the travel policy, planned trips, traveller numbers, dates, supplier quotes, historical travel costs and any internal cost limits, then paste the relevant text and figures into the prompt.
   3. Ask the chatbot to produce the budget using the supplied prompt, and save its line-by-line output and assumptions alongside the original inputs.
   4. Copy the proposed line items and formulas into the spreadsheet, keeping confirmed figures, quotations and assumptions in separate columns.
   5. Open the supplier quote or GOV.UK page for each externally sourced rate, compare it with the drafted source and figure, and replace any unsupported figure with 'input needed'.
   6. Use the spreadsheet totals to check each subtotal, monthly total, VAT line and scenario against the chatbot's output, then send the completed budget and its assumptions to the person authorised to approve business spending.

   Prompt

   Create a business travel budget from the information below. Use pounds sterling and show all calculations clearly.
   
   Business: [business or team name]
   Budget period: [period]
   Trips planned: [list each trip, destination, dates or duration, travellers and purpose]
   Expected transport costs: [rail, flights, taxis, mileage or other costs]
   Expected accommodation costs: [nights, locations and rates]
   Expected meals and subsistence: [daily assumptions and applicable company limits]
   Other costs: [visas, insurance, conference fees, equipment or other items]
   Historical actual costs, if available: [paste data]
   Company travel policy: [paste the relevant rules]
   VAT treatment or accounting assumptions: [paste the rules or write 'unknown']
   Contingency assumption: [state the percentage or amount, or write 'none']
   Known supplier quotes or source links: [paste them]
   
   Produce:
   1. A line-by-line budget by trip and cost category.
   2. A monthly summary for the budget period.
   3. Separate totals for transport, accommodation, meals, other costs, VAT if supplied, and contingency.
   4. A comparison of planned costs with historical actuals where data is available.
   5. A low, expected and high scenario, changing only assumptions that are explicitly uncertain.
   6. A list of missing inputs and assumptions that could materially change the result.
   7. A short approval note stating what the budget includes and excludes.
   
   Rules:
   - Do not invent prices, dates, tax treatment, policy limits or supplier quotes.
   - If a figure is missing, mark it as 'input needed' rather than estimating it.
   - Keep VAT separate unless the supplied accounting rules say otherwise.
   - Distinguish confirmed figures, quoted figures and assumptions.
   - Use formulas that can be copied into Excel or Google Sheets.
   - Check that every subtotal equals its line items and that the monthly total equals the trip totals.
   - Do not give tax or accounting advice. Flag questions about VAT, deductibility or company policy for an accountant or other qualified adviser.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.