What it means
GitHub is where code lives, and no money moves through it. It comes up in bookkeeping because of what some of that code does: scripts that categorize transactions, match payments or prepare entries. A script like that is making accounting decisions.
A line that sends every AWS charge to Hosting is a decision about the chart of accounts. If it only exists in code, your CPA can't review it, and when the engineer who wrote it leaves, nobody knows why the books look the way they do.
Write the rule down in plain words where your CPA can read it, and keep the code doing exactly that. Commit history shows when a rule changed. It doesn't explain the accounting reason, so record the reason and the date the change takes effect. A new rule applies from that date forward. Past months are corrected with entries in the open month.
Check what the script did before you close: its totals by account against the ledger, and the list of transactions it couldn't categorize. Make sure nothing reruns over closed months. A closing date with a password in QuickBooks Online, or a lock date in Xero, stops a script from quietly rewriting them.
Period locks protect reported months from code as much as from people. Notion is a better home for the written rule, and Cursor is often where the script was written.
Why it matters. A script that categorizes transactions is an accounting policy with no owner. Policies belong somewhere your CPA can read and sign off on them.
GitHub isn't a ledger, and we don't connect to it. We work only in QuickBooks Online and Xero. This page covers how GitHub shows up in the books kept there.
Common questions
Is it okay to automate categorizing transactions?
Yes, as long as the rules are written down as policy, reviewed by your CPA and applied the same way every month.
What if a script miscategorized past months?
Fix it with entries in the current open month instead of rewriting closed periods, and note what was wrong and why.
Where should transaction categorization rules be documented?
In plain words, somewhere your CPA can read and approve them, with the date each rule took effect. The code should follow the written rule, not the other way round.
Read further
General information for US companies, not tax, legal or accounting advice. Check the specifics with a CPA before you act on them.