diff --git a/magicctapipe/scripts/lst1_magic/semi_automatic_scripts/job_accounting.py b/magicctapipe/scripts/lst1_magic/semi_automatic_scripts/job_accounting.py
index 5fca09696..7586a3cef 100644
--- a/magicctapipe/scripts/lst1_magic/semi_automatic_scripts/job_accounting.py
+++ b/magicctapipe/scripts/lst1_magic/semi_automatic_scripts/job_accounting.py
@@ -3,15 +3,19 @@
 It also does accounting of memory and CPU usage
 It loads the config_general file to figure out what files it should look for and processes source name and time range
 For the moment it ignores date_list and skip_*_runs
+
+It can also update the h5 file with the list of runs to process
 """
 import argparse
 import glob
+import json
 import os
 import re
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 from subprocess import PIPE, run
 
 import numpy as np
+import pandas as pd
 import yaml
 
 from magicctapipe import __version__
@@ -79,10 +83,45 @@ def main():
         help="No CPU/Memory usage check (faster)",
     )
 
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--run-list-file",
+        "-r",
+        dest="run_list",
+        type=str,
+        default=None,
+        help="h5 file with run list",
+    )
+
     args = parser.parse_args()
     with open(args.config_file, "r") as f:
         config = yaml.safe_load(f)
 
+    if args.run_list is not None:
+        try:
+            h5key = "joint_obs"
+            run_key = "LST1_run"
+            ismagic = False
+            for magic in [1, 2]:
+                if args.data_level[-2:] == f"M{magic}":
+                    h5key = f"MAGIC{magic}/runs_M{magic}"
+                    run_key = "Run ID"
+                    ismagic = True
+
+            h5runs = pd.read_hdf(args.run_list, key=h5key)
+        except (FileNotFoundError, KeyError):
+            print(f"Cannot open {h5key} in  {args.run_list}")
+            exit(1)
+
+        rc_col = "DL1_rc" if ismagic else args.data_level + "_rc"
+
+        if rc_col not in h5runs.keys():
+            h5runs[rc_col] = "{}"
+            h5runs[rc_col + "_all"] = None
+
+        rc_dicts = {}
+        for rrun, dct in np.array(h5runs[[run_key, rc_col]]):
+            rc_dicts[rrun] = json.loads(dct)
+
     # TODO: those variables will be needed when more features are implemented
     source_out = config["data_selection"]["source_name_output"]
     timerange = config["data_selection"]["time_range"]
@@ -127,9 +166,10 @@ def main():
     total_time = 0
     all_jobs = []
     for dir in dirs:
-        this_date = re.sub(f".+/{args.data_level}/", "", dir)
-        this_date = re.sub(r"\D", "", this_date.split("/")[0])
-        this_date = datetime.strptime(this_date, "%Y%m%d")
+        this_date_str = re.sub(f".+/{args.data_level}/", "", dir)
+        this_date_str = re.sub(r"\D", "", this_date_str.split("/")[0])
+        this_date = datetime.strptime(this_date_str, "%Y%m%d")
+
         if timerange and (this_date < timemin or this_date > timemax):
             continue
 
@@ -159,6 +199,19 @@ def main():
                     file_in = line[0]
                     slurm_id = f"{line[1]}_{line[2]}" if len(line) == 4 else line[1]
                     rc = line[-1]
+
+                    if args.run_list is not None:
+                        if ismagic:
+                            run_subrun = file_in.split("/")[-1].split("_")[2]
+                            this_run = int(run_subrun.split(".")[0])
+                            this_subrun = int(run_subrun.split(".")[1])
+                        else:
+                            filename = file_in.split("/")[-1]
+                            this_run = filename.split(".")[1].replace("Run", "")
+                            this_subrun = int(filename.split(".")[2])
+
+                        rc_dicts[this_run][str(this_subrun)] = rc
+
                     if rc == "0":
                         this_good += 1
                         # now check accounting
@@ -243,6 +296,23 @@ def main():
             f"CPU: median={np.median(all_cpu)}, max={all_cpu.max()}, total={total_time:.2f} CPU hrs; memory [M]: median={np.median(all_mem)}, max={all_mem.max()}"
         )
 
+    if args.run_list is not None:
+        print("Updating the database")
+        for rrun in rc_dicts.keys():
+            idx = h5runs[run_key] == rrun
+            h5runs.loc[idx, rc_col] = json.dumps(rc_dicts[rrun])
+            if ismagic:
+                all_subruns = np.array(h5runs[idx]["number of subruns"])[0]
+            else:
+                all_subruns = len(rc_dicts[rrun])
+            good_subruns = sum(np.array(list(rc_dicts[rrun].values())) == "0")
+            isgood = np.logical_and(good_subruns == all_subruns, good_subruns > 0)
+            h5runs.loc[idx, rc_col + "_all"] = isgood
+
+        # fixme: for DL1/M[12] files since htere are two dataframes in the file, we need to append it
+        # and this causes increase in the file size every time the file is updated
+        h5runs.to_hdf(args.run_list, key=h5key, mode="r+")
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     main()