The financial data for [Month/Quarter Year] is as follows:
– Revenue: £[X]m vs. budget £[Y]m ([+/-Z]% variance) — [brief reason]
– EBITDA: £[X]m vs. budget £[Y]m ([+/-Z]% variance) — [brief reason]
– Headcount costs: £[X]m vs. budget £[Y]m — [brief reason]
– [Add other key lines]

Key business context:
– [Any strategic decisions, market events, or operational issues]
– [Forward-looking items or guidance changes]

Write a board-level executive commentary that:
1. Opens with a 2-sentence performance headline
2. Covers revenue, cost, and profitability performance in separate short paragraphs
3. Includes a 2-sentence outlook section referencing the remainder of the year
4. Uses confident but measured language — factual, not promotional
5. Is no longer than 400 words total
6. Avoids technical accounting jargon

Here is the variance data for [Month/Period]:
[Paste your variance table — line item, actual, budget, variance £, variance %]

Known explanations for key variances:
– [Line item 1]: [Your explanation of why this variance occurred]
– [Line item 2]: [Your explanation]
– [Any other context]

Write a variance narrative that:
1. Groups related variances logically (e.g., revenue, people costs, overheads)
2. Explains each significant variance (>£[X]k or >[Y]%) with a clear causal sentence
3. Notes any one-off items that should be excluded from run-rate analysis
4. Ends with a 2-sentence outlook paragraph covering the forecast trajectory
5. Is written for a management audience — clear, non-technical, action-oriented
6. Uses past tense for actuals and forward-looking language for outlook

The structure of my spreadsheet is:
– Column A: [Description]
– Column B: [Description]
– Column C: [Description]
[Add relevant columns]

What I need the formula to do:
[Describe the logic in plain English — e.g., “Look up the department name in column A, find it in a lookup table on Sheet2, and return the corresponding budget code from column C of that sheet, but only if the amount in column D is greater than zero”]

Additional requirements:
– Handle errors gracefully (return blank or 0 if not found)
– [Any other constraints]

Please:
1. Write the formula
2. Explain what each component does in plain English
3. Show me an alternative approach if one exists
4. Flag any version-compatibility issues

Audience: [e.g., Senior leadership team, not financially trained]
Period: [Month and year]
Format required: [e.g., 3 short paragraphs / bullet points with headers / narrative prose]

Financial performance summary:
[Paste key financials or bullet-point your performance highlights and lowlights]

Management priorities this month:
[What decisions or actions is management taking based on the numbers?]

Write a management commentary that:
1. Opens with the key financial message in one sentence
2. Explains performance versus budget/prior year with clear cause-and-effect language
3. Notes management actions taken or planned in response to variances
4. Is written at a level appropriate for non-finance readers
5. Is concise — maximum 250 words
6. Ends with a clear, forward-looking statement about the next period

Here are the rough process steps I currently follow:
[Paste your bullet points or rough notes — even if incomplete]

Please create a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document that includes:
1. Process overview (purpose, scope, frequency)
2. Step-by-step procedure with:
– Step number and title
– Responsible role/owner
– Systems used (ERP, Excel, etc.)
– Expected output/deliverable
– Quality check criteria
3. Pre-process preparation checklist
4. Common errors and how to resolve them
5. Escalation procedure for exceptions
6. Document control section (version, owner, review date)

Format it as a professional process document suitable for a finance team’s procedures library.

Forecast summary:
– Revenue forecast: £[X]m ([+/-Y]% vs. prior forecast / original budget)
– EBITDA forecast: £[X]m ([margin]%)
– Key forecast changes since last review: [List main changes]

Forecast assumptions (key drivers):
– Revenue: [Your key revenue assumptions — volume, pricing, mix, pipeline coverage]
– Headcount: [Hiring plan, attrition assumptions]
– Capex: [Key investment items]
– [Other material assumptions]

Risks to forecast:
– Upside: [Key upside scenarios]
– Downside: [Key risk scenarios]

Write a forecast commentary document that:
1. Opens with a clear headline reforecast message
2. Explains the material changes from prior forecast with causal language
3. Documents key assumptions by driver (revenue, costs, headcount)
4. Articulates upside and downside scenarios with quantification where possible
5. Closes with a statement of forecast confidence and key monitoring metrics
6. Is appropriate for a board or exec team audience — direct and decision-focused