Financial Statement Review
Numbers can be internally consistent and still tell the wrong story. These prompts help you sanity-check financial statements, budgets, forecasts, pricing and margins before you share them with a lender, board or client. You paste figures with names removed, and the prompt checks whether totals reconcile, ratios look plausible, assumptions are stated and trends match your narrative. Output includes questions to ask, items to recalculate and wording that may overstate certainty. They are a review aid for owners, analysts and students, not accounting advice. Always recompute key numbers yourself or in a spreadsheet, because language models can make arithmetic mistakes and may accept bad inputs without complaint.
Start with these
A short list of well-specified prompts from this page, picked by our checklist score (specific inputs, clear output format, concrete steps). It is a heuristic, not a verdict.
-
Payroll Summary Reasonableness Check
Check a payroll summary for reasonableness by comparing periods, explaining changes with known events and flagging odd differences.
-
Annual Budget Assumptions Audit
Audit the assumptions behind an annual budget: growth, costs, timing and risks, with questions to test each one.
-
Product Margin Calculation Check
Verify cost and margin arithmetic per item.
-
Event Budget Versus Actual Review
Check the numbers after an event.
-
Cash Flow Statement Reconciliation Check
Compare profit with cash and explain the gap.
-
Expense Report Review for Reasonableness
Check claims against policy, not people.
Prompts
-
Annual Budget Assumptions Audit
Audit the assumptions behind an annual budget: growth, costs, timing and risks, with questions to test each one.
-
Forecast Versus Actual Variance Review
Explain gaps without blaming people.
-
Personal Monthly Budget Reality Check
Compare planned spending with bank statements, as organisation help.
-
Grant Budget Compliance Check
Compare a grant budget with funder rules.
-
Event Budget Versus Actual Review
Check the numbers after an event.
-
Project Cost Overrun Review
Find where a project budget drifted.
-
Subscription and Recurring Costs Audit
Find recurring charges nobody uses.
-
Household or Business Budget Variance Audit
Explain differences between planned and actual spending.
-
Forecast Assumptions Audit: Which Numbers Drive the Result?
Find the assumptions that matter most and test them.
-
Break-Even Analysis Check for a Product or Service
Verify a break-even calculation and test it.
-
Personal Budget Plan Audit: Does the Plan Add Up and Match Real Life?
Test a personal budget against bank records and goals.
-
Debt Repayment Plan Audit: Interest, Order and Realism
Check a debt plan for arithmetic and sustainability.
-
Savings Plan Audit: Are Goals Funded on Time?
Check whether savings targets are on track.
-
Insurance and Protection Needs Questions Worksheet (Education Only)
Prepare questions about cover, without recommending products.
-
Retirement Statement Reading Aid: What the Numbers Mean (Education Only)
Understand a pension or retirement statement without product advice.
-
Household Insurance and Utility Switching Savings Check
Test claimed savings from switching providers using the full picture.
-
Product Margin Calculation Check
Verify cost and margin arithmetic per item.
-
Hourly Rate Sustainability Check for a Self-Employed Person
Test whether an hourly rate supports the work.
-
Break-Even Calculation Check
Verify fixed and variable cost logic.
-
Discount Impact Calculation Check
Verify the maths of a planned promotion.
-
Tipping, Fees and Pass-Through Pricing Review
Check how fees are shown to customers.
-
Rent or Mortgage Affordability Spreadsheet Check
Check arithmetic in a housing cost comparison.
-
Currency Conversion and Multi-Currency Report Check
Check foreign currency figures in a report.
-
Price List Margin Audit: Which Products or Services Lose Money?
Calculate margins by line and find the outliers.
-
Discount and Promotion Profitability Audit
Check whether a promotion made or lost money.
-
Invoice and Pricing Terms Audit: Are You Charging for Everything You Should?
Find unbilled work and unclear terms.
-
Small Business Profit and Loss Sanity Check
Look for figures that do not make sense before sharing.
-
Balance Sheet Sanity Check for a Small Company
Check that the sheet balances and tells a coherent story.
-
Cash Flow Statement Reconciliation Check
Compare profit with cash and explain the gap.
-
Personal Net Worth Statement Sanity Check
Check a household balance sheet for errors, as education.
-
Bank Reconciliation Review
Check that the books agree with the bank.
-
Expense Report Review for Reasonableness
Check claims against policy, not people.
-
Invoice Arithmetic and Terms Check
Check an invoice before paying or sending.
-
Payroll Summary Reasonableness Check
Check a payroll summary for reasonableness by comparing periods, explaining changes with known events and flagging odd differences.
-
Sales Tax or VAT Return Sanity Check
Check the shape of a return, as an education exercise.
-
Year-End Accounts Pre-Review Checklist
Prepare questions before the accountant starts.
-
Balance Sheet Basic Check: Does It Balance and Does It Make Sense?
Check the balance sheet equation and key ratios.
-
Cash Flow Statement or Forecast Audit: Timing, Seasonality and Gaps
Check a cash forecast for timing errors and optimism.
-
Bank Reconciliation Review: Why Doesn't My Balance Match?
Find reasons for a difference between books and bank.
-
Credit Card Statement Reading Audit: Interest, Fees and Minimum Payment
Read a statement and understand what each number means.
-
Tax Document Checklist Audit: Have You Collected Everything? (Organisation Only)
Check that you have the paperwork you expect for a tax return.
-
Net Worth Worksheet Check: Assets, Debts and Valuation Assumptions
Review a net worth calculation for omissions and optimism.
No prompts match those filters.