Purpose
Turn raw financial tables into a clear, defensible written narrative that a board or executive team can read in five minutes — explaining variances, naming the drivers behind them, and connecting the period's results to the forward outlook. Eliminates the "I have the numbers but can't make them read like a story" problem.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Write a board update, board deck narrative, or board memo from financial results
- Draft a monthly or quarterly business review (MBR/QBR) commentary
- Turn a variance table or P&L summary into executive-readable prose
- Write CEO/CFO talking points or an executive summary from financial data
- Explain why actuals missed or beat budget/forecast in writing
- Convert a KPI dashboard into a written performance narrative
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Reporting period: The period being reported (e.g., "Q2 FY25," "October 2024")
- Financial data: The actual numbers — revenue, expenses, margins, KPIs — as a table, list, or pasted values, ideally with comparison columns (vs. budget, vs. prior period)
- Comparison baseline: What actuals are being compared against — budget, forecast, prior year, or prior quarter
- Known drivers: Any context on WHY numbers moved (a lost deal, a hiring surge, a price change, seasonality) — even partial
- Audience: Who reads this — full board, exec team, investors, department heads
- Forward context: Any known outlook — updated forecast, guidance, upcoming risks or catalysts
If drivers are missing, infer the most likely explanations from the variance patterns and flag each inference as an assumption for the author to confirm.
Instructions
Step 1: Diagnose the Story Before Writing
Read the data and identify the 3–4 things that actually matter for this period. Not every line moves the story.
- Find the headline: What is the single most important takeaway? (Beat/missed top line? Margin compression? Cash runway change?)
- Rank variances by materiality: Sort by absolute dollar impact AND percentage variance. A large-dollar small-percent miss and a small-dollar large-percent miss are different stories.
- Separate signal from noise: Timing differences, one-time items, and rounding are noise. Structural trends are signal. Label each material variance as one-time vs. run-rate.
Step 2: Write the Executive Summary (BLUF format)
Lead with the conclusion, not the buildup. Bottom Line Up Front.
- One opening sentence stating overall performance vs. the baseline in plain terms
- 3–4 bullets covering: top-line result, profitability result, the single biggest driver of variance, and the forward implication
- No hedging adverbs ("slightly," "somewhat") — use the actual number
Step 3: Write Variance Commentary
For each material variance identified in Step 1, write a tight paragraph following the Number → Driver → Implication pattern:
- Number: State the variance in dollars and percent, and against which baseline
- Driver: The specific cause — a named event, a volume/price/mix breakdown, or a timing note
- Implication: Whether it repeats, whether it's already addressed, and what it means going forward
Use the volume/price/mix framework for revenue variances and the fixed/variable/one-time framework for expense variances where the data supports it.
Step 4: Write the Driver / KPI Analysis
Connect operating metrics to financial outcomes. Explain the mechanism, not just the movement.
- Tie each key KPI (pipeline, churn, headcount, utilization, unit economics) to the P&L line it drives
- State the direction, the magnitude, and whether the trend is accelerating or decelerating
- Call out any leading indicator that predicts next period's result
Step 5: Write the Forward-Looking View
Close by connecting this period to what's next.
- Restate or adjust the outlook against guidance/forecast
- Name the 2–3 biggest risks and the 1–2 biggest opportunities to the forward number
- If a forecast revision is warranted by the data, say so explicitly and quantify it
Step 6: Calibrate Tone to Audience
- Board/investors: Confident, concise, forward-focused; assume financial literacy; no jargon-dumping
- Exec team: More operational detail; can name specific initiatives and owners
- Department heads: Connect company results to their function's contribution
Never spin. If the period was bad, state it plainly and follow with the plan — credibility is the asset being protected.
Output Format
- Structure: Executive Summary (BLUF) → Variance Commentary → Driver/KPI Analysis → Forward-Looking View
- Length: 500–800 words for a standard monthly update; 800–1,100 for a board/quarterly narrative
- Format: Executive summary as one sentence + 3–4 bullets; body sections as tight prose paragraphs (one variance per paragraph)
- Sections: Executive Summary, Variance Commentary, Driver & KPI Analysis, Forward Outlook
- Tone: CFO-grade — precise, direct, numerate, no spin; every claim backed by a number
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] Executive summary leads with the bottom line and can be read in under 30 seconds
- [ ] Every material variance is explained with a dollar figure, a percentage, AND a named driver — not just a number restated in words
- [ ] Each inferred driver (not confirmed by the user) is explicitly flagged as an assumption
- [ ] One-time items are separated from run-rate items so the reader knows what repeats
- [ ] The forward-looking view names specific risks/opportunities, not generic "we remain optimistic" language
- [ ] Word count matches the audience type (monthly vs. board/quarterly)
Notes
- The most common failure in financial narratives is restating the table in sentences — "Revenue was $4.2M, up 8%" adds nothing the reader can't see. Always advance to the driver and implication.
- When drivers are unknown, the volume/price/mix decomposition on revenue and fixed/variable split on costs will often reveal the likely cause from the numbers alone.
- Boards remember the narrative, not the deck. A clean "here's what happened, why, and what's next" structure builds forecasting credibility over time — especially when a miss is owned rather than buried.
How to use this skill
This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.
Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills