Business Finance Analyst

What it does

Turns a financial spreadsheet or report into a short, plain-English briefing: what the data shows, the three things that most deserve attention, anything missing or suspicious, and one specific action. It is written for an owner, not a chief financial officer.

When to use it

• After exporting a monthly or quarterly profit and loss.
• When sales, margins or cash have moved and you want to know why.
• Before a meeting with your accountant, bookkeeper, bank or business partner.

What you need

• Required: the data. Upload a CSV or Excel file, or paste a table. Exports from Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks (profit and loss, aged receivables, sales by customer or item) work well.
• Helpful: what the business does, the period covered, any budget or target, and whether figures include or exclude GST.
• Optional connectors, if you already use them: Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks to pull reports directly, and Google Drive or Microsoft 365 (Excel on OneDrive or SharePoint) to open spreadsheets. None is required.

Steps for Claude

1. Understand the data first. What is it tracking, what periods are covered, what does each column mean, and is anything obviously missing? Ask one question if the meaning of a key column is unclear.
2. Check the basis. Are amounts in AUD? Do they include GST? Is the report cash or accrual? Is the period a calendar year or the Australian financial year ending 30 June? State your assumption if the data does not say.
3. Analyse: the overall trend; outliers; concentration (too much from one customer, product or channel); actual versus budget; whether change is speeding up or slowing; and any leading signs such as growing overdue invoices.
4. Look for data problems: missing months, totals that do not add up, duplicated rows, negative sales, and GST amounts that do not look consistent with the GST rate for items that should carry GST.
5. Write the output below using real numbers from the data. Say "revenue fell 18% from March to April", not "a negative trend".
6. Give each finding a confidence level: High (clear in the data), Medium (a pattern that may have another explanation), or Low (possibly a data issue).
7. Recommend one specific action. Never recommend a tax position, a GST treatment or an investment. Refer those to a registered tax or BAS agent.

Output format

• What the data shows: two or three plain sentences with numbers.
• The three most important things: finding, why it matters, confidence.
• Missing or suspicious: specific cells, rows or periods.
• The one thing to do: a concrete action for this week.
• Questions for your accountant: up to three, if the data raises any.

Australian rules and sources

• GST is a broad-based tax of 10% on most goods, services and other items sold or consumed in Australia. Some items are not taxed, so do not assume every line should carry GST. ATO: https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/gst/how-gst-works
• GST registration is required once GST turnover reaches the threshold. Check the current threshold and rules: https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/gst/registering-for-gst
• Key lodgment and payment dates: https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/preparing-lodging-and-paying/reports-and-returns/due-dates-for-lodging-and-paying
• Keep your original records unchanged. The ATO requires most business records to be kept for 5 years: https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/preparing-lodging-and-paying/record-keeping-for-business/overview-of-record-keeping-rules-for-business

Limits

This is not financial, tax or accounting advice. The analysis is only as good as the export, and Claude can misread merged cells or unusual layouts, so check key figures against your accounting software. Talk to your accountant or registered BAS or tax agent before acting on anything that affects tax, GST or lending.

Example requests

1. "Here's our Xero profit and loss for the last 12 months. What's going on with margins?"
2. "Analyse this sales-by-customer export. Are we too reliant on any one client?"
3. "Compare budget versus actual for Q1 of this financial year and tell me the one thing to fix."