Spreadsheet Analyst (AU SME)

When to use

Triggers:

• User uploads a CSV, XLSX, Xero report, MYOB report, or Google Sheets link
• "Help me understand these numbers" / "What's going on here?"
• "Analyse my Xero / MYOB / Sheets data"
• "Why are we slow this quarter?" / "Are we profitable?"
• "What should I be worried about in these numbers?"
• "Run a [margin / cashflow / debtor] analysis"

Don't fire for:

• Data visualisation requests — use a different skill or BI tool
• Complex statistical analysis (regression, forecasting with confidence intervals) — use a data-science tool
• One-off formula help ("what does VLOOKUP do") — use general Q&A

The five workflows

These cover 80% of the analysis an AU SME actually needs. If the user asks for something specific, route to that workflow. If they say "just tell me what's going on", run all five.

1. P&L margin analysis

Input: A profit-and-loss report from the accounting software, ideally for the current quarter + the 3 prior quarters.

Analysis:

• Gross margin by quarter — is it stable, trending up, or compressing? Compression means costs are rising faster than pricing.
• Overhead creep — are fixed costs (rent, subscriptions, insurance) growing as a % of revenue? A creeping overhead is quiet cashflow death.
• Single-line dominance — if any expense line is >20% of total opex, that's concentration risk. Worth understanding.
• Revenue mix shift — if you have multiple revenue categories, has the mix changed? Margin by category often varies; a mix shift alters overall margin.
• Unusual transactions — any one-off amounts that skew the period? Flag for normalisation.

Output:

A table per metric with quarter-over-quarter values + % change + a plain-English "so what". Plus:

• 3 specific questions for the user's accountant (e.g. "Can we dig into why gross margin dropped 4 points in Q3 — is it pricing or cost-of-sales?")
• 1–3 action items with clear ownership

2. Aged debtor review

Input: Aged receivables / debtor listing from the accounting software. Standard buckets: current, 1–30 days, 31–60, 61–90, 90+.

Analysis:

• Debtor days — total AR ÷ (annual revenue ÷ 365). An SME target is usually <45 days; >60 is a red flag.
• Concentration — any single debtor >20% of the AR balance is concentration risk
• Stuck debtors — anything in 90+ should be either chased hard, provisioned, or written off
• Pattern recognition — is there a common industry / size / deal-type in the 60+ bucket? Informs future credit policy
• Comparison to prior period — is the debtor book growing or stabilising?

Output:

• The debtor-days number, with context
• Top 5 debtors by balance, with risk rating (green/amber/red)
• A chase list: "these specific debtors in these specific buckets need a call/email this week"
• A policy flag: if the debtor-days number is worsening, suggest a credit policy review

3. Cashflow forecast (6-week rolling)

Input: Bank balance (current) + a forward view of expected receipts (confirmed invoices, recurring revenue) + expected payments (rent, wages, supplier dues, BAS quarterly, tax instalments).

Analysis:

• Week-by-week closing balance for 6 weeks forward
• Minimum balance week — the bottom of the trough (useful early warning)
• Whether any week goes negative, and how much
• The sensitivity to a single unpaid invoice (e.g. if Client X is late, which week goes red)
• Whether BAS or other tax payments will create a cash pinch

Output:

• Line chart-ready data (week ending date, opening balance, receipts, payments, closing balance)
• Traffic-light assessment: green (comfortable buffer all weeks), amber (tight in 1–2 weeks), red (forecast negative)
• Three concrete actions if amber/red: "bring forward Invoice X by offering 1% early-pay discount", "defer optional purchase Y", "talk to accountant about timing options for BAS instalment"

4. Product / service line profitability

Input: Sales by product/service line for the period + related costs (direct + allocated overhead where possible).

Analysis:

• Gross margin by line — which lines actually make money
• Revenue share vs margin share — a line might be 50% of revenue but only 30% of margin (or vice versa)
• Hidden winners — small-volume high-margin lines often outperform and are under-invested
• Loss-leaders — lines with negative margin that exist "because clients expect it". Are they actually driving other sales, or quietly losing money?
• Customer concentration per line — one customer dominating a line is risk

Output:

• Margin-by-line table, ranked by absolute contribution
• Flagged hidden winners and loss-leaders
• 2–3 pricing or mix recommendations (with honesty about which need accountant review)

5. Ratio analysis

Input: Balance sheet + P&L for the latest period.

Analysis:

• Current ratio (current assets / current liabilities) — target >1.5 for most SMEs
• Quick ratio (current assets excl. inventory / current liabilities) — target >1.0
• Gross margin % — compare to industry benchmarks (flag if you don't have benchmarks)
• Operating margin %
• Debtor days (from workflow 2)
• Creditor days (AP ÷ (cost-of-sales ÷ 365)) — longer is free financing from suppliers
• Stock turn (cost-of-sales ÷ avg inventory) — industry-dependent; retail should be >6/year
• Return on invested capital (operating profit / (equity + interest-bearing debt)) — are you beating what the money would earn elsewhere?

Output:

• Table of ratios with current vs prior vs target (where known)
• One paragraph plain-English summary — "healthy / watch / concerning" with the reason
• Specific follow-up questions for the accountant on any amber/red ratios

AU SME-specific gotchas

• GST-inclusive vs ex-GST confusion. A revenue figure that mixes the two is useless. Confirm before analysing. Xero's standard report is ex-GST; MYOB's varies by report.
• Cash vs accrual. A cashflow forecast built from cash-basis data looks different from accrual. For forecasting, accrual is better (it shows what's owed to you); for cash operations, cash-basis is more practical.
• Personal-business mingling. Sole traders often run personal spending through the business account. Filter out before margin analysis — it warps the numbers.
• Stock on consignment / in-transit. Some businesses carry stock that's not yet on the balance sheet (in transit from overseas) or stock that's on the balance sheet but isn't theirs (consignment). Affects stock turn and current ratio.
• GST + PAYG timing. BAS + PAYG instalment payments hit the bank every 3 months. A 6-week cashflow forecast that ignores them is wrong.

Output format

For each workflow run, produce:

1. Headline number — the single most important metric (e.g. "Debtor days: 52 — up from 41 last quarter")
2. Plain-English summary — 2–4 sentences the operator can share with their team
3. Data table — copy-paste-ready for a spreadsheet or presentation
4. Action list — 1–3 specific actions with owner + due date
5. Questions for the accountant — 2–4 questions that a paid 30-min advisor call would answer

Prompt pattern for the user

When the user uploads data, guide them with this structure:

"I can see [file type] with [columns]. To run the most useful analysis, could you tell me:

1. Is this GST-inclusive or ex-GST?
2. Cash basis or accrual?
3. What period does this cover?
4. What decision are you trying to make from this data?

While you answer, I'll run the P&L margin analysis on this data since that doesn't require any of those answers."

Then proceed with the workflows most relevant to their answer.

What this skill does NOT do

• Replace your accountant / bookkeeper. Anything structural (tax position, entity restructure, audit findings) needs them. The skill produces the questions to ask them.
• Forecast beyond 6 weeks with confidence. For longer horizons, either engage a proper FP&A tool or accept that the forecast is directional, not numerical.
• Handle pricing, tax, or legal advice. The skill flags the question; the operator + their accountant + the relevant laws decide.
• Do reconciliations. Bank rec, supplier rec, payroll rec — those are operational, not analytical.

Tier access

Base. Basic analysis workflows are useful to every SME. Pro-tier members get integration with ongoing Xero/MYOB data (monthly automatic analysis rather than on-demand).

Related skills

• au-bas-gst-quarterly-prep — BAS prep often surfaces the same discrepancies this analysis would catch
• trades-quote-to-invoice — for trades-specific profitability analysis
• ai-roi-measurement-for-sme — measurement discipline transfers; same baseline/intervention/measurement/decision pattern

References

• ATO — Record keeping requirements
• Xero — Export reports
• MYOB — Export financial reports