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variance-commentary

skill · 34 lines · Apache-2.0 · plugins/vertical-plugins/fund-admin/skills/variance-commentary/SKILL.md

The facts

Its description

Write flux commentary for every P&L and balance-sheet line over threshold — current vs prior period and vs budget, with the driver explained from underlying activity. Use for the month-end close package and management reporting.

The description the agent reads to decide when to use it.

From its settingsline 3

When it starts

A person asks for flux/variance commentary on financial results — explaining why P&L or balance-sheet lines moved versus the prior period and versus budget, typically as part of a month-end close package or management report. The agent needs current, prior, and budget figures for the same scope to be in play.

Things a person might say (the model's guesses)

  • “Write the flux commentary for the October close”
  • “Explain the variances versus budget for the P&L and balance sheet”
  • “Draft the month-end variance commentary table with drivers for each line over threshold”

A model's summary of when it is used.

A model's reading

What leads to it

Other skills that hand off to this one, call it, require it or offer it instead, as a model read them.

A model's reading

Licence

Apache-2.0, from LICENSE

The terms its author shares it under, which let it be shown here.

From the repositorylicence text

The text

Open on GitHub

Most marks come from matching words in the file, so treat them as pointers.

1---
2name: variance-commentary
3description: Write flux commentary for every P&L and balance-sheet line over threshold — current vs prior period and vs budget, with the driver explained from underlying activity. Use for the month-end close package and management reporting.
4---
5
6# Variance commentary
7
8Given current-period actuals, prior-period actuals, and budget for the same scope, produce a commentary table.
9

Variance commentary

Given current-period actuals, prior-period actuals, and budget for the same scope, produce a commentary table.

Raw lines 1 to 9
Names a skill month-end-closer :3
10## Threshold
12Flag a line for commentary if **either** is true:
14- Absolute variance ≥ the firm's materiality threshold (use the provided value; default 5% of the line or a fixed floor, whichever is greater)
15- The line is on the "always comment" list (revenue, headcount cost, cash)

Threshold

Flag a line for commentary if either is true:

  • Absolute variance ≥ the firm's materiality threshold (use the provided value; default 5% of the line or a fixed floor, whichever is greater)
  • The line is on the "always comment" list (revenue, headcount cost, cash)
Raw lines 10 to 16
17## For each flagged line
19| Column | Content |
20|---|---|
21| **Line** | Account or caption |
22| **Current / Prior / Budget** | The three values |
23| **Δ vs prior** and **Δ vs budget** | Amount and % |
24| **Driver** | One sentence explaining the movement from underlying activity — not a restatement of the number |
26A driver explains *why*, not *what*: "Cloud spend up $1.2M on incremental GPU reservations for the May launch" — not "Cloud spend increased $1.2M (18%)."

For each flagged line

ColumnContent
LineAccount or caption
Current / Prior / BudgetThe three values
Δ vs prior and Δ vs budgetAmount and %
DriverOne sentence explaining the movement from underlying activity — not a restatement of the number

A driver explains why, not what: "Cloud spend up $1.2M on incremental GPU reservations for the May launch" — not "Cloud spend increased $1.2M (18%)."

Raw lines 17 to 27
28## Sourcing the driver
30Look at the activity behind the line (journal-source breakdown, vendor mix, headcount delta, volume × rate) via the internal-gl MCP. If the driver isn't clear from the data, write "driver unclear — flag for controller" rather than inventing one.

Sourcing the driver

Look at the activity behind the line (journal-source breakdown, vendor mix, headcount delta, volume × rate) via the internal-gl MCP. If the driver isn't clear from the data, write "driver unclear — flag for controller" rather than inventing one.

Raw lines 28 to 31
Uses an outside tool MCP :30
32## Output
34The commentary table plus a short narrative (3–5 sentences) summarizing the period's biggest movers.

Output

The commentary table plus a short narrative (3–5 sentences) summarizing the period's biggest movers.

Raw lines 32 to 34

From anthropics/financial-services at 6056506, 2026-10-28. Skills read by DeepSeek V4.1 Flash on 2026-11-04. Summary and techniques by Claude Opus 5.5 on 2026-11-06.