{ "schema": "aiblocks-page/1", "id": "monthly-budget-versus-actual-keeper", "type": "agent", "name": "Budget, forecast and cash gap review", "summary": "Compare spending with budget, update the forecast and put cash risks first. Get proposed changes for review.", "headline": "Budget, forecast and cash gap review", "subhead": "Share monthly income and spend, the approved budget and any reasons from team owners. It checks differences, updates the year’s forecast and compares cash with your floor. You get a brief and proposed cash levers when needed. Guessed explanations are labelled; the budget and spending stay unchanged without approval.", "job": { "id": "track-numbers", "name": "Track your numbers" }, "level": "intermediate", "thinking": "high", "tested": true, "updated": "2026-11-03", "first_published": "2026-10-21", "inputs": [ { "type": "spreadsheet", "required": true, "label": "Spreadsheet", "what": "a spreadsheet with its data, formulas and charts" }, { "type": "plan", "required": false, "label": "Plan", "what": "a dated plan: what to do, in what order, with a decision rule for each step" }, { "type": "performance_sheet", "required": false, "label": "Performance sheet", "what": "ad or store performance export for a closed date window, with definitions" }, { "type": "financial_statements", "required": false, "label": "Financial statements", "what": "a company's income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement, with notes, for one or more periods" } ], "outputs": [ { "type": "audit_report", "required": true, "label": "Audit report", "what": "findings with evidence, severity, missing inputs and next actions" }, { "type": "spreadsheet", "required": true, "label": "Spreadsheet", "what": "a spreadsheet with its data, formulas and charts" }, { "type": "plan", "required": true, "label": "Plan", "what": "a dated plan: what to do, in what order, with a decision rule for each step" } ], "you_give": [ "Last month's actual spend and income by team and line", "Your budget for the year by team and month, or past spend to build one from", "Bills due and what you are owed (advised)", "Your cash floor and the date the year must be back on plan (advised)", "One line from each team owner on what happened last month (optional)" ], "you_get": [ "Each team's gap against budget with the reason, marked as the owner's or the agent's reading", "A refreshed full-year forecast and the gap against plan", "A 30, 60 and 90 day cash view against your floor", "Teams over for two or more months, with the pattern", "Six cash levers ranked by cash freed, only when the year is off track", "A quarterly survival score and what gives the plan room for error" ], "use_when": [ "You run a small team with a budget by department or project and the monthly review keeps slipping.", "One team is always a little over and you want to know whether it is timing or a pattern.", "Cash is tight and you want a cut list ranked by what it frees, not by what is easiest." ], "skip_when": [ "You only need a cash forecast: use the Cash forecast builder, or a simple sheet of bills and what you are owed.", "You have a one-off project with no budget: use a plain list of costs and a person to sign off each one.", "You want to close the books and work out profit: use the Monthly store profit reviewer." ], "output_sample": { "input": [ "Last month's actual spend and income by team and line", "Your budget for the year by team and month, or past spend to build one from", "Bills due and what you are owed (optional)", "Your cash floor and the date the year must be back on plan (optional)", "One line from each team owner on last month (optional)" ], "prerequisites": [ "The six skills it calls (Department budget planner, Budget variance explainer, Budget and forecast builder, Cash forecast builder, Cash lever ranker, Room for error plan checker) added to your AI, or fetched from useaiblocks.com", "An AI that can keep files between months, such as Claude Code, if you want it to save the budget and tracking rows" ], "output": [ { "name": "THE MONTH", "contains": "Total budget, actual and gap, plus the full-year forecast set against the plan." }, { "name": "CASH", "contains": "The 30, 60 and 90 day cash view against your floor, with any dip under it shown first." }, { "name": "MOVES BY TEAM", "contains": "Each team's gap, the reason marked as the owner's or the agent's reading, and a note for the owner." }, { "name": "REPEAT OFFENDERS", "contains": "Teams over budget two or more months running, and the pattern." }, { "name": "LEVERS", "contains": "Six cash levers ranked by cash freed, each with a survival test, only when the year is off track." }, { "name": "ROOM FOR ERROR", "contains": "A quarterly survival score, where the plan breaks in a bad quarter, and what gives it room." }, { "name": "FILES AND MISSING", "contains": "Each step's saved file and every line marked MISSING." } ] }, "output_shape": "THE MONTH\n Budget | actual | gap (<%>) | full-year forecast vs plan \n\nCASH\n 30 days | 60 days | 90 days | floor | on >\n\nMOVES BY TEAM\n | budget | actual | gap | why: () | note to owner: \n\nREPEAT OFFENDERS\n | over months running | pattern: \n\nLEVERS (only if off track)\n 1. | frees | survival test: | restartable: \n\nROOM FOR ERROR (quarterly)\n Survival score /100 | breaks when: | room from: \n\nFILES AND MISSING\n | MISSING: ", "how_to_use": [ "Start a chat with the agent. In Claude Code, add it as a skill or save it in .claude/agents, then ask it to run last month.", "Export last month's actuals by team from your accounting tool. Put the file and your budget in one folder, or attach them in the chat.", "Tell it your cash floor once. It saves it.", "Ask each team owner for one line on last month and paste the lines in. The explanations get much better.", "Read the moves and the levers. Approve what you agree with. Run it again on the 5th of next month." ], "checks": [ "Every gap is budget minus actual from your file.", "Each explanation says whether it came from an owner or the agent.", "Any lever that cuts something you cannot restart is clearly marked.", "The budget file was not changed.", "Nothing was moved, cut or sent without your yes." ], "steps": [ { "position": 1, "id": "department-budget-planner", "name": "Department budget planner", "summary": "Build a department budget from past spending and targets. Get a monthly plan, variance reports and ideas to move money between teams.", "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/department-budget-planner" }, { "position": 2, "id": "budget-variance-explainer", "name": "Budget variance explainer", "summary": "Find out why your actuals missed budget. Give it actual and budget numbers and get each gap split by cause, plus short notes for leadership.", "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/budget-variance-explainer" }, { "position": 3, "id": "budget-and-forecast-builder", "name": "Budget and forecast builder", "summary": "Use past sales, costs, and plans to predict income, plan spending, and check budgets against real results.", "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/budget-and-forecast-builder" }, { "position": 4, "id": "cash-forecast-builder", "name": "Cash forecast builder", "summary": "Build a 30, 60 and 90 day cash forecast from your invoices, bills and fixed costs. See if you can make payroll, with risks named.", "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/cash-forecast-builder" }, { "position": 5, "id": "cash-lever-ranker", "name": "Cash flow improvement planner", "summary": "Share stock, sales, costs and cash. Compare six changes by cash freed at 180 days and profit impact.", "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/cash-lever-ranker" }, { "position": 6, "id": "room-for-error-plan-checker", "name": "Business plan risk buffer reviewer", "summary": "Check your budget or business plan for room for error. Get a survival score out of 100, where it breaks in a bad year, and fixes.", "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/room-for-error-plan-checker" } ], "next": [ { "name": "Month-end variance commentary writer", "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/variance-commentary", "why": "Month-end variance commentary writer" }, { "name": "Month-end financial statement preparer", "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/workflows/close-the-month-and-explain-every-line-that-moved", "why": "Month-end financial statement preparer" }, { "name": "Trend and forecast analyst", "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/trend-and-forecast-analyst", "why": "Trend and forecast analyst" } ], "source": null, "credits": [], "files": [], "links": { "page": "https://useaiblocks.com/agents/monthly-budget-versus-actual-keeper", "markdown": "https://useaiblocks.com/agents/monthly-budget-versus-actual-keeper.md", "json": "https://useaiblocks.com/agents/monthly-budget-versus-actual-keeper.json", "instructions": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/monthly-budget-versus-actual-keeper/SKILL.md", "api_item": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/items/monthly-budget-versus-actual-keeper", "api_document": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/documents/agent/monthly-budget-versus-actual-keeper", "mcp": "https://useaiblocks.com/mcp" } }