Hire an AI share buyback accounting checker

Everything it can hand back

Your task sets the actual outputs. The specialist picks the methods that cover them.

• EPS before and after the buyback, with the lost income shown
• Total payout against FCFE, and the cash retained or the funding needed
• A common equity roll-forward and book value per share
• A list of gaps and anything that needs a separate schedule

How it does the job well

• Reconcile to source documents, such as bank statements, ledgers and invoices, before reporting.
• Show the calculation, inputs and period for every figure.
• Label actuals, estimates and forecasts clearly.
• Send tax, legal and regulatory questions to a qualified professional.

Mistakes it avoids

• Mixing cash and accrual figures, or different periods, in one comparison.
• Rounding or formula errors that do not tie back to totals.
• Giving personal investment advice.

What a good result looks like

An example, not your task: A company is buying back shares and you want to know what that really did to EPS.

• EPS effect. Shares retired, income lost on the cash, and EPS before and after.
• Payout coverage. Dividends and buybacks less issue proceeds, against FCFE, with retained cash or the gap.
• Book value roll-forward. Common equity from opening to closing, and book value per share on closing shares.
• Linked workbook. Inputs, calculations and checks on separate tabs, when your AI can make files.
• MISSING and CHECKS MISSED. Gaps in your inputs and any check that could not run.

How the work is checked

• Cash distributions, retired shares and closing common equity reconcile across the three schedules. Lost income and timing are explicit, and EPS accretion is not treated as proof of value.
• Trace each material input to its source, date, currency, scale, sign and reporting period. Keep unresolved MISSING: lines.
• Tell a real zero, missing evidence and a ratio that does not apply apart. Never force a tie with an unexplained plug.
• Keep inputs apart from formulas. When a workbook is made, check a changed input, a real recalculation and the reopened file.
• States which checks passed, failed or could not run, and names missing inputs.

These checks have not been run against a model yet. Your AI uses them to check its own work.

Capabilities

• Cash-funded buyback EPS bridge. Retires shares from executed cash and price, takes off the after-tax income the cash would have earned, and shows EPS before and after. Hands step 2 the executed buyback cash.
• Shareholder distribution coverage. Nets share issue proceeds against executed buybacks, adds dividends, and compares the total with FCFE. Shows cash retained or the funding needed, with debt and cash changes reconciled first. Hands step 3 the distributions.
• Book value per share roll-forward. Rolls parent common equity forward using the same dividends, buybacks and issue proceeds, ties it to the balance sheet, and divides by closing shares. Keeps this apart from EPS accretion.

How the role works

1. Checks your task, context and available tools.
2. Picks the methods needed and prepares a work plan.
3. Carries out supported tasks, with each method's limits and review gates.
4. Checks the real deliverables and corrects supported faults.
5. Hands back files, evidence and unresolved gaps.

Your specialist's working setup

Download the base specialist without a task form or account. README.md and SETUP.md explain how to use the folder. SOUL.md defines its scope. INTAKE.md asks missing questions inside your AI. PLAYBOOK.md, SKILLS.md, BEST_PRACTICES.md, CHECKS.md and HANDOFF.md guide the work and its checked deliverables.

Complete associated skills, supporting files and licences are included. Choose only the methods needed for the actual task. Keep context, working files and accepted feedback in your AI project.

Use this specialist through MCP or the API

Call prepare_specialist with role_id reconcile-buybacks-with-owner-cash only. No task is required to load it. Your AI asks what job you need done, what you want back and which relevant context it can use.

For task-led hiring, call find_specialist, explain the suggested specialists and let the user accept or change the team.

Complete ZIP: Download base specialist. API: GET /api/v1/specialists/reconcile-buybacks-with-owner-cash/pack. The host AI supplies its own model, tools and execution; a pack does not connect accounts or run a task.

Inputs and helpful context

The specialist starts from the task brief. Only active methods require their inputs.

For the primary method, when used

• Executed buyback records: date, shares bought, price and cash paid
• Opening and closing share counts, and profit for the ordinary shareholders
• The after-tax return the cash would have earned, such as interest on cash held
• Dividends paid and money raised from issuing shares
• A free cash flow to equity (FCFE) figure for the same period, with its definition
• Opening common equity, other comprehensive income, currency and scale

Helpful context (optional)

• The cash flow statement and the statement of changes in equity
• The company's own definition of free cash flow to equity

Tools and access

• A spreadsheet engine and file-capable AI: Builds linked schedules, recalculates them and reopens the saved file. In plain chat you get the same tables as text.
• A spreadsheet engine and file-capable AI: Create, recalculate, render and reopen the requested native workbook.
• Node.js 20 or later: Run the bundled dependency-free reference calculation against explicit numeric inputs.

Functions and deliverables

• Share buyback accounting checker: Share executed buybacks, share records and cash-flow schedules. Get linked checks of earnings per share, distribution funding and closing book value.
  • EPS before and after the buyback, with the lost income shown
  • Total payout against FCFE, and the cash retained or the funding needed
  • A common equity roll-forward and book value per share
  • A list of gaps and anything that needs a separate schedule
• Cash buyback EPS checker: Share earnings, shares and a cash buyback. Compare earnings per share after allowing for lost cash income.
  • Before-and-after EPS and a cash opportunity-cost reconciliation.
  • An editable workbook of the buyback EPS bridge, with its inputs, formulas and test cases to rerun.
  • A tie-out of lower earnings and lower weighted shares to EPS, the inputs still missing and the checks that ran.
• Shareholder payout cash checker: Share dividends, buybacks and cash available to owners. Check whether payouts exceed the period's equity cash flow.
  • A bridge from net distributions to FCFE, with the surplus or shortfall
  • An editable workbook with inputs, formulas and test cases to rerun
  • A cash tie-out, the inputs still missing and the checks that ran
• Book value per share calculator: Share equity, profit, dividends and share counts. Get book value per share with a checked balance breakdown.
  • A common-equity movement table and book-value-per-share bridge.
  • If you ask for one, an editable workbook of the book value per share roll-forward, with its inputs, formulas and test cases to rerun.
  • A tie-out of computed closing equity and the balance sheet, the inputs still missing and the checks that ran.
• me.md builder: Answer a few questions, or let your AI use what it remembers. Get one private file that tells any AI who you are.
  • One me.md file with up to ten dated sections
  • A list of facts taken from memory, for you to check
  • A short note of what it removed for privacy
  • The two next steps, to save it and set it up

Tasks you can use it for

• A company is buying back shares and you want to know what that really did to EPS.
• Buybacks plus dividends look bigger than the cash the business makes and you want to see the gap.
• Book value per share fell after a buyback and you need to know why.
• A board paper claims a buyback is accretive and you want to check it.

Limits to check before starting

• You only need EPS from a share ledger, with no payout or equity data: use the Basic and diluted earnings per share checker.
• The buyback exists to offset shares given to employees: use the Employee share dilution cash checker.
• You are comparing property net asset value with book value: use the Property net asset value and book-value checker.

Best way to use this role

Give it one clear outcome, the actual files and a definition of done. Keep the work in one AI project so it can reuse checked context and earlier files.

• Add the workflow pack to Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini. Use an AI that can read files, and make spreadsheets if you want a workbook.
• Attach the cash flow statement, the equity note and the buyback records. Paste the share counts and the return on cash. Say the period, currency and scale once.
• After step 1, check that the shares retired match cash paid divided by price, and that lost income was taken off.
• After step 2, check that gross buybacks and issue proceeds are both visible behind the net figure, and that FCFE is not EBITDA or free cash flow to the firm.
• After step 3, check that opening equity plus every movement ties to closing equity with no plug.
• Read every MISSING line. Do not call a higher EPS a gain in value.

Read it as data

Read the complete role setup as JSON. Connect your AI to the AI Blocks MCP library and read aiblocks://roles/reconcile-buybacks-with-owner-cash for its role instructions and pinned sources.

This is a prepared AI role. No task has run. Your AI carries out authorized work using its available tools and reports the actual deliverables and checks.