AI Blocks › Track your numbers
Budget variance explainer
Give it actual and budget numbers. Get what moved, why, and a short note for leadership.
Budget variance explainer is a free AI skill for the job "Track your numbers". Give the instructions to an AI assistant that supports the required files and tools, then review its output.
Free · No account · Apache 2.0 licence · Made by Anthropic
Made by Anthropic. See the original on GitHub; we copied it as it is, with its licence.
What it does
Know why the numbers moved, not just that they did. You get a short written explanation of each gap between actual and budget, ready for a leadership update. The skill breaks every difference into causes. Revenue and cost gaps split into volume, price and mix effects, and these must add up to the total. A rate and mix split handles blended segments. It applies materiality thresholds so you only chase the gaps that matter. Then it writes plain commentary and describes a waterfall chart showing how you got from budget to actual. A finance professional should check the result before you report it.
You give it
- Actual and budget numbers
- Prior period or forecast numbers (optional)
- Volume and price data (optional)
- A materiality level (optional)
You get
- A breakdown of each variance by cause
- Volume, price and mix amounts
- Short written commentary
- A waterfall chart outline
- A list of gaps worth action
Use it when
- Revenue beat budget but profit missed and you must explain it.
- You have a monthly close and need commentary for each large gap.
- Leadership asks if the miss was price or volume.
- You want a waterfall view from budget to actual.
How to use it
- Add it to your AI once: download it and add the folder to Claude, ChatGPT or Codex as a skill.
- Ask for the job in your own words. Your AI opens the skill when it fits.
- It works best when your AI can run code and read your numbers file.
Workflows that use it
- Explain a department budget overrun
- Prepare a grant spending evidence pack
- Monthly budget variance review
- Monthly freelancer books closer