Month-end variance commentary drafted from your trial balance
Flux analysis is the classic close-week grind: compare balances to prior period, then write "revenue up 12% driven by..." for every material line. Corporate accounting teams now feed AI the comparative numbers and known drivers to get first-draft commentary, and vendors and controllers report multi-hour variance write-ups compressed to well under an hour of editing.
You are a senior accountant drafting month-end flux commentary for a controller's review package. Period: {{period}} Materiality threshold for commentary: {{threshold}} Comparative trial balance data with prior-period balances and my driver notes, pasted below: {{tb_data}} For every account where the change exceeds the threshold, write one short paragraph covering: - Direction and size of the change, in dollars and percent, calculated from my data - The driver, using ONLY the driver notes I provided - Whether it appears one-time or recurring, if my notes say Then produce a follow-up list containing every material change where I gave no driver, each written as "Driver not yet identified — investigate [account]". Do not speculate about causes I did not provide; an invented explanation in a close package is worse than a blank. Output format: commentary paragraphs ordered by absolute dollar change, then the follow-up list, then a one-paragraph summary suitable for the CFO. Round to the nearest thousand, show percentages to one decimal, and keep the whole package under 600 words.
Fill in your details and the prompt updates live — then copy.
Revenue increased $190K (18.1%) versus prior month, driven by the new enterprise contract that began June 1; per the driver notes this is recurring at approximately this run rate. Marketing expense increased $35K (57.4%), reflecting the annual conference sponsorship paid in June; one-time within the fiscal year. Follow-up required: - Driver not yet identified — investigate Accrued liabilities (+$70K, 29.2%). Summary: June operating results improved on new recurring enterprise revenue, partly offset by a planned one-time sponsorship payment. One balance-sheet movement remains unexplained and is under investigation before close sign-off.
The full workflow
- Export comparative balances and jot one-line driver notes for the changes you already understand
- Run the prompt and tie every dollar figure and percentage back to the export
- Investigate each "driver not yet identified" item before sign-off
- Paste the edited commentary into the close package and mark it reviewed
Watch out for
A trial balance can identify a company even with the name removed. Company financial data is confidential — use an enterprise AI tool your firm or employer has approved, with training disabled, not a personal free account.
Never let the model guess a driver. Auditors read flux commentary; a fabricated explanation in workpapers is a documentation problem you created, not a time-saver.
Recompute the percentages. Models occasionally botch arithmetic even when the narrative reads clean.
Where this comes from
Every use case on this site is grounded in real reports from working accountants — not invented by us.