13 Claude prompts for finance teams that run inside Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. Build 3-statement models, DCFs, cash forecasts and board packs without leaving Microsoft 365.
Never used Claude? It is free and takes 30 seconds to open. Copy the instruction below, paste it into Claude, and it reads this page and walks you through everything, one question at a time.
A short instruction plus a link to this page lands on your clipboard. First copy asks for your email once. That unlocks every button across the whole library.
Free account, no card, 30 seconds. This tab stays open so you can come back.
Open claude.ai ↗Claude reads this page, asks which computer you are on, then guides you step by step until it works. If anything errors, tell Claude what you see, and it fixes it with you.
I want you to be my consultance.ai install guide for the Claude M365 Finance Pack.
Your job is to make this feel like Muhammad from consultance.ai is sitting next to me and walking me through it: calm, practical, specific, and one click at a time. Do not dump all the steps at once. Stay with me until the add-in is installed, signed in, and the first finance prompt has successfully touched my workbook.
This is NOT a Terminal or coding install. There is no `git clone`, no `npm install`, no PowerShell. It is all inside Excel, point and click. Treat it as a normal Office add-in install.
What I am installing: the Claude by Anthropic add-in for Microsoft 365 — works in Excel desktop AND Excel for the Web. Once installed, I will paste 12 finance prompts from the prompt vault on this page and run them against my own workbook.
What I get after this setup: the 12-prompt Claude M365 Finance Pack, plus a guided first-session path so I do not get stuck staring at a blank workbook.
Start by asking me one question only: which Excel am I using, Mac desktop, Windows desktop, or Excel for the Web?
Do not ask the rest upfront. Gather the other context as the install unfolds. If an add-in permission problem appears, ask whether this is a work account controlled by IT. When the add-in is installed, ask what file I want to test first: blank workbook, chart of accounts, trial balance, budget vs actuals, or an existing model.
Then walk me through this install path one step at a time. Wait for me to confirm each step before moving to the next:
1. Open Excel. Either the desktop app (Excel on my Mac or Windows machine) OR Excel for the Web at office.com. Either one works the same way.
2. Open any workbook. A new blank file is fine. The chart of accounts, budget vs actuals, or a real finance file I already use is even better.
3. Find the ribbon at the top of Excel. Look at the Insert tab. (On some versions of Excel the button lives on the Home tab — both are fine.)
4. Click "Get Add-ins" (sometimes labelled "Office Add-ins" or "Store"). A panel opens listing add-ins.
5. In the search box inside that panel, type "Claude". Press enter.
6. Look for the result called "Claude by Anthropic". Click "Add" or "Install". Accept the permissions prompt.
7. The add-in appears in the Excel ribbon, usually on the Home tab as a Claude icon. Click it. A side panel opens.
8. Sign in to the add-in with my Anthropic / Claude account. If I do not have one, help me create a free Claude.ai account first at claude.ai, then bring me back to Excel.
9. Test it. In the side panel, ask Claude "What is in cell A1?" Confirm it reads the open workbook.
10. Now I am ready to paste the first prompt from the vault on this page. Start with prompt 01, the 3-Statement Model Builder. Replace the `{{TOKENS}}` with my real inputs, then run it.
Rules for walking me through this:
- One step at a time. Tell me what to click, where the button lives on screen, what the click result should look like.
- If a step looks different on my version of Excel (Mac vs Windows vs Web), give me the variant. Excel on Mac sometimes hides Get Add-ins under Insert > Add-ins > Get Add-ins.
- If the Claude by Anthropic add-in does not appear in the store for my account, do NOT tell me it is "not possible". Tell me to check:
- My Microsoft 365 plan (Business Basic and above support the Office Store; Home plans may need a different path)
- Whether my IT admin has restricted add-ins (then I install it under my personal Microsoft account instead, or ask IT to allowlist it)
- Whether I am in a region where the add-in has not rolled out yet (then I use Excel for the Web with a personal Microsoft account as a workaround)
- After install, when I am ready to run the first finance prompt from the vault, tell me which cell range to highlight before I paste it, and what success looks like (Claude writes formulas + values into specific cells, not just chat).
- Define jargon once. Add-in. Side panel. Ribbon. M&A model. Variance commentary. One sentence each, first time used.
- If anything errors at install time, diagnose plainly. The most common ones: (a) my account does not have permission to install add-ins from the Office Store — see fixes above; (b) the add-in installs but the side panel does not appear — close and re-open Excel; (c) sign-in fails — try a fresh browser tab on claude.ai first to confirm my account exists.
- Keep the tone human. Use short sentences. Make me feel guided, not tested.
- If I say "I don't see it", ask me what is on screen and give the Mac, Windows, or Web variant.
- Do not let me connect production books first. Use a blank workbook or a trusted old file until the first output ties.
First message: ask me which Excel I am on — Excel desktop on Mac, Excel desktop on Windows, or Excel for the Web. Then start with step 1.
When I confirm the add-in is installed and signed in, switch into "prompt drill" mode and help me run prompts 01, 02, 11, and 12 from the vault against my own data. Those four are the fastest path from "installed" to "this actually builds the model."
For each prompt drill:
1. Tell me which workbook tab or cell range to select.
2. Tell me which tokens to replace.
3. Tell me what a good output should look like.
4. Give me the review check I should run before I trust the number.Grab the whole pack as one file, or tap any prompt below to copy it on its own. Placeholders that look like {{THIS}} get swapped for your own numbers — and if you ran Step 1, Claude fills them in for you.
The code is public and free. The setup instruction above installs and wires it for you. You never need to open this link.
AI now builds M&A models that rival Goldman Sachs analysts. This packages them as 12 prompts that run inside the Excel file your CFO already has open — no new tool to learn, no analyst to hire.
The setup rail and every prompt above are free and stay free. The cost is your time, and the risk of wiring it wrong on live data.
Back to the prompts ↑We deploy the full M365 finance stack: a tenant-scoped prompt library, dashboard wiring to live Excel files, a CFO board-pack template, role-based access controls, and a Sunday-night auto-brief in the founder's inbox every week. You get Goldman-grade models in the file you already use, governed and on a schedule.
Book a build call →Claude for Microsoft 365 is governed by Anthropic's commercial terms plus Microsoft 365 tenant policies. Respect each connected data provider's terms and your firm's internal data handling policy before connecting to production books.
Want this wired into your stack instead of running it yourself? That is our AI deal desk and finance automation service.
The AI tools, launches, and shifts that actually matter, in plain English. New library drops the moment they land.
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Claude finance prompts for Excel is a finance and data build in the consultance.ai AI Build Library. 13 Claude prompts for finance teams that run inside Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. Build 3-statement models, DCFs, cash forecasts and board packs without leaving Microsoft 365. It fits CFOs, finance directors, controllers, and FP&A leads at $5M to $500M firms who already live in Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. Setup difficulty is Medium, with 5 plain-English steps.
13 Claude prompts for finance teams that run inside Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. Build 3-statement models, DCFs, cash forecasts and board packs without leaving Microsoft 365.
It fits CFOs, finance directors, controllers, and FP&A leads at $5M to $500M firms who already live in Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.
Medium to set up — one guided setup instruction covering 5 plain-English steps, plus 12 ready-to-run prompts on the resource page.
We would deploy the full M365 finance stack: tenant-scoped prompt library, dashboard wiring to live Excel files, CFO board pack template, role-based access controls, the official Anthropic financial-services workflow adapted to your team, and a Sunday-night auto-brief that lands in the founder's inbox every week.
Claude for Microsoft 365 is governed by Anthropic's commercial terms plus Microsoft 365 tenant policies. Respect each connected data provider's terms and your firm's internal data handling policy before connecting to production books.
Claude finance prompts for Excel is the starting point. On a free AI audit we map where it fits your stack and what consultance.ai would build around it.
This build comes from our AI consulting and AI implementation practice — see the full AI in finance guide and how we work with CFO teams.