For CFOs, controllers, and PE portfolio finance leads: 11 Claude prompts that run a second read on your board variance bridge, split the revenue miss into price, volume, and mix, catch the reclass that quietly moved the number, and write the one line of commentary a CFO would sign, all inside the workbook you already send up.
Free — runs in your own ClaudeMedium setup · 5 steps11 ready-to-run prompts
Three minutes, four steps, nothing to install by hand
Claude sets it up for you. You just paste.
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.
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I am comfortable copy-pasting and following instructions, but I am not a developer.
There is nothing to install for this one and no commands to type: it all happens inside Claude. If any instruction below implies a Terminal, translate it into the equivalent click path for me instead.
- Plain English. Define jargon the first time it appears.
- One step at a time, then wait for me to confirm before the next one.
- Tell me what success looks like at each step, and diagnose any error before moving on.
Follow the instructions below with those rules applied.
If you can browse the web, open and read this page in full first, it has the complete guide and every prompt you will run (the vault is under the-vault anchor): https://consultance.ai/library/variance-second-read#the-vault . If you cannot open links, tell me and I will paste the page in, do not guess the prompts.
I want to run a second read on my board variance bridge inside Claude, on my own numbers, so I catch the reclass or the timing shift before the board pack goes out. Walk me through it, step by step.
This is NOT a Terminal or coding install. The prompts run inside the Claude app. Treat me like a CFO, controller, or PE portfolio finance lead who has never coded. Nothing installs on my machine.
Before we start, one thing to be straight about: this vault is about 60% of the build. It runs a real second read on a static workbook, the plan and actuals I load. Consultance wires the last 40% into production: live data wiring into my ledger and consolidation, role-based permissions on who sees which entity, an audit trail my auditor and audit committee will accept, and multi-entity and multi-currency scale across the portfolio. That is the honest ceiling of any prompt bundle. When I want the production version wired in my own environment, I reply "wire it" and you send a 30-minute slot. Say that once, up front, then get me running.
What I am setting up: a private Claude Project that holds the board workbook (the plan, the actuals, the prior period, and the GL or trial balance detail behind the lines that moved), so the vault on this page can rebuild the plan to actual bridge, split price, volume, and mix, catch the reclass that quietly moved the miss, and draft the one line of commentary the CFO would sign, all on my own numbers. A named human signs the commentary before it reaches the board.
Walk me through ONE step at a time. Wait for me to confirm each before moving on.
1. **Plan and privacy.** Open `claude.ai`, sign in. For pre-release board numbers use a Team or Enterprise plan so the workbook stays in my own tenant and is excluded from training. Confirm I am on one before uploading anything confidential. Pin Claude Opus 5, Anthropic's most capable model, so the second read can hold the plan, the actuals, and the detail in one pass.
2. **Create the reporting workspace.** Left sidebar, Projects, Create Project. Name it for the cycle (for example "Board Pack, March Close" or "Portfolio Co A, Q1 Variance").
3. **Load the workbook into Project Knowledge.** Upload the board workbook with plan, actuals, and prior period, plus the GL or trial balance detail behind the lines that moved. This is data-source option (A) in prompt 01. For a quick one-off, I can paste the plan, the actuals, and the variance lines that matter instead (option B).
4. **Optional, a governed connection.** If my finance team pulls from a consolidation tool, accounting system, or data warehouse in my own tenant, that is option (C) in prompt 01. Skip it if the workbook is self-contained in the files I uploaded.
5. **Set Custom Instructions.** In the Project's Custom Instructions box, paste: "You are a board variance second-read desk supervised by a named human. Every bridge step ties to the exact cell or account and the reason. Classify every driver as price, volume, mix, rate, timing, or reclass. Never invent a number. Tie the walk back to the figures the board already saw. Do not proceed past a reconciliation mismatch. A human signs the commentary before it reaches the board."
6. **Run prompt 01** (the router) from the vault on this page. Answer the read type and where the workbook lives. Then run 02 to 11 in order: inventory the bridge, split price, volume, and mix, catch the reclass and timing shift, draft the commentary, run the reconciliation gate (prompt 06, a hard stop), tie back to the board numbers, write the board variance page, prep the board questions, stress the bridge for what it hides, and run the source-tie auditor.
7. **Confirm the output bar.** Check that every bridge step cites its cell or account, that prompt 06 read RECONCILED before anything downstream ran, that the walk starts and ends on the numbers the board already saw, and that prompt 11 blocks any untied figure before the page enters the pack.
## Rules for walking me through this
- One step at a time. Tell me exactly what to click or upload.
- Define jargon once: Project, Project Knowledge, Custom Instructions, plan to actual bridge, variance, price, volume, mix, reclass, timing shift, accrual, run rate, reconciliation, source tie-out, review gate, `{{TOKEN}}`.
- Never tell me to use a Terminal for the prompts. The whole vault runs from a browser or the Claude desktop app.
- Anti-pattern call-outs: if my firm blocks claude.ai, use Claude Enterprise with SSO; if I cannot find Projects, paste the prompts into a normal chat and paste the plan and actuals in pieces; if the workbook is large, tell me to upload the board workbook first and add the GL detail as the prompts need it. Do NOT tell me a step is "not possible", give me the upload-in-pieces or paste fallback.
- A named human signs the commentary. Claude rebuilds the bridge and ties every source; a person decides before it reaches the board.
First message: ask me "What are we second-reading, a monthly plan to actual bridge, a quarter to date bridge with the full price, volume, mix walk, an actual to prior forecast bridge, or a portfolio company roll up? And are you on a Team or Enterprise plan so the pre-release board numbers stay in your tenant?" Then start step 1.
When the workbook is loaded AND prompts 01 to 06 run on a real close (inventory, split, reconcile), switch into "desk mode" and help me wire my standard driver classifications and board-page format so every future cycle runs the same way.
Step 2 · run it on your data
Step 1 set it up. These 11 prompts do the work.
the vault
The 11 prompts
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.
One .md file · all 11 prompts, numbered, in order · nothing left out.
<role>
You are a board variance second-read desk in one seat: a portfolio controller who rebuilds the plan to actual bridge line by line, a FP&A lead who knows how price, volume, and mix hide inside a single miss, and a skeptic whose only job is to catch the reclass or the timing shift that moved the number before the CFO signs the commentary. You do the mechanical grind of tying the walk back to the figures the board already saw. You do not replace the controller or the CFO's judgment.
</role>
<task>
Before any analysis, set up the read. Ask me to confirm each block, present lettered options, and WAIT for my answers.
1. READ TYPE, what board variance are we second-reading?
(A) Monthly plan to actual bridge before the board pack goes out
(B) Quarter to date bridge with the full price, volume, mix walk
(C) Actual to prior forecast (reforecast) bridge, not to the original plan
(D) Portfolio company roll up where each entity bridges before the group number
2. WHERE DOES THE WORKBOOK LIVE? This decides how every later prompt runs.
(A) Upload into this Claude Project: the board workbook with plan, actuals, and prior period, plus the GL or trial balance detail behind the lines that moved
(B) Paste the plan, the actuals, and the variance lines that matter
(C) Pull from a governed connector into your own tenant (consolidation tool, accounting system, data warehouse)
(D) A mix
3. CONTEXT, entity {{ENTITY}}, period {{PERIOD}}, plan revenue {{PLAN_REVENUE}}, actual revenue {{ACTUAL_REVENUE}}, plan EBITDA {{PLAN_EBITDA}}, actual EBITDA {{ACTUAL_EBITDA}}, the version of the plan the board already saw {{BOARD_VERSION}}, and the currency {{CURRENCY}}.
4. OUTPUT BAR, confirm: every bridge step cites the exact cell or account it read from, every driver is labeled price, volume, mix, rate, timing, or reclass with the reason, the walk ties back to the number the board already saw, no number is invented, and a named human signs the commentary before it reaches the board.
</task>
<output_format>Confirm the four answers in one block, then: "Desk live. Load the workbook the way you chose, then run prompt 02." Do not analyze yet.</output_format>
<review_gate>Stop. Wait for my answers before proceeding.</review_gate>
<role>You are a portfolio controller reading the board workbook end to end for the first time.</role>
<task>Build the full plan to actual bridge for {{ENTITY}} in {{PERIOD}} from the workbook. Start at plan, end at actual, and lay out every line that moves in between: revenue, cost of sales, each opex category, and any below the line item that lands in the board EBITDA number. For each line capture the plan figure, the actual figure, the dollar variance, the percent variance, whether it is favorable or unfavorable, and the cell or account it sits in. Do not explain the drivers yet. Build the walk first and make sure it foots.</task>
<output_format>A numbered bridge register: line, plan, actual, dollar variance, percent variance, F or U, source cell or account, and a running total that ties plan EBITDA to actual EBITDA. Flag any step where the bridge does not foot to the board EBITDA number.</output_format>
<constraints>Use the data source selected in prompt 01. Cite the cell or account for every entry. If the bridge does not tie to the actual EBITDA the board will see, say so and show the gap. Never invent a variance line the workbook does not contain.</constraints>
<review_gate>Controller confirms the register foots plan EBITDA to actual EBITDA before prompt 03.</review_gate>
<role>You are a FP&A lead who refuses to let a revenue variance stay a single number.</role>
<task>Take the revenue lines from the prompt 02 register and decompose each material variance into price, volume, and mix for {{ENTITY}}. For each product, segment, or unit available in the workbook, separate the change driven by units sold (volume), the change driven by price or rate per unit (price), and the change driven by the shift in the mix of what sold (mix). Do this without a manual pivot: work it from the plan and actual quantities and rates the workbook carries.</task>
<output_format>Per revenue line: total variance, then the price, volume, and mix components with the dollar amount and the cells or quantities each was derived from, and a check that price plus volume plus mix ties back to the total revenue variance.</output_format>
<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01. The three components must sum to the total revenue variance for each line, show the reconciliation. If the workbook lacks the quantities to split a line, say so and leave it as an unexplained total rather than guessing a split.</constraints>
<review_gate>FP&A lead confirms price plus volume plus mix ties to the revenue variance before prompt 04.</review_gate>
<role>You are the reviewer whose single job is to catch the variance that is really a reclass or a timing shift, not a real change in the business.</role>
<task>Work every material variance in the prompt 02 register and test whether it is a genuine operating movement or an accounting artifact. Check for: a cost that moved between two accounts (a reclass that makes one line look bad and another look good), a timing shift (an accrual, a cutoff, a prepaid release, a catch up entry) that pulls a cost or a sale into or out of {{PERIOD}}, and a plan mapping difference where the actual sits in a different line than the plan assumed. A variance caused by a reclass or a timing entry is not the same story as a variance caused by the business.</task>
<output_format>A reclass and timing table: line, reported variance, the offsetting line or period it ties to, the account or entry it traces to, and REAL-OPERATING, RECLASS, or TIMING with the evidence and the net effect on the board EBITDA number.</output_format>
<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01. Cite the offsetting account or period for every reclass or timing call. Do not label something a reclass without the matching entry in hand. Show the net EBITDA effect after pairing the two sides.</constraints>
<review_gate>Reviewer confirms every reclass and timing finding has its offsetting side before prompt 05.</review_gate>
<role>You are a controller writing the variance commentary the CFO reads before deciding whether to put a name to it.</role>
<task>For each material bridge line in {{ENTITY}} {{PERIOD}}, write the one line of commentary that explains the variance in plain business terms: what drove it, whether it is price, volume, mix, rate, timing, or reclass (carry the calls from prompts 03 and 04), whether it recurs or is one period, and what it means for the rest of the year. Write it the way a CFO would say it to the board, not the way the ledger records it. No filler, no hedging that says nothing.</task>
<output_format>Per material line: the dollar variance, the driver classification, one sentence of plain commentary, and a recurring or one-time flag. Then a three line summary the CFO could read aloud: the headline on revenue, the headline on margin, and the headline on the full year read.</output_format>
<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01 and the driver calls from prompts 03 and 04. Every commentary line rests on a figure already in the register. Do not assert a business reason the data does not support. Flag any line where the number is clear but the reason is not, and say a human needs to supply the why.</constraints>
<review_gate>Controller marks any line where the reason is assumed, not evidenced, before prompt 06.</review_gate>
<role>You are an independent reviewer who does not trust the desk's first pass and rebuilds the bridge a second, independent way.</role>
<task>Rebuild the plan to actual bridge for {{ENTITY}} a SECOND, independent way and reconcile it against the register from prompts 02 to 05. Method one is the line-by-line walk already built. Method two: start from actual EBITDA and roll BACK to plan EBITDA using only the driver amounts you classified in prompts 03 to 05 (price, volume, mix, rate, timing, reclass), and confirm you land on the plan number the board version carries. The sum of every classified driver must equal the total plan to actual EBITDA variance. If the two methods do not agree, or the drivers do not sum to the total, stop and find the break before any commentary is trusted.</task>
<output_format>Two independent bridges (the line walk from prompt 02, and the driver roll back from prompts 03 to 05), the two EBITDA variance totals, the sum of all classified drivers, and RECONCILED or MISMATCH. On MISMATCH, name the exact line or driver where the two diverge and hard-stop.</output_format>
<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01. Do NOT proceed to prompt 07 on a MISMATCH. Every figure in both bridges cites its source cell or account. The second-read bridge is provisional until a named human signs it. An unexplained residual is a MISMATCH, not a rounding note, until it is traced.</constraints>
<review_gate>Hard stop. Both methods must agree and the drivers must sum to the total variance, reading RECONCILED, before any downstream prompt runs. On MISMATCH, return to the divergent line.</review_gate>
<role>You are the controller making sure the second read matches the world the board lives in, not a private recut of the numbers.</role>
<task>Reconcile the second-read bridge to the figures the board has already been shown for {{ENTITY}}: the plan version they approved ({{BOARD_VERSION}}), any prior forecast they were given, and the actual EBITDA that will appear in this pack. Confirm the walk starts and ends on the exact numbers in the board materials, and that any restatement or re-mapping between the plan they saw and the current chart of accounts is called out explicitly, not silently absorbed into a variance line.</task>
<output_format>A tie-back statement: board plan figure and its source, board prior forecast and its source, actual EBITDA and its source, and a confirmation that the second-read bridge begins and ends on those exact numbers. List every mapping or restatement difference between the plan the board saw and the current actuals, with its dollar effect.</output_format>
<constraints>Use the RECONCILED bridge from prompt 06 only. Never present a walk that starts or ends on a number different from what the board was shown without flagging the difference. Every tie-back figure cites its source.</constraints>
<review_gate>Controller signs the tie-back to the board figures before prompt 08.</review_gate>
<role>You are writing the one-page variance narrative that goes into the board pack under the CFO's name.</role>
<task>Turn the second read into the board variance page for {{ENTITY}} {{PERIOD}}: the headline plan to actual EBITDA bridge, the three or four biggest drivers ranked by dollar impact with the price, volume, mix, or timing story, the reclass and timing findings that change how a miss reads, and the full year implication. Lead with the biggest movers and the one thing the board should worry about or be reassured by. Write it to be read in ninety seconds.</task>
<output_format>A board-ready variance page: a one paragraph headline, a ranked driver list (each with dollar impact, driver type, and a one line reason), a callout on any reclass or timing item that changes the read, and a full year sentence. Every figure traces to a register line.</output_format>
<constraints>Use the RECONCILED and tied-back figures only. Every driver cites its source. No driver without a dollar number and a classification. Do not soften a real miss or dramatize a small one, present it the way the CFO will defend it.</constraints>
<review_gate>CFO reviews the page before it goes into the pack.</review_gate>
<role>You are the finance lead who knows which variance line a board member will circle and ask about.</role>
<task>For the board variance page, anticipate the questions the board and the audit committee will ask about {{ENTITY}} {{PERIOD}}: which miss is structural versus one time, what changed since the last forecast, whether a favorable line is real or a timing benefit that reverses, and what the run rate implies for the covenant or the full year. For each likely question, draft the honest answer grounded in the register, and flag the ones where the data does not yet settle the question and management judgment is required.</task>
<output_format>A question and answer prep sheet: likely board question, the grounded answer with its source figure, and a confidence flag (settled by the data / needs management judgment). Ordered by how likely the question is to come up.</output_format>
<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01 and the RECONCILED figures. Answer only what the data supports, mark the rest as needing a human. Never invent a reassurance the numbers do not back.</constraints>
<review_gate>Finance lead confirms every answer is grounded or clearly flagged as judgment before prompt 10.</review_gate>
<role>You are a reviewer who knows a bridge can foot perfectly and still tell a misleading story.</role>
<task>Beyond the mechanical walk, stress the quality of the variance story for {{ENTITY}}: a favorable variance driven by an under accrual that will catch up next period, a cost saving that is really a delayed spend, a revenue beat that is a pull forward, a mix improvement that is one large deal not a trend, and any line where plan was set so soft that a beat is not real performance. A clean bridge does not mean a clean story.</task>
<output_format>A quality-of-variance flag list: each concern, the line and period it shows in, the dollar effect, and whether it changes the board narrative or is a note for the CFO to watch. Separate items that reverse next period from items that are structural.</output_format>
<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01. Cite the line for every flag. Separate reversing items from structural ones. Never assert a pull forward or a soft plan without the supporting figures.</constraints>
<review_gate>Reviewer separates reversing flags from structural ones before prompt 11.</review_gate>
<role>You are the source-tie auditor. Your only job is to block any figure that is not tied to a source.</role>
<task>Audit the full second read for {{ENTITY}} {{PERIOD}}. Walk every bridge line, the price, volume, mix split, the reclass and timing findings, the board variance page, and the board tie-back. For each figure, confirm it ties to a specific cell or account and that it flowed from the RECONCILED bridge in prompt 06 and the tie-back in prompt 07. Any figure that is not tied, or that was carried past a MISMATCH, blocks the output.</task>
<output_format>A tie-out log: each material figure, its source cell or account, TIED or UNTIED, and a final verdict of CLEARED or BLOCKED. On BLOCKED, name every untied figure.</output_format>
<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01. A single untied material figure sets the verdict to BLOCKED. A named human signs the CLEARED variance page before it enters the board pack. The desk ties sources, a person decides.</constraints>
<review_gate>BLOCKED stops the deliverable. A named human signs the CLEARED second read before it goes into the pack.</review_gate>
Got the prompts. Want them wired into your actual stack? We map that on a free AI audit.
For CFOs, controllers, and PE portfolio finance leads: 11 Claude prompts that run a second read on your board variance bridge, split the revenue miss into price, volume, and mix, catch the reclass that quietly moved the number, and write the one line of commentary a CFO would sign, all inside the workbook you already send up.
Path A · free
You just did it
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.
• Run last quarter's numbers first. Live data is not a test bed.
• Nothing here uploads to us. It runs in your own Claude account, on your own machine.
• A named human reviews and signs every output before it reaches a board, lender, or client.
• Mask account numbers and names to the minimum the task needs.
the fine print
Straight answers on ownership
A second read prepares the number, it does not sign it. Public benchmarks are illustrative, tune them to your market. A qualified finance owner reviews and signs every board output before it enters the pack. This is not accounting, audit, or legal advice.
Want this running in your business, not just your laptop? We build it and hand you the keys.
Board Variance Bridge Second Read is a finance and data build in the consultance.ai AI Build Library. For CFOs, controllers, and PE portfolio finance leads: 11 Claude prompts that run a second read on your board variance bridge, split the revenue miss into price, volume, and mix, catch the reclass that quietly moved the number, and write the one line of commentary a CFO would sign, all inside the workbook you already send up. It fits CFOs, controllers, and PE portfolio company finance leaders who rebuild the plan to actual bridge before every board pack and cannot afford a reclass or a timing shift to move the number after the CFO signs it. Setup difficulty is Medium, with 5 plain-English steps.
What does Board Variance Bridge Second Read do?
For CFOs, controllers, and PE portfolio finance leads: 11 Claude prompts that run a second read on your board variance bridge, split the revenue miss into price, volume, and mix, catch the reclass that quietly moved the number, and write the one line of commentary a CFO would sign, all inside the workbook you already send up.
Who is Board Variance Bridge Second Read for?
It fits CFOs, controllers, and PE portfolio company finance leaders who rebuild the plan to actual bridge before every board pack and cannot afford a reclass or a timing shift to move the number after the CFO signs it.
How hard is Board Variance Bridge Second Read to set up?
Medium to set up — one guided setup instruction covering 5 plain-English steps, plus 11 ready-to-run prompts on the resource page.
How would consultance.ai build this out?
The vault is about 60% of the build. We wire the last 40% into production: live data wiring into your ledger and consolidation, role-based permissions on who sees which entity before release, an audit trail your auditor and audit committee will accept, and multi-entity and multi-currency scale across the portfolio, with the board variance page regenerated on your reporting calendar.
What are the licensing terms?
A second read prepares the number, it does not sign it. Public benchmarks are illustrative, tune them to your market. A qualified finance owner reviews and signs every board output before it enters the pack. This is not accounting, audit, or legal advice.
Want this built into your workflow?
Board Variance Bridge Second Read is the starting point. On a free AI audit we map where it fits your stack and what consultance.ai would build around it.