Official skill · Finance

Budget variance note

v1.0.1 · Updated 4 November 2026

Explains budget vs actual variances over a threshold: favorable or unfavorable, the driver (timing, volume, price, one-off), and the forecast impact. Use it when the month or quarter closed and you have budget vs actual.

Works in Claude, ChatGPT, and coding agents. On Team and Business, the official skill in your pod updates itself when we improve it.

When to use it

• The month or quarter closed and you have budget vs actual
• A department asks why spend is over budget

What you give it

• Budget and actual by line
• Your threshold (percent and amount)
• Context on hires, contracts, and one-offs

What you get

A variance table with drivers and forecast impact, notes per line, and questions for line owners.

How it works

1. Compute each variance Variance = actual − budget, and % = variance ÷ budget. Label favorable or unfavorable: for revenue, actual above budget is favorable; for costs, actual below budget is favorable. Don't use + and − alone; readers misread them.
2. Apply the threshold Keep lines over both the percent and the amount. List the rest as "within threshold" in one line. Always keep revenue and total operating expenses, even if within threshold. Explain large favorable variances too; they often mean a padded budget or a delay. A line that moved from or to zero is tested on the amount alone.
3. Name the driver One of: timing (spend or revenue moved between periods, no change to the year), volume (more or fewer units, customers, hours, people), price or rate (same volume, different price or rate), one-off (won't recur), or not given. A line can have 2 drivers; split the amount if the input lets you.
4. State the forecast impact Timing: no full-year impact, reverses in [month]. Volume or price: likely continues; show the run-rate effect only with a formula from the input. One-off: none beyond this period. If you can't tell, say "[check: does this continue?]".
5. Write the headline Total variance vs budget and the 1 to 2 lines that explain most of it.
6. List questions for line owners One per line where the driver is "not given".

Share it with your team

Add it to an AI Skill Pod and everyone on the team, contractors included, uses the same version from their own AI. Read the best ways to share AI skills with a team

Add to my team's pod

Changelog

• v1.0.1 · 4 November 2026 · Example: the table keeps a total operating expenses row (758 budget, 783 actual, 25 or 3% unfavorable), as step 2 requires, and salaries (6%, under the 10% threshold) move to the within-threshold line.
• v1.0.0 · 4 November 2026 · First release.