How to build a three-statement model and management pack with Claude in Excel

Written up from the video Claude in Excel: Build a Complete CFO Reporting Pack (Step-by-Step).

You can use Claude in Excel to turn a general ledger extract and an account mapping into a full three-statement model, then an actual-versus-budget report and a monthly management pack, all inside one workbook. Claude builds the statements, the formulas and the first draft of the commentary. The account mapping, the missing information only you hold, the checking and the final commentary stay with you.

In the video I build it for a fictional business on five months of dummy data. The workflow runs in four steps: general ledger and mapping, then the three-statement model, then the budget and a dynamic variance report, then the management pack.

Set up Claude in Excel for finance work

A few settings make the difference between a demo and output you can use:

• Install the add-in and sign in. Search for Claude in Excel's add-ins, install it, and log in with your account.
• Connect data sources when you need them. The add-in can bring outside files into the workbook, which is how the budget and opening balances come in later.
• Keep "ask before edits" switched on. Claude then asks permission before it changes anything, so it cannot quietly delete or overwrite part of your model.
• Match the model to the task. Use the most capable model for complex builds like this one, and a lighter one for simpler work.
• Write standing instructions once. Mine define the role, the standard of output I expect, what every output must include, how models should be built, and a definition of done. They apply to every piece of work, so I do not repeat them in each prompt.

What you give Claude

• A general ledger extract: every debit and credit for the period, straight out of the accounting system.
• An account mapping. This is what separates a standard output from a CFO-level one. The mapping tells Claude exactly how raw ledger accounts roll up into the P&L and balance sheet you want to see. A CFO normally defines it personally, because it reflects how the business should be read.
• Context in the first prompt: what the business is, and what the task is.

Step 1: build the three-statement model

The first prompt sets out the business context and the task: an income statement, a balance sheet and a cash flow statement. It asks for a dynamic balance sheet with a dropdown, so that choosing a month shows the position at that month end. And it tells Claude not to proceed without double-checking, to flag anything it is unsure of, and to ask for anything missing.

Two things happen that are worth noticing. First, Claude sets up a log sheet as the first tab, recording every request made of it. That is good practice: it gives you an audit trail for later.

Second, Claude stopped and asked for the opening balances for the balance sheet. I had held them back on purpose. A tool that assumed them, or quietly started from zero, would have produced a balance sheet that looked finished and was wrong. Because the prompt told it to ask rather than assume, it asked. I attached the opening balances and it carried on, adding each sheet with my permission.

Step 2: check that the statements tie

The first check is whether the three statements agree with each other. In the video, cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet, $364,000, matched closing cash on the cash flow statement, which is a good early sign. On real client work, that is where checking starts, not where it ends. I would spend more time on the numbers before relying on them.

Step 3: add the budget and make the variance report dynamic

A management pack needs actual versus budget, so the next step attaches the budget file and asks Claude to build the variance report. The first version was a good report, but static: it would have had to be rebuilt every month. So the next prompt asks for a month dropdown at the top, and the whole report now updates when a month is chosen. That turns a one-off report into something you reuse every month.

Step 4: turn it into a management pack

The last prompt converts everything into a management pack with its own tabs: a board summary, the actual-versus-budget analysis, and CFO commentary. Claude produced the pack close to the brief, and in the commentary it marked the areas that needed my review. That is the right behaviour. The commentary is a first draft, not something to send to a client or a board as it stands.

Where your judgement comes in

• The mapping. How the ledger rolls into your statements is a decision about how the business should be read. Claude applies it; you define it.
• The information only you hold. Opening balances, context, anything the ledger does not show. A good prompt makes Claude ask for it; you supply it.
• The checking. Statements that tie to each other are consistent, not necessarily right. You check the numbers the way you would check a junior colleague's work.
• The commentary. Claude drafts it from the numbers. What the numbers mean for this business, and what the board needs to hear, is yours to write and sign.

The workflow at a glance

1. General ledger plus account mapping.
2. Three-statement model, with a dynamic balance sheet.
3. Budget added, with a dynamic actual-versus-budget report.
4. Management pack: board summary, variance analysis and CFO commentary.