Finance/First-party starter playbook
Monthly budget vs actual
Compare last month's QuickBooks P&L to your budget sheet and explain the variances that matter.
// what it does
- 01Pull the actuals. Read the QuickBooks profit and loss report for last month, and the same month last year for context, by account.
- 02Read the budget. Load last month's budget figures from the configured sheet and match each budget row to its QuickBooks account using the configured mapping. List any account that exists on one side but not the other instead of guessing a match.
- 03Compute the variances. For each line, calculate actual minus budget in currency and percent, plus month-over-prior-year change. Total revenue, cost of goods, gross margin, operating expense, and net income.
- 04Pick what matters. Keep the lines that cross both thresholds, ordered by absolute impact on net income.
- 05Explain them. For each material variance, pull the transactions behind it from the QuickBooks profit and loss detail and state what drove it (a one-off expense, timing, a new vendor, volume) with the specific transactions as evidence. When the transactions do not explain it, say so.
- 06Write the report. Add a dated tab to the budget sheet with the full line-by-line comparison and the explanations, then post a Slack summary with the headline numbers, the top variances, and the open questions for finance.
// guardrails in the draft
Every number must come from QuickBooks or the budget sheet. Never estimate, round away, or invent a figure, and show your calculation for totals.
Do not edit the budget rows or anything in QuickBooks. Write only the new report tab.
If the month does not look closed (for example large uncategorized amounts or missing recurring expenses), say so at the top of the report rather than presenting it as final.
Keep explanations to what the transactions show. Mark any interpretation as an interpretation.
Financial results are confidential: post only to the configured destination.