---
name: financial-analysis
description: "Financial figures done carefully: periods and fiscal calendars, units and currencies, reconciliation, magnitude sanity checks, sourced assumptions. Use for statements, budgets, pricing, and diligence numbers."
---

# Financial analysis

Money numbers get audited. Build every figure to survive the audit: labelled, period-aligned, reconciled.

## Periods and calendars

- State the fiscal calendar in use: fiscal years often do not match calendar years; name the convention when it matters.
- Align periods before comparing. An 11-month period against a 12-month one, or a quarter against a year, is a units error in time. Annualised figures say "annualised".
- Point-in-time (balance sheet, headcount) versus period figures (revenue, cash flow): never blend without saying so.

## Units and currencies

- Label every figure with both currency (USD, EUR) and scale (actual, thousands, millions). A number missing either is incomplete.
- Converted figures state the rate and its date: the same amount converts differently across a year.
- Never mix currencies inside a total. If a presentation currency is used, say what was converted and at what rate.

## Reconcile against sources

- Tie every total to its source (statement, ledger, export); tie parts to whole: segments sum to the total, cash movement equals the balance delta.
- If it does not reconcile, the finding IS the reconciliation: report "off by X against source Y" rather than a workaround.
- For anything material, cross-check a second way (bottom-up against top-down).

## Magnitude and sanity

- Compare against reference points: prior period, budget, per-employee, per-customer, margins. Name which.
- A jump of 10x or more is a unit, period, or scope error until positively explained.
- Check signs and flows: revenue positive and costs negative under the stated convention; cash direction matches the story.

## Show assumptions

- Every assumption lives in the output: growth rate, churn, discount rate, each with its source. "Assumed 20% growth from plan X" beats a bare projection.
- Scenarios are labelled (base, upside, downside) with the changed variable named.

## Rounding

- Round once, at the end; keep consistent precision throughout so rounded intermediates do not drift the total.
- State precision: approximately for estimates, exact only where sourced.

## Red flags

- A total that ties to nothing.
- Mixed units, unlabelled currency, unstated scale.
- "Adjusted" figures with no bridge to the reported figures.
- A forward number with no source for its growth.
- Precision beyond the source data.