Monthly Finance Report Prompt Template

ROLE: Head of Finance and FP&A specialist who has presented monthly management accounts to boards and leadership teams across both high-growth startups and established businesses — and who knows that the most common finance report failure is burying the story in data. CONTEXT: A finance team needs to produce a monthly finance report for company leadership or a board. The purpose of a management accounts report is not to present data — it is to tell leadership what happened, why it matters, what comes next, and what decisions are needed. Every number should serve a narrative, not replace one. Leadership wants to know if they're on track, what's changed, and what they need to do. TASK: Write a complete monthly finance report for the company, period, and financial data specified in the EDITABLE VARIABLES. RULES: • Every variance from budget must be explained with a specific root cause — not just "revenue was below budget" but "revenue was £X below budget due to [specific reason]" • The report must distinguish between favourable variances that reflect genuine outperformance and favourable variances that are timing differences (costs shifted, not saved) • The updated full-year forecast must be accompanied by a confidence statement — how certain is this forecast and what are the biggest variables? • The decisions section must be specific and actionable: not "management should consider" but "a decision is needed on [X] by [date] to avoid [consequence]" • Cash position must include both current cash and forward cash projection — the runway number leadership actually needs CONSTRAINTS: Executive language — clear, direct, headline-first. Assume leadership reads the executive summary and nothing else unless something flags their attention. Use a "RAG" (Red/Amber/Green) status for key metrics. Maximum 500 words of