xlsx-and-financial-model-presentation

name	xlsx-and-financial-model-presentation
description	Use when presenting an XLSX financial model, KPI sheet, or analytical exhibit through number formats, styles, conditional encoding, charts, and print layout. Use accounting or engineering skills for formulas, pivots, macros, calculation logic, and financial correctness.
metadata	{"portable":true,"category":"13-presentations-and-documents","compatible_with":["claude-code","codex"]}

XLSX And Financial-Model Presentation

Acknowledgement: Shared by Peter Bamuhigire, techguypeter.com.

Use When

• A spreadsheet — financial model summary, KPI dashboard sheet, schedule, sensitivity table, budget-vs-actual, cohort/ageing table — must be presented as a considered, institutional exhibit rather than a default Calibri grey-grid worksheet.
• The sheet needs exhibit-grade number formatting (custom masks, three-part positive;negative;zero, accounting parentheses + red negatives, the $-on-top-row-and-totals convention, units in the format, consistent decimals) so the numbers read as authored.
• You want conditional formatting used as deliberate visual encoding — data bars, icon sets, colour scales / heatmaps — chosen to match magnitude vs threshold vs category, used with restraint, paired with a legend and a non-colour cue.
• The model needs the blue-input / black-formula readability convention, a named table & cell-style system, gridlines off, never-hide-rows discipline, and Center Across Selection instead of merged cells.
• An embedded chart must be styled for integrity (zero baseline, no 3-D, no stacked-line-as- trend, actual-vs-projected colour with a second cue), or the workbook must be laid out for print as a hand-out exhibit (print area, fit-to-page floor, centre-on-page, header/footer, tab colour-coding).
• The deliverable is an .xlsx (or a printed/PDF exhibit from one) — not a slide, not a Word report, not a web dashboard.

Do Not Use When

• The work is formula / calculation / pivot / macro / model MECHANICS — building the model logic, writing formulas, structuring pivots, dynamic arrays, XLOOKUP, Power Query, data validation, what-if/Solver/Goal-Seek, scenario engines, VBA/Office-Scripts automation, or the accounting correctness of the numbers. This skill owns only how the model is dressed and presented; it explicitly defers all calculation and modelling mechanics to the finance engine (C:\wamp64\www\chwezi-accounting-doctrine, for IFRS/IAS statement structure, statutory and bookkeeping correctness) and to the engineering catalog (~/.claude/skills) for spreadsheet engineering / automation. If the request is "build/fix the model", route there first; return here only to present the result.
• The file must be created or programmatically read/written as a build task (open, parse, emit .xlsx/.csv via a library) — use the xlsx document skill for the tooling; come here for the design settings it should apply.
• The chart's encoding choice itself (which chart, perceptual ranking, dashboard page composition) is the question — that is 12-data-viz-and-dashboards/data-visualization (the individual chart) and dashboard-and-data-product-design (the page). This skill applies those rules inside Excel; it does not restate the chart-choice theory.
• The deliverable is a Word report (docx-report-and-document-formatting), a slide deck (deck-system), or a branded PDF proposal (pdf-proposal-and-bankable-document-design).
• No typeface / palette has been chosen — state it first via font-selection-and-pairing (group 01) and the doctrine charter, then return here.

Required Inputs

Input	Source	Required?	Evidence
Validated workbook and calculation-owner sign-off	Finance or analytical owner	yes	Controlled workbook and review status
Audience, key decisions, outputs, and print needs	Sponsor	yes	Exhibit brief
Input/formula/output conventions and brand rules	Model and design owners	yes	Style contract

• The sheet's purpose, audience, and medium (on-screen review vs printed board hand-out vs PDF exhibit) — this sets decimals, density, and whether a print layout is warranted.
• The data's structure: which cells are hard-coded inputs/assumptions vs formula outputs vs totals (needed to apply the blue/black convention and the $-row convention), and the units/scale (actuals, thousands, millions, %, ratios, days).
• A stated type + palette choice per the charter: a 04 Technical / Data face for the numeric body (tabular/lining figures), an accent colour for emphasis, and a colour-blind-safe scale for any conditional encoding — never a banned default, never red+green as the only signal.
• For charts/print: the comparison the chart must make, and the trim/orientation for the exhibit.

Workflow

1. State the type, palette, and encoding intent first. Per the Anti-Slop Charter (doctrine/design-doctrine.md §2), name the numeric face (a 04 Technical / Data family with tabular lining figures so columns align — e.g. IBM Plex Mono / IBM Plex Sans for headers, or a workhorse with tabular figures from doctrine/references/font-groups-and-usage.md), the single accent colour, and — if you will encode with conditional formatting — which signal (magnitude / threshold / category) and the colour-blind-safe scale, before touching the sheet. Scan fonts/04-technical-data-code/ for a purchased family and prefer it when it improves the result. Never default to Calibri/Aptos (the slop signal of an unconsidered workbook).
2. Set exhibit-grade number formats. Apply the custom-mask system in references/xlsx-design-system.md: required-vs-optional digits (0 vs #), thousands separators, the three-part positive;negative;zero mask, accounting parentheses + red for negatives, the $ (or currency) on the top data row and on totals only (blank or aligned elsewhere to cut noise), units in the format (0.0 "x", 0 "days", 0.0%% for points), date masks (mmm yyyy), and one consistent decimal count per column. Consistency is the professionalism signal — do not let a column mix 2-dp and 0-dp.
3. Apply the table & cell-style system. Per references/xlsx-design-system.md: define named cell styles (Input, Formula/Calc, Total, Header, Note) carrying the blue font = hard-coded input/assumption, black = formula convention; use Center Across Selection (not Merge) for spanning titles so navigation/copy/sort stay intact; turn gridlines off and use deliberate hairline rules and banded shading instead; align numbers right with consistent padding; never hide rows to make an exhibit (group/collapse instead — the Lehman/Barclays cautionary tale).
4. Use conditional formatting AS visual encoding — with restraint and a non-colour cue. Per references/xlsx-design-system.md: pick the mechanism by signal — data bars for in-cell magnitude (a sorted-bar surrogate; show the number too, set a sensible max), colour scales / heatmaps for a continuous field across a matrix (single-hue ramp, not rainbow; tinted endpoints), for threshold/RAG status (always pair the icon with text/number — a shape is itself the non-colour cue). One encoding per table; add a legend; honour WCAG 1.4.1 (never colour-alone) and the 3:1 / 4.5:1 contrast floors (). Use (or tint + sign), never red+green as the sole distinction.

Decision Rules

Condition	Workbook presentation choice	Wrong-choice failure
Cell is user input	Distinct named input style plus validation	Colour alone or inconsistency causes accidental edits
Variance needs attention	Direction-aware format plus non-colour cue	Red/green alone excludes users and misstates favourable direction
Sheet is an executive exhibit	Curate outputs and print area	Exposing calculation sprawl obscures the decision

Capability Contract

Read, edit, recalculate, and render are required for workbook production. Analysis of formulas remains read-only unless explicitly authorised. External links, macros, financial logic, and distribution require separate authority and domain review.

Degraded Mode

Without spreadsheet recalculation or rendering, produce a style and print specification marked unverified. Stop release when formulas show errors, links are stale, print pages clip, or financial-owner approval is absent.

Anti-Patterns

• Shipping the default Calibri grey-grid: visible gridlines as the only structure, no number formatting, currency repeated on every interior row, mixed decimals down a column — the recognisable signature of an unconsidered workbook.
• Conditional formatting as decoration: rainbow colour scales, three different CF rules stacked on one table, data bars with no number, icon sets carrying RAG status by colour alone (fails WCAG 1.4.1), traffic-light red+green with no shape or label.
• Merged cells for titles/spanning (breaks sort, copy, navigation, and the accessibility tree) — use Center Across Selection.
• Hiding rows/columns to manufacture an exhibit (the Lehman/Barclays footnote) — group/collapse or build a dedicated summary sheet instead.
• Losing the blue-input/black-formula tell, so a reader cannot see what is an assumption vs a result; or hard-coding a number on top of a formula in black.
• Chart-integrity violations carried into Excel: non-zero bar baseline, 3-D, stacked-line-as- trend, secondary axis used as a puzzle, actual-vs-forecast distinguished by hue alone.
• Straying into mechanics: "improving" the model by rewriting formulas, pivots, or the accounting — that is the finance/engineering engine's job, not this skill's.
• Fit-to-page shrinking the exhibit into illegibility instead of splitting it.

Outputs

Artefact	Consumer	Evidence and acceptance condition
Styled workbook and exhibit sheets	Analysts and decision-makers	Inputs, formulas, outputs, units, and hierarchy are distinguishable
Named style, format, chart, and print specification	Workbook maintainers	Rules are reusable without manual cell-by-cell formatting
Recalculation and rendered-page evidence	Finance owner and QA	Errors, links, charts, conditional formats, and print pages pass

• An .xlsx (and/or a print/PDF exhibit from it) with exhibit-grade number formats applied consistently (custom masks, accounting negatives, $-on-top-and-totals, units, one decimal per column).
• A named table & cell-style system carrying the blue-input/black-formula convention, gridlines-off with deliberate rules, Center Across Selection titles, never-hidden rows.
• Conditional formatting used as deliberate encoding (data bars / icon sets / colour scale) chosen to match the signal, restrained, legended, and carrying a non-colour cue at AA contrast.
• Integrity-styled charts (zero baseline, no 3-D, actual-vs-projected with a second cue, action title) and, where handed out, a print-ready exhibit layout (print area, fit-floor, centre, repeating headers, footer, greyscale-safe palette, tab colour-coding).
• A one-paragraph choice rationale (numeric face, accent, and the encoding-signal mapping), per the charter — and an explicit note that calculation/model mechanics were deferred to the finance engine.

Examples

• examples/kpi-model-summary-exhibit.md — a fully worked exhibit spec for a real FY model summary / KPI sheet: every column's number-format mask, the input/formula/total cell-style map, a data-bar + icon-set + heatmap encoding (each with its non-colour cue and legend), a budget-vs-actual combo chart styled for integrity, and the print layout — copy the settings directly. Never lorem.

References

• doctrine/design-doctrine.md — the Mission and Anti-Slop Charter; state the choice, prefer the authored exhibit over the default grid, sourcing-authority asymmetry.
• doctrine/references/ai-slop-taxonomy.md — the chart-junk / dashboard-decoration tells (3-D, rainbow scales, gauges) this skill rejects.
• doctrine/references/wcag-2.2-criteria.md — the accessibility floor: contrast 4.5:1 / 3:1, and never colour-alone (1.4.1) — the basis for the non-colour-cue rule on all conditional encoding.
• doctrine/references/font-groups-and-usage.md — the 04 Technical / Data baseline faces with tabular lining figures for aligned numeric columns.
• references/xlsx-design-system.md — the number-format mask system, named cell/table styles, the blue-input/black-formula convention, and conditional-formatting-as-encoding (data bars / icon sets / colour scales) with non-colour cues.
• references/exhibit-and-print-layout.md — print area, fit-to-page legibility floor, centre-on- page, repeating headers, header/footer, greyscale-safe palette, tab colour-coding.
• Sibling — 12-data-viz-and-dashboards/data-visualization owns the chart-choice + perceptual ranking + accessible-chart floor this skill applies inside Excel; defer encoding theory to it.
• Defer to — finance engine C:\wamp64\www\chwezi-accounting-doctrine (IFRS/IAS, statement structure, statutory/bookkeeping correctness) and the engineering catalog ~/.claude/skills (spreadsheet engineering/automation) for all formula / pivot / macro / model-calculation mechanics — this skill is presentation-only.