budget-variance-analyzer

> **Illustrative example** — demonstrates a well-formed `SKILL.md` for this reference > implementation. Adapt the content to your own org; do not deploy verbatim. # budget-variance-analyzer ## Overview Turns Financial Applications ledger data into **budget-vs-actual variance** insight: it compares actual spend against budget by cost center and account, ranks the largest variances, and tracks variance trends over time. It reads aggregate, department-level financial rollups — no individual transaction PII — keeping it a Tier-2 (internal) finance skill. ## When to use this skill Reach for this skill when a finance user asks about budget adherence: - "Which cost centers are over budget this quarter?" - "What is our budget-vs-actual variance by account?" - "Show me the biggest budget overruns year-to-date." - "How has the IT cost center's variance trended over the last 6 months?" ## Instructions When the user asks a budget or variance question: 1. **Identify the cost center(s), account(s), and period** (default: current fiscal quarter). 2. **Query `greenwood.finance.actuals`** for actual spend by cost center, account, and period. 3. **Join `greenwood.finance.budgets`** on the same keys to compute variance (actual − budget). 4. **Present results** as a ranked variance table, then give 2–3 variance observations (see the Recommendations framework). ## Examples ### Budget variance by cost center (current quarter) ```sql SELECT a.cost_center, SUM(a.actual_amount) AS actual, SUM(b.budget_amount) AS budget, SUM(a.actual_amount) - SUM(b.budget_amount) AS variance FROM greenwood.finance.actuals a JOIN greenwood.finance.budgets b ON a.cost_center = b.cost_center AND a.account = b.account AND a.fiscal_period = b.fiscal_period WHERE a.fiscal_period = DATE_TRUNC('quarter', CURRENT_DATE()) GROUP BY a.cost_center ORDER BY variance DESC ``` ### Variance trend for a cost center (last 6 periods) ```sql SELECT a.fiscal_period, SUM(a.actual_amount) - SUM(b.budget_amount) AS variance FROM greenwood.finance.actuals a JOIN greenwood.finance.budgets b ON a.cost_center = b.cost_center AND a.account = b.account AND a.fiscal_period = b.fiscal_period WHERE a.cost_center = 'IT' AND a.fiscal_period >= ADD_MONTHS(DATE_TRUNC('month', CURRENT_DATE()), -6) GROUP BY a.fiscal_period ORDER BY a.fiscal_period ``` ## Recommendations framework After presenting results, always include: 1. **Biggest overrun** — the cost center/account with the largest positive variance, with the dollar impact. 2. **Trend signal** — is the variance widening or closing over the periods shown? 3. **Quick action** — one corrective observation (e.g. "recurring overrun in account X suggests a budget rebaseline"). ## Edge cases - **Unbudgeted actuals** — if an actual row has no matching budget row, report it as unbudgeted spend rather than treating budget as zero silently. - **Sparse periods** — if the requested period has no ledger rows, say so explicitly. - **Aggregate only** — this skill works at the cost-center/account level. It does not read individual transactions, vendor invoices, or payroll detail. ## Data scope - `greenwood.finance.actuals` — actual spend rolled up by cost center, account, and fiscal period - `greenwood.finance.budgets` — budget amounts on the same keys - No PII or transaction-level detail is accessed — figures are aggregate rollups only.