Turn financial reports into visual explainers
Convert an approved financial report into a clear visual summary for a team meeting or stakeholder presentation.
How this works
Convert an approved financial report into a clear visual summary for a team meeting or stakeholder presentation. Use this to help a non-finance audience understand an approved report without changing its meaning. The visual summary should preserve period, unit and comparison basis for every figure.
Create a figure ledger before drafting charts or slides. Select a small narrative supported by the report, then build visuals with explicit denominators and source references. Calculations belong in formulas; the assistant's role is explanation and layout, not inventing missing business drivers.
Before you start
Approved report
Confirm the final version, entity, reporting period and approval status.
Audience brief
Identify the meeting's decisions and the audience's financial familiarity.
Visual format
Choose a deck or report format that can show notes and source references.
Prepare the inputs
- report
- Required
document or workbook with version
Use one approved source as the baseline.
- reporting_scope
- Required
entity, period, currency and units
Do not mix monthly, year-to-date and annual figures.
- communication_goal
- Required
audience and questions
Limit narrative to the decisions the report can support.
- comparison_basis
- Required
budget, prior period or forecast definitions
Label each comparison accurately and preserve its provenance.
Implementation, step by step
Build the figure ledger
- Extract selected metrics with cell or page references, units and definitions.
- Keep reported values separate from derived ratios and retain formula inputs.
Checkpoint: Every candidate figure has a traceable source.
Choose the narrative
- Identify the few changes relevant to the audience's questions.
- Separate observed variance from proposed explanations when the report does not establish causation.
Checkpoint: The outline makes evidence and interpretation visible.
Calculate comparisons
- Compute differences, percentages and ratios deterministically.
- Check denominator meaning and handle zero or missing comparisons explicitly.
Checkpoint: All derived figures can be reproduced.
Design the visuals
- Use chart types suited to time, composition or comparison and label periods and units.
- Avoid truncated axes or decorative scales that distort the reported difference.
Checkpoint: The visual draft supports the intended interpretation.
Reconcile and hand off
- Compare every figure and statement with the ledger and inspect the rendered artifact.
- Provide speaker notes for caveats and unresolved explanations before sharing is authorized.
Checkpoint: The finance owner has a reviewable deck or explainer.
Decisions along the way
Prior-period value is zero
Use absolute change and explain why percentage growth is undefined.
Report lacks a causal explanation
Phrase it as a question or hypothesis, not an established driver.
Two metrics use different periods
Separate them or obtain a comparable series before charting.
What you will produce
financial-explainer.pdf
PDF or presentationA concise visual explanation for the specified audience.
Include: headline · chart · period · unit · source_note
figure-ledger.csv
CSVA reconciliation trail for all displayed numbers.
Include: metric · value · period · unit · source_ref · formula
Check the result
- Compare displayed values with the approved report and ledger.
- Recalculate percentage changes and ratio denominators.
- Inspect axes, labels and missing-data treatment in rendered visuals.
- Verify narrative explanations do not exceed the report's evidence.
When something goes wrong
Report version changes
Update the ledger first and identify every affected visual.
Chart drops negative values
Correct the encoding and recheck the relevant series.
Source table is unreadable
Request a machine-readable export or mark the metric unavailable.
A worked example
SYNTHETIC EXAMPLE · NOT A REPORTED BUSINESS RESULT
Request
Synthetic: explain quarterly revenue and margin.
Inputs
Approved report shows Q1 revenue 100,000 USD and Q2 revenue 120,000 USD; gross margin falls from 40% to 35%. No cost-driver analysis is supplied.
Expected result
Synthetic result: show revenue up 20% and margin down five percentage points. Do not call the margin change a 5% decline or attribute it to hiring without evidence.
Run a small pilot
Start small
Produce one explainer for a recurring finance meeting.
Record the baseline
Record manual preparation time and factual corrections after review.
Agree success criteria
Agree reconciliation and audience-comprehension checks before reusing the format.
Stop or revise
Stop distribution if any headline figure cannot be traced to the approved report.
Keep the scope clear
- An explainer does not replace the underlying financial report or its qualifications.
- Publishing or distributing financial information requires the authorized audience and action.
Check before using
Verify figures, periods, and omissions against the originals.
Business activities
- Manage finances and accounting
- Review business performance
FROM A RECIPE TO YOUR WORKFLOW
Bring the company context together.
This workflow needs reliable inputs before it needs a better prompt. Moat8 Vault brings working information into a readable archive for the AI tools you use.
For this recipe: Financial reports
Start with one recurring task, agree which sources to use, and review the first result with your team.
Discuss this workflow