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Variance Commentary

Write flux commentary for every P&L and balance-sheet line over threshold — current vs prior period and vs budget, with the driver explained from underlying activity. Use for the month-end close package and management reporting.

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Specification
Skill ID
anthropics/financial-services/variance-commentary
Publisher
anthropics
Repository
financial-services
Installs
0
Files
1
Synced
Sep 23, 2026
How to use it

Open any RiverX project, open the Skills panel in the chat, and search for this identifier. The files are fetched from the source repository at install time.

anthropics/financial-services/variance-commentaryInstalls these files
  • SKILL.md

What this skill tells the agent

Variance commentary

Given current-period actuals, prior-period actuals, and budget for the same scope, produce a commentary table.

Threshold

Flag a line for commentary if either is true:

  • Absolute variance ≥ the firm's materiality threshold (use the provided value; default 5% of the line or a fixed floor, whichever is greater)
  • The line is on the "always comment" list (revenue, headcount cost, cash)

For each flagged line

ColumnContent
LineAccount or caption
Current / Prior / BudgetThe three values
Δ vs prior and Δ vs budgetAmount and %
DriverOne sentence explaining the movement from underlying activity — not a restatement of the number

A driver explains why, not what: "Cloud spend up $1.2M on incremental GPU reservations for the May launch" — not "Cloud spend increased $1.2M (18%)."

Sourcing the driver

Look at the activity behind the line (journal-source breakdown, vendor mix, headcount delta, volume × rate) via the internal-gl MCP. If the driver isn't clear from the data, write "driver unclear — flag for controller" rather than inventing one.

Output

The commentary table plus a short narrative (3–5 sentences) summarizing the period's biggest movers.

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Use this skill in a project

Open any RiverX project, search the Skills panel for anthropics/financial-services/variance-commentary, and install it in one click.

Use this skill