Sample Finance Tasks — Day-to-Day Operations
Twelve copy-paste tasks for the finance team, ready to adapt. Each task follows the same pattern — Prepare the files, Prompt with the ready-made text, Check the output before you trust it.
Sample Finance Tasks — Day-to-Day Operations
Twelve copy-paste tasks for the finance team, ready to adapt. Each task follows the same pattern — Prepare the files, Prompt with the ready-made text, Check the output before you trust it.
The patternHow these tasks work
Each task below follows the same pattern: Prepare (get the files into your task folder) → Prompt (copy-paste, adjust file names) → Check (what to verify before you trust the output).
claude there.At a glanceThe 12 tasks — grouped into three lanes
The tasks fall into three groups: Analysis & Reporting, Reconciliation & Control, and Drafting & Review. The numbers are the task numbers used throughout this page.
Quick reference — task number, what it does, and what you get back:
| # | Task | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daily Cash Position Summary | cash-summary-<date>.md with category breakdown and flags |
| 2 | Bank Reconciliation — Exception Review | Exception table, grouped into timing differences vs potential errors |
| 3 | Supplier Invoice Data Extraction & Verification | Per-invoice tables plus one combined summary, with GST 9% flags |
| 4 | Expense Categorisation & Variance Analysis | variance-analysis-<period>.md with top-5 variances and 15% flags |
| 5 | AR Aging — Analysis & Collection Follow-up List | ar-followups.md with aging buckets, top debtors and draft emails |
| 6 | GST (9%) Return — Preparation Checks | gst-check-<period>.md with output vs input tax and line-item checks |
| 7 | Monthly Payroll Summary Review | payroll-summary-<month>.md with totals, departments and flags |
| 8 | Inter-Company Balance Reconciliation | Reconciliation table per pair plus total unmatched summary |
| 9 | Monthly Management Accounts — Draft Commentary | management-commentary-<month>.md (max 1.5 pages) |
| 10 | Fixed Asset Register — Depreciation & Disposal Check | Review table listing only the flagged assets |
| 11 | Audit Schedule — Supporting Document Tracker | audit-schedule.md pre-filled with status "Not started" |
| 12 | Foreign Exchange & Currency Revaluation Check | Revaluation table with original, rate, revalued amount and gain/loss |
Lane 1 · Tasks 1, 4, 5, 7Analysis & Reporting
Turn raw data into summaries and analyses you can act on.
1Daily Cash Position Summary
PrepareExport today's bank statements (or cash movement sheet) as CSV into the folder.
Read bank.csv and produce a cash position summary for today: - opening balance, total inflows, total outflows, closing balance - a breakdown of inflows/outflows by category (sales, suppliers, payroll, tax, other) - flag any single transaction above $10,000 or any unusual category Save the result as cash-summary-<date>.md
4Expense Categorisation & Variance Analysis (Budget vs Actual)
PrepareExport actuals (CSV) and the budget (CSV) into the folder.
Compare actuals.csv with budget.csv for this month. Produce: - a table: category | actual | budget | variance $ | variance % - list the top 5 variances (largest absolute) with a likely reason for each - flag any category more than 15% over budget Save as variance-analysis-<period>.md
5AR Aging — Analysis & Collection Follow-up List
PrepareExport the AR aging report (CSV) into the folder.
Read ar-aging.csv. Summarise receivables by bucket (current, 1-30, 31-60, 61-90, 90+ days) and by customer. List the top 10 debtors by total outstanding, with the oldest invoice date. Draft a short, professional follow-up email for each of the top 5 overdue debtors (90+ days) — polite but firm, mentioning invoice numbers and amounts. Save the emails to ar-followups.md
7Monthly Payroll Summary Review
PrepareExport the payroll register (CSV) into the folder.
Read payroll-<month>.csv. Produce: - total gross pay, total CPF contributions, total net pay, headcount - by department: headcount, gross pay total, average pay - flag any employee whose pay changed by more than 20% vs the previous month - list employees with no CPF contribution (flag for review) Save as payroll-summary-<month>.md
Lane 2 · Tasks 2, 3, 6, 8Reconciliation & Control
Compare two sources of truth and surface every difference before it becomes a problem.
2Bank Reconciliation — Exception Review
PrepareExport the ledger extract (CSV) and the bank statement (CSV) into the folder.
Compare ledger.csv with bank-statement.csv and list all differences: - amounts in ledger but not in the bank statement (and vice versa) - date mismatches for the same amount - duplicates (same amount twice in ledger) Group them into: timing differences vs. potential errors. Show as a table.
3Supplier Invoice Data Extraction & Verification
PrepareDrop invoice PDFs / Excel extracts into the folder.
Extract from each invoice file: supplier, invoice number, date, amount (excl. GST), GST amount (9%), total, and PO number if present. Output one table per invoice, then one combined summary table. Flag any invoice where GST is not 9% of the net amount, or where the total doesn't add up.
6GST (9%) Return — Preparation Checks
PrepareExport the sales summary and purchase summary (CSV) for the period.
Using sales.csv and purchases.csv, compute for the period: - output tax (9% of taxable sales), input tax (9% of taxable purchases) - GST payable/receivable = output − input - list all line items where the GST amount is not exactly 9% of the net amount - flag any zero-rated/exempt items that appear in the taxable lists Save as gst-check-<period>.md
8Inter-Company Balance Reconciliation
PrepareExport each entity's inter-company ledger (CSV) — e.g. entity A's "due to B" and entity B's "due from A" — into the folder.
Compare the inter-company ledgers of entities A, B, C and D. For each pair, match "due to" against the counterparty's "due from" and report: - matched amounts - unmatched amounts with the difference - any amount that appears on only one side (potential error or unrecorded entry) Output a reconciliation table per pair, and a summary of total unmatched amounts.
Lane 3 · Tasks 9, 10, 11, 12Drafting & Review
Draft documents and reviews, with checks before you share them.
9Monthly Management Accounts — Draft Commentary
PrepareP&L (current month + YTD), balance sheet, and last-year comparatives (CSV).
Based on the attached P&L, balance sheet and prior-year data, draft a management commentary (max 1.5 pages) with: - key highlights and lowlights vs last month and vs last year - margin analysis (gross margin, operating margin) with drivers - balance sheet commentary: cash, receivables, payables, borrowings - 2-3 questions management should ask, and recommended focus for next month Use plain language; cite the figure you are commenting on in brackets. Save as management-commentary-<month>.md
10Fixed Asset Register — Depreciation & Disposal Check
PrepareExport the fixed asset register (CSV) with cost, date, depreciation rate.
Read fa-register.csv. For each asset, verify the monthly depreciation is consistent with its cost and rate. Flag: - assets with zero net book value still listed as active - assets fully depreciated but still in use (list — these may need review) - any asset missing a cost, date or rate Output a clean review table with only the flagged assets.
11Audit Schedule — Supporting Document Tracker
PrepareCreate an empty folder; copy the audit checklist (or list of areas) in.
Based on this audit checklist, build an audit schedule markdown table: Area | Working paper name | Supporting docs needed | Owner | Status | Notes. Pre-fill status "Not started" for every row and save as audit-schedule.md
12Foreign Exchange & Currency Revaluation Check
PrepareExport foreign-currency balances (CSV) and the month-end exchange rates.
Using fx-balances.csv and the attached month-end rates, revalue all foreign currency balances to SGD: balance × rate per account. Show original, rate, revalued amount, and gain/loss vs the previous month's revaluation. Flag any revaluation gain/loss above $5,000 for review.
Small habits, big differenceGeneral Tips
Five habits that make every one of the tasks above faster and safer:
- One task = one folder. Keeps files, outputs and history clean.
- Ask for the output as a file: "...and save as
report.md" — you then have a ready-to-edit document instead of terminal text. - Give it the target format: "as a table", "in thousands", "with last-year comparison" — one line saves a round of back-and-forth.
- Ask it to show its work: "show the calculation for each row" makes numbers verifiable.
- When in doubt, ask for a checklist: "list the checks I should do before filing the GST return" is a good way to make sure nothing is missed.