Calculate planned-versus-actual differences with a sign convention and show why a number moved before proposing a fix. This download gives an assistant a concrete input, output and check, so its answer can be inspected rather than accepted on faith.
Download the free skill
A Markdown SKILL.md file. No sign-up. Read the inputs and boundaries before using it with your data.
Download SKILL.mdWhat to provide
Budget and actual amounts for the same period, category and currency, plus a stated favorable/unfavorable convention.
What the assistant does
Align periods and units. Calculate actual minus budget and percent of budget for nonzero budget; handle zero-budget rows as undefined percent. Separate revenue and expense signs. Break a large variance into volume, price, timing or one-off drivers only if evidence supports them.
The output you can check
The skill returns a table with these fields:
category | period | budget | actual | difference | percent | convention | evidence for driver | action owner
A worked example
Fictional software expense: budget $1,000, actual $1,250. Actual minus budget is +$250 and +25%; for expense this is unfavorable under the stated convention. Do not label it overspend until accrual timing is checked.
How to verify the result
Recalculate every row independently, reconcile category totals, and mark missing or mixed-currency data as blocked rather than fill it in.
Limits
The example is fictional. This skill does not invent search volume, customer evidence, prices or approvals. A plan is not a published page, a sent message or a change to an account. Missing source data stays marked as unknown.
Read the underlying method, or browse other finance skills. The keyword "budget variance analysis" had an estimated 170 US average monthly searches in a public keyword tool when this topic was chosen; this is directional demand, not a traffic promise.