Claude for Finance

	A	B	C	D
9	in $ thousands	Q2 actual	Q3 actual	Variance
10	Revenue	4,820	4,905	85
11	Cost of sales	3,085	3,290	(205)
12	Gross margin	1,735	1,615	(120)
13	Margin %	36.0%	32.9%	(3.1) pts
14	Operating expenses	1,102	1,096	6

01

Where to start?

Choose your role. The guide suggests the sections to read first, the use cases that pay off fastest and a first trial week.

Tailor the prompts to your company

Fill in these fields once and every prompt in the guide updates. Highlighted values come from here. Nothing leaves your browser.

Company Framework Materiality threshold ($) Threshold in % Accounting software Fiscal year-end Close deadline

!

One rule for the whole team, from day one. Claude prepares, you sign. It posts nothing to the general ledger, approves no payments and files no returns. Every figure that leaves the department goes through a person who has reviewed it. The Internal control section explains how to set the guardrails.

02

Claude in the finance function

What Claude does well for a finance department, what it must not do, and the three places where it works.

Claude is an artificial intelligence assistant built by Anthropic. It reads and produces text, tables, Excel workbooks, presentations and web pages. For a finance team, think of a very fast analyst who has read the standards and knows Excel inside out, but who joined the company this morning. It knows only what you give it about your chart of accounts, your policies and your figures, and its work must be reviewed like that of any new hire.

The three places where Claude works

Chat

CHAT

A conversation on claude.ai, the desktop app or your phone. You upload files (PDF, Excel, CSV) and ask questions. Claude answers and can produce an Excel, Word or PowerPoint file to download.

Analyze a financial statement or a contract
Draft management commentary
Explain a standard, prepare a technical memo
Build a workbook from a description

Best for thinking, drafting and analyzing one document at a time.

Cowork

COWORK

Claude takes action. It opens the files in a folder you share with it, consults your connected tools (email, calendar, storage, accounting software, depending on the connectors available) and chains the steps through to the deliverable.

Process 60 PDF invoices in a folder
Merge the monthly exports from the accounting system
Prepare the close package and draft collection reminders
Run a task every Monday at 7 a.m.

Best for repetitive work across several files or several tools.

Office add-ins

EXCEL

Claude in a side panel in Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook. It reads the open workbook, cites cells, changes assumptions without breaking formulas and can work across applications.

Understand an inherited model
Find the source of a #REF!
Build a pivot table or a validation list
Go from the Excel model to the board package

Best for anything that already lives in a workbook. Section 04.

What Claude does well, and what it must not do

Hand it

The first draft: proposed entries, reconciliations, variance commentary, file memos
High-volume reading: a 200-page contract, 60 invoices, a 40,000-line general ledger
Formatting: tables, charts, board packages, emails
Diagnostics: broken formulas, hard-coded values, inconsistencies between tabs
Explanations: a standard, a model or a variance, for a non-financial manager

Keep for yourself

The sign-off: approval of entries, payments and returns
Final professional judgment: provisions, impairments, estimates
Key figures without a check: Claude can make mistakes, especially doing mental arithmetic over a long text
Tax or legal advice: it summarizes, it does not replace your tax specialist
Data that no internal policy allows you to share

i

Why figures must be double-checked. A language model predicts text. It does not keep a ledger. It is excellent at structuring and explaining, and reliable when it calculates in Excel or with code. It is less reliable when it adds up amounts read from a PDF in its head. Always ask it to show its formulas or control totals (see section 12).

Which plan for a finance team?

	Pro / Max	Team	Enterprise
Who it's for	One person, a trial, a self-employed professional	An SME team, from 5 to a few dozen people	Large enterprise with security and compliance requirements
Claude for Excel and Office	Yes	Yes, deployable by the Microsoft 365 administrator	Yes, deployable and centrally governed
Central management	No	Admin console, single billing, shared projects	Single sign-on, fine-grained access controls, retention, compliance API
Our advice	To test before making the case to management	The natural starting point for a finance department	As soon as there is an audit committee, a structured IT function or regulated data

Plans, usage limits and features change often. Check the current offer on claude.com before you buy.

03

The basics, finance edition

The quality of the answer depends on the quality of the request. Here is the structure of a request that produces reviewable work on the first try.

Anatomy of a professional-grade request

Role

"Act as the controller of a Quebec manufacturing SME reporting under ASPE."Sets the level of language and the accounting framework.

Context

"Fiscal year-end is December 31, close at D+5, 180 employees, sales in Canada and the United States."What a new analyst would ask you on day one.

Data

"August trial balance attached, TB tab; budget in the Budget tab."Say where the figures are, their period and their unit (dollars or thousands).

Task

"Explain the variances over $25,000 and over 10% between actual and budget."A specific materiality threshold, never "the significant variances".

Format

"Table: line item, actual, budget, $ variance, % variance, one-sentence explanation, question for the owner."Describe the deliverable as you would put it on file.

Controls

"Include a control total that ties to the TB. Flag any assumption. Do not guess a missing figure: ask for it."The line that turns an answer into reviewable work.

Before and after: four typical requests

Before

Analyze the budget variances.

Result: a generic list ("revenue is higher than expected") covering every line item, with no threshold and no cause. Impossible to put on file.

After

Here are August actuals and budget (Actual and Budget tabs, in dollars). Explain the variances over $25,000 AND over 10%. For each one: the likely cause based on the data, and a question for the line-item owner. A table, then a 5-line summary for the director. A control total that ties to both tabs.

Result: 7 variances explained, a summary ready to send, a verifiable tie-out.

What changes: a materiality threshold, a file-ready format, a control total.

Projects: your department's permanent file

A project groups conversations and reference documents that Claude consults every time. For a finance team, it is the equivalent of the permanent file: you set it up once, and every request benefits.

Create one project per major process ("Month-end close", "Budget 2027", "External audit") rather than a single catch-all project. On the Team or Enterprise plan, a project can be shared with the team.

What goes into the "Month-end close" project

The chart of accounts, with a description of each account
The close calendar and checklist
Policies: capitalization, accruals, materiality thresholds
An example of management commentary you like
Project instructions: "Answer in English, amounts in Canadian dollars, format $1,234.56, ASPE, never invent an account number."

!

What does not go into a project: social insurance numbers, named payroll data, full bank account numbers, health information. Section 11 offers a simple data classification.

The files Claude reads

Excel and CSV

Trial balances, general ledgers, exports from the accounting system. Claude reads the tabs and can calculate with code for large volumes. To work inside the workbook, use the Excel add-in.

PDF and images

Financial statements, invoices, bank statements, contracts, even scanned ones. Ask for the source page of each extracted figure, especially on a poor-quality scan.

Word and PowerPoint

Policies, notes to the financial statements, last year's board packages. Excellent for "redo the same structure with this year's figures".

04

Claude for Excel

The add-in that puts Claude in Excel's side panel. For a finance team, it is often the most profitable way in: the work happens where the numbers already live.

Claude for Excel reads the open workbook, all its tabs and its formulas. It answers with cell citations you can click to check, changes assumptions while keeping formula links intact, finds the source of an error, and builds models or fills in your templates. It is available on the paid Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans.

Install the add-in

For yourself

5 minutes

In Microsoft AppSource, search for "Claude for Microsoft 365" and choose Get it now.
Open Excel. On Windows: Home › Add-ins. On Mac: Tools › Add-ins. Turn on Claude.
Sign in with your Claude account (your company plan account, if you have one).
Open a test workbook and ask: "Describe the structure of this workbook."

For the whole organization

M365 ADMINISTRATOR

Microsoft 365 admin center: Settings › Org settings › User owned apps and services, allow access to the Office Store.
Settings › Integrated apps › Add-ins, search for "Claude for Microsoft 365".
Deploy to the whole organization or to the "Finance" group only.
If Store access is blocked in your organization, deploy with the manifest file provided in Claude's documentation.

If your IT team activates administrator roles through Privileged Identity Management, deployment may fail. Use an account whose role is permanently active.

i

Supported versions: Excel for the web; Excel for Windows with Microsoft 365 (build 16.0.13127.20296 or later); Excel for Mac 16.46 or later. Not supported: perpetual or volume licences of Excel 2016 and 2019, Excel on iPad and on Android.

A guided tour of the panel

ExcelPrévision_trésorerie_13sem.xlsxClaude

F18fx=E18+F10-F16

	A	D	E	F
9	in $ thousands	Wk 36	Wk 37	Wk 38
10	Customer receipts	610	585	540
14	Suppliers	(402)	(455)	(390)
15	Payroll	(215)	0	(215)
16	Total disbursements	(617)	(455)	(605)
18	Closing cash	1,240	1,370	1,305

Assumptions13 weeksAR aging

Claude ⚙ Settings

Reduce week 38 receipts by 10%: customer Nordik is paying late.

I found the Nordik assumption Assumptions!C22. Changing it will recalculate F10 and closing cash F18 without touching the formulas.1

Change 1 cell and overwrite an existing value?

ApproveDecline

2

Reply or type / for a skill+3

1Cell citations. Every statement points to a cell. Click to go there: this is your audit trail.
2Confirmation before overwriting. Claude warns you before replacing existing data and asks for your approval for risky operations.
3"/" and "+". The slash launches a skill (for example, a model check). The "+" opens data connectors.
⚙Settings. Your standing instructions for Excel (format, currency, conventions) and clearing the history, which is stored locally on your computer.

See Claude at work

Four short demos using data from the workbook (in French). Press "Play" to see each step. At rest, the demo shows the final result.

Reconciliation of account 1010, August

Case A · workbook conciliation_1010_aout.xlsx

Excelconciliation_1010_aout.xlsxClaude

	Reference	Bank	GL	Status
14	CHQ 10571	(8,412.20)	(8,412.20)	✓ matched
15	DEP 1482	42,180.55	42,180.55	✓ matched
18	CHQ 10575	(1,245.00)	(1,254.00)	$9 transposition
31	DEP 3188	–	18,450.00	Deposit in transit
33	CHQ 10615	–	(12,875.00)	Outstanding
36	NSF Beaulieu	(2,150.00)	–	To be recorded

BanqueGLConciliation

Claude workbook open

Reconcile account 1010 at August 31. Banque tab = bank statement, GL tab = general ledger.

I'm matching by amount and date (±3 days), then by reference: 47 of 53 lines match.

Six exceptions. Cheque 10575 is recorded at $1,254 in the books GL!E18 and at $1,245 at the bank Banque!E18: a $9 difference, divisible by 9, typical of a transposition.

"Conciliation" tab createdAdjusted balance: $94,797.28 on both sidesRemaining difference: $0.00

August variances, $25,000 and 10% threshold

Case C · workbook ecarts_aout.xlsx

Excelecarts_aout.xlsxClaude

	Line item	Actual	Budget	Variance	%
5	U.S. sales	1,085,000	1,210,000	(125,000)	(10.3%)
7	Raw materials	1,956,000	1,742,000	(214,000)	12.3%
18	Advertising	58,900	32,000	(26,900)	84.1%
17	Professional fees	41,200	18,000	(23,200)	128.9%
6	Direct labour	742,000	735,000	(7,000)	1.0%

RéelBudgetÉcartsCommentaire

Claude workbook open

Explain the variances over $25,000 and over 10%.

I'm adding the "Écarts" tab with formulas that point to the Réel (actual) and Budget tabs.

Three line items exceed both thresholds. Professional fees are up 129% but stay under $25,000, so I'm flagging them without explaining them.

Materials: mostly a price effect. Steel is at $1,143/t versus $1,063 in the budget Volumes!B6. U.S. sales: 441 tonnes versus 505 Volumes!B4.

Management commentary drafted150 words, 3 questions for line-item owners

Find and fix a #REF!

Case H · workbook modele_prix_revient.xlsx

Excelmodele_prix_revient.xlsxClaude

B6fx~~=#REF!*0.02~~=Hypothèses!B11*0.02

	A	B
2	Adjusted average cost / 100 u.	10,750
3	Suggested average price / 100 u.	16,072
4	Average price in USD / 100 u.	11,905
5	Difference from previous calculation	6,222
6	Project risk premium	#REF!256

HypothèsesMatièresSommaire

Claude workbook open

Find the source of the #REF! in the Sommaire (summary) tab.

Sommaire!B6 multiplies a deleted reference by 2%. It pointed to a tab that was removed. No other cell depends on it.

Create "Risk premium" in Hypothèses!B11 (value to confirm: $12,800) and replace the formula in B6?

ApproveDecline

2 cells modifiedHypothèses!B11, Sommaire!B60 errors remaining in the workbook

From the Excel model to the board presentation

Case G · modele_T3.xlsx and paquet_conseil_T2.pptx

Excelmodele_T3.xlsx

	in $000s	Q2	Q3
2	Revenue	13,380	13,770
4	Gross margin	4,820	4,530
11	Gross margin %	36.0%	32.9%

PowerPointpaquet_conseil_T3.pptx · slide 3

Revenue and gross marginRevenue is up, margin is down 3 points

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Notes: revenue = ÉR trimestriel!C2; margin = ÉR trimestriel!C11

Update slide 3 with the Q3 figures from the open model, and write the title as a message.

I'm adding Q3 to the chart: $13,770K C2.

Title rewritten, sources recorded in the speaker notes. Slides 1, 2 and 15 unchanged.

Six uses that change your day-to-day

Understand

Read an inherited model

Your predecessor's workbook: 14 tabs, no documentation. Claude traces every figure back to its source.

Explain how the EBITDA in cell H42 is calculated, step by step, with the source cells.

Scenarios

Change an assumption

It changes the input value, never the formula, and shows you the effect on the results.

Change the USD/CAD exchange rate from 1.36 to 1.32 and show the impact on annual gross margin.

Debugging

Find an error

#REF!, #VALUE!, #DIV/0!, circular references, sums that miss a row: it finds the cause, not just the symptom.

Find out why the Summary tab total does not tie to the trial balance.

Build

Build or fill in a model

A three-statement model from a trial balance, a cash flow forecast, or your template filled in with the month's data.

Build a 3-year three-statement financial model from the trial balance in the TB tab.

Native Excel

The tedious operations

Sort, filter, edit a pivot table, apply conditional formatting, create validation lists.

Add an "Approved / To review / Rejected" drop-down list in column H and colour amounts over $10,000 in red.

External data

Enrich with sources

Depending on your subscription, connectors to financial data providers (S&P Global, LSEG, Moody's, etc.) feed the workbook.

Add a tab with the EBITDA multiples of 6 comparable listed companies.

Standing instructions

In the panel's Settings, the Instructions field applies to all your conversations in Excel (it is separate from the one in PowerPoint and Word). Write your conventions there once and for all.

A team can share the same text so that every workbook looks the same.

Excel instructions, finance team

Respond in English. Amounts in Canadian dollars, comma as the thousands separator, negatives in parentheses. Column headings in bold, assumption tabs in blue. Never hard-code a value in a formula: every assumption goes in the Assumptions tab. Before changing more than 20 cells, describe the plan and wait for my approval. End every change with the list of cells modified.

From workbook to board of directors, without copy and paste

When the Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook add-ins are installed and the "Let Claude work across files" option is turned on in each one, Claude reads one open file and edits the other in the same conversation.

ExcelThe model

Quarterly results, variances, updated forecast.

PowerPointThe board package

"Update the charts on slides 4 to 7 with the figures from the model."

WordThe MD&A

"Draft the quarter's commentary from the model and the presentation."

OutlookSending it

"Prepare the cover email to the directors." You review, you send.

On the Team and Enterprise plans, the option is off by default and the administrator can control it. Claude only works on files that are already open. It does not open or close files by itself.

Limits to know

Topic	What you need to know	What it means for you
Macros and VBA	Not run by the add-in.	Claude can write the VBA code in chat. You paste it and run it yourself.
Data tables	The What-If Analysis › Data Table feature is not supported.	Ask instead for a sensitivity tab built with formulas.
History	Stored locally in your browser; not synced across devices.	Note important requests and modified cells in your file.
Logging	Add-in activity does not appear in Enterprise audit logs. The compliance API covers it (public beta).	Document this in your policy if your controls require an audit trail.
Final deliverables	Not recommended without human review for client deliverables, audit-critical calculations or regulated data without controls.	Apply the 5 checks before distribution.

!

Only open trusted workbooks with Claude. An external file (downloaded template, supplier file, data import) may contain hidden instructions that try to extract data or modify records. Work on a copy, and read every confirmation request carefully.

Turn on the option in each add-in (a per-device setting). On Team/Enterprise, the administrator must allow it.

05

Chat, Cowork or Excel?

The same task can be done in three places. Here is how to choose in ten seconds.

Your need	Chat	Cowork	Excel
The work lives in…	One or two documents you upload	A folder, a mailbox, several tools	The open workbook
Example	"Explain the accounting treatment of this lease."	"Extract the 60 invoices in the folder and prepare the import file."	"Find out why the Summary doesn't tie to the TB."
Result	An answer, a file to download	Files created in your folder, drafts	The workbook modified, cells cited
Recurring?	No: you rerun it manually	Yes: scheduled task	No: on demand
Who uses it most	CFO, CPA, analyst	Technician, AP and AR, controller	FP&A analyst, controller, accountant

→

Rule of thumb: if the task fits in one workbook, stay in Excel. If it requires opening several files or coming back every month, move to Cowork. For everything else, use chat.

06

Use cases

Sixteen recipes drawn from the daily work of a finance department. Each one gives the steps, the prompt to copy, what you get and the check to perform before you use the result. Filter by role or by cycle.

Role

Cycle

EXCELBeginnerTechnicianController

A · Bank reconciliation in twenty minutes

Sophie, an Accounting Technician at Groupe Boréal, reconciles three bank accounts every month. Line-by-line matching takes her half a day, yet only the exceptions deserve her attention.

Steps

In a single workbook, put the bank statement export on one tab and the general ledger extract for the bank account on another.
Open Claude in Excel and paste the prompt.
Claude matches by amount and date (with a tolerance), then by reference, and creates a reconciliation tab.
Review only the exceptions: outstanding cheques, deposits in transit, unrecorded bank charges.
Ask for the entries for charges and interest, and post them yourself.

Prompt

In Excel

Reconcile account 1010 as at August 31. Bank tab = statement, GL tab = general ledger. First match on exact amount and date within ±3 days, then on cheque number or reference. Create a “Reconciliation” tab in the standard format: balance per bank, deposits in transit, outstanding cheques, other items, adjusted balance, balance per books, difference. List each unmatched item with its likely cause. Do not delete or change the source tabs.

You get: a reconciliation tab, the list of unmatched items and a residual difference, ideally zero.

Check: the bank balance and book balance on the tab must match the sources; sample 5 matches at random; any non-zero residual difference must be explained before sign-off.

CHATCOWORKIntermediateAccountantTechnician

B · The month’s adjusting entries

Every month-end, the same adjustments come back: accrued liabilities, prepaid expenses, depreciation, accrued vacation pay. Claude prepares the proposed entries and their support; you review and post them.

Steps

In the “Month-end close” project, make sure the chart of accounts and the accrual policy are present.
Add the supporting documents: invoices received after month-end, contracts, the fixed asset register, uninvoiced receiving slips.
Paste the prompt. Claude produces a proposed journal in an Excel workbook.
Review, then post in your accounting system. Claude does not write to it.
In Cowork, the Finance plugin offers the /journal-entry command, which applies the same approach.

Prompt

Chat or Cowork

Prepare the adjusting entries as at August 31 from the attached documents. For each entry: date, accounts (only those in the project’s chart of accounts), debit, credit, description, calculation method, supporting document. Add reversing entries on September 1 where relevant. Check that each entry balances. Produce an Excel file with a Journal tab and a Calculations tab. List separately the items where you had to make an assumption.

You get: a balanced proposed journal, each amount with its calculation and support, ready for review.

Check: total debits equal total credits; no account outside the chart; compare with the prior month: an adjustment that disappears or doubles must be explained.

EXCELBeginnerControllerFP&A AnalystFinance Director

C · Variance analysis and management commentary

Julien, a Controller, spends one day a month explaining variances between actual and budget and writing commentary that management will read in two minutes. Claude does the first pass in a few minutes.

Steps

Open the workbook that holds the actuals, the budget and, ideally, the prior year.
Give a materiality threshold in dollars and as a percentage.
Claude calculates the variances in a new tab, using formulas, and proposes an explanation for each variance based on the data.
You complete the explanations that only operations can provide, using the questions Claude has prepared.
Then ask for a half-page management commentary.

Prompt

In Excel

Create a “Variances” tab: for each income statement line, actual, budget, $ and % variance (with formulas that point to the source tabs), and the same month last year. Highlight variances greater than $25,000 AND greater than 10%. For each one, break down the volume, price and mix effects where the data allows, then write a one-sentence explanation and a question for the line owner. Finish with a 150-word management commentary for senior management.

You get: a live variance tab (it recalculates if the data changes), the questions to ask and a commentary ready to adjust.

Check: the actual and budget totals on the tab agree with the statements; each explanation cites cells; an explanation the data does not prove is marked “to be confirmed”.

COWORKIntermediateAccounts payableTechnician

D · Sixty supplier invoices, one import file

Invoices arrive as PDFs in a shared mailbox. Rather than entering them one by one, Claude extracts the data into your system’s import format and flags anything that looks wrong.

Steps

Save the week’s PDFs in a folder, for example Factures/2026-09-S38, and give Cowork access to that folder.
Add to the folder the sample import file from your accounting system and the supplier list with their default expense accounts.
Run the prompt. Claude reads each invoice, fills in the file and creates an exceptions report.
Review the exceptions, then import the file into the system yourself.

Prompt

Cowork, connected folder

Read all the PDF invoices in the folder. For each one, extract: supplier, invoice number, date, due date, amount before tax, GST, QST, total, purchase order number. Fill in a file in the same format as “modele_import.csv” (the import format for our accounting system). Create “exceptions.xlsx” with: possible duplicates (same supplier and same amount, or same number), taxes that do not match the applicable rates, suppliers missing from the list, totals that do not balance, unreadable invoices. Do not move or delete any file.

You get: an import file ready to go, and a short list of exceptions to handle manually.

Check: the number of lines equals the number of PDFs; the file total equals the sum of the invoice totals; check 10% of the lines against the PDF.

COWORKEXCELIntermediateAccounts receivableController

E · Receivables aging and prioritized collection reminders

Émilie manages 400 customer accounts. She knows she needs to follow up, but not always where to start. Claude ranks the accounts by risk and prepares reminders in the right tone for each one.

Steps

Export the aging report and the payment history for the last 12 months.
Claude calculates, by customer: balance by aging bucket, actual average days to pay, trend.
It produces a prioritized list: amount at stake × probability of late payment.
With email connected, it creates personalized reminder drafts. You review and send them.

Prompt

Cowork

Using “vieillissement_aout.xlsx” and “paiements_12mois.xlsx”: calculate, by customer, the average days to pay and its trend over 3 months. Rank the 30 accounts to follow up first (amount over 60 days, worsening trend, history). For each, create a draft email in my mailbox: friendly for a first late payment, firm if there have been 2 reminders, with the statement of invoices as a table. Do not send anything. Add an “Allowance” tab that proposes an allowance amount by aging bucket according to our attached policy.

You get: the 30 calls to make this week, 30 drafts ready to go, and a basis for calculating the allowance for doubtful accounts.

Check: the total by bucket agrees with the accounts receivable balance in the general ledger; the proposed allowance is only a proposal: the judgment and approval are yours. For continuous, automated collections, a specialized agent such as Finaxis takes over.

EXCELAdvancedFinance DirectorCFO

F · The 13-week cash flow forecast

The banker wants a weekly forecast to renew the line of credit. Claude builds the structure from your actual data, and you then update it every Monday in a few minutes.

Steps

Gather in one workbook: bank balance, aged receivables, aged payables, payroll calendar, debt repayments, government remittances.
Ask Claude to build the model with a separate assumptions tab.
Have the collection-period assumptions validated for each major customer.
Every week: paste in the new balances and ask for actual versus forecast for the past week.
Ask for a downside scenario before each meeting with the banker.

Prompt

In Excel

Build a 13-week direct cash flow forecast from the tabs in this workbook. Assumptions tab: collection period for each major customer and an average for the others, supplier terms, biweekly pay dates, GST/QST remittances and source deductions, debt payments. 13 Weeks tab: receipts, disbursements by category, ending cash, line of credit used, remaining availability, and compliance with the minimum liquidity requirement of $250,000. All input values in Assumptions, no constants in formulas. Add an alert row when availability falls below the minimum.

You get: a clean weekly model that updates when you change the inputs, with tight weeks flagged.

Check: opening cash equals the bank statement; ask “list all hard-coded constants”; after 4 weeks, compare forecast and actual to calibrate the collection periods.

EXCELPOWERPOINT · WORDIntermediateCFOFinance Director

G · The board package, from model to slides

Nadia, the CFO, rebuilds the same fifteen slides every quarter. With the Office add-ins linked, Claude updates the charts and drafts the commentary from the model, in the company template.

Steps

Open the quarter’s Excel model and the previous quarter’s presentation.
Turn on “work across files” in both add-ins.
Ask for the figures, tables and charts to be updated, slide by slide.
Ask for the key messages: 3 points per slide, in management’s voice.
Open Word for the written MD&A, then Outlook for the cover email.

Prompt

In PowerPoint, with Excel open

Update this Q2 presentation with the Q3 figures from the open Excel model. Keep the template, colours and structure. For each table and chart, replace the data and note the source cell in the speaker notes. Rewrite each slide title as a message (“Gross margin down 3 points: steel impact”). Add a “Decision points” slide at the end. Do not change slides 1, 2 and 15.

You get: an updated presentation with every figure traceable in the notes, ready for your review.

Check: agree 3 key figures (revenue, EBITDA, cash) to the approved statements; no figure without a source note; management reviews the tone.

EXCELIntermediateFP&A AnalystController

H · Auditing an inherited Excel model

Karim inherits the product costing model: 22 tabs, links to files that no longer exist, numbers typed into the middle of formulas. Before relying on it, he asks Claude for an audit report.

Steps

Make a copy of the workbook. Work on the copy.
First ask for a model map: tabs, flows between tabs, inputs, outputs.
Then the anomaly report (see the prompt).
Fix the issues with Claude, one category of anomalies at a time, validating each batch.
Finish with a “Documentation” tab that the next analyst will thank you for.

Prompt

In Excel

Audit this workbook without changing anything. Create an “Audit” tab that lists, with the address of each cell: hard-coded constants in formulas, inconsistent formulas within a row or column, references to other workbooks, #REF! and other errors, SUM ranges that exclude adjacent rows, circular references, unused defined names, hidden tabs. Rank by severity (critical, to fix, cosmetic) and estimate the dollar impact where possible.

You get: an addressed, prioritized anomaly log: the foundation of a reliable model.

Check: open 5 “critical” anomalies to confirm them; after the fixes, key results must be identical, or the difference explained line by line.

COWORKIntermediateControllerAccountant

I · Preparing for the external audit or review engagement

The auditors’ list of requested documents runs to 90 lines. Claude turns it into a work plan, finds what already exists in your folders and prepares the account summaries.

Steps

Give Cowork the year-end folder and the auditors’ request list.
Claude assigns each request an owner, a date and the files already available.
It prepares the account summaries (balance continuities, year-over-year variance analyses).
Schedule a weekly task that updates the progress status until fieldwork.

Prompt

Cowork

Here is the auditors’ list of requested documents (liste_demandes.xlsx) and our year-end folder. Create a work plan: request, proposed owner based on our org chart, target date, existing files that answer it (with path), what is missing. For balance sheet accounts, prepare a balance continuity (opening, increases, decreases, closing) that agrees with the final trial balance. List year-over-year variances greater than 10% and $50,000 with an explanation to document. Do not send anything to the auditors.

You get: a tracking table, the documents already found, the balance continuities and the variance explanations to complete.

Check: each continuity agrees with the trial balance; a “found” file is opened and validated by its owner before it is sent.

EXCELIntermediateTechnicianAccountant

J · Reconciling the GST/QST return to the general ledger

Before filing the return, you check that the taxes collected and paid in the general ledger agree with taxable sales and purchases. Claude performs the reconciliation and isolates suspicious transactions.

Steps

Export the GST and QST payable and receivable accounts, and the sales and purchases for the period.
Claude recalculates the expected taxes at the applicable rates and compares.
It isolates transactions where the tax does not match: exempt, zero-rated, miscoded, unregistered suppliers.
You analyze the exceptions and prepare the return in your usual tool.

Prompt

In Excel

For the period from July to September: reconcile the balances of accounts 2310 GST payable, 2320 QST payable, 1310 GST receivable and 1320 QST receivable with the expected taxes calculated on the sales and purchases in the Sales and Purchases tabs (GST 5%, QST 9.975%). Create a “Reconciliation” tab with the difference by account, then an “Exceptions” tab: transactions where the tax differs from the expected amount by more than $1, with the tax code used. Do not give an opinion on the tax treatment: only flag.

You get: a reconciliation by account and a short list of exceptions to analyze.

Check: opening balances agree with the trial balance; any treatment question (zero-rated supplies, exports, restricted input tax refunds) goes to your tax specialist, not to Claude.

CHATIntermediateCPA AccountantController

K · The technical memo on an accounting question

A new 10-year warehouse lease, a renewal option, incentives: how do you account for it? Claude structures the analysis and drafts the file memo; you validate it against the CPA Canada Handbook.

Steps

Specify the framework: ASPE (Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises) or IFRS. The treatment of leases differs significantly.
Upload the contract and first ask for the facts to be extracted (see the before/after example in section 03).
Ask for the structured analysis, with the paragraphs of the standard to check.
Have the reasoning validated; keep the memo in the permanent file.

Prompt

Chat, “Technical accounting” project

Draft a technical file memo on the accounting for this lease under ASPE (Section 3065). Structure: relevant facts (with the contract page), issue, analysis of the classification criteria, proposed conclusion, initial and first-year entries, disclosures, areas of judgment and assumptions. State clearly which paragraphs of the standard I must check myself. Then, in an appendix, summarize in 5 lines what would change under IFRS 16.

You get: a structured memo and a precise list of the passages of the standard to reread.

Check: every paragraph reference is verified in the official source; the conclusion is yours, signed by you.

COWORKBeginnerTechnicianAccountant

L · Expense reports against the policy

Every month, 150 expense reports and their receipts. Claude checks each one against the company policy and brings up only the cases that call for judgment.

Steps

Put the expense policy in the folder or the project.
Add the expense report export and the receipts folder.
Claude compares each line with the policy and the receipt.
You handle the exceptions and reply to employees using the prepared drafts.

Prompt

Cowork

Compare each line of “notes_frais_aout.xlsx” with our expense policy and the matching receipt in the Reçus folder. Flag: missing or unreadable receipt, amount that differs from the receipt, limits exceeded (meals, lodging, mileage), ineligible expense, alcohol, possible duplicate, approver who is also the claimant. Create an exceptions table with the relevant policy section and a draft message to the employee for each case. Compliant lines go on a separate tab.

You get: 150 reports checked, about ten documented exceptions, messages ready to send.

Check: sample 10 “compliant” reports; decisions to refuse remain human; personal data stays in the space your policy authorizes.

CHATCOWORKAdvancedCFOFinance Director

M · The management financial dashboard

A private web page, updated every Monday, that the president opens on their phone: liquidity, days sales outstanding, margin, order backlog, alerts. Claude builds it as an artifact, then a scheduled task refreshes it.

Steps

Choose 6 to 8 indicators, with their exact definition and source (write them down: this is the most important part).
Give Claude a recent export and ask for an artifact: a dashboard page.
Adjust the layout in conversation (“put the alerts at the top”).
In Cowork, schedule the Monday update from the exports folder.
Share the link with management.

Groupe Boréal · Week 38 updated Monday 7 a.m.

Cash + available credit$1.31M▼ 5%

Days sales outstanding47 d▲ 4 d

Q3 gross margin32.9%▼ 3.1 pts

Order backlog$6.4M▲ 8%

Accounts receivable by age ($2.86M)

Current 58%31-60 d 24%61-90 d 11%90 d + 7%

ALERTNordik: $212K over 60 days, 3rd reminder unanswered.

Follow-up on uninvoiced receiving slips

Update of the close checklist

Inventory cut-off

MONTH-END D0

Export of statements and the general ledger to the month’s folder

Physical inventory count, if applicable

DAY D+1

Bank reconciliations (case A)

Month-end supplier invoices (case D)

DAY D+2

Proposed adjusting entries (case B)

Review and posting of entries

DAY D+3

Balance sheet account reconciliations

Sales tax reconciliation (case J)

DAY D+4

Variance analysis (case C)

Management commentary

Controller review

DAY D+5

Management package (case G)

Dashboard updated (case M)

CFO approval

CHATCOWORKEXCELDotted: human only

The close checklist, managed by Claude

Instead of a file that everyone updates when they remember, ask Claude to maintain the close checklist: it reads confirmations in emails and files saved to the month’s folder, and gives you a progress status every morning.

The Cowork Finance plugin includes commands designed for the close: /journal-entry, /reconciliation, /income-statement, /variance-analysis and /sox-testing for control testing files.

Cowork task, every morning from D+1 to D+5

Read “liste_cloture.xlsx” and the Clôture/2026-09 folder. For each task, determine whether it is complete (file delivered, confirmation email received) and update the status. Send me a summary: overdue tasks with their owner, today’s tasks, blockers reported in emails. Do not change any other file. Do not follow up with anyone: only prepare drafts.

→

Measure the impact: record the number of close days and the overtime hours before the project. That is the indicator that will convince management (see section 13).

08

Automate

Scheduled tasks, connectors, plugins and skills turn a good request into a department routine.

A finance department’s routine calendar

WhenScheduled taskResult

Monday 7 a.m.

Weekly cash positionReads the exported bank balances and the forecast, calculates actual versus forecast, flags tight weeks.

Summary to the Finance Director

Monday 8 a.m.

Management dashboardRefreshes the page from the exports folder (case M).

Updated artifact

Tuesday 9 a.m.

CollectionsReceivables aging, 20 priorities, reminder drafts (case E).

Drafts in the AR mailbox

Every day, D+1 to D+5

Close statusUpdates the close checklist, lists delays and blockers.

Summary to the Controller

Friday 3 p.m.

Weekly invoicesProcesses the invoice folder, prepares the import file and the exceptions (case D).

File ready to import

1st day of the quarter

Sales taxesPrepares the quarter’s GST/QST reconciliation (case J).

Reconciliation workbook

!

A scheduled task runs without you. Spell out in writing what it must never do: “Do not send any email”, “Do not delete any file”, “Do not change the source tabs”. And check the first three runs before you trust it.

Connectors: plugging Claude into your systems

Office tools

Email, calendar, OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Drive. The foundation: read confirmations, save deliverables, prepare drafts.

Accounting and payments

Connectors exist for several accounting packages, ERPs, expense and payment tools (QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Stripe, etc.). The offering changes quickly: check Claude’s connector directory.

Financial data

S&P Global, LSEG, Moody's, Dun & Bradstreet, PitchBook and others, for a customer’s credit analysis, comparables or market data, depending on your subscriptions.

i

The golden rule for financial connectors: read-only. A connector to your accounting or banking system should allow reading, not posting entries, approving payments or moving money. Check the permissions granted when you connect it.

Plugins and skills

Anthropic’s finance plugins

COWORK

Ready-to-install bundles of commands, skills and connectors:

Finance: journal entries, reconciliations, income statement, variance analysis, control testing
Financial analysis: three-statement models, workbook audits (/debug-model), data cleanup, DCF, comparables
Agent templates released in 2026: close manager, general ledger reconciler, statement reviewer

Your “House standards” skill

ALL

A skill is a set of instructions that Claude applies automatically, in the chat, Cowork and the Office add-ins. Write one for your department:

Chart of accounts and description conventions
Amount format, rounding, currency
Materiality and approval thresholds
Management commentary template

Simply ask: “Help me create a skill with our accounting standards from these documents.”

09

Your accounting software

Claude does not replace your accounting system: it works on what comes out of it. Here is how to give it the right data from the most widely used packages in Quebec.

Software	Connector with Claude	How to get the data	Watch for
Acomba	None	Run the report on screen, switch to Mode chiffrier (spreadsheet mode) via Opération › Mode (Operation › Mode), select the data, right-click Copier vers le tableur (copy to spreadsheet) and paste into Excel. The “Générateur d’états financiers pour Excel” module (financial statement generator for Excel) automates the extraction.	Check that the period and inactive accounts are included before copying.
Sage 50 Accounting	None	Each report (trial balance, general ledger, agings) can be exported to Excel or CSV from the report window.	CSV exports sometimes lose column headers: export to Excel instead.
QuickBooks Online	Official (Intuit)	Intuit QuickBooks connector in Claude’s directory: financial statements, cash flows, comparisons. Otherwise, export each report to Excel.	Check availability for Canadian businesses and the permissions granted.
Xero	Xero MCP server	Xero publishes an MCP server that your IT team can connect as a custom connector. Otherwise, Excel exports.	Set up read-only access.
Dynamics 365 Business Central	Indirect	Use Open in Excel on the list or report, then Claude for Excel. The Microsoft 365 connector gives access to shared files.	The “Edit in Excel” link writes to the ERP: reserve it for authorized people.
NetSuite	Official (Oracle)	The NetSuite AI connector appears in Claude’s connectors; it queries records and reports according to NetSuite roles.	Create a dedicated, read-only NetSuite role, limited to the required subsidiaries.
Sage Intacct	Official MCP server	Sage provides an MCP server for Intacct, for your IT team to connect.	Same rule: read-only, logging enabled.

The connector offering changes quickly: check Claude’s connector directory and your vendor’s documentation before rolling out. Current as of September 22, 2026.

The five exports that cover 80% of needs

Trial balance

Monthly, with opening and closing balances. The basis for variance analysis and financial statements.

Detailed general ledger

By account and period, with document number, date, description and user. Essential for reconciliations and journal entry testing.

Agings

Accounts receivable and payable by aging bucket, as at the same date as the trial balance. They must agree.

Fixed asset register

Cost, accumulated depreciation, method, useful life. For adjusting entries and continuity schedules.

Account list

The full chart of accounts with descriptions: add it once and for all to the team’s project.

Tip

Always name files the same way (bv_2026-08.xlsx) and save them to the month’s folder: Cowork’s scheduled tasks will find them on their own.

Clean up a raw export

Here is a raw general ledger export from our accounting system. Clean it up in a new tab: one row per transaction, columns Date, Account, Description, Document, Debit, Credit, User; remove subtotals and repeated header rows; convert dates and amounts to true Excel formats. Give the number of rows and the total debits and credits before and after, to prove nothing was lost.

10

Advanced features

To go further, once you have mastered the basics.

Large volumes with code

Advanced

You cannot analyze a 500,000-line general ledger “by eye”. In the chat or Cowork, ask Claude to work with code: it writes and runs a script that calculates exactly. Ideal for journal entry testing (weekend entries, round amounts, unusual users) and Benford analysis.

Analyze this general ledger with code. List entries posted on weekends, round amounts over $10,000, entries with no description and entries entered and approved by the same person.

Deep research

Intermediate

For a question that requires several sources: industry ratios, competitor practices, a new regulatory requirement. Claude searches, cross-checks and cites its sources. Always check the primary sources before quoting a figure to the board.

Interactive artifacts

Intermediate

Beyond the dashboard: a loan amortization calculator, a pricing simulator, an expense policy page employees can look up. Claude builds them in conversation and you share them by link.

Agents and API

Advanced

For large organizations: agents that run autonomously on Claude’s platform, with logs and access management, and the API to integrate Claude into your own systems. A project for your IT team, with Internal Audit in the loop from the design stage.

11

Internal control and security

Adopting Claude without weakening the control environment: who does what, which data goes where, and how to document it.

The responsibility matrix

Activity	Claude can	Condition
Prepare a reconciliation, an analysis, a commentary	PREPARE	Review and sign-off by an authorized employee
Propose journal entries	PROPOSE	Posted in the system by a person, approved according to the delegation of authority
Read the accounting system through a connector	READ	Read-only connector, access limited to the entities and periods needed
Draft emails to customers or suppliers	DRAFT	Sent by a person; never sent automatically for financial matters
Post entries, approve, pay	NEVER	Segregation of duties maintained; no write access granted
File a tax or regulatory return	NEVER	Claude can prepare reconciliations; filing remains human
Make a final accounting judgment	NEVER	It documents the options; the decision and its rationale are yours

Which data, where?

Routine

OK

Trial balances, financial statements, budgets, supplier invoices, commercial contracts, internal policies.

Where: business plan (Team or Enterprise), the department’s shared projects.

Sensitive

CONTROLLED

Aggregate payroll, unpublished results of a listed company, financing files, data on named customers.

Where: business plan, restricted access, according to the written policy.

Prohibited

NO

Social insurance numbers, full bank account numbers, health information, detailed payroll by employee, passwords.

Where: nowhere. Anonymize or remove before uploading.

Points to document

Personal accounts prohibited for company data: use the organization’s plan, never a free or personal account.
Personal information: Quebec’s Law 25 governs its disclosure; have your use validated by the person responsible for the protection of personal information.
Retention: for the Excel add-in, inputs and outputs are deleted from Anthropic’s servers within 30 days (subject to policy exceptions) and the history is kept locally.

Audit trail: keep the prompt, the file versions and the list of changed cells on file for any work that supports a balance.
Hidden instructions: an external file may contain text that tries to hijack Claude. Work on copies; read each confirmation.
Auditors: tell your external auditors that AI is used in preparing the financial statements. They will ask anyway.

Acceptable use policy: a template to adapt

Ask Claude to adapt it to your company

Draft a generative AI acceptable use policy for the finance department of our company ([size], [industry], ASPE, [private or listed] company). Sections: purpose and scope; authorized tools (business plan only); data classification (routine, sensitive, prohibited) with examples; permitted, controlled and prohibited activities (apply the principle “Claude prepares, a person signs”); review and documentation requirements; read-only connectors; incidents and reporting; training; annual review. Two pages maximum, plain language, ready for approval by the audit committee.

12

Reviewing Claude’s work

Five checks a reviewer applies to any deliverable prepared with Claude. They take a few minutes and prevent costly errors.

Check 1

Agree

The deliverable’s totals equal the source: trial balance, statement, subledger. If it does not agree to the dollar, stop there.

Check 2

Trace

Every figure has a source: cited cell, PDF page, file line. Ask: Where does this amount come from?

Check 3

Recalculate

Calculations are done in Excel or with code, never mentally. Ask: Show me the formula. Recalculate a sample.

Check 4

Reason

Does the result make sense compared with last month, the budget and what you know about the business? Your judgment is the best control.

Check 5

Record

Assumptions are listed, items “to be confirmed” are resolved, and the prompt and versions are on file.

Having Claude check Claude

An effective technique: a second conversation, without the first one’s history, plays the reviewer. It does not know the shortcuts the first one took and often spots what is wrong.

It is not a substitute for your review; it is a filter before it.

New conversation, reviewer role

You are a senior reviewer at an accounting firm. Here is a deliverable prepared by a colleague and the source data. Check: do the totals agree with the sources? Are there calculation errors, amounts without a source, undisclosed assumptions, conclusions the data does not support? List your findings in order of severity, with the precise reference. Do not correct anything: flag only.

13

Rolling out to the team

A 90-day plan for the Finance Director or CFO who wants to move from individual trials to a measured team practice.

Days 1 to 15

Frame

Choose the business plan
Adopt the acceptable use policy
Appoint 2 champions on the team
Measure the baseline

Days 16 to 45

Pilot

Install Claude for Excel for the champions
3 use cases on a real close
Create the “Month-end close” project
Note what works and what doesn’t

Days 46 to 75

Expand

90-minute training for the whole team
“House standards” skill
First 2 scheduled tasks
Inform the external auditors

Days 76 to 90

Measure

Compare with the baseline
Report to the management committee
Choose the next 3 processes
Revise the policy

Estimate the time freed up

Enter your own tasks. The starting values are examples: replace them with your own measurements, and be conservative on the gain percentage until the pilot has confirmed yours.

TaskPeopleHrs / month eachEstimated gain %

Hours freed up per year (estimate)

0

Calculation: people × hours per month × gain × 12. The time freed up goes first to review, analysis and a faster close; it is not an automatic budget saving.

Indicators to track

Close time

Business days between month-end and the approved management package.

Quality

Number of post-close adjustments and audit findings related to preparation.

Adoption

People who use Claude every week; processes covered by a skill or a scheduled task.

The adoption kit, ready to customize

An 8-slide presentation for the management committee, an acceptable use policy in Word, an announcement email for the team and a before/after measurement grid in Excel (French).

See the kit

14

30-day learning path and certificate

Twenty exercises, one week at a time, using the Groupe Boréal workbook files. Check them off as you go: your progress stays in your browser. At the end, a ten-question quiz and your certificate.

0 / 20exercises completed

The quiz

Eight correct answers out of ten unlock the certificate. Every answer is explained.

15

Downloadable resources

Everything you need to practise, equip the team and convince management. Free, no sign-up. The resources are in French.

55 FILES

Groupe Boréal exercise workbook (French)

Trial balance, bank statement and general ledger, 20 PDF invoices, agings, budget templates, an Excel model riddled with errors, a lease, an acquisition data room… One folder per use case, with fictitious data that is consistent throughout.

A README (LISEZMOI) that maps each folder to its use case
An instructor’s answer key: the traps planted and the expected results

Download the workbook (ZIP, French)README (French)Answer key (French)

5 SKILLS

Finance skills to install

Sets of instructions that Claude applies automatically, in the chat, Cowork and the Office add-ins. The skills are written in French. To install: Customize › Skills › + › Create skill › Upload a skill.

House accounting standardschart of accounts, formats, thresholds (to customize)
Management commentarystructure and style for management
Account reconciliationmethod and standard format
Reviewer reviewthe 5 checks, findings report
Expense report controlpolicy, receipts, exceptions

All 5 in a single ZIP

FOR THE CFO

Adoption kit (French)

To get the 90-day pilot approved and launched. Everything is editable.

Management committee presentation8 slides, PowerPoint
AI acceptable use policy2 pages, Word
Team announcement emailWord
Before/after measurement gridExcel, with formulas

The whole kit (ZIP)

PRINTABLE

Quick reference and sheets (French)

The 2-page quick reference to pin up next to your screen, and a one-page sheet for each of the 16 use cases.

Quick reference (PDF, French)The 16 sheets (PDF, French)

16

Prompt library

Forty-five requests to copy, organized by cycle. Highlighted values follow the settings in section 01; replace the items in square brackets.

17

Glossary

AI terms, translated into the language of finance.

Prompt: The written request to Claude. Like a work request to an employee: the more precise it is (period, threshold, format), the better the deliverable.
Artifact: A deliverable produced by Claude and displayed separately: web page, dashboard, document. Shareable by link.
Project: A space that groups conversations and reference documents. The equivalent of the permanent file.
Cowork: The mode in which Claude acts on your files and tools, step by step, through to the deliverable.
Add-in: Claude built into Excel, PowerPoint, Word or Outlook, in a side panel.
Cell citation: The clickable reference to the cell a figure comes from in a Claude for Excel response. Your audit trail.
Connector: A secure link between Claude and another system (email, storage, accounting software, data provider). For finance: read-only.
Skill: A reusable set of instructions that Claude applies automatically: your standards, your templates, your procedures.
Plugin: A ready-to-install bundle of commands, skills and connectors for a profession, such as the Finance plugin.
Scheduled task: A request that Cowork runs on its own at a set time: the Monday routine, the daily close checklist.
Context window: The amount of information Claude keeps in mind in a conversation. Very large, but not infinite: one conversation per task.
Hallucination: A plausible but false answer: an invented account number, a paragraph of a standard that does not exist. Hence the checks in section 12.
Prompt injection: Text hidden in a file or page that tries to give Claude orders. The main risk with external files.
Model: The version of Claude’s engine (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku families). The most powerful for complex analysis, the fastest for volume.

18

What’s new and contributions

The guide evolves with Claude and with your suggestions.

September 22, 2026 · V2

The guide becomes a workshop

Groupe Boréal exercise workbook (with answer key), animated demos in Excel, prompts that adapt to your company, an accounting software section, cases O (investment memo) and P (due diligence), a 30-day learning path with quiz and certificate, downloadable skills and adoption kit, instant search, English version.

September 22, 2026 · V1

Launch

14 use cases, Claude for Excel step by step, internal control, 40 prompts.

May 2026 · Claude

Agents for financial services

Anthropic releases agent templates (close manager, general ledger reconciler, statement reviewer) and makes the Excel, PowerPoint and Word add-ins available on all paid plans.

October 2025 · Claude

Claude for Excel in preview

First finance skills (DCF, comparables, three-statement models) and financial data connectors.

A question about this guide or your receivables?

Finaxis designs AI agents that speed up accounts receivable collection and simplify administration for SMEs. This guide is offered to finance teams that want to adopt AI with rigour.

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