Prompt details

Tested on

Claude Opus 5.5

Length

531 words · 3 fill-ins

Example input

[Profit and loss statement]: Fern & Fade Salon: profit and loss Line | Last year | This year Service revenue | 286,400 | 301,200 Retail product sales | 38,600 | 34,100 Total revenue | 325,000 | 335,300 Cost of sales Color and backbar supplies | 31,800 | 41,900 Retail products purchased | 21,200 | 22,400 Stylist commissions | 92,600 | 99,800 Card processing fees | 9,100 | 9,700 Total cost of sales | 154,700 | 173,800 Gross profit | 170,300 | 161,500 Operating expenses Rent | 42,000 | 43,800 Utilities | 7,900 | 8,600 Owner wages | 48,000 | 48,000 Front desk wages | 26,400 | 28,100 Payroll taxes | 7,800 | 8,000 Booking software | 2,100 | 2,640 Marketing | 4,200 | 2,300 Insurance | 3,100 | 3,400 Repairs and maintenance | 2,600 | 6,900 Accounting | 2,400 | 2,600 Loan interest | 2,900 | 3,800 Depreciation | 5,200 | 6,400 Other | 1,800 | 2,300 Total operating expenses | 156,400 | 166,840 Net income | 13,900 | -5,340

[Balance sheet]: Fern & Fade Salon: balance sheet at year end Line | Last year end | This year end Assets Cash | 38,500 | 21,900 Retail inventory | 9,800 | 14,600 Prepaid rent | 3,500 | 3,650 Equipment, net of depreciation | 31,000 | 41,600 Total assets | 82,800 | 81,750 Liabilities Accounts payable | 4,200 | 9,800 Credit card | 2,600 | 11,400 Sales tax payable | 1,100 | 1,050 Gift cards not yet redeemed | 3,900 | 5,200 Equipment loan | 22,000 | 31,500 Total liabilities | 33,800 | 58,950 Owner equity Owner equity | 49,000 | 22,800 Total liabilities and equity | 82,800 | 81,750 Owner draws taken this year (included in owner equity): 20,860

[About the business and your goals]: Fern & Fade is a 3-chair hair salon in Overland Park, Kansas, open 6 years. I'm the owner and work one chair; two stylists are paid on commission, and a part-time front desk person is on wages. We raised haircut prices 4% at the start of this year, but colour prices haven't changed in 2 years. Our distributor's colour and product prices went up a lot. We bought two new styling chairs and a dryer station for $17,000, partly with a new loan. I'm busier than ever, yet there's less money in the bank and the credit card keeps growing. Goals: pay off the credit card, hire a fourth stylist next year and pay myself more. My bookkeeper does the books monthly; I don't know if they're cash or accrual.

Example output

1. In plain English

Your statements check out: both add up, the balance sheet balances, owner equity ties (49,000 − 5,340 loss − 20,860 draws = 22,800), and equipment ties (31,000 + 17,000 bought − 6,400 depreciation = 41,600). Revenue rose $10,300 (+3.2%), but cost of sales rose $19,100 and operating costs rose $10,440, so last year's $13,900 profit became a $5,340 loss this year. The biggest single cause is colour and backbar supplies, up $10,100 (+31.8%) while your colour prices stayed flat. Commissions (+$7,200), repairs (+$4,300) and interest (+$900) account for most of the rest. Cash is clearly tighter: the bank fell $16,600 to $21,900, even though you borrowed $9,500 more on the equipment loan and $8,800 more on the credit card, because you spent $17,000 on equipment, took $20,860 in draws on top of your $48,000 wage, and tied up $4,800 more in retail stock. You are busier, but each sales dollar keeps less, and the gap is being filled with debt.

2. Key ratios

Ratio	Formula	This period	Last period	What it means for me
Gross margin	Gross profit ÷ total revenue	161,500 ÷ 335,300 = 48.2%	170,300 ÷ 325,000 = 52.4%	You keep about 4 cents less of every sales dollar after supplies, commissions and card fees.
Net margin	Net income ÷ total revenue	−5,340 ÷ 335,300 = −1.6%	13,900 ÷ 325,000 = 4.3%	After paying yourself $48,000 in wages, the business lost money this year.
Colour/backbar cost share	Colour & backbar supplies ÷ service revenue	41,900 ÷ 301,200 = 13.9%	31,800 ÷ 286,400 = 11.1%	Supplies eat 2.8 more cents of each service dollar. Rules of thumb often cite roughly 8–12% (general knowledge; check with your accountant or a trade association such as the Professional Beauty Association).
Commission share	Stylist commissions ÷ service revenue	99,800 ÷ 301,200 = 33.1%	92,600 ÷ 286,400 = 32.3%	This is understated because your own chair's revenue is in the total and earns no commission, so your stylists' actual rate is higher.

Claude Opus 5.5

Financial Statement Analysis – Financial statement analysis prompt for ChatGPT and Claude

^$9.99

Kept in your account
Copy filled in or download
Updates included

Pay once and keep it. Or get every premium prompt and skill with the plan, $19.99 a month. Payments are non-refundable. See our Terms.

votes views

Claude Opus 5.5

This prompt reads your small business's profit and loss statement and balance sheet. Paste both and a note on the business; you get a plain-English summary, ratios with the arithmetic, red flags, three priced fixes and accountant questions.

What you get

A plain-English summary of profit, cash and where the money went
6 to 8 key ratios with the formula and your figures, compared across periods
Red flags with the numbers behind them, and a trend table when you give two periods
Three fixes ranked by money effect, with the arithmetic, plus questions for your accountant

How to use it

1
Export both statements
Export the profit and loss and the balance sheet for the same dates from your accounting software, with two periods side by side if you can.
2
Read the red flags first
Check that the statements tie together, then read the red flags and the three fixes with their arithmetic.
3
Take the questions to your accountant
Go through the accountant questions before acting, especially on cash or accrual basis, owner pay and tax.

Better results

Paste two periods side by side. Changes between periods show far more than one year alone, such as costs rising faster than sales.
Add one line on how you pay yourself, wages, draws or both, so owner pay is neither mistaken for a business cost nor missed.
Ask: "Rerun fix 1 assuming I lose 10 percent of those customers." It tests the estimate against a worse case before you act.

Questions

Can ChatGPT analyse financial statements?

Yes. ChatGPT can analyse a pasted profit and loss statement and balance sheet: explain them in plain English, work out ratios, compare periods and find red flags. It cannot see the books behind the totals, so check its arithmetic and take decisions to your accountant.

What ratios should a small business track?

Most small businesses should track gross margin, net margin, the current ratio, the cash ratio, debt to equity and how long stock sits before it sells, plus one or two ratios for their trade, such as supply cost as a share of service revenue for a salon.

What is the best Claude prompt for financial analysis?

The best financial analysis prompt gives Claude both statements, the periods and a note on the business, and asks it to check that the statements tie together, show every ratio's arithmetic and price each fix from your own figures. This prompt is built that way.

Updated 8 Nov 2026