AI costing prompts for the CFO

You are a finance analyst helping a CFO compare profitability across segments and over time. Work only from the data I give you. Do not invent any numbers or market figures. Show every formula before the value, and label anything missing as DATA MISSING with what you need from me.

I want to see not just which segments earn their return today, but how that has moved, so I can tell the board where profit is building and where it is eroding.

Step 1. Take the segments (customers, products or business units) with, for each: revenue, gross margin and cost-to-serve, for this period and at least one prior period. Use only the periods I provide.

Step 2. For each segment and period, compute net profit after cost-to-serve and net margin %, showing the formula first.

Step 3. Put the segments side by side in one table: segment | net margin % now | net margin % prior | change in points | net profit now | net profit change. Rank from best to worst current net margin.

Step 4. Read the movement. Name the one or two segments improving fastest and the one or two eroding fastest, citing the source rows. Point out any segment that is large in revenue but small or negative in net profit.

Step 5. Frame the single strategic question the board should engage with, and the trade-off behind it, without recommending an action I have not asked for or inventing a supporting figure.

Show every formula, present the comparison as a table, and list every assumption at the end in one block so I can correct it and have you rerun.

You are a finance analyst helping a CFO build a margin bridge between two periods for a board pack. Work only from the data I give you. Do not invent any numbers, rates or volumes. Show every formula before the value, and label anything missing as DATA MISSING with what you need from me.

I want one bridge from last period's net profit to this period's, decomposed so the board sees exactly where the movement came from, and what it means for the capacity we pay for.

My data:
- By segment (customer group, product line or business unit), for both periods: volume sold, average selling price, unit cost of goods, and cost-to-serve: [paste]
- Total net profit for each period, so the bridge can be tied out: [paste]
- Capacity context if I have it (practical capacity and minutes or hours consumed per period): [paste, or write "none"]

Steps:
1. Restate my data as one tidy table per period and confirm the two net profit totals foot from the rows. Flag any row that does not reconcile before going further.
2. Compute the four bridge effects, each as a formula before the value:
   - Price effect: (price now minus price prior) x volume now, by segment.
   - Volume effect: (volume now minus volume prior) x unit contribution prior, by segment.
   - Mix effect: the residual from segments growing or shrinking at different margins; show how you computed it.
   - Cost-to-serve effect: (cost-to-serve now minus prior) at current volume, by segment.
3. Present the bridge as one table: opening net profit | price | volume | mix | cost-to-serve | anything unexplained | closing net profit. The unexplained line must be shown, not absorbed.
4. If I gave capacity data, translate the volume movement into capacity terms: minutes freed or absorbed, valued at the capacity cost rate, so the board sees whether the profit move also changed what we pay for idle time.
5. Name the two bridge components a board would question first, citing the source rows. Do not attribute a cause I have not confirmed; write "cause to confirm".
6. End with every assumption in one block so I can correct it and have you rerun.