Finance & Accounting — Free AI Prompts for M365 Copilot

Create a budget planning template for [DEPARTMENT] for [FISCAL YEAR]. Include: (1) Revenue categories with line items, (2) Operating expenses by category (personnel, software, travel, training), (3) Capital expenditure section, (4) Monthly and quarterly breakdowns, (5) Variance tracking columns (budget vs actual), (6) Summary dashboard row with key ratios. Add formulas for totals, percentages, and year-over-year comparison.

Analyse our spending data and identify cost reduction opportunities. Review: (1) Subscriptions and recurring costs (look for unused or duplicate tools), (2) Vendor consolidation potential, (3) Process automation savings, (4) Licence right-sizing, (5) Contract renegotiation opportunities. For each opportunity estimate: annual savings, implementation effort, and risk. Rank by ROI.

Analyse the expense variance between budget and actual for [PERIOD]. For each line item that varies by more than [THRESHOLD — 5% / 10% / ]: (1) State the variance amount and percentage, (2) Classify as favourable or unfavourable, (3) Explain the likely cause, (4) Recommend whether it is a one-time variance or a trend, (5) Suggest corrective action if needed. Summarise total impact.

Create an audit preparation checklist for [AUDIT TYPE — financial / IT / compliance / SOC2]. Include: (1) Documents to prepare and organise, (2) Access and permissions to set up for auditors, (3) Key contacts and their responsibilities, (4) Common findings from previous audits to pre-check, (5) Timeline from 4 weeks before to audit day, (6) Post-audit follow-up actions. Assign owners to each item.

Compare these invoices against the purchase orders and flag: (1) Amount mismatches (over-billing or under-billing), (2) Missing line items, (3) Incorrect quantities, (4) Duplicate invoices, (5) Invoices without a matching PO. Present discrepancies in a table with invoice number, PO number, expected amount, actual amount, and status. Calculate total discrepancy value.

Create a monthly financial summary for [MONTH/PERIOD]. Include: (1) Revenue vs target (with percentage achievement), (2) Key expense categories and notable changes, (3) Profitability metrics, (4) Cash flow highlights, (5) Top 3 financial risks, (6) Outlook for next month. Present as a one-page executive summary with a traffic light dashboard. Use plain English.

Using the last [PERIOD — 12 / 24] months of revenue data, create a forecast for the next [PERIOD — 3 / 6 / 12] months. Include: (1) Trend analysis, (2) Seasonal adjustments if patterns exist, (3) Best case, expected, and worst case scenarios, (4) Key assumptions stated clearly, (5) Confidence level for each scenario. Present as a table with a trend chart.

Calculate ROI for [INITIATIVE]. Include: total investment, quantified benefits, payback period, 3-year NPV, IRR, break-even, sensitivity analysis, risk-adjusted ROI. Present with recommendation.

Summarise our travel and expense policy into a clear one-page guide for employees. Include: (1) What is covered (flights, hotels, meals, transport), (2) Spending limits per category, (3) Approval requirements, (4) Receipt and documentation rules, (5) Reimbursement timeline, (6) Common mistakes to avoid. Use a table format. Write so clearly that new employees can follow it on day one.

Compare [VENDORS] for [SERVICE]. Include: licence costs, implementation, training, maintenance, hidden costs, 3-year TCO, per-user cost, contract flexibility. Side-by-side table.