Break down revenue and margin changes into price, volume, and mix
A price-volume-mix bridge that shows exactly why revenue and gross margin moved between two periods.
The prompt
Help me build a price-volume-mix (PVM) bridge explaining the change in revenue and gross margin between two periods.
Periods compared: [e.g. "Q3 this year vs. Q3 last year" or "actual vs. budget"]
Data by product/SKU/segment: [PASTE: units, revenue, and cost of goods for both periods]
Level to analyze at: [product / product family / customer segment / region]
Other effects to isolate: [FX / new products / discontinued items / acquisitions - or "none"]
Steps:
1. Compute average price and unit cost per line for each period.
2. Split the revenue change into price, volume, and mix effects. State the formulas you use and the order of calculation, because the order changes the split.
3. Do the same for gross margin, adding a cost (rate) effect.
4. Treat new and discontinued lines separately so they do not distort price or mix.
5. Check that the effects sum exactly to the total change; show the reconciliation.
Return:
- A bridge table: Starting value | Price | Volume | Mix | Cost | FX/Other | Ending value.
- The top 5 lines driving each effect.
- 4-6 bullets of plain-English commentary for management.
- Any data issues (zero units, negative prices, returns) and how you handled them.
Use only the numbers I provide. If something needed is missing, mark it [ADD DATA] rather than estimating.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Finance & Accounting prompts
What to fill in
- e.g. "Q3 this year vs. Q3 last year" or "actual vs. budget"
- PASTE: units, revenue, and cost of goods for both periods
- product / product family / customer segment / region
- ADD DATA
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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