Document a financial model so someone else can run it
A model user guide covering structure, inputs, update steps, checks, and known limits for a clean handover.
The prompt
Help me document a financial model for handover.
Model purpose and users: [e.g. "monthly rolling forecast used by FP&A and the CFO"]
Tabs and flow: [LIST each tab and what it does]
Inputs and their sources: [WHERE each input comes from - system, report, person]
Key calculations: [PASTE important formulas or describe logic]
Monthly update steps: [WHAT I do today, roughly]
Known issues and workarounds: [DETAILS]
Write a user guide with:
1. Overview: purpose, outputs, who uses them, and decisions they inform.
2. Model map: a table of tabs with purpose, inputs, and outputs, plus the flow from inputs to outputs.
3. Inputs register: Input | Source | Owner | Frequency | Tab/cell.
4. Step-by-step update procedure, numbered, with timings.
5. Checks to run before sharing (balance, totals tie to the ledger, prior-period unchanged) and what to do if one fails.
6. Key assumptions and methods, in plain language.
7. Known limitations and risks.
8. Version control and change log rules.
9. Contacts and FAQs.
Write so a competent analyst new to the business can run the next update without me. Flag anything you need me to clarify as [CLARIFY] rather than guessing.
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. "monthly rolling forecast used by FP&A and the CFO"
- LIST each tab and what it does
- WHERE each input comes from - system, report, person
- PASTE important formulas or describe logic
- WHAT I do today, roughly
- DETAILS
- CLARIFY
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Chain-of-Thought structure (Chain-of-thought prompting). A chain-of-thought prompt asks the model to work through a problem step by step before giving its answer, which tends to help on reasoning, planning and multi-part questions.
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