Finance
Month-end as a workflow. Variance you have to explain, surfaced before the CFO asks. Vendor contract triage that respects the playbook.
Month-end runbook, automated
Half a day saved every close, every month.
The month-end runbook fires automatically on the last business day. By the time the controller sits down, the reconciliation has run, variance vs plan is drafted, and the journal entries are queued for approval in plan mode. Half a day saved every close.
How to set it up
- 1
Install the finance plugin
Install in Cowork ↗claude plugin install finance@pace - 2
Authorize your warehouse + Microsoft 365
Snowflake / Databricks / BigQuery for the ledger pull; Microsoft 365 for Excel writeback. Custom URL prompts on first run.
- 3
Create the monthly routine
In Cowork, open Routines, preset schedules don't include "last business day of the month." Create the routine with the closest preset, then run
/schedule updatein the CLI to set a cron expression like0 8 28-31 * 1-5(8am, last few weekdays of the month). - 4
Paste this as the routine prompt
Routine prompt Run the month-end close in order: 1. close-management to orchestrate the checklist. 2. reconciliation against the warehouse ledger (call out any unreconciled balance). 3. variance-analysis vs plan + prior month. 4. journal-entry-prep for any accruals or reclasses the variance analysis surfaces. Use plan mode for the journal entries : do NOT post anything to the GL automatically. The controller will review and approve each entry. Post a close-progress summary to #finance-close. - 5
Manually run for this month's close to verify
Click Run now at the end of this month. Walk through the journal entries in plan mode; approve, edit, or reject each. Once you trust the output, the routine fires on the last business day automatically.
Variance you'll have to explain, surfaced before the CFO asks
Every nightly close, the variance skill compares actuals vs plan, flags anything > 5% deviation, drafts the why, and DMs the CFO's prep channel by 7am. The morning standup starts with answers, not surprises.
How to set it up
- 1
Create the scheduled routine in Cowork
In Cowork, open Routines → New routine → Schedule. Match the cadence described in the trigger above.
- 2
Paste this as the routine prompt
Variance prep prompt Every weekday at 6am after the nightly close, pull yesterday's actuals from the warehouse and compare against plan. Flag any P&L line item more than 5% off plan. For each flagged variance, draft the explanation: the underlying driver (what category of activity changed), supporting data (which slice moved), and one sentence the CFO can repeat in the morning meeting. DM the digest to the CFO's prep channel by 7am.
- 3
Click Run now to verify
Eyeball the first run for accuracy. Once it looks right, the routine fires on its trigger from then on. Assumes the plugin from the marquee above is already installed and connectors authorized.
Vendor contract triage with your playbook in the loop
Any new vendor contract dropped in the legal folder triggers a playbook-aware review: review-contract walks payment terms, auto-renewal language, liability caps, and data clauses; vendor-check and vendor-review add the procurement-side perspective. Findings post as a checklist. Legal + Finance both see what to fight for before the call.
How to set it up
- 1
Create the API-triggered routine
In Cowork, open Routines → New routine → API. Save and copy the routine URL + bearer token; point the upstream webhook at it (e.g. calendar provider, Intercom webhook, PagerDuty webhook, depending on the trigger).
- 2
Paste this as the routine prompt
Vendor MSA review prompt When a vendor MSA hits the procurement intake, run contract-review against our playbook (standard payment terms, liability caps, IP assignment, termination, MFN, data processing addendum if PII is involved). Produce a redlined version with explanations next to each change. Park the redline in plan mode for legal sign-off. Once approved, post a one-paragraph summary to #procurement for the requesting team.
- 3
Click Run now to verify
Eyeball the first run for accuracy. Once it looks right, the routine fires on its trigger from then on. Assumes the plugin from the marquee above is already installed and connectors authorized.
AP batch processor: invoices into journal entries, on a Friday cadence
Friday afternoon, the routine pulls the week's accounts-payable batch from your accounting system, generates the journal entries with the right GL coding, flags anything unusual (new vendor, unusual amount, missing PO), and stages everything for controller approval. Monday morning, the controller approves the batch in 15 minutes instead of an hour.
How to set it up
- 1
Create the scheduled routine in Cowork
In Cowork, open Routines → New routine → Schedule. Match the cadence described in the trigger above.
- 2
Paste this as the routine prompt
AP batch journal-entry prompt Every Friday at 5pm, pull this week's accounts-payable batch from QuickBooks. Generate journal entries with the right GL coding. Flag anything unusual: new vendor (no prior payments), amount more than 2x the trailing-3-month average for that vendor, missing PO reference. Stage everything in plan mode for the controller to approve Monday morning. Post a one-line summary to #finance-close.
- 3
Click Run now to verify
Eyeball the first run for accuracy. Once it looks right, the routine fires on its trigger from then on. Assumes the plugin from the marquee above is already installed and connectors authorized.