Pace
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Finance

Journal entries, reconciliation, statements, variance analysis, audit prep.

Finance work is rhythmic: month-end, quarter-end, year-end, audit. The repeatable part of each rhythm is where Pace earns its keep. Connect your warehouse and the finance plugin can query the ledger directly. `variance-analysis` surfaces what you should explain to the CEO before they ask.

Install for Finance

The full finance starter set is 3 plugins. Pick the install path that matches you.

Cowork (no terminal)

Click each link below; Cowork opens and asks you to confirm. Restart Cowork after the last one so connectors register.

  1. 1 Install finance
  2. 2 Install operations
  3. 3 Install data
After the last install, restart Cowork. The MCP servers (Slack, HubSpot, etc.) only register cleanly on a fresh app start. Quit the app fully, then reopen it.

Terminal (one command)

If you have claude on your PATH already, this installs the whole set in one go.

npx pace-tools install finance operations data

pace-tools wraps claude plugin install; runs claude plugin marketplace add GoldenBerry-SO/Pace automatically if you haven't registered the marketplace yet.

Plugins to install

Pick from this set for the role. Primary plugins are essential; companions multiply value.

  • finance primary

    Journal entries, reconciliation, statements, variance analysis, month-end close, audit prep.

    claude plugin install finance@pace
  • operations companion

    Vendor management and procurement workflows that touch AP.

    claude plugin install operations@pace
  • data companion

    Heavy lift on ad-hoc queries against the data warehouse.

    claude plugin install data@pace

Connectors to set up

Claude prompts to authorize each one the first time a relevant skill fires. You only do this once per project.

  • Snowflake
  • Databricks
  • BigQuery
  • Microsoft 365 (spreadsheets)

Workflows

Common ways teams use these plugins day to day. Each one is a starting point; adapt the prompt to your context.

  • Journal entries from a batch

    Reads a CSV or pasted batch (AP invoices, expense reports, journal data) and generates the entries with proper coding.

    Draft journal entries from this AP batch.

  • Bank reconciliation

    Reconciles the bank statement against the GL: matched, unmatched, suggested coding for outliers.

    Reconcile the September bank statement against the ledger.

  • Generate financial statements

    Produces P&L, balance sheet, cash flow statement for a period. Pulls from connected warehouse or pasted trial balance.

    Generate the Q3 financial statements.

  • Variance analysis

    Compares budget vs actual at the category or department level. Explains material variances with hypotheses.

    Run variance analysis on Q3 marketing spend vs budget. Tell me what to flag before the CFO asks.

  • Month-end close support

    Generates the checklist, suggests order, flags items that usually slip.

    Walk me through the September month-end close checklist.

  • Audit prep

    Reads the prior period and surfaces audit-friendly documentation: schedules, supporting docs needed, common auditor asks.

    Prep for the Y1 audit. What the auditors will ask, what we need ready.

Just say it

You don't have to memorize slash commands. After installing, type natural sentences into Claude and the right skill will fire. Each row is a real example.

  • You say

    Run the month-end close checklist

    Claude triggers close-management
  • You say

    Explain the variance vs plan for Q3

    Claude triggers variance-analysis
  • You say

    Reconcile last month's bank statements

    Claude triggers reconciliation
  • You say

    Draft the journal entries for the new lease

    Claude triggers journal-entry-prep
  • You say

    Prepare audit support docs for SOX testing

    Claude triggers audit-support
  • You say

    Generate this quarter's financial statements

    Claude triggers financial-statements

Tips & tricks

Field-tested patterns from teams that have already shipped a quarter or two on these plugins.

  • Connect the warehouse early

    Without it, the finance plugin works from pasted data. With it, queries fire directly against the GL.

  • Variance analysis pre-CEO

    `variance-analysis` surfaces the explanations before the CEO asks. Run it before every monthly close share-out.

  • Month-end as a workflow

    Adopt `month-end` as the canonical checklist. Pin it via the Pace router once your team standardizes its close steps.

  • Pair with operations

    For vendor and procurement work, the finance plugin + the operations plugin covers the AP → vendor lifecycle.

  • Audit prep is incremental

    Run `audit-prep` monthly, not annually. By year-end, the documentation is already there.

  • Statements need a sanity check

    `generate-statements` is fast but always reconcile the output to your source-of-truth ledger before sharing externally.

See also