ORCHA · Finance operations, automated
Cheatsheet · Claude in Finance · May 2026
Claude in Finance. Ten levers, four workflows.
Ten effective levers
1
Cowork is the most powerful tool.
Desktop app only, included from Pro ($20/month). Claude works directly in Excel, PowerPoint, Slack, Gmail and Drive – and keeps context across all of them. The browser version offers only the classic chat.
2
Install the Finance plugin.
Go to
claude.com/plugins/finance → “Install in Claude Cowork”. Slash commands like /dcf, /comps, /reconciliation, /variance-analysis, /journal-entry and /sox-testing appear in your menu immediately.3
Claude works alongside you in Excel.
The sidebar lives in your workbook and reads cells, writes formulas, edits sheets. Claude pulls context from the data itself. You don’t need to describe the numbers first.
4
A Project keeps your context together.
Load your chart of accounts, last close, and three of your own sample reports – once. Every chat in the Project knows these files automatically. Five minutes of setup that pays off every month.
5
Skills take repetition off your plate.
A Skill is a saved instruction – for format, terminology or house style. Describe in the chat what Claude should learn. Claude builds the Skill for you.
6
Claude knows itself best.
Ask Claude when you’re writing prompts too: “Write me a prompt for …” works surprisingly well. For cryptic error messages, paste a screenshot straight into the chat – faster than any Google search.
7
Dictate instead of typing.
Speech is 3× faster than typing – 30–40 minutes saved per day. Claude has a built-in dictation feature; one click activates it. Even better: Wispr Flow (free tier, Pro at $12/month).
8
Claude learns like a new colleague.
Smart and well-read. But your terminology, your chart of accounts and your quality standards – those, Claude only learns once you show them. With more context – in a Project, a Skill or directly in the chat – the answer gets sharper.
9
For business use: start at Team.
Only there: a Data Processing Agreement under GDPR Art. 28 and no training on your data. Projects and Skills can be shared across the team, billing runs centrally. Free/Pro/Max are for personal use: third-party personal data does not belong there.
10
Enterprise for governance and audit.
SSO, central user management, audit logs, per-user spend limits, EU data residency on request. Available from 20 seats. Required in regulated industries – and at the latest, on your first GDPR audit.
Four workflows from practice
Use Case 1 · Excel Sidebar · Create a Skill
Month-end variance commentary
Open your plan-vs-actuals workbook in Excel; start the Claude sidebar.
“Read the sheets ‘Actual’ and ‘Plan’. List the top 5 variances by cost center by volume: amount and percent, driver hypothesis in two sentences, flag unclear items as ‘open’. Format like the sheet ‘Template’. Cite the source cell for every number. Then turn this into a Skill as a blueprint for the coming months.”
From next month on: Claude applies the Skill automatically – no re-briefing needed.
Use Case 2 · Cowork · Project · Slash Command
Bank reconciliation with /reconciliation
Load the open-items list and the bank statement into the Project. Open Cowork on the desktop.
“Apply /reconciliation to the open-items list and the bank statement from the Project. Match by document number and amount. List the unresolved items in a new sheet ‘Differences’ with a hypothesis per line (timing / missing entry / amount mismatch).”
Finance plugin: /dcf, /variance-analysis, /sox-testing, /journal-entry and /comps are also available as slash commands right in the chat.
Use Case 3 · Cowork · Project · Create a Skill
Earnings call digest with a template
Load an earnings call summary template into the Project. Drop the new transcript PDF into Cowork.
“Summarize the transcript using the template ‘Earnings Call Summary’ from the Project: CFO themes, analyst questions with answers, a Q&A table with timestamps. Cite source and timestamp for every quote.”
Save as a Skill: Once the structure works, save the template as a Skill. Next time, Claude applies it automatically.
Use Case 4 · Excel · Cowork · Project · Skill
From forecast to board memo
Forecast workbook saved in OneDrive and connected to Cowork via the Microsoft connector. In the Project: last quarter’s board memo and the Format Skill from Workflow 1.
“Update the forecast workbook with the new plan figures. Then write a board memo following the Format Skill: headline number, top 3 drivers vs. the previous quarter, two risk points for the next meeting. Comparison: last quarter’s memo in the Project.”
The real value: Cowork handles all three steps in one run – update the forecast, apply the Skill, write the memo. One prompt, no clicking between steps.