Agent skill

Budget Variance Analysis

by mohitagw15856 in mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills

Produce a structured budget variance analysis from actual vs budget figures.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Budget Variance Analysis

skills CLI
$ npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill budget-variance-analysis -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills budget-variance-analysis --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/budget-variance-analysis .claude/skills/budget-variance-analysis && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
budget-variance-analysis
GitHub stars
1.4k
Token cost
~707 tokens
SKILL.md length
315 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
1,348
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Produce a structured budget variance analysis from actual vs budget figures.

  • Works in 5 steps: Variance Summary Table → Material Variance Commentary → Top 3 Variances Requiring Attention → …
  • Asked to analyse budget variances
  • SKILL.md covers Required Inputs, Output Structure, Quality Checks and Anti-Patterns, plus 1 more section
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Budget Variance Analysis is an agent skill from mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills. Produce a structured budget variance analysis from actual vs budget figures. Use when asked to analyse budget variances, explain underspend or overspend, write a variance commentary, or investigate why actuals differ from plan. Produces a categorised variance table with root cause analysis and management commentary.

Its SKILL.md is about 710 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Development, covering Root cause analysis. The repository describes itself as: 1255 professional Agent Skills for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor & Codex — PRDs, postmortems, leases, medical bills, layoffs, go-bags, new countries. Plain markdown, MIT, in… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Asked to analyse budget variances
  • Explain underspend
  • Write a variance commentary
  • Investigate why actuals differ from plan

Example prompts

  • “/budget-variance-analysis”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Variance Summary Table
  2. Material Variance Commentary
  3. Top 3 Variances Requiring Attention
  4. Forecast Revision
  5. Executive Summary

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 1cbf1f0. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Budget Variance Analysis loads about 707 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 86 tokens; SKILL.md has 315 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~86
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~707

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills at commit 1cbf1f0, republished under its MIT licence (© mohitagw15856). 315 words, ~707 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/budget-variance-analysis/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
budget-variance-analysis
description
Produce a structured budget variance analysis from actual vs budget figures. Use when asked to analyse budget variances, explain underspend or overspend, write a variance commentary, or investigate why actuals differ from plan. Produces a categorised variance table with root cause analysis and management commentary.

Budget Variance Analysis Skill

Produces a complete variance analysis from numbers through to root cause explanation and management commentary.

Required Inputs

  • Actuals and budget figures (paste as table or describe line by line)
  • Period (month / quarter / YTD)
  • Materiality threshold (e.g. £10k or 5%)
  • Known reasons for variances (if any)
  • Audience (CFO / board / management / auditor)

Output Structure

1. Variance Summary Table
Line ItemBudgetActualVariance £Variance %F/A
Revenue
Cost of Sales
Gross Profit
Opex
EBITDA

F = Favourable | A = Adverse

2. Material Variance Commentary

For each variance above threshold:

[Line item] — £[amount] F/A ([%])

  • Root cause: [Specific explanation — not "timing" without detail]
  • Permanent or timing? Will this reverse next period?
  • Management action: What is being done
  • Forecast impact: Does this change full-year outlook?
3. Top 3 Variances Requiring Attention

Ranked by materiality and strategic significance.

4. Forecast Revision

Does the full-year forecast need updating? State revised expectation and key assumptions.

5. Executive Summary

3-4 sentences of management commentary suitable for a board pack.

Quality Checks

  • All variances above threshold explained
  • Root causes specific (not vague)
  • Favourable/Adverse correctly labelled
  • Forecast impact stated for material variances

Anti-Patterns

  • Do not explain a variance as "timing" without specifying which period it will reverse into and what amount is expected
  • Do not label a favourable variance on a cost line without checking whether it is due to underspend, delayed spend, or reduced activity — the cause determines whether it is genuinely good news
  • Do not omit variances below the materiality threshold entirely — note them collectively so the reader knows they exist and were reviewed
  • Do not present a variance analysis without a forecast impact statement for material items — historical variances without forward implications are incomplete

Example Trigger Phrases

  • "Write a variance analysis for these actuals vs budget: [paste]"
  • "Explain why we are over budget on [cost line]"
  • "Write the variance commentary for our finance review"
  • "Produce a budget vs actual analysis for Q[N]"

© mohitagw15856, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/budget-variance-analysis of mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 1cbf1f0

Compare with similar skills

Budget Variance Analysis next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Budget Variance Analysis compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Budget Variance Analysis this skillmohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills1.4k—~707Automated safety check: PassMIT
OpenLogi macOS Permissions TriageAprilNEA/OpenLogi23k—~2.5kAutomated safety check: NotesApache-2.0
Bug Finder for daisyUIsaadeghi/daisyui43k—~2.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Root Cause Debugginggarrytan/gstack136k—~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Review PRapache/shardingsphere21k—~6.5kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Graph-Based Bug Tracingtirth8205/code-review-graph32k1 repos~287Automated safety check: PassMIT

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Categories

Questions about Budget Variance Analysis

What does Budget Variance Analysis do?

Produce a structured budget variance analysis from actual vs budget figures. Budget Variance Analysis is an agent skill from mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills. Produce a structured budget variance analysis from actual vs budget figures.

When should I use Budget Variance Analysis?

Budget Variance Analysis fits situations like: asked to analyse budget variances; explain underspend; write a variance commentary; investigate why actuals differ from plan.

How do I install Budget Variance Analysis in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill budget-variance-analysis -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/budget-variance-analysis in mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills) into .claude/skills/budget-variance-analysis in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Budget Variance Analysis in Codex?

Run `npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill budget-variance-analysis -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/budget-variance-analysis in mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills) into .agents/skills/budget-variance-analysis in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Budget Variance Analysis in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill budget-variance-analysis -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/budget-variance-analysis, .gemini/skills/budget-variance-analysis, .github/skills/budget-variance-analysis and .opencode/skills/budget-variance-analysis in your project.

What does Budget Variance Analysis need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Budget Variance Analysis is instructions for the agent only.

Does Budget Variance Analysis access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Budget Variance Analysis safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Budget Variance Analysis use?

Budget Variance Analysis is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Budget Variance Analysis use?

About 707 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Budget Variance Analysis?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Budget Variance Analysis: OpenLogi macOS Permissions Triage (AprilNEA/OpenLogi, 23k stars), Bug Finder for daisyUI (saadeghi/daisyui, 43k stars), Root Cause Debugging (garrytan/gstack, 136k stars) and Review PR (apache/shardingsphere, 21k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Budget Variance Analysis?

mohitagw15856 (a GitHub user) maintains it in mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills, which has 1,434 GitHub stars. The repository holds 1,348 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.