Budget Cash Flow

Budget & Cash Flow

What it is: Budget against actual by department and month, plus cash in and out.

Overview

Works out the smallest useful Budget & Cash Flow setup for the business in front of it, then builds it only when asked. The default output is a short recommendation, not a spreadsheet. Artifacts - CSV, SQL DDL, JSON Schema, Notion mapping - are produced on request, from one field list so they cannot drift apart.

Layer: Layer 8: Operate. Fits: Growth stage. Table code: n/a.

When to Use This Skill

• budget tracker
• cash flow forecast
• budget vs actual
• department budget sheet

Also use it when the user says "budget against actual by department and month, plus cash in and out", or describes the same process happening in a spreadsheet, a document or someone inboxes.

Do not use it for: payroll calculation, tax filing, or legal advice. This skill produces empty templates only - it never holds or processes real employee or customer data.

How It Works

Follow the shared execution contract. The module-specific rules below define only domain fields, decisions, calculations, and safety constraints.

Step 1 - Identify intent

Read the request and pick the intent before asking anything.

• "set up" or "build" or "create" -> the user wants artifacts; go to Step 2.
• "our process is ..." or "it is in a sheet" -> the user wants to move an existing process; capture it, then Step 2.
• "is this right" or "review" or "audit" -> the user wants a check, not a build; answer from what they share.
• "how do I ..." -> advice question; answer directly and offer the build only if it helps.

Ask only if this is the highest-value missing fact; otherwise proceed without an opener:

Q: How far ahead do you budget?

Step 2 - Ask only what is missing

Skip anything the user already answered, in any earlier message. Ask the rest one at a time, and stop as soon as the remaining answers would not change the output.

• Horizon - How many months or years? / Monthly or annual? / By department or whole?
• Inputs - Actual numbers available? / Payroll and rent known? / Forecast confidence?
• Ownership - Who owns the budget? / Who updates it? / How often revised?
• Current process - Is it a spreadsheet? / How often updated? / Is it current?
• Outcome - What do you need? / A budget template, a cash view or both?

Never invent an answer. If the user does not know, record it as unknown and carry on.

Step 3 - Hold the internal context

Hold the answers in this shape. It stays internal - it is not shown to the user unless they ask, and it never carries a value the user did not give.

module: budget-cash-flow
intent: null            # setup | advice | review | fix | build | convert | export
scale: null             # Starter | Growth | Scale, only if the answer changes it
areas:
  "Horizon": null
  "Inputs": null
  "Ownership": null
  "Current process": null
  "Outcome": null
requested_outputs: []   # csv | sql | json | notion | xlsx - requested formats only
confirmed_facts: []     # only what the user actually said
open_questions: []      # the unanswered ones, in the order worth asking

Step 4 - Recommend the smallest workflow

If an artifact was requested, build it after resolving essential missing facts. Otherwise give a short recommendation and offer the relevant artifact.

Recommended approach: Build the budget once per year and the cash view monthly, and record the variance rather than rewriting the whole forecast.

Why this one: Cash flow fails from stale forecasts, not from a missing template. A monthly refresh of a small model beats a detailed annual plan nobody updates.

Workflow: Budget set → Monthly actuals entered → Variance calculated → Cash position → Forecast revised

Step 5 - Build only on request

Once the user asks for it, derive the fields from the confirmed context and emit the requested artifacts. For machine-readable text, keep prose outside the data; for files, provide a usable link. Report material validation failures or limitations separately.

A selected Notion output is rendered by notion-manual-import, so route the Notion step there. When the user selects Notion, hand that step to @notion-manual-import: it holds the CSV, the property mapping, the import steps and the verification checklist, and it renders the Field Reference below instead of defining a table of its own. Do not restate the mapping here and do not improvise the import steps. Manual CSV and mapping outputs need no connection. For requested workspace changes, follow the shared contract: verify actual tool access and the target before writing. A user saying "connected" is not tool evidence. Never ask for a Notion password or token.

For an Excel-compatible CSV, use UTF-8 with a byte order mark so Excel opens the text correctly. A CSV is not an .xlsx workbook; create .xlsx only when the user requests a workbook. A CSV carries no types, so after it, name the columns that need a number, date or currency format applied.

Budget Line,Line Type,Department,Category,Period,Fiscal Year,Budget Amount,Actual Amount,Variance,Used %,Linked Expenses,Owner,Status,Notes,Budget ID
1000.00,Income,Delivery,General,2026-03,FY2026-27,600.00,400.00,-200.00,67,EXP-EXAMPLE-001,Example Owner,Active,Forecast refreshed after the February numbers; the delivery line is still optimistic.,

CREATE TABLE budget_cash_flow (
  budget_line NUMERIC(14,2) NOT NULL,
  line_type VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
  department VARCHAR(255),
  category VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
  period VARCHAR(255),
  fiscal_year VARCHAR(255),
  budget_amount NUMERIC(14,2) NOT NULL,
  actual_amount NUMERIC(14,2) NOT NULL,
  variance VARCHAR(255),
  used_pct NUMERIC NOT NULL,
  linked_expenses VARCHAR(255),  -- relation -> target record
  owner VARCHAR(255),
  status VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
  notes TEXT,
  budget_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW(),
  updated_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW()
);

CREATE INDEX idx_budget_cash_flow_status ON budget_cash_flow (status);

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "title": "Budget & Cash Flow",
  "type": "object",
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "properties": {
      "Budget Line": { "type": "number" },
      "Line Type": { "type": "string" },
      "Department": { "type": "string" },
      "Category": { "type": "string" },
      "Period": { "type": "string" },
      "Fiscal Year": { "type": "string" },
      "Budget Amount": { "type": "number" },
      "Actual Amount": { "type": "number" },
      "Variance": { "type": "string" },
      "Used %": { "type": "number" },
      "Linked Expenses": { "type": "string" },
      "Owner": { "type": "string" },
      "Status": { "type": "string" },
      "Notes": { "type": "string" },
      "Budget ID": { "type": "integer" }
  },
  "required": [
      "Budget Line",
      "Line Type",
      "Category",
      "Budget Amount",
      "Actual Amount",
      "Used %",
      "Status"
  ]
}

| CSV column | Notion property | Set after import |
|---|---|---|
| Budget Line | Number (format: currency) | Convert to Number, set format to Currency |
| Line Type | Select (add options after import) | Convert to Select, add options: "Income", "Expense", "Cash In", "Cash Out" |
| Department | Title | Use as the database title |
| Category | Select (add options after import) | Convert to Select, add options: "General", "Operations", "Finance", "People", "Compliance" |
| Period | Text | Leave as Text |
| Fiscal Year | Text | Leave as Text |
| Budget Amount | Number (format: currency) | Convert to Number, set format to Currency |
| Actual Amount | Number (format: currency) | Convert to Number, set format to Currency |
| Variance | Text | Leave as Text |
| Used % | Number | Convert to Number |
| Linked Expenses | Relation (link to the target database) | Convert to Relation, link to the target database |
| Owner | Text | Leave as Text |
| Status | Select (add options after import) | Convert to Select, add options: "Draft", "Approved", "Active", "Revised", "Closed" |
| Notes | Text | Leave as Text |
| Budget ID | Text (preserve source ID) | Keep imported IDs as Text; optionally add a separate Unique ID property |

The rows above are documentation examples only. Emit empty templates unless the user explicitly requests examples. Money stays currency, dates stay date, and anything pointing at another table stays relation.

Field Reference

Select Options

Line Type

Income | Expense | Cash In | Cash Out

Category

General | Operations | Finance | People | Compliance

Status

Draft | Approved | Active | Revised | Closed

Relations

Link fields: Linked Expenses

Examples

Prompt

We set a budget once and lost track of the actual position by month three.

Context first - one question per message, nothing already answered:

Q: Horizon? A: Twelve months.

Q: Numbers available? A: From accounting, monthly.

Q: How often updated? A: Rarely.

Recommended next step - offered, not built:

Build the budget once per year and the cash view monthly, and record the variance rather than rewriting the whole forecast.

Workflow: Budget set → Monthly actuals entered → Variance calculated → Cash position → Forecast revised

Want the CSV, SQL, JSON Schema and Notion mapping for this?