Budget

What this skill does NOT do:

• Generate actual financial data — all actuals must come from the user
• Replace ERP/planning software (Anaplan, Adaptive, Hyperion, Workday)
• Produce formatted Excel workbooks — I produce the structure and logic
• Perform statutory accounting or tax calculations
• Audit financial statements

Use a different skill when:

• You need a rolling forecast or cash flow projection → /forecast
• You need a full FP&A analysis suite → /fpa
• You need board deck formatting → /board-deck
• You need valuation analysis → /lbo or run python3 tools/dcf.py

Pre-Flight Checks

Before starting, I need to determine:

1. Workflow type — which of the 5 modes are we in?
2. Fiscal year — what period is the budget covering?
3. Company profile — industry, revenue scale, number of departments/cost centers
4. Granularity — monthly vs. quarterly line items, department vs. cost center level
5. Budget method — incremental (prior year + growth), zero-based, or hybrid
6. Data availability — do you have prior year actuals, current year YTD, headcount plan?

If the user doesn't specify a workflow, ask:

What budget workflow do you need?

1. Annual budget build (full revenue + expense + capital budget from scratch)
2. Budget vs. actual variance analysis (decomposing and explaining variances)
3. Zero-based budgeting (activity-based cost justification and prioritization)
4. Departmental budget review (cost center deep dive and headcount reconciliation)
5. Budget presentation/approval (board-ready summary with key assumptions)

Mode 1: Annual Budget Build

Target: Complete operating budget with revenue, expense, and capital components

Phase 1: Revenue Budget (Bottoms-Up)

Goal: Build revenue projections from the ground up by product, segment, and geography — never top-down.

Step 1: Revenue Segmentation Define the revenue architecture before projecting a single dollar:

• By product/service line: List every distinct revenue stream with its pricing model
• By customer segment: Enterprise, mid-market, SMB, consumer (or industry-specific segments)
• By geography: Domestic regions, international markets, currency zones
• By revenue type: Recurring vs. non-recurring, subscription vs. transactional, license vs. services

DATA NEEDED: Prior year revenue by segment (minimum 2 years for trend), current year YTD, pricing history, contract backlog

Step 2: Volume Assumptions For each segment, establish the volume driver:

• Subscription/SaaS: Beginning ARR + new logo ARR + expansion ARR - churn ARR = ending ARR
• Transactional: Customer count x transactions per customer x average transaction size
• Project-based: Pipeline value x win rate x average project size
• Product/units: Units shipped x ASP, with seasonal weighting

Step 3: Pricing Assumptions

• Year-over-year price increase (contractual escalators, list price changes)
• Mix shift impact (are you moving up-market or down-market?)
• Promotional/discount assumptions (what % of revenue is sold at discount?)
• FX impact for international revenue — state the assumed exchange rates explicitly

Step 4: Revenue Build-Up For each segment, calculate monthly revenue:

Monthly Revenue = Volume x Price x Seasonality Factor x (1 - Discount Rate)

• Apply seasonal indices from historical patterns (minimum 2 years of monthly data)
• Flag any segment growing >50% YoY — require explicit justification
• Flag any "hockey stick" pattern (flat H1, explosive H2) — this is the #1 CFO credibility killer

Decision Gate: If total revenue growth exceeds industry benchmarks by >2x and the user cannot explain why, stop and pressure-test assumptions. Optimistic budgets destroy credibility with the board.

Run python3 tools/dcf.py to validate revenue trajectory against a DCF-implied growth rate. If the budget implies growth that would require an unrealistic terminal value, flag it.

Phase 2: Expense Budget

Goal: Build expenses by department with clear distinction between personnel, COGS, and operating expenses.

Step 1: Personnel Expense (typically 60-80% of opex) This is the single most important expense category and requires line-by-line precision:

• Existing headcount: Current roster x (base salary + bonus target + benefits load + payroll taxes)
• Benefits load factor: Health insurance, 401k match, equity comp, other benefits — express as % of base salary (typically 20-35%)
• Merit increases: Budget a pool (typically 3-5% of base salary) and apply by department
• New hires: For each planned hire, specify:
  • Role, department, level
  • Start month (critical for partial-year costing)
  • Fully-loaded annual cost
  • Ramp period (months to full productivity, if relevant for revenue-generating roles)
• Attrition assumption: Budget expected departures (typical: 10-20% annually) — backfill timing and cost
• Contractors/temps: Separate line item with engagement terms

DATA NEEDED: Current headcount roster with comp details, hiring plan, attrition rate history, benefits rates

Step 2: Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) Build COGS tied to revenue drivers:

• For product companies: BOM cost x units + manufacturing overhead + freight/logistics
• For SaaS companies: Hosting/infrastructure + customer support + professional services delivery
• For services companies: Delivery personnel cost + subcontractor fees + project materials
• Target gross margin for budget period — compare to prior year and industry benchmarks
• Variable vs. fixed COGS split (what scales with revenue vs. what is fixed capacity)

Step 3: Operating Expenses by Department For each department, build bottom-up:

For each line item, classify as:

• Non-discretionary: Cannot be cut without operational impact (rent, insurance, core headcount)
• Discretionary: Can be deferred or cut if needed (events, travel, new tool subscriptions)
• Semi-discretionary: Can be reduced but not eliminated (marketing spend, contractor budget)

This classification is critical for re-forecast scenarios and mid-year budget cuts.

Phase 3: Capital Budget

Goal: Plan capital expenditures and compute depreciation impact on P&L.

Step 1: Capex Categories

• Growth capex: New capacity, new facilities, new product tooling
• Maintenance capex: Replacement of existing assets, repairs, upgrades
• IT capex: Hardware, servers, network infrastructure (vs. cloud opex — classify correctly)
• Capitalized development: Software development costs meeting capitalization criteria under ASC 350-40

Step 2: Depreciation Schedules For each capex item, determine:

• Useful life (3-7 years for equipment, 5-10 for software, 15-39 for buildings)
• Depreciation method (straight-line is standard for budgeting)
• In-service date (determines when depreciation begins)
• Compute monthly depreciation: (Cost - Salvage Value) / Useful Life in Months
• Add new depreciation to existing depreciation run-rate from prior assets

Step 3: Capex Approval Thresholds Define approval levels (example — adjust to company norms):

• <$25K: Department manager approval
• $25K-$100K: VP/Director + Finance approval
• $100K-$500K: CFO approval

• $500K: CEO + Board approval

DATA NEEDED: Fixed asset register, planned capital projects with cost estimates, current depreciation schedules

Phase 4: Budget Consolidation

Goal: Assemble the complete budget with summary-level views.

1. P&L summary: Revenue - COGS = Gross Profit - Opex = EBITDA - D&A = EBIT
2. Monthly phasing: All line items spread across 12 months with seasonality
3. Headcount summary: Opening headcount + hires - attrition = closing headcount, by month and department
4. Key metrics: Gross margin %, EBITDA margin %, revenue per employee, opex ratio
5. Year-over-year bridge: Walk from prior year to budget year for revenue, EBITDA, and headcount
6. Cash flow impact: EBITDA + working capital changes - capex = free cash flow (high level)

Run python3 tools/monte_carlo.py to produce P10/P50/P90 ranges on the revenue and EBITDA lines, giving the board a probabilistic view instead of a single-point estimate.

Mode 2: Budget vs. Actual Variance Analysis

Target: Rigorous decomposition of variances with root causes and action items

Phase 1: Variance Identification

Step 1: Compute Variances For every budget line, calculate:

• Dollar variance: Actual - Budget (positive = favorable for revenue, unfavorable for expense)
• Percentage variance: (Actual - Budget) / Budget
• Year-over-year variance: Actual vs. prior year actual (for trend context)

Step 2: Materiality Thresholds Not all variances deserve analysis. Apply materiality filters:

Decision Gate: If a variance is below ALL materiality thresholds, note it but do not spend analytical time on it. Focus resources on material items.

Phase 2: Variance Decomposition

Step 1: Revenue Variance Decomposition Break every revenue variance into four components:

• Volume variance: (Actual Volume - Budget Volume) x Budget Price
  • Why did we sell more or fewer units/contracts/deals than planned?
• Price variance: (Actual Price - Budget Price) x Actual Volume
  • Did we discount more? Raise prices? Change contract terms?
• Mix variance: Impact of selling a different product/customer/geography mix than planned
  • Did we sell more low-margin products? Shift to smaller deal sizes?
• Timing variance: Revenue that shifted between periods (accelerated or deferred)
  • Did deals close early/late? Were there recognition timing differences?

Formula check: Volume + Price + Mix + Timing = Total Revenue Variance (must tie exactly)

Step 2: Expense Variance Decomposition Break expense variances into:

• Rate variance: (Actual rate - Budget rate) x Actual volume
  • Did costs per unit increase? Were salary offers higher than budgeted?
• Volume/usage variance: (Actual usage - Budget usage) x Budget rate
  • Did we use more resources than planned? More headcount? More licenses?
• Timing variance: Expenses that shifted between periods
  • Did projects start late? Were invoices delayed?
• One-time / non-recurring: Items not in the budget baseline
  • Restructuring charges, legal settlements, unplanned projects

Phase 3: Root Cause Identification

For each material variance, identify:

1. What happened — factual description of the variance
2. Why it happened — root cause (market conditions, execution, assumption error, timing)
3. Is it recurring or one-time — will this variance persist in future months?
4. What is the full-year impact — if the run-rate continues, what is the annual effect?
5. What action is needed — specific recommendation (re-forecast, cut spend, accelerate revenue initiative)

Run python3 tools/portfolio_risk.py to analyze historical variance patterns — identify whether the current variance is within normal statistical range or an outlier requiring intervention.

Phase 4: Re-Forecast Decision

Decision Tree for Re-Forecasting:

Is the YTD variance > 5% of annual budget?
├── YES → Is it driven by a structural change (not timing)?
│   ├── YES → TRIGGER RE-FORECAST
│   │   - Adjust remaining months for new run-rate
│   │   - Document assumption changes
│   │   - Present re-forecast vs. original budget
│   └── NO → HOLD BUDGET, flag timing note
│       - Document expected reversal period
│       - Monitor for 2 more months
└── NO → HOLD BUDGET
    - Continue normal monthly variance reporting
    - Re-evaluate at quarter-end

Hard rule: Re-forecast does NOT replace the original budget. Always show both original budget and current forecast side-by-side. The board needs to see the full picture.

Mode 3: Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB)

Target: Every dollar justified from zero, not incremented from prior year

Phase 1: Activity Inventory

Step 1: List All Activities For each department, enumerate every activity that consumes budget:

• What is the activity? (specific process or function)
• Who performs it? (headcount allocation)
• What does it cost? (fully loaded: people + tools + external spend)
• What output does it produce? (deliverable, metric, or service)
• Who is the internal customer? (who depends on this output?)

Step 2: Activity Costing For each activity, compute the true cost:

• Direct personnel cost (hours x loaded hourly rate)
• Direct non-personnel cost (tools, licenses, materials, contractors)
• Allocated overhead (facilities, IT, shared services — use a consistent allocation method)
• Total activity cost = Direct personnel + Direct non-personnel + Allocated overhead

DATA NEEDED: Time allocation data (even estimates), vendor invoices/contracts, headcount by function, overhead allocation methodology

Phase 2: Priority Ranking

Step 1: Classification Framework Rank every activity into one of four tiers:

Step 2: ROI Scoring For Core and Supporting activities, compute a budget ROI:

• Revenue-generating activities: Expected revenue contribution / activity cost
• Cost-avoidance activities: Risk-adjusted loss prevented / activity cost
• Enabling activities: Score based on internal customer criticality (1-5 scale)

Rank all activities by ROI score. The bottom quartile becomes the elimination candidate list.

Phase 3: Elimination & Optimization

Step 1: Elimination Candidates For each bottom-quartile activity, answer:

• What happens if we stop doing this entirely? (impact assessment)
• Can another team absorb this at lower marginal cost? (consolidation)
• Can technology replace the manual process? (automation)
• Can we outsource this at lower cost without quality loss? (outsourcing)

Step 2: Optimization Targets For non-eliminated activities, identify efficiency levers:

• Reduce frequency (monthly instead of weekly reports)
• Reduce scope (cover top 20 customers instead of all 200)
• Automate steps (eliminate manual data entry, automate reporting)
• Renegotiate vendor contracts (consolidate vendors, renegotiate pricing)

Step 3: Savings Quantification For each elimination or optimization:

• One-time savings (this year) vs. recurring savings (ongoing)
• Implementation cost (if any investment is needed to realize savings)
• Net savings = Gross savings - Implementation cost
• Timeline: When will savings be realized? (immediate, Q2, H2)

Decision Gate: If total ZBB savings are less than 3% of the cost base, the ZBB exercise may not justify its own cost. Consider whether incremental budgeting with targeted reviews would be more efficient.

Mode 4: Departmental Budget Review

Target: Deep dive into a specific department's budget with headcount reconciliation

Phase 1: Cost Center Analysis

Step 1: Expense Breakdown For the department under review, build a complete cost profile:

• Personnel costs: Salaries, bonuses, benefits, equity comp, payroll taxes
• Contractor/consulting costs: External labor by engagement
• Technology costs: Software licenses, cloud services, hardware
• Facilities costs: Allocated rent, utilities, office supplies
• Travel & entertainment: Business travel, team events, client entertainment
• Professional services: Legal, accounting, recruiting fees
• Other: Any department-specific costs

Step 2: Trend Analysis Compare current period to:

• Prior year same period (YoY growth)
• Prior month (MoM trend)
• Budget (variance)
• Per-employee basis (cost per head to normalize for headcount changes)

Flag any category growing faster than department headcount or revenue — this indicates cost creep.

Phase 2: Headcount-to-Budget Reconciliation

This is the single most important control in departmental budget management.

Step 1: Headcount Bridge

Opening headcount (start of period)
+ Approved new hires (per hiring plan)
+ Unplanned hires (not in original budget — flag each one)
- Voluntary attrition
- Involuntary terminations
- Transfers out
+ Transfers in
= Closing headcount

Step 2: Cost Reconciliation For each variance between budgeted and actual personnel cost:

• Hire timing variance: Budgeted start date vs. actual start date
• Compensation variance: Budgeted comp vs. actual offer (were offers above plan?)
• Mix variance: Did we hire a Senior instead of a Mid-level? Different role than planned?
• Vacancy savings: Positions that remained open longer than budgeted
• Overtime/premium pay: Unbudgeted overtime or shift differentials

Step 3: Productivity Metrics Assess whether headcount is delivering expected output:

• Revenue per employee (for revenue-generating departments)
• Cost per unit of output (for operations/support departments)
• Span of control (direct reports per manager — flag if <4 or >12)
• Contractor-to-FTE ratio (flag if >25% — may indicate permanent need classified as temporary)

Phase 3: Discretionary vs. Non-Discretionary Assessment

For the department's non-personnel spend, classify every line item:

Non-discretionary (cannot cut without operational damage):

• Core software licenses tied to production systems
• Regulatory compliance costs
• Insurance and legal minimums
• Contractual obligations with >6 month remaining term

Semi-discretionary (can reduce but not eliminate):

• Marketing spend (can reduce campaign scope)
• Training budget (can defer to next quarter)
• Contractor engagements (can reduce hours)
• Travel (can shift to virtual)

Discretionary (can eliminate with limited short-term impact):

• Conference sponsorships and attendance
• Team events and perks
• New tool evaluations and pilots
• Non-critical subscriptions and memberships

Output: A prioritized list of cuts if the department needs to reduce budget by 5%, 10%, or 20%, with impact assessment for each tier.

Mode 5: Budget Presentation & Approval

Target: Board-ready budget summary with key assumptions and sensitivities

Phase 1: Budget Summary Package

Document 1: Executive Summary (1-2 pages)

• Fiscal year budget headline numbers: Revenue, Gross Profit, EBITDA, Net Income, FCF
• Year-over-year changes with brief narrative on key drivers
• Headcount: opening, planned additions, closing
• Top 3 strategic investments and their budget impact
• Top 3 risks to the budget

Document 2: Key Assumptions Register Every budget rests on assumptions. Document each one explicitly:

Document 3: Sensitivity Analysis Run python3 tools/monte_carlo.py to generate probabilistic ranges for key outputs.

Build a sensitivity matrix showing EBITDA under different revenue and margin scenarios:

EBITDA Sensitivity ($M)
                Revenue Growth
                -5%    0%    +5%    +10%   +15%
Gross Margin
  -2pp         [  ]   [  ]  [  ]   [  ]   [  ]
  -1pp         [  ]   [  ]  [  ]   [  ]   [  ]
  Base         [  ]   [  ]  [BASE] [  ]   [  ]
  +1pp         [  ]   [  ]  [  ]   [  ]   [  ]
  +2pp         [  ]   [  ]  [  ]   [  ]   [  ]

Phase 2: Macro Sensitivity Analysis

For companies with material exposure, quantify the budget impact of macro variables:

Foreign Exchange:

• Identify revenue and cost currencies
• State budget FX rates explicitly
• Calculate P&L impact of +/- 5% and +/- 10% moves in each material currency
• If hedged, state hedge ratios and mark-to-market impact

Interest Rates:

• Variable-rate debt exposure x rate sensitivity
• Impact on capex financing costs
• If relevant, impact on customer demand (e.g., mortgage, auto, construction)

Commodity Prices:

• Identify material input costs (energy, raw materials, freight)
• State budget price assumptions
• Calculate margin impact of +/- 10% and +/- 25% moves
• Note any hedging or fixed-price contracts

Run python3 tools/portfolio_risk.py to back-test how historical macro swings would have impacted the current budget.

Phase 3: Board Presentation Structure

Slide 1: Budget summary — headline numbers in a single view Slide 2: Revenue bridge — prior year to budget year walk (volume, price, mix, new products) Slide 3: Expense bridge — prior year to budget year walk (headcount, merit, new initiatives, efficiencies) Slide 4: EBITDA bridge — combining revenue and expense walks Slide 5: Strategic investments — top 3-5 initiatives funded in the budget with expected ROI Slide 6: Headcount plan — by department, with net additions and key hires Slide 7: Capital budget — major projects with timeline and payback Slide 8: Key assumptions — the 5-7 most impactful assumptions and their sensitivities Slide 9: Risk scenarios — what happens if revenue misses by 10%? 20%? What levers do we pull? Slide 10: Approval request — motion to approve the FY budget with stated parameters

Decision Gate: If the board requests changes, do NOT rebuild the entire budget. Adjust only the specific assumptions they challenged and cascade the impact through the model.

Tool Integration

Output Specifications

Primary Deliverable: Budget Summary Template

### [COMPANY NAME] FY[YEAR] OPERATING BUDGET

REVENUE
  Product Line A:              $XXX,XXX
  Product Line B:              $XXX,XXX
  Product Line C:              $XXX,XXX
  Total Revenue:               $XXX,XXX    (YoY: +XX%)

COST OF GOODS SOLD
  Direct Costs:                $XXX,XXX
  Allocated Costs:             $XXX,XXX
  Total COGS:                  $XXX,XXX
  Gross Margin:                XX.X%

OPERATING EXPENSES
  Sales & Marketing:           $XXX,XXX    (XX% of revenue)
  Research & Development:      $XXX,XXX    (XX% of revenue)
  General & Administrative:    $XXX,XXX    (XX% of revenue)
  Total Opex:                  $XXX,XXX

EBITDA:                        $XXX,XXX    (XX.X% margin)
Depreciation & Amortization:   $XXX,XXX
EBIT:                          $XXX,XXX

HEADCOUNT
  Opening:                     XXX
  New Hires:                   +XX
  Attrition:                   -XX
  Closing:                     XXX

CAPITAL EXPENDITURES:          $XXX,XXX
  Growth Capex:                $XXX,XXX
  Maintenance Capex:           $XXX,XXX

Variance Report Template

### BUDGET VS. ACTUAL VARIANCE REPORT — [MONTH/QUARTER] [YEAR]

LINE ITEM          BUDGET     ACTUAL     VARIANCE ($)   VARIANCE (%)   ROOT CAUSE
Revenue - Prod A   $X,XXX     $X,XXX     $X,XXX (F/U)   XX.X%         [Brief explanation]
Revenue - Prod B   $X,XXX     $X,XXX     $X,XXX (F/U)   XX.X%         [Brief explanation]
Total Revenue      $X,XXX     $X,XXX     $X,XXX (F/U)   XX.X%

COGS               $X,XXX     $X,XXX     $X,XXX (F/U)   XX.X%         [Brief explanation]
Gross Profit       $X,XXX     $X,XXX     $X,XXX (F/U)   XX.X%

[Opex lines...]

EBITDA             $X,XXX     $X,XXX     $X,XXX (F/U)   XX.X%

VARIANCE DECOMPOSITION:
  Volume:          $X,XXX (F/U)   — [explanation]
  Price:           $X,XXX (F/U)   — [explanation]
  Mix:             $X,XXX (F/U)   — [explanation]
  Timing:          $X,XXX (F/U)   — [explanation]
  Total:           $X,XXX (F/U)   — TIES TO TOTAL VARIANCE

ACTION ITEMS:
  1. [Specific action with owner and deadline]
  2. [Specific action with owner and deadline]
  3. [Specific action with owner and deadline]

RE-FORECAST RECOMMENDATION: [Hold budget / Re-forecast with rationale]

Quality Gates & Completion Criteria

• Revenue budget is built bottoms-up (units x price x segment), not top-down
• Personnel expense ties to a named headcount plan with start dates
• Discretionary vs. non-discretionary classification exists for all opex
• Seasonal phasing is applied (not straight-lined 1/12th per month)
• Key assumptions are documented explicitly — nothing is implied
• Sensitivity analysis covers at least 3 macro variables
• Variance analysis decomposes into volume/price/mix/timing components
• All variances tie (sum of components = total variance, no rounding errors)
• Materiality thresholds are defined before analysis begins
• Re-forecast decision follows the documented decision tree

Success metric: A CFO could hand the output directly to the board with minimal reformatting and have confidence that every number is traceable to an explicit assumption.

Escalation triggers:

• Revenue budget implies growth >3x industry average → require explicit justification or flag
• Total opex growing faster than revenue without strategic rationale → flag operating leverage concern
• Headcount plan exceeds facility capacity → flag infrastructure constraint
• Budget assumes macro conditions materially different from consensus → flag and document explicitly

Hard Constraints

• NEVER fabricate actual financial data, historical metrics, or benchmark numbers
• NEVER present a budget without documenting the underlying assumptions
• NEVER straight-line revenue or expenses (1/12th per month) without acknowledging seasonality
• NEVER approve a budget where volume + price + mix + timing does not tie to total variance
• ALWAYS distinguish between recurring and non-recurring items
• ALWAYS separate discretionary from non-discretionary expenses
• ALWAYS flag budget assumptions that differ materially from prior year actuals or industry benchmarks
• ALWAYS show both original budget and re-forecast side-by-side (re-forecast never replaces budget)
• If the user provides actuals without a clear source, require confirmation before incorporating

Common Pitfalls

1. Sandbagging: Deliberately low revenue / high expense budgets to ensure "beating budget" every quarter. This destroys the budget's value as a planning tool. → Pressure-test against historical conversion rates, market growth, and pipeline data. If the budget implies market share loss while the company is winning deals, flag it.

2. Hockey stick projections: Flat or declining H1 followed by explosive H2 growth. Board members have seen this pattern a thousand times and will challenge it. → Require specific deal-level or initiative-level evidence for back-loaded revenue. What closes in Q3/Q4 that doesn't close in Q1/Q2?

3. Ignoring seasonality: Spreading annual figures evenly across 12 months. This makes every month's variance look wrong even when the year is on track. → Use at least 2 years of monthly actuals to compute seasonal indices. Apply them to every relevant line.

4. Confusing budget and forecast: The budget is an approved plan of record. The forecast is a current best estimate. Conflating them destroys accountability. → Maintain separate budget and forecast columns. Budget is locked after board approval. Forecast updates monthly or quarterly.

5. Orphan costs: Line items in "miscellaneous" or "other" that nobody owns and nobody can explain. → Every dollar must have a cost center owner. If "miscellaneous" exceeds 5% of any department's budget, break it down further.

6. Ignoring FX in international budgets: Budgeting foreign revenue in local currency but reporting in USD without hedging or rate assumptions. → Lock FX rates for budget period on day of budget approval. Track transaction and translation exposure separately.

7. Benefits load underestimation: Using last year's benefits rates without adjusting for healthcare inflation, new benefits programs, or geographic differences. → Get updated rates from HR/benefits broker before finalizing personnel budget. Healthcare costs typically inflate 5-8% annually.

8. Capex/opex misclassification: Treating capital expenditures as operating expense (or vice versa), distorting both EBITDA and cash flow. → Apply company capitalization policy consistently. When in doubt, consult accounting.

Related Skills

• For rolling forecasts and cash flow projections, use /forecast
• For full FP&A analysis and financial modeling, use /fpa
• For board-ready presentation formatting, use /board-deck
• For valuation analysis supporting budget assumptions, use /lbo or run DCF tools directly
• For debt service planning in the capital budget, run python3 tools/loan_amort.py