FerroxLabs Monthly Budget Variance Check
Estimated time: about 30 seconds
A deterministic monthly variance pass: load current-month actuals, compare them to the active budget, and flag overruns. Data source is the current-month actuals (bank CSVs, P&L export) plus the active budget file. For interactive runs, prefer a file dropped into the chat or a connected source (Stripe, or the connected ledger, database, or Google Sheets). If actuals are missing, halt rather than emit an empty variance report.
Step 1: Load current-month actuals (uses: finance-cashflow)
Load the current-month actuals from the actuals directory in month_to_date mode. This is the directory of bank CSVs and the P&L export. If no actuals can be loaded, halt the workflow and tell the user actuals are required; do not fabricate or proceed with an empty set.
- Input: actuals_dir (directory with current-month actuals)
- Output: actuals (parsed month-to-date actuals)
- Key focus: halt on missing data rather than report on nothing
Step 2: Compute budget variance (uses: finance-budget)
Compare the loaded actuals against the active budget in variance_report mode, using the budget file path provided. Produce a per-category variance report showing budget, actual, and delta. If the budget cannot be read, halt.
- Input: actuals, budget_path (active annual budget YAML or markdown)
- Output: variance_report (per-category budget-vs-actual variance)
- Key focus: accurate budget-to-actual deltas per category
Step 3: Flag overruns (uses: finance-report)
From the variance report, produce overrun flags in overrun_flags mode: the categories that have exceeded their budget and by how much, ordered by severity. Present the flags as the deliverable.
- Input: variance_report
- Output: flags (overrun flags ranked by severity)
- Key focus: surface the few overruns that actually need attention