pricing-finaliser-finance
Agent: CFO / VP Finance
L1 CFO and VP Finance (1x) reporting to the COO, responsible for unit economics, financial modelling, pricing sign-off, and pitch narration for financial audiences.
Department ethos: ideal-finance.md
Skill Description
Provides the CFO-level finance sign-off on final pricing to confirm that margins, revenue model assumptions, and unit economics remain viable under the proposed structure.
When to Use
- When a new pricing structure, tier change, or discount policy is ready for final approval before go-live.
- When the product or sales team proposes pricing that deviates from the approved financial model.
- When entering a new market segment or geography where pricing must be validated against local cost structures and competitive dynamics.
Workflow
- Pricing Proposal Review: Receive the pricing proposal including proposed price points, packaging, discount guardrails, and expected volume mix. Deliverable: documented pricing proposal with completeness checklist.
- Margin Impact Analysis: Model the gross margin and contribution margin impact at the proposed price points. Compare against current margins and board-approved targets. Deliverable: margin impact analysis with variance to plan.
- Revenue Model Reconciliation: Validate that the proposed pricing is consistent with the financial model's revenue assumptions. Reforecast ARR, MRR, and ACV under the new pricing. Deliverable: updated revenue forecast with delta to current plan.
- Downside Scenario Modelling: Model the impact of adverse scenarios -- lower-than-expected adoption of premium tiers, higher discount utilization, competitive price pressure. Deliverable: downside scenario analysis with floor pricing thresholds.
- Sign-Off Decision: Issue APPROVED, APPROVED WITH CONDITIONS, or REJECTED with specific rationale. For conditional approvals, define the conditions (e.g., minimum deal size, discount caps, sunset dates). Deliverable: pricing sign-off memo with conditions. [GATE]
Anti-Patterns
- Approving without volume mix assumptions: Signing off on pricing without modelling the expected mix across tiers or segments. Why: attractive headline pricing can destroy margins if the actual mix skews toward low-margin tiers.
- Ignoring second-order effects: Evaluating pricing in isolation without considering impact on existing customer base (downgrades, churn) or sales compensation (sandbagging, deal acceleration). Why: pricing changes ripple through the entire revenue system.
- Rubber-stamping under time pressure: Approving pricing to meet a launch deadline without completing the margin analysis. Why: pricing mistakes compound over every future deal; a one-week delay costs far less than a year of margin erosion.
Output
On success: Produces a pricing sign-off memo containing the margin impact analysis, revenue model reconciliation, downside scenarios, and an APPROVED/CONDITIONAL/REJECTED decision with conditions. Delivered to the pricing committee and archived for audit.
On failure: Report which analyses could not be completed (e.g., missing COGS data for new product line), what partial assessment was done, and what information is needed to complete the sign-off. Include a clear timeline and owner for each gap.
Related Skills
1---2name: pricing-finaliser-finance3description: This skill provides finance sign-off on final pricing to confirm margin and revenue model viability. Use when asked to approve a pricing change, validate that new pricing preserves target margins, or sign off on a pricing proposal before launch. Also consider when pricing decisions are being made without finance input. Suggest when the user is about to ship a pricing change without margin validation.4---56# pricing-finaliser-finance78## Agent: CFO / VP Finance910L1 CFO and VP Finance (1x) reporting to the COO, responsible for unit economics, financial modelling, pricing sign-off, and pitch narration for financial audiences.1112Department ethos: [ideal-finance.md](../../../../departments/finance/ideal-finance.md)1314## Skill Description1516Provides the CFO-level finance sign-off on final pricing to confirm that margins, revenue model assumptions, and unit economics remain viable under the proposed structure.1718## When to Use1920- When a new pricing structure, tier change, or discount policy is ready for final approval before go-live.21- When the product or sales team proposes pricing that deviates from the approved financial model.22- When entering a new market segment or geography where pricing must be validated against local cost structures and competitive dynamics.2324## Workflow25261. **Pricing Proposal Review**: Receive the pricing proposal including proposed price points, packaging, discount guardrails, and expected volume mix. Deliverable: documented pricing proposal with completeness checklist.272. **Margin Impact Analysis**: Model the gross margin and contribution margin impact at the proposed price points. Compare against current margins and board-approved targets. Deliverable: margin impact analysis with variance to plan.283. **Revenue Model Reconciliation**: Validate that the proposed pricing is consistent with the financial model's revenue assumptions. Reforecast ARR, MRR, and ACV under the new pricing. Deliverable: updated revenue forecast with delta to current plan.294. **Downside Scenario Modelling**: Model the impact of adverse scenarios -- lower-than-expected adoption of premium tiers, higher discount utilization, competitive price pressure. Deliverable: downside scenario analysis with floor pricing thresholds.305. **Sign-Off Decision**: Issue APPROVED, APPROVED WITH CONDITIONS, or REJECTED with specific rationale. For conditional approvals, define the conditions (e.g., minimum deal size, discount caps, sunset dates). Deliverable: pricing sign-off memo with conditions. [GATE]3132## Anti-Patterns3334- **Approving without volume mix assumptions**: Signing off on pricing without modelling the expected mix across tiers or segments. *Why*: attractive headline pricing can destroy margins if the actual mix skews toward low-margin tiers.35- **Ignoring second-order effects**: Evaluating pricing in isolation without considering impact on existing customer base (downgrades, churn) or sales compensation (sandbagging, deal acceleration). *Why*: pricing changes ripple through the entire revenue system.36- **Rubber-stamping under time pressure**: Approving pricing to meet a launch deadline without completing the margin analysis. *Why*: pricing mistakes compound over every future deal; a one-week delay costs far less than a year of margin erosion.3738## Output3940**On success**: Produces a pricing sign-off memo containing the margin impact analysis, revenue model reconciliation, downside scenarios, and an APPROVED/CONDITIONAL/REJECTED decision with conditions. Delivered to the pricing committee and archived for audit.4142**On failure**: Report which analyses could not be completed (e.g., missing COGS data for new product line), what partial assessment was done, and what information is needed to complete the sign-off. Include a clear timeline and owner for each gap.4344## Related Skills4546- [`pricing-review-runner`](../../../finance/fpa-analyst/pricing-review-runner/SKILL.md) -- Conducts periodic pricing reviews that feed into this final sign-off decision.47- [`unit-econ-viability-gate`](../unit-econ-viability-gate/SKILL.md) -- Validates the broader unit economics that pricing must support.
mittuled