Before you start — this skill works with or without Mosofin
With Mosofin connected, the skill reads your live accounting data through the gateway: the figures come from your own books, it validates against the real chart of accounts, and most steps run automatically.
Without it, the skill still works. No subscription, no connector, or a skill copied on its own — you are not blocked and you are not asked to buy anything first. The Mosofin gates are skipped and you are asked for what each step needs instead: a trial balance, a statement, an export, the documents themselves. The accounting logic, the edge cases and the output standards are identical — only where the numbers come from changes, and the output always says which is which.
You choose, and you are asked. Where a connection exists, the skill asks at the start whether to use it for this run or whether you would rather supply the data yourself — a connected gateway is not taken as consent to read your books. Say no and it runs manually without asking again.
Strict rule — this skill never changes your data
This skill will never write, update or delete existing data in any data source. Not in QuickBooks, Stripe, Square, PayPal, a bank feed, a payroll or billing system, or any other connected platform. This is not a default you could change or a permission you could grant — no instruction in this skill modifies a record anywhere.
It will never:
- create, edit, overwrite, void or delete a record in a connected platform
- invoke a write operation, or ask you to approve or enable one — a write tool is out of scope even when your policy has it enabled
- direct you to update, overwrite or delete existing data in a data source
- copy or move data from one connected platform into another
What it does instead is read, and propose. Every entry, schedule, reconciliation and document it produces is a draft for you to review. Where it finds a problem — a duplicate, a mismatch, a stale balance — it describes the problem and proposes a correcting entry as a draft. It does not tell you to delete or overwrite the original, and it never acts on one itself.
Whether anything reaches your books is a decision you make outside this skill, in your own system, by your own hand. If you act on none of it, nothing in your data has changed.
Onboarding — required whenever Mosofin is connected
If the Mosofin gateway is connected, onboarding is not optional and not per-skill. Before any skill reads anything, the workspace and the data sources in it must be confirmed with you. It is the same sequence for every Mosofin skill, so it is kept in one place rather than repeated in each:
- in this repo:
shared/onboarding.md - installed on its own, or you would rather read the product docs: docs.mosofin.com/start-here/quickstart
Already onboarded this workspace? Then you have answered it once and will not be asked again from scratch — but the confirmation itself still happens every run. Gate 0 reads your workspace back and waits for an explicit yes; Gate 1 settles which company file. Those are not skippable, and no data is read before them.
No Mosofin connector? The skill still works. If the gateway is not present at all,
there is nothing to onboard: the gates are skipped, every step becomes [manual], and
you are asked for what each step needs — a trial balance, a statement, an export.
The accounting work is unchanged; only the data source is. You will be told this
once, and you will not be asked to install anything before being helped.
What follows in Part A is not more onboarding. It is this skill exploring what your confirmed workspace and data sources can actually do — which tools exist, which serve this particular request — so the run is shaped around your books rather than a generic template.
Financial Statement Builder (Mosofin)
Assembles a complete set of financial statements from a trial balance — Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Statement of Cash Flows. Adds comparatives, applies proper classification, and ties everything together.
In plain words: the accounting system holds a long list of account balances. This turns that list into the three statements a bank, an investor or an auditor expects to see — in the order, the groupings and the wording their framework requires — and then proves the statements agree with each other.
This skill is framework-aware (US GAAP, IFRS, local GAAP). The TB drives the content; the framework drives the presentation.
It is workspace-scoped: the trial balance, the comparative period, the account types and the entity details come from tool calls against a company file connected to your Mosofin workspace in this conversation, or from something you supplied by hand and that is labelled as such.
Note it is no longer chart-of-accounts-agnostic in the original's sense — it reads the entity's actual chart of accounts and account types rather than accepting any TB shape. That is a narrowing, and it is stated rather than left implied.
What this skill is actually for, given the platform already prints statements
The connected accounting platform will hand you a balance sheet and a profit and loss on request. So it is worth being precise about what this skill adds, because "fetch the numbers" is not it:
- Classification. The platform groups by its own account types. A framework requires current versus non-current, in a specific order, under specific headings. Nothing in the ledger knows which portion of a loan falls due within twelve months.
- Framework presentation. US GAAP leads with current; IFRS commonly leads with non-current. IFRS says "trade and other receivables". By-function versus by-nature. None of this is a data question.
- The comparative basis. Pulling last year is one call. Confirming that last year, as it now sits in the ledger, is what was actually published is not — see the warning below.
- The seven cross-statement tie-outs. The real deliverable. They are what turns three reports into a statement package.
- Everything the ledger has no field for: discontinued operations, OCI, EPS, restated comparatives.
And one warning that shapes the whole skill:
The system-generated balance sheet always balances. Double-entry software enforces it. So tie-out 1 proves the software works — it does not prove your statements are right. The moment you reclassify a current portion of debt, split a deferred tax balance, or reclassify a comparative, you are looking at statements the system did not produce, and the balance must be re-proved on those. Run tie-out 1 against your own presentation, never against the platform's report.
The ledger's prior year is not necessarily the published prior year. If audit adjustments were agreed but never posted, or were posted to a later period, the comparative you read will differ from the comparative that was filed. Compare against the prior-year financials as issued — that comparison is
[manual], and it is one of the most valuable checks in this skill.
Mosofin is read-only. It cannot post a reclassification, an adjustment or a closing entry. Every proposed change below is a proposal.
ONBOARDING — Confirm the workspace and its data sources
Required for every skill, every run — whenever Mosofin is connected. Gates 0 and 1 settle which books this is about: the workspace, and the data sources inside it. Part A then explores what those confirmed sources can actually do and personalises the run around them. Nothing is read before Gate 0 is answered.
If the Mosofin tools are not present at all, skip this part. There is nothing to onboard: say so once, then run the skill manually on data the user supplies. See the precondition check below.
Run Gates 0 → 1 → 2 → 3 in this order, before building anything. This ordering is the contract. Do not skip a gate because a previous conversation covered it — connections, permissions, and company files change between periods.
Call the Mosofin tools by the bare names your own tool list exposes — list_workspaces,
get_agent_datasources, get_datasource_tools, invoke_datasource_api_tool, get_skills,
get_my_skill, create_skill. Do not add a mosofin_ prefix and do not hardcode a client-side
mcp__… namespace; that string is composed by whichever MCP client is running.
First — ask whether to use Mosofin for this run
Two things decide how this skill runs, and they are settled before Gate 0.
1. Are the Mosofin tools present at all? — list_workspaces and the rest of the
gateway. Check before doing anything else.
2. If they are present, ask the user. Once, in these terms:
Do you want me to use your Mosofin connection for this — reading the figures straight from your books — or would you rather provide the data yourself?
Wait for the answer. A connected gateway is not consent to read from it, and this skill does not open with a data read. Never assume, never auto-pick.
- Use Mosofin → onboarding is required. Run Gates 0-1 to confirm the workspace and its data sources, then Part A explores what those sources expose.
- Provide the data myself → skip Gates 0-2 entirely and run manually, exactly as though no connector were present. Do not ask again during the run. Raise it once more only if the user asks for something their supplied data cannot answer, and then as an offer, not a demand.
If the tools are not present, do not ask — there is nothing to choose. The skill was copied on its own, the connector was never added, or there is no subscription. Do not make connecting a condition of helping. Say once, plainly, that Mosofin is not connected and this run will be manual, then carry on with the skill's normal workflow: ask for what each step needs — a trial balance, a statement, an export, the documents themselves — and do the accounting work on what the user provides.
In manual mode, whether chosen or unavoidable:
- every step is
[manual]; there are no[auto]verdicts to claim, and none may be implied - the coverage sheet records why it was manual — gateway absent, or the user chose to supply the data — not that checks passed
- the accounting logic, edge cases and output standards are unchanged. That is the part of this skill that never depended on a connection
- mention once that connecting Mosofin would automate the manual steps, with a link to docs.mosofin.com. Do not raise it again, and never withhold work to press the point
What a manual run actually does, gate by gate
| Gate | In a manual run |
|---|---|
| Gate 0 — workspace | Skipped. There is no workspace to confirm. |
| Gate 1 — data sources | Skipped as a discovery step. Still ask which entity or company this work is for, by name, so every output can be labelled — but record it as user-asserted, not confirmed against a connection. |
| Gate 2 — capability map | Skipped. The map is not empty, it is uniform: every task is [manual]. |
| Gate 3 — profile, then interview | Runs, and grows. The profile half cannot run — there is no company-profile tool — so everything it would have derived silently becomes a question: base currency, fiscal calendar, country or region, time zone. Then the interview runs in full, and every row of the Inputs table that would have been [auto] becomes something to ask for. |
Then Part B runs unchanged on what the user supplied.
Ask the user to upload the data, and name the formats. A manual run does not mean retyping anything. Say plainly what to upload, in what form, and what each item is for — then read it from the files they provide.
| Ask for | Upload as |
|---|---|
| Ledger detail, trial balance, transaction listings | CSV or XLSX export, or a pasted table |
| Statements and third-party documents | PDF or CSV, or a clear photo / scan |
| Invoices, bills, receipts, remittances | PDF or image — a single file or a batch |
| Short facts — a date, a balance, a policy | typed straight into the chat |
Ask for the whole set up front, as a checklist, not drip-fed. A person collecting exports would rather be given one list than be interrupted six times. Mark which items are strictly required and which merely improve the result, so they can decide how much to gather.
Confirm what actually arrived before starting the work. Name each file, say what was read from it — period covered, row count, opening and closing balances — and list what is still outstanding. If a file is unreadable, covers the wrong period, or does not contain what its name suggests, say so at once. Never work around a bad input silently, and never guess at a column you cannot identify — ask.
If something cannot be supplied, say what the output will and will not be — before doing the work. Never estimate a figure that was meant to come from the books, never fill a gap with a plausible number, and never present a partial result as complete. An honest partial answer, clearly labelled, is the correct outcome.
Everything the user provides is evidence like any other. Reconcile it, check it, and challenge it where it does not tie. Manual input is not more trustworthy than a ledger read — it is less, because nothing validated it on the way in.
Present but not authenticated is not the same as absent. If the tools are there and
a call returns a reconnect_url or an auth error, surface it and let the user choose —
reconnect, or continue manually. Do not silently fall back.
Confirming scope — workspace, then data sources, then tools
Nothing is read until scope is confirmed, and scope is confirmed in this order. Each step depends on the answer to the one before it, so none of them may be skipped, merged, or guessed at.
| # | Question to the user | How it is settled |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Which workspace? | list_workspaces with no arguments. Read the workspace back by name and wait for an explicit yes. On selection_required, ask whether this is single- or multi-workspace, then which by name, then call again with workspace_ids=[…] and mode="single"/"multi". |
| 2 | Which data sources, in that workspace? | get_agent_datasources with the confirmed workspace_id. connected: true is in scope; connected: false is excluded and named as excluded, with any reconnect_url surfaced. Then settle the entity scenario — single-entity: which company; multi-entity: which set — always by display_name. |
| 3 | Which tools do those sources actually expose? | get_datasource_tools per in-scope datasource, and per company file when several are live — permissions are per company. This is discovery, not a question: read what is there before promising anything. |
Never auto-pick. Not the workspace, not the company file, not the entity scenario. Silence is not a yes, and an answer to one question is not an answer to the next.
Names, never internal ids. Name the workspace and refer to companies by
display_name. Never print an internal numeric tenant id, and never show a raw
data_source_id — pass the opaque handle, show the name.
Only then does the work begin. Once the workspace, the data sources and their tools
are confirmed, resolve every task against what was actually found: what is available
now decides which steps are [auto], which are [gated] and which fall to [manual].
Where the confirmed tools cannot answer the request, say so and ask — do not substitute
an assumption for a capability.
The catalogue is authoritative. Take exact tool_name values from the Gate 2
listing — names are not uniformly styled, some underscored, some hyphenated.
Do not invent a tool name. On UNKNOWN_TOOL, read the valid names from the error
and retry.
Never call a tool whose effective_policy is disabled.
This map is built fresh every run and held only for this run. It is written out in the coverage sheet, never written back into this file.
Gate 0 — Confirm the workspace
Call list_workspaces with no arguments.
- One workspace → read the workspace name back and wait for an explicit yes.
- Two or more (
selection_required) → ask in chat whether this is single- or multi-workspace, then which workspace(s) by name, then call again withworkspace_ids=[…]andmode="single"/mode="multi".
Never auto-pick. Never print an internal numeric tenant id — name the workspace, pass the opaque
ws_… handle.
Gate 1 — Discover live datasources and settle the entity scenario
Call get_agent_datasources with the confirmed workspace_id.
connected: true→ in scope.connected: false→ excluded, and named as excluded. Surface anyreconnect_url.
This gate matters more here than almost anywhere else in the pack. Financial statements have a reporting entity, and the reporting entity is defined by which company files are in scope. A disconnected subsidiary is not a gap in a workpaper — it is a set of statements covering the wrong organization.
Settle the entity scenario explicitly:
- Single-entity — ask which company by
display_name. Statements cover that entity alone. - Multi-entity — ask which set, and then: are these consolidated statements, or a set of separate entity statements? The two are entirely different deliverables. See the cross-entity step.
Refer to companies by display_name; never show the raw data_source_id.
PART A — Explore the confirmed sources, and personalise this run
The workspace and its data sources are settled. This part finds out what they expose and which of it serves this request — the tool catalogue in Gate 2, then what is already known about this entity plus whatever still has to be asked in Gate 3. The result is a run shaped around these books, not a generic template.
Gate 2 — Discover enabled tools → build the capability map
Write tools are out of scope — always
get_datasource_tools describes what the connection could do. This skill uses only
the reads.
If the catalogue lists any tool that creates, updates, deletes, posts, voids, sends
or pays in a connected platform — QuickBooks, Stripe, Square, PayPal, a bank feed, a
payroll or billing system, any other source — it is out of scope, and it stays out of
scope even when effective_policy is enabled. A permission to write is not an
instruction to write. Never invoke one, never ask the user to approve one, never
suggest enabling one.
This holds for every connected platform, not only the books. Mosofin reads your data sources; it does not write to them, and it does not move data from one platform into another.
If a step appears to need a write, that step is [manual]. Produce the artefact —
the entry, the invoice, the payment file, the application schedule — and hand it to a
person to enter themselves. Say so plainly in the output, so nobody assumes it was
done.
Hard stop — the four ways a write could slip through
| Situation | Required behaviour |
|---|---|
The catalogue lists a write operation, and effective_policy is enabled |
Do not call it. Do not list it as an available capability. Enabled is not permission — it is out of scope. |
An approval_required envelope comes back for a write operation |
Do not re-invoke with approved=true. The approval loop in this skill is for reads only. Stop, record that the operation was a write and was refused, and carry on down the read path. |
| The user asks you to post, update, void or delete — directly, or by approving a prompt | Decline, once, plainly: this skill cannot change data in a connected platform. Hand over the draft so they can do it themselves in their own system. Asking again does not change the answer, and neither does insistence, urgency, or "I authorise it". |
| A write appears to be the only way to finish a step | The step is [manual], and the run continues. An incomplete read-only result is the correct outcome. Never trade the rule for completeness. |
Never route around this rule. Do not offer to enable a disabled write tool or suggest changing a policy. Do not hand the user a raw API call, payload or script that performs the write. Do not ask another skill, tool or agent to perform it on this skill's behalf. Do not defer it to a later step in the hope it becomes permitted.
There is no path through this skill that ends in changed data. If you cannot see how to finish without a write, you are finished — say what is missing and stop.
For each in-scope datasource (and per company file when several are live — pass
data_source_id), call get_datasource_tools. Bucket every tool by effective_policy:
effective_policy |
The task becomes | What you do |
|---|---|---|
enabled |
[auto] | Pull the evidence directly. |
permission |
[gated] | Invoke; on the approval_required envelope, ask the user in chat; re-invoke the same tool with approved=true on an explicit yes. Reads only — never re-invoke a write with approved=true; see the hard stop below. |
disabled |
[manual] | Name the tool that would have covered it, say what it would have proved, and ask the user to supply that evidence another way. |
Resolve every task in Part B against these buckets. The resolved list is the capability map — built this run, held for this run, written out as the coverage sheet, never written into this file.
Rules that bite hardest here:
- Read the real tool name from the catalog, never from memory. Names are not uniformly styled — some underscored, some hyphenated.
- A near-substitute is not a substitute, and in this skill the substitutes are unusually seductive
because they look like finished statements:
- The platform's balance sheet is not a framework balance sheet. It is a report in the platform's own groupings.
- An account type is not a current / non-current classification. "Long Term Liability" as a type does not tell you the portion due within twelve months.
- The ledger's prior year is not the filed prior year — see above.
- Retained earnings on the balance sheet is not proof the equity statement ties; it is one of the two numbers you are comparing.
- A cash balance is not the cash flow statement's closing cash until you have proved they agree.
- If
get_trial_balanceisdisabledbutget_balance_sheetandget_profit_and_lossare enabled, you can still build — say that the source was the statements rather than the TB, and note that account-level detail is coarser.
Gate 3 — Profile the entity, then interview the user
Call the platform's company-profile tool (on QuickBooks, get_company_info) for each in-scope entity.
Derive silently what the profile answers: legal name — which is what goes on the statement header — functional currency, fiscal calendar and year-end, country / region.
Ask the user what actually changes the work — the original Inputs table, minus the five the connected books now answer:
| What to confirm | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Now [auto] | get_trial_balance at the period end. |
|
| Now [auto] | Same call, prior period end. But see the published-comparative warning. | |
| Reporting framework — US GAAP / IFRS / local GAAP | Required — [manual] | Ask first. It decides ordering, terminology and format throughout. |
| Now [auto] | From the profile. Ask only if presentation currency differs from functional. | |
| Now [auto] | Legal name from the profile; confirm the period. | |
| Now [auto] | From search_accounts. |
|
| Classification rules — current / non-current criteria | Recommended — [gated] | The current portion of debt and leases is the hard part; it needs the amortization schedules. |
| Special presentation elements — discontinued ops, extraordinary items, segments | If applicable — [manual] | Nothing in the ledger flags a disposal group. |
| Prior-year audited financials — for continuity | Recommended — [manual], and more important than the original implies | The check that catches unposted audit adjustments. |
| Presentation currency, if different from functional | If applicable — [manual] | Translation per foreign-currency-translation-asc830. |
| Rounding basis | Recommended — [manual] | Whole units, thousands, millions. |
| Share count for EPS, if EPS is required | If applicable — [manual] | Weighted average shares are not in the ledger. |
| Confirm scope | Required | Read back in-scope and excluded company files by display_name, and whether the package is consolidated or separate. |
| Confirm any profile contradiction | Required if one appears | e.g. a year-end that disagrees with the period requested. |
| Confirm manual evidence | Required | The framework, the prior-year financials, the debt schedules and any EPS data are [manual]. |
Ask as one short batch. Propose defaults where reasonable — but never default a framework, a current / non-current split, a rounding basis, or a share count.
On later runs, read stored preferences first (Step 12), confirm in one line, and ask only what changed. The framework, the account-to-line mapping, the classification rules and the rounding basis persist; the balances are re-obtained every period.
PART B — The domain work
Every step below is the original procedure, unchanged in count, order, or substance, with plain-language
wording, an [auto] / [gated] / [manual] verdict, and the typical evidence tool added.
Never drop a task because no tool covers it. EPS and discontinued operations are legitimately
[manual], and recording that is the honest result.
Tool names in italics are typical. Resolve real names and policies from your Gate 2 catalog.
Step 0 — Fetch the evidence (grounding) — Mosofin addition
Batch independent reads into one message — the current TB, the comparative TB, the accounts and the profile do not depend on each other. Never serialize them.
The server is stateless: pass data_source_id on every call, including retries.
Typical opening batch, per in-scope entity:
get_trial_balanceat the current period end — the primary source — usually [auto]get_trial_balanceat the comparative period end — usually [auto]search_accounts— account names, numbers and types — usually [auto]get_balance_sheetcurrent and comparative — usually [auto]get_profit_and_losscurrent and comparative — usually [auto]get_cash_flow_statementwhere the platform offers one — usually [auto]get_general_ledger— for the movement detail behind any line that needs analysis — usually [auto]get_company_info— legal name, currency, year-end — usually [auto]
Pull both periods on the same basis. Where the platform offers an accounting_method argument
(cash / accrual), pass the same value for both periods — a comparative pulled on a different basis is
not a comparative, and the difference is invisible once it reaches a spreadsheet.
Handle the envelopes:
approval_required→ ask the user in chat, then re-invoke the same tool withapproved=true.entity_required→ ask bydisplay_name, then pass thatdata_source_id.tool_policy_disabled→ convert that task to [manual] and record the gap.UNKNOWN_TOOL→ read the valid names from the error; do not guess.- Dead connection → surface the
reconnect_url.
Check the mock flag. mock: true is fixture data. Financial statements are the most consequential
output in this pack — they go to banks, investors and auditors. A statement package built on fixture
data must say so on the face of every statement, not in a footnote.
Step 1 — Validate the TB
Before building statements — [auto] throughout:
- Sum of debits = sum of credits (the TB balances)
- Every account has a type — Asset / Liability / Equity / Revenue / Expense
- Every revenue and expense account is on the P&L side
- Every BS account is on the BS side
- No type mismatches — a liability with a perpetual debit balance, and so on
If the TB is unbalanced, fix that first via closing-entries-and-trial-balance review. Mosofin note:
a TB pulled from a live double-entry platform will balance, so this check is a formality on
platform-sourced data and a real check on anything supplied by hand. The type-mismatch test is the one
that still earns its place — a liability account sitting in debit is a genuine finding the software will
happily report.
If the period is mid-year — P&L accounts hold YTD balances, no closing yet — build statements
directly from those YTD balances. If post-closing, all P&L accounts are zero and you need the
period's activity elsewhere — get_profit_and_loss for the period, or get_general_ledger.
[auto] to detect which case you are in: read the P&L accounts. All zero at a year-end date means
post-closing. See closing-entries-and-trial-balance for the auto-close behaviour some platforms apply
without an explicit entry.
Step 2 — Build the Balance Sheet
Classification — Current vs. Non-current
US GAAP and IFRS both use current / non-current with similar criteria. Current assets are expected to be realized or consumed within 12 months — or one operating cycle if longer. Current liabilities are due within 12 months.
[gated]: account types are [auto], but the twelve-month test is judgment plus schedules. The
current portion of long-term debt is the classic case — the ledger usually carries one loan balance, and
splitting it needs the amortization schedule (see debt-and-covenant-tracking). The same applies to lease
liabilities and to deferred revenue.
Balance Sheet structure
Most common; framework variations noted:
ASSETS
Current Assets
Cash and cash equivalents
Short-term investments / marketable securities
Accounts receivable, net of allowance
Inventory
Prepaid expenses
Input tax recoverable (current portion)
Other current assets
Total Current Assets
Non-current Assets
Property, plant & equipment, net (cost less accumulated depreciation)
Right-of-use assets (under ASC 842 / IFRS 16)
Intangible assets, net
Goodwill
Long-term investments
Deferred tax assets (non-current portion)
Other non-current assets
Total Non-current Assets
TOTAL ASSETS
LIABILITIES
Current Liabilities
Accounts payable
Accrued expenses
Current portion of long-term debt
Current portion of lease liabilities
Customer deposits / current deferred revenue
Sales tax / VAT / GST payable
Income tax payable
Other current liabilities
Total Current Liabilities
Non-current Liabilities
Long-term debt (net of current portion)
Lease liabilities (net of current portion)
Deferred revenue (non-current)
Deferred tax liabilities
Other non-current liabilities
Total Non-current Liabilities
TOTAL LIABILITIES
EQUITY
Common stock (par value)
Additional paid-in capital
Retained earnings
Treasury stock (contra)
Accumulated other comprehensive income / (loss)
Total Equity attributable to shareholders of the parent
Non-controlling interests (if multi-entity consolidation)
TOTAL EQUITY
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY
Validation: Total Assets = Total Liabilities + Total Equity, to the penny. Prove this on the statement you built, after reclassification — not on the platform's report, which balances by construction.
IFRS differences:
- IFRS typically presents non-current items first (assets, then liabilities, then equity) and current items second — opposite of US GAAP
- IFRS requires "Trade and other receivables" / "Trade and other payables" terminology
- Property, plant & equipment may be revalued under IFRS — revaluation surplus in OCI
Local GAAP may have other variations — apply per the user's framework.
Mosofin mapping note. Map each ledger account to a statement line explicitly, and keep the mapping (Step 12). Every account in the TB must land on exactly one line, and the sum of mapped accounts must equal the TB total. An unmapped account is the commonest way a statement quietly stops balancing — check for it rather than trusting that the totals happened to agree.
Step 3 — Build the Income Statement
Two formats are common — [manual] to choose, [auto] to populate:
By Function — typical for many entities, especially under US GAAP:
Revenue
Cost of Revenue / Cost of Goods Sold
Gross Profit
Operating Expenses:
Research and Development
Sales and Marketing
General and Administrative
(Other operating expenses)
Operating Income
Other Income / (Expense):
Interest income
Interest expense
Foreign currency gain / (loss)
Other income / expense, net
Income before tax
Income tax expense
NET INCOME / (LOSS)
By Nature — common under IFRS, especially in continental Europe:
Revenue
Other income
Changes in inventories of finished goods and WIP
Raw materials and consumables used
Employee benefit expense
Depreciation and amortization expense
Other expenses
Operating Profit
Finance income
Finance costs
Profit before tax
Income tax expense
PROFIT FOR THE PERIOD
Both formats arrive at the same net income. Apply the user's policy or framework norm.
Single-step vs. multi-step: most accrual entities use multi-step — gross profit shown separately. Single-step — one block of revenue minus expenses — is rarer.
Mosofin note: by-function requires the entity to have tracked function. If departments or classes were
never used, a by-function P&L is a reallocation exercise, not a read. [auto] to check
(search_departments, search_classes, get_profit_and_loss with a summarize argument) — and worth
checking before promising the format.
Step 4 — Add comparative period
Standard practice is to present:
- Current period and one comparative period — this year versus last year
- For 10-K / annual filings: 2 prior years for the IS and 1 prior year for the BS — per SEC; varies by jurisdiction
Comparatives must be on a consistent basis with the current period. If a reclassification was made in the current period, restate the prior period's comparatives to match — and disclose.
[auto] to fetch, [manual] to validate — and the validation is the part that matters. Two Mosofin checks:
- Same basis. Both periods pulled with the same
accounting_methodand the same reporting parameters. - Agreement with what was published. Compare the ledger's prior year to the prior-year financial statements as issued. A difference means audit adjustments were never posted, or the prior year was reopened and something changed. Both are findings; neither is rare. Report the difference and ask which version governs before building comparatives on it.
Step 5 — Add the Statement of Comprehensive Income
Required under both US GAAP (ASC 220) and IFRS (IAS 1). Can be:
- A single statement of Profit or Loss AND OCI together
- Or two statements: P&L, then a separate Statement of Comprehensive Income
OCI items — closed to AOCI, not RE:
- Foreign currency translation adjustments (CTA) — [gated]; arises on translation, see
foreign-currency-translation-asc830 - Available-for-sale debt securities — unrealized gains / losses — [manual]; needs market values
- Cash flow hedge gains / losses (effective portion) — [manual]; see
derivatives-and-hedging-asc815 - Defined benefit plan actuarial gains / losses (per framework) — [manual]; actuarial
- Revaluation surplus on PP&E (IFRS only) — [manual]; needs a valuation
Net Income
Other Comprehensive Income, net of tax:
Foreign currency translation
Unrealized gains/losses on securities
Cash flow hedges
Pension actuarial gains/losses
Total Other Comprehensive Income
Total Comprehensive Income
Four of the five OCI items need data the accounting system does not hold. Where an AOCI balance exists in the ledger but no supporting analysis is available, report the balance and name the analysis required — do not present a movement you cannot explain.
Step 6 — Build the Statement of Cash Flows
Hand off to cash-flow-statement-indirect-method for the full procedure. The result fits in the package
as the third primary statement. [gated] — that skill has its own capability map; the balance-sheet
movements it needs are [auto], the non-cash and financing detail often is not.
Where the platform offers its own cash flow report (get_cash_flow_statement), it is a useful
cross-check, not a substitute — platform cash flow reports classify by their own rules and frequently
misclassify financing and investing items.
Step 7 — Build the Statement of Changes in Equity / Statement of Stockholders' Equity
Hand off to statement-of-equity-changes. This shows the roll-forward of each equity component.
[gated] — the balances are [auto], the movements need attribution.
Step 8 — Cross-statement validations
Critical tie-outs. This is the heart of the skill — [auto] to compute, and each one must be reported with its actual difference, not merely asserted:
- Balance Sheet balances — Assets = Liabilities + Equity. On your statements, post-reclassification.
- Net Income on IS = Net Income line on Cash Flow Statement — the start of operating activities under the indirect method
- Net Income + OCI on Statement of CI = Net Income on Statement of Equity Changes
- Cash at end of period on Cash Flow Statement = Cash on Balance Sheet
- Closing Retained Earnings on Statement of Equity = Retained Earnings on BS
- Comparative period figures = prior year's filed financials — or restated comparatives if
reclassified, with disclosure. This is the
[manual]one, and the one most often skipped. - Inter-statement currency consistency — if reporting in USD, every statement says USD
Report each tie-out as pass / fail with the difference, even when it is zero. "Balances" without a number is an assertion; "balances, difference 0.00" is evidence. A rounding-driven difference is still a difference and belongs in Step 9, not hidden here.
Step 9 — Apply rounding and presentation
Common rounding — [manual] choice:
- Thousands ($000s) for small / mid entities
- Millions for large entities
- Whole dollars for very small / startup
Whatever rounding is used, it must be consistent within the document. Rounding can create $1 line-item differences in totals; either re-balance or footnote.
Other presentation choices:
- Comparatives shown side by side (c
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