XLSX And Financial Model Presentation

XLSX And Financial-Model Presentation

Acknowledgement: Shared by Peter Bamuhigire, techguypeter.com.

Use When

• A spreadsheet — financial model summary, KPI dashboard sheet, schedule, sensitivity table, budget-vs-actual, cohort/ageing table — must be presented as a considered, institutional exhibit rather than a default Calibri grey-grid worksheet.
• The sheet needs exhibit-grade number formatting (custom masks, three-part positive;negative;zero, accounting parentheses + red negatives, the $-on-top-row-and-totals convention, units in the format, consistent decimals) so the numbers read as authored.
• You want conditional formatting used as deliberate visual encoding — data bars, icon sets, colour scales / heatmaps — chosen to match magnitude vs threshold vs category, used with restraint, paired with a legend and a non-colour cue.
• The model needs the blue-input / black-formula readability convention, a named table & cell-style system, gridlines off, never-hide-rows discipline, and Center Across Selection instead of merged cells.
• An embedded chart must be styled for integrity (zero baseline, no 3-D, no stacked-line-as- trend, actual-vs-projected colour with a second cue), or the workbook must be laid out for print as a hand-out exhibit (print area, fit-to-page floor, centre-on-page, header/footer, tab colour-coding).
• The deliverable is an .xlsx (or a printed/PDF exhibit from one) — not a slide, not a Word report, not a web dashboard.

Do Not Use When

• The work is formula / calculation / pivot / macro / model MECHANICS — building the model logic, writing formulas, structuring pivots, dynamic arrays, XLOOKUP, Power Query, data validation, what-if/Solver/Goal-Seek, scenario engines, VBA/Office-Scripts automation, or the accounting correctness of the numbers. This skill owns only how the model is dressed and presented; it explicitly defers all calculation and modelling mechanics to the finance engine (C:\wamp64\www\chwezi-accounting-doctrine, for IFRS/IAS statement structure, statutory and bookkeeping correctness) and to the engineering catalog (~/.claude/skills) for spreadsheet engineering / automation. If the request is "build/fix the model", route there first; return here only to present the result.
• The file must be created or programmatically read/written as a build task (open, parse, emit .xlsx/.csv via a library) — use the xlsx document skill for the tooling; come here for the design settings it should apply.
• The chart's encoding choice itself (which chart, perceptual ranking, dashboard page composition) is the question — that is 12-data-viz-and-dashboards/data-visualization (the individual chart) and dashboard-and-data-product-design (the page). This skill applies those rules inside Excel; it does not restate the chart-choice theory.
• The deliverable is a Word report (docx-report-and-document-formatting), a slide deck (deck-system), or a branded PDF proposal (pdf-proposal-and-bankable-document-design).
• No typeface / palette has been chosen — state it first via font-selection-and-pairing (group 01) and the doctrine charter, then return here.

Required Inputs

• The sheet's purpose, audience, and medium (on-screen review vs printed board hand-out vs PDF exhibit) — this sets decimals, density, and whether a print layout is warranted.
• The data's structure: which cells are hard-coded inputs/assumptions vs formula outputs vs totals (needed to apply the blue/black convention and the $-row convention), and the units/scale (actuals, thousands, millions, %, ratios, days).
• A stated type + palette choice per the charter: a 04 Technical / Data face for the numeric body (tabular/lining figures), an accent colour for emphasis, and a colour-blind-safe scale for any conditional encoding — never a banned default, never red+green as the only signal.
• For charts/print: the comparison the chart must make, and the trim/orientation for the exhibit.

Workflow

1. State the type, palette, and encoding intent first. Per the Anti-Slop Charter (doctrine/design-doctrine.md §2), name the numeric face (a 04 Technical / Data family with tabular lining figures so columns align — e.g. IBM Plex Mono / IBM Plex Sans for headers, or a workhorse with tabular figures from doctrine/references/font-groups-and-usage.md), the single accent colour, and — if you will encode with conditional formatting — which signal (magnitude / threshold / category) and the colour-blind-safe scale, before touching the sheet. Scan fonts/04-technical-data-code/ for a purchased family and prefer it when it improves the result. Never default to Calibri/Aptos (the slop signal of an unconsidered workbook).
2. Set exhibit-grade number formats. Apply the custom-mask system in references/xlsx-design-system.md: required-vs-optional digits (0 vs #), thousands separators, the three-part positive;negative;zero mask, accounting parentheses + red for negatives, the $ (or currency) on the top data row and on totals only (blank or aligned elsewhere to cut noise), units in the format (0.0 "x", 0 "days", 0.0%% for points), date masks (mmm yyyy), and one consistent decimal count per column. Consistency is the professionalism signal — do not let a column mix 2-dp and 0-dp.
3. Apply the table & cell-style system. Per references/xlsx-design-system.md: define named cell styles (Input, Formula/Calc, Total, Header, Note) carrying the blue font = hard-coded input/assumption, black = formula convention; use Center Across Selection (not Merge) for spanning titles so navigation/copy/sort stay intact; turn gridlines off and use deliberate hairline rules and banded shading instead; align numbers right with consistent padding; never hide rows to make an exhibit (group/collapse instead — the Lehman/Barclays cautionary tale).
4. Use conditional formatting AS visual encoding — with restraint and a non-colour cue. Per references/xlsx-design-system.md: pick the mechanism by signal — data bars for in-cell magnitude (a sorted-bar surrogate; show the number too, set a sensible max), colour scales / heatmaps for a continuous field across a matrix (single-hue ramp, not rainbow; tinted endpoints), icon sets for threshold/RAG status (always pair the icon with text/number — a shape is itself the non-colour cue). One encoding per table; add a legend; honour WCAG 1.4.1 (never colour-alone) and the 3:1 / 4.5:1 contrast floors (doctrine/references/wcag-2.2-criteria.md). Use blue + orange (or tint + sign), never red+green as the sole distinction.
5. Style any embedded chart for integrity. Apply references/xlsx-design-system.md chart rules (which inherit 12-data-viz-and-dashboards/data-visualization): zero baseline on bars, no 3-D, no stacked-line-as-trend, distinct actual-vs-projected treatment carrying a second cue (solid vs dashed, not colour alone), direct labels over distant legends, thin light gridlines or none, grey base + one accent, an action title. Defer the choice of chart and the perceptual ranking to that sibling; here you only apply it in Excel.
6. Lay out for print / PDF exhibit (when it will be handed out). Per references/exhibit-and-print-layout.md: set an explicit print area (and named multi-block areas), use Page Break Preview, scale to fit with a legibility floor (never shrink below ~8 pt effective — split the exhibit instead), centre on page, set repeating header rows (Print Titles), a header/footer (title, source/as-of date, page x of y, confidentiality), margins trimmed, and colour-code worksheet tabs for navigation. Set a print palette that survives greyscale (the non-colour cue earns its keep here).
7. Accessibility & QA pass. Verify: no colour-only encoding (every CF distinction has a shape/sign/label); text and data-mark contrast meet 4.5:1 / 3:1; numeric face has tabular figures so columns align; tables have a real header row and simple non-merged structure; workbook/sheet titles and a descriptive document title set; alt text on charts/images; one consistent decimal and currency convention throughout; gridlines-off exhibit still reads via deliberate rules. Then sanity-check that you have not strayed into calculation logic — if you changed a formula or a number's meaning, stop and route to the finance engine.

Decision Rules

Capability Contract

Read, edit, recalculate, and render are required for workbook production. Analysis of formulas remains read-only unless explicitly authorised. External links, macros, financial logic, and distribution require separate authority and domain review.

Degraded Mode

Without spreadsheet recalculation or rendering, produce a style and print specification marked unverified. Stop release when formulas show errors, links are stale, print pages clip, or financial-owner approval is absent.

Anti-Patterns

• Shipping the default Calibri grey-grid: visible gridlines as the only structure, no number formatting, currency repeated on every interior row, mixed decimals down a column — the recognisable signature of an unconsidered workbook.
• Conditional formatting as decoration: rainbow colour scales, three different CF rules stacked on one table, data bars with no number, icon sets carrying RAG status by colour alone (fails WCAG 1.4.1), traffic-light red+green with no shape or label.
• Merged cells for titles/spanning (breaks sort, copy, navigation, and the accessibility tree) — use Center Across Selection.
• Hiding rows/columns to manufacture an exhibit (the Lehman/Barclays footnote) — group/collapse or build a dedicated summary sheet instead.
• Losing the blue-input/black-formula tell, so a reader cannot see what is an assumption vs a result; or hard-coding a number on top of a formula in black.
• Chart-integrity violations carried into Excel: non-zero bar baseline, 3-D, stacked-line-as- trend, secondary axis used as a puzzle, actual-vs-forecast distinguished by hue alone.
• Straying into mechanics: "improving" the model by rewriting formulas, pivots, or the accounting — that is the finance/engineering engine's job, not this skill's.
• Fit-to-page shrinking the exhibit into illegibility instead of splitting it.

Outputs

• An .xlsx (and/or a print/PDF exhibit from it) with exhibit-grade number formats applied consistently (custom masks, accounting negatives, $-on-top-and-totals, units, one decimal per column).
• A named table & cell-style system carrying the blue-input/black-formula convention, gridlines-off with deliberate rules, Center Across Selection titles, never-hidden rows.
• Conditional formatting used as deliberate encoding (data bars / icon sets / colour scale) chosen to match the signal, restrained, legended, and carrying a non-colour cue at AA contrast.
• Integrity-styled charts (zero baseline, no 3-D, actual-vs-projected with a second cue, action title) and, where handed out, a print-ready exhibit layout (print area, fit-floor, centre, repeating headers, footer, greyscale-safe palette, tab colour-coding).
• A one-paragraph choice rationale (numeric face, accent, and the encoding-signal mapping), per the charter — and an explicit note that calculation/model mechanics were deferred to the finance engine.

Examples

• examples/kpi-model-summary-exhibit.md — a fully worked exhibit spec for a real FY model summary / KPI sheet: every column's number-format mask, the input/formula/total cell-style map, a data-bar + icon-set + heatmap encoding (each with its non-colour cue and legend), a budget-vs-actual combo chart styled for integrity, and the print layout — copy the settings directly. Never lorem.

References

• doctrine/design-doctrine.md — the Mission and Anti-Slop Charter; state the choice, prefer the authored exhibit over the default grid, sourcing-authority asymmetry.
• doctrine/references/ai-slop-taxonomy.md — the chart-junk / dashboard-decoration tells (3-D, rainbow scales, gauges) this skill rejects.
• doctrine/references/wcag-2.2-criteria.md — the accessibility floor: contrast 4.5:1 / 3:1, and never colour-alone (1.4.1) — the basis for the non-colour-cue rule on all conditional encoding.
• doctrine/references/font-groups-and-usage.md — the 04 Technical / Data baseline faces with tabular lining figures for aligned numeric columns.
• references/xlsx-design-system.md — the number-format mask system, named cell/table styles, the blue-input/black-formula convention, and conditional-formatting-as-encoding (data bars / icon sets / colour scales) with non-colour cues.
• references/exhibit-and-print-layout.md — print area, fit-to-page legibility floor, centre-on- page, repeating headers, header/footer, greyscale-safe palette, tab colour-coding.
• Sibling — 12-data-viz-and-dashboards/data-visualization owns the chart-choice + perceptual ranking + accessible-chart floor this skill applies inside Excel; defer encoding theory to it.
• Defer to — finance engine C:\wamp64\www\chwezi-accounting-doctrine (IFRS/IAS, statement structure, statutory/bookkeeping correctness) and the engineering catalog ~/.claude/skills (spreadsheet engineering/automation) for all formula / pivot / macro / model-calculation mechanics — this skill is presentation-only.