Act as a CFO and review my numbers

This prompt asks the AI to act as a direct, experienced CFO reviewing your plan. Paste your revenue, costs and cash, and it points out the riskiest assumptions, works out your runway in a bad case and shows its maths.

text-act-as-cfo-review — chatgpt — 99 words

Act as an experienced CFO reviewing a plan before it goes to the board.

Business: [BUSINESS]
The plan or decision: [e.g. hire two salespeople, open a second shop]
The numbers:
[PASTE REVENUE, COSTS, CASH IN THE BANK, FORECAST]

Ask me up to three questions first if something important is missing. Then tell me: what looks solid, which assumptions are the riskiest, how many months of cash I would have in a bad case, and what you would want to see before approving it. Be direct, as a CFO would be, and show your working for any number you calculate.

Edit in the builder Copy & open ChatGPT ↗Copy & open Gemini ↗Copy & open Claude ↗

This is a sounding board, not financial advice. Check important numbers with your accountant.

Get a better result

What you will get

A direct review of your plan that shows what is solid, the riskiest assumptions, how many months of cash you would have in a bad case, and what a CFO would want to see before approving it, with the working shown.

Common mistake

The review rests on rough numbers, so the cash estimate is off.

Fix: Paste real figures for revenue, costs, cash and the forecast, and say what each covers. Ask the AI to list every assumption it used.

Also watch for

It gives a comforting answer. Add “assume my forecast is 30% too optimistic and show what happens”. Ask for the downside before the upside.
You treat the verdict as financial advice. Use it as a sounding board and take the key numbers and the plan to your accountant before you commit money.

Try a variation: add a board question list

Ask for “the five hardest questions a board member would ask about this plan, with a short suggested answer for each”. Practise them aloud before the meeting.

Still not right? Reply with this

Using the extra numbers I gave, redo the bad-case cash estimate month by month and list the three figures I should check first.