Financial Model Audit Assistant
Systematically checks spreadsheet formulas, errors, and financial-model integrity.
The skill asks for scope confirmation and explicitly says not to change anything without asking, providing basic human confirmation and rollback protection. It does not specify spreadsheet-sensitive-data handling, permission boundaries, data flows, external dependencies, or secure storage of findings, so points are deducted.
It covers many formula, model-integrity, and abnormal-condition categories and requires severity plus suggested fixes in the report. However, it defines no execution mechanism, invalid-input handling, diagnostic response when a workbook cannot be read, or key-path tests; static evidence is therefore limited.
The trigger phrases, three audit scopes, and model-type scenarios are reasonably clear. Non-fit boundaries, input formats, runtime environment, Chinese-language behavior, and mainland-China network fit are not specified, so points are deducted.
The document has clear sections for scope, checks, reporting, limitations, and Apache-2.0 licensing. It lacks an independent version, changelog, named maintenance responsibility, update path, installation/dependency notes, and examples or FAQs, so points are deducted.
The intended output is a directly usable audit table with sheet, cell/range, severity, category, issue, and fix fields, and the core task is clear. There is no executable implementation or representative output evidence, and actual formula auditing still requires human review; the static ceiling therefore applies.
The skill provides an auditable checklist and explicit report format, while repository context shows plugin-validation and secret-scan CI. Those workflows do not test the audit key paths, and no committed test suite or third-party execution evidence is supplied, so points are deducted.
- The file describes an audit method but does not specify how workbooks are read, calculated, or validated; actual runnability is unverified.
- Financial-model conclusions require professional review; the skill does not define least-privilege access, redaction, retention, or transmission rules for sensitive data.
- Chinese trigger semantics and mainland-China network fit are undocumented, so Chinese users may need explicit invocation or additional configuration.
What it does & when to use it
audit-xls audits spreadsheet formulas and data for accuracy and common modeling mistakes. It supports a selected range, the active sheet, or the entire workbook. Model-level audits add balance-sheet, cash-flow, roll-forward, circularity, and reasonableness checks. It reports findings first and does not change anything without a separate request.
For any scope, it checks formula errors, hardcodes inside formulas, inconsistent neighboring formulas, off-by-one ranges, pasted-over formulas, circular references, broken cross-sheet links, unit or scale mismatches, and hidden rows or tabs. For model scope, it identifies the model type and checks balance-sheet balance, retained-earnings roll-forwards, cash tie-outs, cash-flow sums, D&A and CapEx links, working-capital signs, income-statement ties, circular-reference behavior, growth and margin reasonableness, terminal-value concentration, hockey-stick projections, compounding, and edge cases. It also lists DCF, LBO, merger, and three-statement-specific bugs. The output is a findings table with number, sheet, cell or range, severity, category, issue, and suggested fix.
- An investment-banking analyst audits a DCF, LBO, or three-statement model before sending it to a client or investment committee.
- A financial modeler investigates why a workbook does not balance and traces the gap by period.
- An equity-research analyst checks whether newly copied formulas preserve the pattern across periods.
- An Excel user reviews hidden rows, hardcoded overrides, and cross-sheet links for silent errors.
Pros & cons
- Supports quick range checks through full financial-model integrity audits.
- Prioritizes balance-sheet balance and requires period-by-period gap tracing.
- Covers formula errors, hardcodes, circular references, units, hidden content, and model logic.
- Produces severity labels and suggested fixes for human review.
- The SKILL.md does not specify the spreadsheet reader or calculation engine.
- The source provides no test suite, sample audit output, or independent platform validation.
- Macro-driven calculations cannot be fully audited from formulas alone and must be noted.
- When scope is omitted, the skill must ask a clarifying question before auditing.
How to install
The README documents collection-level installation: in Cowork, open Settings → Plugins → Add plugin and paste https://github.com/anthropics/financial-services, or upload a zip containing plugins/agent-plugins/pitch-agent/. The source does not document a separate audit-xls installation command.
How to use
In an environment where the spreadsheet is accessible, enter a trigger such as “audit this sheet,” “check my formulas,” or “model won't balance.” If no scope is provided, choose selection, sheet, or model; for model scope, identify the model type such as DCF, LBO, three-statement, merger, comps, or custom. Review the findings table first; request any changes separately.