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name: budget-creation description: | Complete budgeting and forecasting workflow covering annual budgets, departmental budgets, rolling forecasts, and variance analysis. Delivers documented budgets with approval trails.

trigger: |

• Creating annual operating budget
• Building departmental budgets
• Developing rolling forecasts
• Budget-to-actual variance analysis

skip_when: |

• Analyzing historical financials → use financial-analysis
• Building valuation models → use financial-modeling
• Cash flow specific work → use cash-flow-analysis

related: similar: [financial-analysis, financial-modeling] uses: [budget-planner]

Budget Creation Workflow

This skill provides a structured workflow for comprehensive budget development using the budget-planner agent.

Workflow Overview

The budget creation workflow follows 6 phases:

Phase	Name	Description
1	Planning	Define budget scope, methodology, timeline
2	Assumption Development	Document all budget assumptions
3	Line Item Build	Build detailed budget by line item
4	Consolidation	Consolidate and review totals
5	Approval	Obtain required approvals
6	Documentation	Finalize with version control

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Phase 1: Planning

MANDATORY: Define budget parameters before building

Questions to Answer

Question	Purpose
What is the budget period?	Sets time scope
What methodology will be used?	Incremental vs ZBB
Who are the budget owners?	Establishes accountability
What is the timeline?	Sets deadlines
What are the constraints?	Defines boundaries

Methodology Selection

Method	When to Use	Characteristics
Incremental	Stable operations	Prior year + adjustments
Zero-Based	Cost reduction	Every item justified
Driver-Based	Scalable operations	Tied to activity drivers
Top-Down	Corporate targets	Allocate from total
Bottom-Up	Department input	Aggregate from detail

Blocker Check

If ANY of these are unclear, STOP and ask:

• Budget period
• Methodology choice
• Approval requirements
• Timeline constraints

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Phase 2: Assumption Development

MANDATORY: Document ALL assumptions before building

Required Assumptions

Category	Examples
Revenue	Growth rate, pricing, volume
Headcount	Hiring plan, attrition, merit
Inflation	General inflation, specific items
Timing	Seasonality, project timing
Strategic	Initiatives, investments

Assumption Documentation Standard

Element	Requirement
Assumption statement	Clear, specific description
Value	Quantified assumption
Rationale	Why this assumption
Owner	Who owns this assumption
Sensitivity	Impact if wrong

Anti-Rationalization

Rationalization	Why It's WRONG	Required Action
"Same as last year"	Each budget is independent	RE-EVALUATE assumption
"Industry standard"	Industry varies	CITE specific basis
"Conservative estimate"	Conservative needs quantification	DEFINE conservatism

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Phase 3: Line Item Build

Dispatch to specialist with full context

Agent Dispatch

Task tool:
  subagent_type: "budget-planner"
  model: "opus"
  prompt: |
    Build budget per these specifications:

    **Period**: [budget period]
    **Type**: [annual/departmental/project]
    **Methodology**: [from Phase 1]

    **Assumptions**:
    [From Phase 2]

    **Constraints**:
    [Any targets or limitations]

    **Prior Period Reference**:
    [Attach prior budget/actuals]

    **Required Output**:
    - Line item detail with owners
    - Assumption linkage for each item
    - Variance to prior period
    - Monthly/quarterly phasing

Required Output Elements

Element	Requirement
Budget Summary	High-level totals
Line Item Detail	Every line with owner
Assumptions	Linked to line items
Phasing	Monthly or quarterly
Variance	To prior period/target
Version	Version number and date

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Phase 4: Consolidation

MANDATORY: Review consolidated budget for reasonableness

Consolidation Checks

Check	Validation
Math accuracy	All totals foot and cross-foot
Assumption consistency	No conflicting assumptions
Intercompany	Eliminations if applicable
Completeness	All departments included

Reasonableness Tests

Test	Validation
YoY change	Explainable variance
Margin trends	Consistent with strategy
Headcount	Reconciles to HR plan
CapEx	Within investment guidelines

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Phase 5: Approval

MANDATORY: Document all approvals

Approval Workflow

Level	Approver	Documentation
Department	Department head	Written approval
Finance	Controller/CFO	Written approval
Executive	CEO	Written approval
Board	Board/Committee	Meeting minutes

Approval Documentation

Element	Requirement
Approver name	Full name and title
Approval date	Specific date
Version approved	Version number
Conditions	Any conditions or caveats

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Phase 6: Documentation

MANDATORY: Finalize with full audit trail

Documentation Checklist

Element	Status
All assumptions documented	Required
All line items with owners	Required
All approvals documented	Required
Version control in place	Required
Change log complete	Required

Output Format

See shared-patterns/execution-report.md for base metrics.

Budget-Specific Metrics:

• line_items: N
• departments: N
• assumptions_documented: N
• variance_to_prior: X.X%
• approval_status: DRAFT/SUBMITTED/APPROVED

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Pressure Resistance

See shared-patterns/pressure-resistance.md for universal pressures.

Budget-Specific Pressures

Pressure Type	Request	Agent Response
"Make the numbers work"	"Budgets must reflect realistic projections. I'll document achievable targets."
"Skip departmental review"	"All budgets require owner sign-off. I'll coordinate with departments."
"Use last year's assumptions"	"Each budget needs fresh assumption validation. I'll re-evaluate all assumptions."
"We need it by EOD"	"Quality cannot be compromised by timeline. I'll document what's achievable."

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Anti-Rationalization Table

See shared-patterns/anti-rationalization.md for universal anti-rationalizations.

Budget-Specific Anti-Rationalizations

Rationalization	Why It's WRONG	Required Action
"Just add X% to last year"	Every item needs justification	JUSTIFY each item
"Department requested it"	Requests need validation	VALIDATE request basis
"We always spend this much"	Historical ≠ justified	JUSTIFY current need
"Round number is close enough"	Precision matters	USE calculated amounts

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Execution Report

Upon completion, report:

Metric	Value
Duration	Xm Ys
Line Items	N
Departments	N
Assumptions	N documented
Approval Status	DRAFT/APPROVED
Result	COMPLETE/PARTIAL

Quality Indicators

Indicator	Status
All assumptions documented	YES/NO
All items have owners	YES/NO
All approvals obtained	YES/NO
Version control in place	YES/NO