AI for insights and analytics
A monthly pack says a cost centre is over budget; the question that follows is always why, and the answer usually takes an analyst two days. AI analytics reads the ledger, budget, forecast and headcount files, builds the bridge, and answers the head of FP&A in figures that sum to the variance.
These are the questions finance teams ask. Each one maps to a measure our tools compute from your files. The AI model chooses the measure and explains the result; the arithmetic is done by our code, and every total is checked.
| The question | The measure behind it | What comes back |
|---|---|---|
| What is driving my cost increase? | Cost bridge | The change split into headcount, rates and pay, volume, timing, one-offs and other, summing exactly, with the cost centres behind each. |
| Which cost centres are over budget, and on what? | Cost centres over threshold | Cost centres over the threshold with the largest line and the owner. |
| How much of the variance is timing? | Timing in the variance | Items that landed in a different month and will reverse, so the real variance is separate. |
| Where is headcount above plan? | Headcount against plan | Actual against planned FTE by cost centre and type, and whether the cost is numbers or rates. |
| Will the year land? | Run rate | Trailing run rate against the full-year budget, by function. |
| Who forecasts high or low, every month? | Forecast accuracy and bias | Signed forecast error by cost centre, with the consistent ones. |
Every figure below was computed by a tool from the rows and checked before it was shown. The lines sum; the percentages match; each line opens to the rows that make it.
What is driving the cost increase this quarter?
Cost is up £1.7m on the prior year, split across 3 drivers that sum to the change. Rates and pay explains £655k, 38% of it, and 580,000 of the total is timing that reverses.
| Rates and pay | £655k | 38% of the total |
| Timing | £580k | 34% of the total |
| Volume-driven | £467k | 27% of the total |
| The 3 lines sum to | £1.7m | 0 unexplained |
Which cost centres are behind rates and pay?
3 cost centres account for £620k of the £655k Rates and pay effect, 95% of it. Two are contractor rate rises in Technology; the third is a pay award landing a month early.
| Platform engineering | £290k | contractor day rates up 11% |
| Data and analytics | £210k | contractor day rates up 9% |
| Customer operations | £120k | pay award landed in month 2, budgeted month 3 |
| These 3 are | £620k | 95% of Rates and pay |
What goes in the pack, and who is spoken to?
The bridge with timing shown separately, so the real variance is the smaller figure. The Technology business partner takes the rate rises to the cost centre owners; Customer operations is timing and needs no conversation.
| Business partner, Technology | Review contractor rates with Platform engineering and Data | This week |
| Head of FP&A | Put the bridge in the monthly pack with timing separate | Monthly |
| Cost centre owners | Confirm the one-offs flagged this month | Before close |
Each measure has one formula, one source and one meaning. They are computed per cost centre and account and in total, and every one carries an identity that must hold before it is shown.
| Measure | Formula | From | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Variance to budget and forecast | Actual − budget; actual − latest forecast, by cost centre and account | Ledger actuals; budget; forecast | Where the month landed against both plans |
| Cost bridge | Change = headcount + rates and pay + volume-driven + timing + one-offs + other, summing exactly | Ledger; headcount; timing and one-off files | What is driving the cost increase |
| Headcount against plan | Actual FTE − planned FTE, by cost centre and type, with average cost | Headcount file | Where people cost is above plan, and whether it is numbers or rates |
| Timing in the variance | Sum of items landing in a different month from budget that reverse | Timing items file | How much of the variance is not real |
| One-off items | Sum of items finance has flagged as non-recurring | One-off items file | What will not repeat next month |
| Run rate | Trailing three-month actual × 4, against the full-year budget | Ledger actuals; budget | Whether the year will land, on current spend |
| Forecast accuracy and bias | Actual − forecast by month, signed and absolute, by cost centre | Forecast versions; ledger | Which cost centres forecast high or low, consistently |
| Cost centres over threshold | Cost centres more than x percent over budget, with the largest line | Ledger; budget | Who to talk to this month |
| Vendor variance | Actual − budget by vendor, with new and lost vendors | Ledger with vendor | Which suppliers drove the change |
| Programme position | Budget, committed, actual and estimate at completion by workstream | Programme budget; purchase orders; actuals; forecast | Whether a large programme will land, and where the overrun sits |
From your question and the measures declared for finance and FP&A teams, the model picks the one that answers it, and the period and comparison the question implies.
Deterministic code reads the rows, computes the measure, and checks the identities below. The same question on the same data gives the same answer, every time.
The AI model writes the sentence around the result, naming the cost centre or account behind it. It states no figure that is not in the result, and every figure links to its rows.
| Bridge | End − start − Σ lines = 0; a residual is shown as its own line, never hidden |
| Variance | Actual − budget = real variance + timing + one-offs |
| Headcount | Actual FTE = planned FTE + variance; cost = FTE × average cost |
| Programme | EAC = actual + committed + estimate to complete; contingency drawn + remaining = contingency at start |
The exports finance teams already produce. Column names are mapped once and the mapping is reused. A file is the way in; scheduled delivery and connections to your systems come with the plan, and every source is listed here.
An answer is a list with an owner and a cadence, or it is a chart nobody works.
| Measures | Owner | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Variance and bridge | Head of FP&A; finance business partners | Monthly |
| Headcount against plan | Business partners with HR | Monthly |
| Programme position | Programme finance lead | Monthly, weekly near gates |
The change in cost between two periods is split into headcount, rates and pay, volume-driven accounts, timing items, one-offs and other, from the ledger, the headcount file and the items finance has flagged. The lines sum exactly to the change; a residual is shown as its own line. Each line opens to the cost centres and rows that make it.
A cost that landed in a different month from its budget and will reverse: an invoice a month early, an accrual released late. It inflates this month's variance and deflates next month's. Kept separate, the real variance is visible and the conversation with the cost centre owner is about the right number.
Ledger actuals by cost centre and account, the budget and the latest forecast phased by month, the headcount file with planned and actual FTE, and the timing and one-off items finance already tracks. For a programme, add the budget by workstream, purchase orders and the estimate at completion.
Yes. Budget, committed, actual and estimate at completion are computed by workstream and work package, with contingency drawn and remaining, and the bridge from budget to EAC shows where the overrun sits. Every figure reconciles to the purchase order and actuals files.
Bridge · Forecast bias · Run rate · Control total · Identity · Period cut
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Bring a few thousand rows. The data map opens next, every column mapped once, and the first question is answered in minutes. Free, in your browser, no account.