AI Finance Club

ChatGPT Desktop App for Finance Credits to Christian M.; follow him for more valuable content on AI for finance. ------------ Here's the original post: OpenAI released a ChatGPT Desktop App for Windows. I created this guide for FP&A and hashtag #finance teams on how to use it. It includes step-by-step guides for: ✅ Scenario Planning and “What-If” Analysis ✅ Improving Financial Reporting ✅ Generating forecasts with Machine Learning ✅ Preparing executive summaries --------- Follow the AI Finance Club to continue learning about AI for Finance.

Get Your Time Back PS. Join the AI Finance Club 5-day trial and explore some of AI Finance Club's most valuable members-only content: https://lnkd.in/euPYzZmk A mini-course on effective prompting Here are the prompting techniques you must learn: Basic Prompting Start with the fundamentals of prompting. Use precise language, include contextual information, employ creative phrasing, and use analogies & examples to clarify your requests. Chain-of-Thoughts Break down complex queries into simpler steps: • Level 1: Breakdown of the main problem • Level 2: Sub-problems breakdown • Level 3: Ask for specific tasks This approach allows the AI to focus on each part systematically for better outcomes. Chunking Master the art of breaking complex information into smaller, manageable parts. Apply this technique to areas like: • Financial analysis • Research • Tools • Problem-solving • Writing Explicit Reasoning Explicit Reasoning is an AI technique that explains its process in a clear, step-by-step manner This ensures transparency and accuracy in responses. Agent Prompting Agent Prompting involves presenting prompts as tasks or queries. Assign distinct tasks or queries to AI "agents" within a framework to tackle different aspects of your workload. Great for dividing and conquering large tasks efficiently. Team Prompting Make AI work like a team of experts. Create distinct roles with specific tasks for hypothetical agents within the AI. Steps include: 1. Define the agents and their roles 2. Assign tasks & sequence 3. Facilitate collaboration for cohesive results Socratic Prompting Dive deep into a topic by asking critical questions and uncovering assumptions: • Level 1: Ask open-ended questions • Level 2: Challenge assumptions • Level 3: Seek clarifications This encourages AI to analyze problems from multiple angles. Meta-Cognition Encourage the AI to reflect on its own thought process, biases, and decision-making. Use this for: • Self-reflection • Evaluation and rating of responses • Leveraging insights • Requesting adjustments based on its performance Prompt Optimization & Expansion Start with a basic prompt and continuously improve it for better results. This technique helps you discover the right words and sentence structures to use, ensuring optimal output. Fact-Checking Use prompts to verify the accuracy and credibility of information by: 1. Questioning the source 2. Cross-verifying facts 3. Asking for recent data 4. Requesting third-party links for reference Iterative Inquiry & Sequential Questioning Ask questions in a sequence to gradually refine and improve the understanding or output of a task. This ongoing process sharpens the accuracy and depth of AI responses over time. Want the full course? Head over to AI Finance Club https://ai-finance.club/ or scan the QR code to get started. There's an ongoing 5-day free trial; try it now!

How can FP&A Teams and CFOs use AI Agents? Credits to Christian M.; follow him for more valuable content on AI for finance. ---------- Here's the original post: How can FP&A Teams and CFOs use AI Agents? First, what are AI Agents? Think of AI agents as financial co-pilots in your finance teams. Just like an experienced co-pilot assists the captain by managing routine tasks, analyzing flight data, and alerting the pilot to turbulence ahead, hashtag #AI agents can and will do the same for your hashtag #finance and FP&A teams. They can handle the repetitive work like merging Excels, creating baseline forecasts and doing data visualizations and reporting for you. I believe AI Agents will be one of the future tools of finance teams. They can reduce manual effort, boost accuracy, and provide a strategic view of you and your teams. What are some use cases? ✅ Financial Forecasting & Predictive Analysis: AI Agents can analyze historical data and market trends to create precise forecasts for revenue, expenses, and cash flow. ✅Scenario Modelling and Sensitivity Analysis: You can build an AI agent that simulates your company's financial future thousands of times under different conditions to anticipate risks and plan strategically. ✅ Budgeting and Planning Automation: You can use them to auto-generate budgets based on past performance and strategic goals, minimizing manual input and errors. Then a human can review! ✅ Variance Analysis and Anomaly Detection: AI Agents can compare actuals vs. forecasts, pinpoint anomalies, and flag unusual patterns for review. More details and examples here: https://lnkd.in/exmFHzT5 How to test them? So far, the easiest way to test I have found is via Replit. I did an article one month ago on it but the more I use it, the more I think is one of the best tools in the AI Agent landscape. This is the article: https://lnkd.in/eRPYnTGA Also, I found this image with other AI Agents websites, I am starting to explore them and will write more on other AI Agents start-ups but want to share the image for you her -------- Follow AI Finance Club to get the best insights on the AI advancements for finance.

If AI can help accounting, the whole finance function, as well as the whole company, will benefit from it. Main Challenges Faced by Accounting • Manual processing of invoices and receipts Problem: prone to errors and inefficiencies. • Time-consuming bank reconciliations Problem: Due to a high volume of transactions & different types of bank statement formats. • High amount of manual entry of journal entries Problem: Increasing the risk of inaccuracies but also time spent on low value activities. Let's start with the invoicing. Where can AI help? The solution: digitize and automate your Invoice Processing. AI, particularly OCR technology, can automatically extract data from invoices and receipts. OCR means Optical Character Recognition and is a technology that converts images of typed, handwritten, or printed text into machine-readable text. Then it will use NLP (Natural Language Processing) to understand the information read from the invoice and contextualize it. NLP is a technology in AI that enables computers to understand our human language. Which tool to use? Azure Cognitive Services for Invoice Processing If you are already in the Microsoft Azure environment, you can use the Azure Form Recognizer module. Form recognizer is a component of Azure Cognitive Services that uses OCR and machine learning to extract text, key-value pairs, and tables from documents. How does it help: Automates the extraction of data from invoices and receipts, significantly reducing manual processing time and increasing accuracy. Practical Implementation: Accounts payable teams can integrate Azure Form Recognizer into their workflow to automatically process incoming invoices, extract relevant data (such as vendor name, invoice number, and amount), and populate this data into their financial systems without manual input using an API. The second area where you can use AI to improve your work is reconciliations. Here are two ways you can do it: The first option is to build your own mini-algorithm. The 5 steps: 1. Get the data from your bank and your system using digital files (get CSV or Text files if you can). 2. Clean this data using rules (formatting of date, removing columns, combining files, enriching data). 3. Create your matching rules using an algorithm 4. Analyze exceptions 5. Act on exceptions: either book the transaction in your system or ask the bank to correct it (sometimes it happens that the bank makes a mistake). Second Option: Off-the-shelf solutions I found some solutions that automate reconciliations. I haven't tested them yet, so this is to take with a pinch of salt. The third area where you can use AI to improve your work is Automation of Journal Entries There are still areas where accounting has to book many entries like: • Revenue recognition • Accruals • Tax booking For this, I have found three innovative accounting systems that start-ups are using and which are leveraging AI: • Puzzle • Truewind • Booke.ai

How to use AI for Financial Analysis? Credits to Christian M.; follow him for more valuable content on AI for finance. ----------- Here's the original post: How to use AI for Financial Analysis? Below you can see a step-by-step guide: hashtag #AI is transforming crucial tasks in hashtag #Finance such as budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis, and corporate performance management. AI guided experiences can provide the ability to analyze vast amounts of data, utilize process-based data models to uncover valuable insights, and enhance the accuracy of financial projections. This guide contains use cases and workflows for: ✅ Optimize your financial operations ✅Accounting document evaluation ✅Contract accounting guidance ✅Amendment comparisons ✅Contract management ✅Build a business case ✅Contract review ---------- Follow AI Finance Club if you want to upskill yourself on AI for finance.

Team Prompting PS. Join the AI Finance Club 5-day trial and explore some of AI Finance Club's most valuable members-only content: https://lnkd.in/euPYzZmk Make your GenAI work like a team of experts! In this approach, different hypothetical 'agents' or 'characters' within the AI, each with distinct skills, roles, and perspectives, are defined and assigned specific tasks. How to do it: • Define the Agents and their Roles • Assign Tasks and Sequence • Facilitate Collaboration Team Prompting Example: Saas Company Prompt and Outcome: You will act as a team of experts working for a SaaS company. The problem you need to solve today is [insert problem]. Here are the experts working in the team. You will make each one work after the other. Their work needs to be connected. FP&A Analyst: Analyzes financial data to identify cash flow trends and areas for improvement. The FP&A Expert starts by analyzing financials and identifying key areas. Marketing Manager: Develops strategies to increase revenue through customer acquisition and retention. The Marketing Manager then uses this analysis to devise revenue-boosting strategies. Web Developer: Implements technical solutions to optimize the SaaS platform for better customer engagement and sales. Web Developer implements technical enhancements based on the Marketing Manager's strategy. Other use cases example: • Slides preparation: CFO, Storytelling Expert, Powerpoint Expert • Cash action plan: Controller, Supply chain, Procurement • Automation project: Accountant, ERP specialist, Automation expert 👉 What do you think of this approach?

Fact Checking PS. Join the AI Finance Club 5-day trial and explore some of AI Finance Club's most valuable members-only content: https://lnkd.in/euPYzZmk What is Fact Checking? "Fact Checking" involves using prompts to verify the accuracy and credibility of information. Credibility + Accuracy How to use Fact Checking • Open-Ended Questions: Ask the AI about the sources of its information or the basis of its claims. Example prompts: "What sources or references support your response regarding [topic]?" "Could you explain the basis for your assertion regarding [topic]?" • Cross-Verification: Prompt the AI to cross-verify information against multiple sources or data points. Example prompts: "Can you cross-verify the information you've provided against multiple reputable sources?" "Could you validate the information by considering multiple perspectives and sources?" • Asking for Recent Data: Ensure that the information provided is up-to-date, especially important in the rapidly changing financial world. Example prompts: "Can you provide the most recent data or updates on [market trend]?" "Before proceeding, can you verify the latest news or developments regarding [financial topic]?" • Ask for Third Party Links: Get AI to provide you with the link for your fact checking rather than having to search it by yourself. Example prompts: "Could you please provide the source or link where you obtained this information for fact-checking?" "For verification purposes, can you provide a link to the source of this information?" Benefits of using Fact Checking: • Staying up-to-date • Accuracy • Based on facts • Credibility

Creating Presentations with AI PS. Join the AI Finance Club 5-day trial and explore some of AI Finance Club's most valuable members-only content: https://lnkd.in/euPYzZmk I have tested many AI tools that are supposed to replace PowerPoint. Unfortunately, for now, none of them is good enough for us Finance Pros. I found a way for you to increase the speed of producing your slides by combining the power of GenerativeAI chatbots with the hidden functionality of PowerPoint. Here is my secret method to save hours of work every month! Step #1: Creating an Outline with The Right ChatGPT Prompt Make your AI chatbot write your outline by using the right prompt. Example: “I'm a CFO. I need to present to my Board of Directors a budget plan for an AI development project. Can you outline that presentation for me? Make sure to cover all the items of an effective budget plan. I want each item to have at least three bullet points.” Step #2: Copy & Paste The Outline in Word Copy the outline generated by ChatGPT and paste it into a Word document. Step #3: Create an Outline in Word Here is how to do it: 1. Go to "View" and then "Outline" 2. For slide titles: Press the "CTRL" key to select several lines that are slide titles and then select heading level 1 3. For bullet points: Press the "CTRL" key to select several bullet points and then select heading level 2 4. Close "Outline View" & your document, then save your document in .docx, .rtf, or .txt and lastly close your document Step #4: Import A Word Outline into PowerPoint Follow the steps to import your outline in PowerPoint: 1. Open PowerPoint, then click "New Slide" and select "Slides from Outline" 2. Insert "Outline Dialog Box" then select your Word outline and click "Insert" Voilà! You have your slides! Then use "Design" and apply your company theme or any other theme proposed by PowerPoint. Bonus Tips Bonus 1: If you access, use the button "Designer" to have more layout options. This is an option from Microsoft PowerPoint that uses AI to suggest new designs. Bonus 2: With SmartArt, you can quickly convert text into a nice graphic: • Write your text using bullet points • Select your text • Select "Home > Convert to SmartArt" • Select the SmartArt you want 👉Let me know if you found this helpful and how much time you think you will save!

Iterative Inquiry & Sequential Questioning PS. Join the AI Finance Club 5-day trial and explore some of AI Finance Club's most valuable members-only content: https://lnkd.in/euPYzZmk What is it? Iterative Inquiry & Sequential Questioning emphasizes the ongoing process of asking questions to gradually refine and improve the understanding or output of a task. Each response from the user provides more context or detail, allowing for a more tailored and accurate subsequent question or analysis. What does it involve? 1. Iterative Inquiry Ongoing process of asking questions to gradually refine and improve the understanding or output of a task. Each response provides more context or detail allowing for a more tailored & accurate subsequent question or analysis. It is useful in complex scenarios where initial information may be insufficient for a comprehensive analysis. How to use it: Prompt should be structured in a way that indicates a need for ongoing interaction & refinement based on the responses received. Prompt example: "I need help with [task/problem]. Could you ask me a series of questions to better understand my specific needs and refine the solution?" 2. Sequential Questioning Structured approach of asking questions in a sequence, where each question builds upon the previous responses. Effective way to gather detailed information in a step-by-step manner. Ensuring that nothing important is missed and that each piece of information is given due consideration. How to use it: Prompt should suggest a step-by-step approach where each question builds upon the previous response. Prompt example: "I'm working on [task/project] and need detailed guidance. Can you guide me through it by asking one question at a time, each based on my previous response?" 👉 Have you ever tried this prompting technique?

Meta-Cognition PS. Join the AI Finance Club 5-day trial and explore some of AI Finance Club's most valuable members-only content: https://lnkd.in/euPYzZmk What is Meta-Cognition? "Meta-Cognition" in AI prompting involves encouraging the AI to reflect on its own thought processes, biases, and decision-making strategies. Valuable for Finance for: Understanding the limitations and strengths of AI in financial decision-making & strategy development. How to Use Meta-Cognition: 1. Prompt AI for Self-Reflection Start by asking the AI to describe its reasoning or the data it uses for a particular task. 2. Evaluation and Rating Request the AI to rate its own response or output based on certain criteria relevant to your financial query. 3. Request for Adjustment Following the rating, prompt the AI to modify its response or strategy to aim for a 'perfect' score, thereby enhancing the quality of output. 4. Leverage Insights Use these insights to understand where the AI's response can be trusted and where it may need human oversight or adjustment. Prompt Examples: Now rate this response on 1 to 10, 1 being least actionable & specific to 10 being actionable & specific How would you change the response to get to ten? Change the response in accordance