Finance Automation

30 AI Prompts Finance Teams Are Using in 2025

See how top finance teams are using AI prompts to accelerate reporting, planning, and decision-making. These 30 real-world examples show how AI agents are reshaping workflows across FP&A, accounting, and more

July 8, 2025

30 AI Prompts Finance Teams Are Using in 2025

A major shift is reshaping how work gets done: AI is no longer confined to the IT or R&D departments—it’s becoming the interface across business functions. Teams are no longer limited to pulling static reports or navigating complex dashboards. They’re beginning to interact with systems using natural language, triggering actions and generating insights in real time. According to McKinsey, 78% of organizations now use AI in at least one business function. Finance has been slower to adopt, but it’s emerging as one of the most promising frontiers for transformation.

What’s fueling this shift? The rise of AI agents—software entities that respond to prompts, execute tasks, and return answers instantly. Natural language isn’t just a way to query systems. It’s becoming the new control panel.

And that changes everything. Prompts have turned into a new kind of business superpower—one that automates workflows, accelerates decision-making, and unlocks real-time execution across the finance function.

Prompting has become a critical skill for professionals across the board. The global prompt engineering market was valued at $222 million in 2023 and is projected to reach $2.06 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 32.8%. That kind of growth signals more than hype. It reflects a structural change in how teams operate.

Knowing how to prompt AI accelerates workflows, but its real power lies in driving clearer decisions, cleaner reports, and smarter planning. Finance teams that know how to translate business questions into effective prompts will move faster, reduce noise, and stay ahead. It’s the new digital literacy for the office: easier to learn than coding, but just as powerful.

At Concourse, we’ve seen firsthand how finance teams are transforming their workflows with a single prompt. No new platform. No retraining. Just results.

And the prompts themselves are evolving. What started with simple variance checks has turned into live forecast refreshes, liquidity projections, audit prep, and spend analysis—all executed in real time, across your existing systems.

Below are 30 examples of the most common and high-impact prompts we see from Concourse customers today. These aren’t hypotheticals. They’re how modern finance teams are working faster, smarter, and with less chaos.

Executive-Level Prompts for Strategic Decisions

1. "Compare our 2025 monthly revenue and marketing spend trends to industry benchmarks"

→ The agent pulls recognized revenue and marketing spend from NetSuite, calculates key metrics like total spend, CAC efficiency, and revenue growth, and generates a clear executive summary. It visualizes trends over time and overlays industry benchmark data to highlight variances, revealing how your growth and spend stack up in context. Perfect for board prep, investor updates, or strategic planning.

2. "Summarize our burn multiple vs. SaaS industry benchmarks over the last 6 months"

→ The agent extracts net cash burn and recognized revenue from ERP data, estimates ARR deltas, and computes your burn multiple. It compares this against static SaaS benchmarks, then returns a table of MoM performance alongside a short narrative summary that calls out efficiency trends and inflection points—ideal for capital planning and investor comms.

3. "In which cost areas can we reduce spending to extend our runway without impacting revenue retention?"

→ The agent analyzes expense data from your ERP, highlights major spend categories like marketing, headcount, and software, and identifies which ones offer the most savings potential with the least impact on growth. It returns the top three levers, estimated savings, and added runway months, giving CFOs a clear view of where to pull back strategically.

4. "Which business units had the weakest gross margin and lowest operating leverage in Q2 2025?"

→ The agent pulls revenue, COGS, and headcount by business unit from your ERP, ranks margin performance, and highlights units with the weakest efficiency. It calculates headcount-to-revenue ratios, flags high fixed-cost areas, and identifies the key drivers behind underperformance, giving CFOs a clear view of where to focus for margin and leverage gains.

5. "Rank our business units by operating margin for Q2 2025 and identify which ones showed the largest variance from Q1. Provide context on what drove the change"

→ The agent pulls Q2 and Q1 revenue and operating expense data by business unit from your ERP, calculates operating margin deltas, and ranks units by both current performance and quarter-over-quarter change. It analyzes cost drivers (e.g., marketing spend spikes, G&A increases, or scaling inefficiencies), correlates them with revenue trends, and returns a ranked summary with narrative context. Ideal for identifying which units are gaining leverage and which ones are slipping—especially useful for budget resets, strategic reviews, and headcount decisions.

FP&A and Forecasting Automation

6. "Pull revenue forecast vs. actuals by region for the past 90 days"

→ Instantly highlights performance gaps across geographies by matching forecasted revenue against actuals, then presenting the variances in a structured, visual format. No manual slicing or spreadsheet gymnastics—just actionable insights your team can use to recalibrate assumptions or address underperformance.

7. "Refresh the forecast with June actuals and update Q4 projections"

→ Concourse pulls the latest actuals from your ERP, layers them onto your existing assumptions, and generates a clean, board-ready forecast update in seconds—no manual model updates, no spreadsheet wrangling.

8. "Summarize SG&A variance this month vs. budget"

→ Generates a breakdown of SG&A spending by subcategory, compares each to budget, and explains key deviations (e.g., hiring delays, unexpected travel, marketing shifts). Output is formatted for exec-level review and can be dropped straight into a board deck or flash update.

9. "What’s the cash impact if we pause G&A hiring through year-end?"

→ The agent models the cost savings of a hiring freeze, updates payroll assumptions, and projects the cash position over time. Results include impact on EBITDA, runway extension, and optional downstream trade-offs, helping FP&A lead more strategic resourcing discussions.

Month-End Close and Accounting Workflows

10. "Which GL accounts appear to have missing transactions based on historical patterns?"

→ The agent scans historical posting behavior and identifies accounts where expected entries—like monthly subscriptions or lease expenses—are absent. It flags potential gaps before close, helping teams catch omissions early and reduce audit risk.

11. "Review new vendors from this month and highlight potential misclassifications"

→ Concourse agents apply historical categorization logic and vendor context to surface entries that may be misclassified, helping controllers catch errors before they roll into close.

12. "How many journal entries last month are missing vendor associations, and can you suggest likely matches?"

→ Detects entries without linked vendors, reads memo fields, and proposes vendor suggestions based on past transaction patterns. Helps ensure traceability, completeness, and clean audit trails.

13. "Flag any GL accounts with a >10% variance vs. last month and explain the drivers"

→ Runs a delta analysis across all GL accounts, surfaces material changes, and drafts line-item explanations using transaction data. Saves time during flux analysis and creates consistent narratives across teams.

14. "Which expense categories have the highest month-over-month variance, and what’s driving the change?"

→ The agent analyzes expense accounts across categories, identifies the top movers, and attributes changes to specific vendors, invoice spikes, or timing differences. It creates a clean variance report that supports flux analysis and makes review easier for controllers and auditors.

Cash Flow Management and Real-Time Treasury Operations

15. "What’s our total cash position by entity, as of this morning?"

→ Connects to ERP, TMS, and bank portals to retrieve current balances, converts currencies, and presents cash position by entity, region, and currency—all in one place. Provides real-time visibility without the morning scramble of exports and email threads.

16. "Reforecast short-term liquidity using the past week’s AR and AP activity"

→ Updates the 13-week forecast using actual inflows and outflows from AR/AP transactions, reflecting near-term shifts in payment behavior. Treasury gets an accurate solvency outlook that adapts to changing business rhythms.

17. "Identify business units with large cash balances in the ERP that haven’t moved in 30+ days"

→ The agent scans ERP cash accounts by entity or business unit, flags those with unusually stagnant balances, and highlights them for treasury review. Helps surface potential reallocation or working capital opportunities—no bank integration required.

18. "Prepare a board-ready liquidity summary: balances, forecast, risk exposure"

→ With Concourse, treasury leaders get a real-time liquidity snapshot compiled from ERP and forecast data—automatically formatted for CFO and board consumption, with zero slide prep required.

Audit Preparation and Compliance Automation

19. "Flag journal entries over $50K missing documentation"

→ Reviews journal entry logs, identifies those missing support, and builds a tracker for remediation by the preparer and reviewer. Proactively closes audit gaps before quarter-end, reducing fire drills and late findings.

20. "Which vendors added this year violate our 30-day payment policy?"

→ Compares vendor terms in contracts vs. what’s configured in your ERP, flags discrepancies, and suggests compliance fixes. Prevents policy drift and supports better working capital management.

21. "Explain GL 5100 changes this quarter for audit notes"

→ Concourse agents auto-generate audit-ready variance narratives based on transaction history and context, cutting days off quarter-end flux analysis.

Accounts Payable Automation

22. "Which high-value invoices are at risk of late payment?"

→ Identifies unpaid invoices nearing due dates, especially those over internal thresholds (e.g., $20K). Highlights who they’re pending with, approval bottlenecks, and suggests next steps to avoid late fees or vendor tension.

23. "Show new vendor invoices without matching POs"

→ Scans for invoice entries missing PO linkage, proposes likely matches, and tags exceptions for AP review. Reduces risk of fraud and ensures three-way match compliance.

24. "Draft this week’s AP dashboard: payments processed, held, rejected"

→ Pulls current AP activity from your ERP and displays it by vendor, category, and status, offering leadership a real-time pulse on cash outflows and workflow blockers.

25. "Highlight vendors with greater than 30% spend increase vs. last quarter"

→ Runs comparative analysis by vendor, flags spikes, and links to the underlying transactions. Great for surfacing emerging spend risks, new project activity, or potential misclassifications.

Accounts Receivable Optimization

26. "Summarize open AR by aging bucket and top 10 overdue customers"

→ Generates a clean AR aging report with drill-down into overdue balances. Surfaces risk concentrations and helps prioritize collections efforts where the impact is greatest.

27. "Which invoices in the 61–90 day bucket have pending disputes?"

→ Cross-references dispute logs and aging data to show which overdue invoices are held up by unresolved issues, plus who owns the follow-up. Avoids AR leakage and accelerates dispute resolution.

28. "Compare AR forecasted vs. actuals for top 20 customers"

→ Concourse pulls forecasted cash receipts and matches them against collections, flagging variances and helping FP&A tighten assumptions for future cycles.

29. "List customers with declining payment trends over the last 60 days"

→ Analyzes payment behavior to identify slippage, assigns risk ratings, and proposes actions (e.g., escalation, revised terms). Gives AR leaders early warning on potential defaults.

30. "Generate AR insights deck for next week’s cash review"

→ Produces a ready-to-share visual report with DSO trends, overdue buckets, top exposures, and contextual commentary—freeing up AR leads to focus on strategy, not slides.

Unlock Real-Time Finance Execution with Concourse AI Agents

These 30 prompts are just a glimpse of what’s possible with AI agents like Concourse. From real-time forecast updates to audit-ready variance narratives and proactive AR insights, a single prompt can eliminate hours of manual work—and turn static systems into responsive, insight-generating tools.

This isn’t about replacing your ERP or spreadsheets. It’s about making them work smarter—unlocking their full value through natural language execution.

💡 Want to see what prompting can unlock across your finance workflows? Explore how Concourse agents are transforming every corner of the office of the CFO:

AI Agents for FP&A – Automate forecast refreshes, scenario modeling, and variance narratives in real time.
AI Agents for Accounting – Speed up close, surface anomalies, and reduce audit prep from days to minutes.
AI Agents for Audit – Stay continuously audit-ready with real-time documentation and exception tracking.
AI Agents for Treasury – Manage liquidity, FX exposure, and cash flow forecasts—without spreadsheets.
AI Agents for AR – Prioritize collections, flag disputes, and sharpen cash projections using natural language.
AI Agents for AP – Spot late payments, track exceptions, and streamline approvals with real-time prompts.

📩 Ready to see what agents can do for your finance team?

Email hello@concourse.co to book a demo today.

Frequently Asked Questions About AI Prompts and Finance Automation

What is Concourse, and how does it automate finance workflows?

Concourse is an AI agent platform that automates high-effort finance tasks like forecasting, reconciliation, and audit prep. It connects to your ERP and acts on real-time data, so instead of running manual reports, you just type a prompt and get results instantly.

How do AI agents help finance teams?

AI agents like Concourse handle repetitive, time-consuming tasks such as variance analysis, invoice tracking, and journal entry creation. They eliminate the need for manual data wrangling by syncing with your systems and executing work on demand.

What’s the difference between an AI copilot and an AI agent?

AI copilots assist with suggestions or summaries. AI agents, like Concourse, go further by actually doing the work: updating forecasts, reconciling ledgers, generating reports, and more. They're built for execution, not just support.

Can Concourse integrate with NetSuite, SAP, or Oracle?

Yes. Concourse integrates with all major ERPs, including NetSuite, SAP, and Oracle. Concourse also integrates with CRMs, data warehouses, billing systems, and more. Agents can read and pull data securely, so your workflows stay real-time, accurate, and fully traceable.

What are some good AI prompts for finance teams?

Teams using Concourse rely on prompts like “Update forecast with actuals,” “Reconcile AR subledger with GL,” or “Flag vendors with spend spikes.” These activate agents that return complete outputs—narratives, charts, and exception lists—in seconds.

How long does it take to deploy AI agents for finance?

With Concourse, finance teams live in less than 10 minutes and see ROI the same day. Agents connect directly to your existing systems, so you don’t need to retrain your team or migrate data; just start prompting.

What accounting tasks can be automated with AI?

Agents like Concourse can auto-generate journal entries, detect GL anomalies, validate amortization schedules, and flag missing documentation. These outputs are audit-ready and aligned with your accounting policies.

Is it safe to use AI for financial data and reporting?

Concourse is built for enterprise finance, with SOC 2 compliance, role-based permissions, and full audit logging. Your data is encrypted and controlled, so security isn’t compromised for speed.

How do AI agents improve cash flow forecasting?

With Concourse, treasury teams use prompts like “Reforecast 13-week cash flow using recent AR/AP” to update models instantly. Agents pull in real data, adjust assumptions, and deliver refreshed cash views without Excel.

Who uses Concourse today?

Concourse is used by finance teams at scaling startups, public companies, and global enterprises. Controllers, FP&A leads, AR managers, and CFOs rely on agents to automate work, improve accuracy, and drive faster decision-making.