18 Institutional-Grade Claude Skills for Finance Professionals
18 institutional-grade Claude skills covering the six-phase finance analysis backbone: problem framing, market intelligence, valuation, modelling, risk and credit, and board-ready reporting. Each skill is a copy-paste prompt engineered for how a disciplined finance desk runs the work.
What these 18 institutional-grade Claude skills cover
These 18 institutional-grade Claude skills turn Claude into a full finance analyst engine. Each skill maps to a phase in the standard finance engagement sequence: frame the question, map the sector, build the valuation, run the model, test the thesis, and write the output. Together they form a reusable analysis backbone.
The skills are copy-paste prompts. Choose the analytical task, replace the bracketed placeholders with your company, situation, assumptions, and source data, then run the complete prompt in Claude. Review the output, challenge weak assumptions, and carry only verified findings into the next phase. No platform or separate dashboard is required.
For a broader look at how finance professionals use Claude across FP&A, treasury, and reporting, the CFO guide to Claude covers 24 skills across eight finance domains with the system prompt architecture behind each one.
Problem Framing skills
Before analysis begins, the work must be locked to the right question. These three skills prevent the most expensive analytical error in finance: answering the wrong question with great precision.
Investment Question Framer
Use when: Use at the start of any engagement, before any data is pulled.
Output: A single investment question, the three load-bearing assumptions, and the five facts needed to form a view.
Prompt
Assumption Auditor
Use when: Use when reviewing a thesis or model before presenting to a senior audience.
Output: An evidence-rated audit of each assumption with the two that most threaten the conclusion flagged.
Prompt
Signal Separator
Use when: Use when reviewing market commentary or data to separate evidence from noise.
Output: A classified list of signal versus noise items with one-sentence reasoning for each classification.
Prompt
Market and Sector Intelligence skills
Sector context is not background colour. It determines how much of a business's performance is skill and how much is tide. These three skills build the sector map that the valuation and model must rest on.
Sector Mapper
Use when: Use at the start of coverage initiation or sector entry.
Output: A structured sector brief covering size, sub-segments, major players, demand drivers, and supply constraints.
Prompt
Competitive Position Analyst
Use when: Use when assessing a company's durability and defensibility before building a long-term model.
Output: A one-paragraph competitive position view with supporting evidence on share, margins, pricing power, and switching costs.
Prompt
Demand and Margin Pool Scanner
Use when: Use when identifying which segment to focus on within a complex sector.
Output: A ranked view of segments by demand growth and margin capture, with two segments to prioritise and one to avoid.
Prompt
Valuation skills
Valuation is not a number. It is a range with a view on where in that range the answer sits, and why. These three skills produce defensible ranges rather than false precision.
DCF Builder
Use when: Use when building or reviewing a DCF before sharing with a senior audience.
Output: A full DCF with explicit forecast, terminal value, WACC build, sensitivity table, and a plain-language key driver paragraph.
Prompt
Comparable Company Analyst
Use when: Use when building a trading comps table for a valuation or coverage note.
Output: A screened peer table with calendarised multiples, quartile ranges, and documented exclusion rationale.
Prompt
Precedent Transaction Screener
Use when: Use when building the precedent set for a sell-side process or fairness opinion.
Output: A cycle-adjusted precedent table with deal-type commentary and two deals flagged as misleading comparables.
Prompt
Financial Modelling skills
A model that does not tie out is not a model. These three skills build the core financial mechanics and check the outputs before they reach a senior audience.
Three-Statement Model Builder
Use when: Use when initialising or reviewing a fully integrated financial model.
Output: A five-year three-statement model with full integrity checks across P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow.
Prompt
Working Capital Analyst
Use when: Use when assessing cash conversion quality or building a cash flow bridge.
Output: DSO, DPO, and DIO versus sector benchmarks, with a quantified downside scenario for a 15-day DSO extension.
Prompt
Returns and Debt Schedule Builder
Use when: Use when sizing the capital structure for a leveraged transaction.
Output: A full debt amortisation schedule with IRR and MOIC at multiple exit scenarios.
Prompt
Risk and Credit skills
The thesis is only credible if it has been challenged. These three skills pressure-test the model and the credit structure before the market does it for you.
Covenant Tester
Use when: Use when reviewing credit documentation or modelling a leveraged acquisition.
Output: A quarterly covenant headroom schedule with a downside case flagging the first breach quarter.
Prompt
Stress Scenario Builder
Use when: Use before finalising a valuation range or presenting to an investment committee.
Output: Three fully defined scenarios with probability-weighted equity value and a one-paragraph narrative for each.
Prompt
Exposure Mapper
Use when: Use when assessing risk concentration before an IC or credit committee.
Output: A severity-ranked exposure map covering customer, supplier, geographic, market, and regulatory risk with the two most terminal-value-sensitive risks identified.
Prompt
Reporting skills
Analysis that cannot be communicated has no value. These three skills turn structured work into documents that earn a decision from a sceptical room.
Investment Memo Writer
Use when: Use when drafting the investment memo for a deal or portfolio company review.
Output: A five-section investment memo structured with the recommendation on the first line and answer-first framing throughout.
Prompt
Board Paper Drafter
Use when: Use when writing a board paper for a strategic decision, acquisition, or capital allocation proposal.
Output: A board paper structured for a fifteen-minute read with executive summary, options assessment, recommendation, and implementation plan.
Prompt
IC Narrative Builder
Use when: Use when preparing the investment committee presentation for a new deal or follow-on.
Output: A structured IC narrative that addresses what is being bought, why now, the valuation rationale, the key risks, and the exit, with the three most likely challenges pre-addressed.
Prompt
The six-phase analysis backbone
The 18 skills are structured around a six-phase sequence that mirrors how a disciplined finance desk runs an engagement from start to finish. The sequence is not linear in practice: valuation and modelling often run in parallel, and the problem-framing phase may repeat after new information arrives. But the phases define the logical dependencies in the work.
Frame
Lock the work to a single investment question before anything else. Skills 1 to 3 define the decision, audit the assumptions, and separate evidence from noise. The output is a clean brief that every subsequent phase works against. Skipping this phase is the source of most analytical waste.
Map
Build the sector context the valuation must rest on. Skills 4 to 6 map the structure of the market, assess the subject's competitive position, and identify where demand growth and margin pools sit. A valuation built without this foundation is a number without a story.
Value
Build the range, not the number. Skills 7 to 9 produce a DCF, a comparable company table, and a precedent transaction set. The three methods triangulate to a defensible range with a documented view on which method should carry the most weight in this specific situation.
Model
Build the mechanics that prove the value. Skills 10 to 12 build the three-statement model, analyse working capital quality, and construct the debt and returns schedule. A model that does not tie out is not evidence. These skills check the outputs before they reach a senior audience.
Test
Challenge the thesis before the market does. Skills 13 to 15 test covenants in downside cases, run scenario analysis across the key value drivers, and map risk exposures by severity and reversibility. The output is not a list of risks. It is a documented view of which risks are material and which are manageable.
Report
Turn analysis into a decision. Skills 16 to 18 write the investment memo, the board paper, and the IC narrative. Each follows answer-first structure: the recommendation or conclusion on the first line, the supporting argument in the body, the risks addressed before they are raised. Output that earns the vote rather than prompting another round of questions.
The complete kit of 500+ finance prompts, 150+ skills, 100+ agents, and 25+ workflows that extends this backbone across FP&A, treasury, and investor reporting is covered in the complete Claude Finance Kit.
How to use these finance prompts
These are rendered, copy-ready prompt artifacts, not downloadable skill files. Choose the prompt that matches the current phase, customize its inputs, run it in Claude, and review the result before carrying it into the next analysis or presentation step.
- Step 1
Choose the right prompt
Start with the phase that matches the decision in front of you. If the investment question is still unclear, begin with Frame. Do not jump to valuation or modelling before the question, assumptions, and evidence requirements are explicit.
- Step 2
Copy and customize it
Copy the complete prompt from the relevant row. Replace every bracketed placeholder with specific company, market, period, assumptions, and source data. State any constraints that must remain fixed and identify the decision the output must support.
- Step 3
Run and chain the analysis
Paste the customized prompt into Claude. When one phase depends on another, review the first output and include only the useful, verified findings as context for the next prompt.
Example prompt
"Run an Investment Question Framer on this situation: [paste situation]. Then run a Sector Mapper on the relevant market. Once we have the sector map, run the Competitive Position Analyst on the target. End with a brief on the three assumptions the investment thesis will depend on."
Tip
The Frame phase (skills 1 to 3) is worth running on every engagement before the modelling phase begins. It costs almost no time and prevents the most common source of analytical rework: answering the wrong question precisely.
- Step 4
Review and package the output
Reconcile calculations to the source model, challenge unsupported conclusions, and label estimates clearly. Then turn the approved investment memo, valuation summary, or board paper into the required document or native, editable presentation while preserving the firm's template and review controls.
The analytical frameworks under the hood
Each skill names the methodology it applies. The prompts do not ask Claude to "analyse this." They specify the framework, the sequence, the output format, and the failure modes to watch for.
Frequently asked questions
What makes these Claude skills institutional-grade?
Each skill is built around a specific analytical workflow a senior finance professional would follow, not a generic instruction to summarise or rewrite. The skills name the methodology, the steps, and the failure modes. They produce structured output with a consistent standard, not a starting point for rewriting.
How do I use these finance prompts in Claude?
Copy the prompt for the analytical task you need, replace every bracketed placeholder with the company, situation, assumptions, and source data, then paste the complete prompt into Claude. Review the response, challenge weak assumptions, and run a follow-up with the corrections or additional evidence.
Can I run multiple skills in a single Claude session?
Yes. Run the prompts in sequence and carry the useful output forward as context. For example, run a Sector Mapper on the industry first, then paste the reviewed sector map into a Competitive Position Analyst prompt for the target.
What is the six-phase analysis backbone?
The six phases are Frame, Map, Value, Model, Test, and Report. They map to the six skill categories: problem framing locks the question, market intelligence maps the sector, valuation builds the range, modelling builds the mechanics, risk and credit tests the thesis, and reporting communicates the answer. Running the phases in order produces consistent, thorough analytical output.
How do these prompts fit into a presentation workflow?
Use the reviewed investment memo, valuation summary, or board paper as the source for the presentation. Translate one conclusion at a time into native, fully editable slides, preserve the firm's template, and reconcile every number and claim back to the approved analysis before sharing it.