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variance-analysis

Decompose financial variances into drivers with narrative explanations and waterfall analysis. Use when analyzing budget vs. actual, period-over-period changes, revenue or expense variances, or preparing variance commentary for leadership.

Quality

84%

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SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

75%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

A dense, genuinely useful reference: precise decomposition formulas with verification identities, a materiality framework, narrative templates with anti-patterns, and reconciliation-checked waterfall formats. Weaknesses are modest — a few concept re-explanations Claude doesn't need, two decompositions lacking worked examples, and no explicit end-to-end workflow tying the sections together.

Suggestions

Add a short end-to-end workflow section (identify variances → apply materiality thresholds → decompose → write narrative → present waterfall) so the operating sequence is explicit rather than implied by section order.

Add a worked numeric example for the rate/mix decomposition (like the price/volume example) and formulate the headcount timing and attrition variances so every decomposition technique is executable.

Trim concepts Claude already knows — the waterfall/bridge chart definition, the forecast-accuracy formula, and the MAPE acronym expansion — or move detailed methodology (waterfall tables, forecast accuracy) into reference files to slim the SKILL.md body.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The bulk is lean, high-value reference material (formulas, threshold tables, templates, anti-patterns), but a few passages explain concepts Claude already knows — "A waterfall (or bridge) chart shows how you get from one value to another..." and "MAPE (Mean Absolute Percentage Error) = ..." — so it matches the 'efficient; minor instances of over-explanation that could be trimmed' anchor rather than the top one.

4 / 5

Actionability

Provides concrete formulas ("Volume Effect = (Actual Volume - Budget Volume) x Budget Price"), a fully worked $500K→$528K example, a copy-paste narrative template, and a text-waterfall format. Not 5: the rate/mix example asserts "Mix effect explains 2pp of margin compression" without showing the computation, and headcount timing/attrition variances are named but not formulated — minor gaps in executable coverage.

4 / 5

Workflow Clarity

Section ordering implies the sequence (decompose → apply materiality → write narrative → present waterfall), and explicit checkpoints are present ("Verification: Volume Effect + Price Effect = Total Variance", "Verify the waterfall reconciles (start + drivers = end)") plus a narrative quality checklist. Not 5: no explicit end-to-end step sequence ties the sections into a single stated workflow, leaving the operating order implicit.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

A well-organized single-file skill with clear, navigable section headers and content appropriate to a single reference document (no bundle files exist). Not 5: it is a full inline treatment rather than an overview with well-signaled references — detailed methodology such as the waterfall tables and forecast-accuracy analysis could be split into reference files to keep SKILL.md as a leaner overview.

4 / 5

Total

16

/

20

Passed

Description

87%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

A strong description: concrete third-person actions, an explicit 'Use when...' clause with natural trigger phrases, and a well-defined finance niche. Keyword coverage could extend to a few more synonyms (vs forecast, prior year, flux analysis), and some body capabilities are unadvertised.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

Names the domain and several concrete actions in third person — "Decompose financial variances into drivers", "narrative explanations", "waterfall analysis" — matching the 'several specific actions; minor gaps' anchor. Not 5: capabilities covered in the body (materiality thresholds, budget/actual/forecast comparison, forecast accuracy tracking) are not surfaced in the description.

4 / 5

Completeness

Explicitly answers both what ("Decompose financial variances into drivers with narrative explanations and waterfall analysis") and when ("Use when analyzing budget vs. actual, period-over-period changes, revenue or expense variances, or preparing variance commentary for leadership") with concrete trigger phrases — a direct match for the top anchor.

5 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Includes natural phrases users would actually say: "budget vs. actual", "period-over-period changes", "revenue or expense variances", "variance commentary for leadership". Not 5: common variations like "vs forecast", "prior year"/"YoY", "month-over-month", or "flux analysis" are missing, so keyword coverage is good rather than comprehensive.

4 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

Occupies a clear niche (financial variance analysis) with distinct, finance-specific triggers (budget vs. actual, variance commentary) that would not naturally invoke adjacent skills. Conflict risk is minimal, matching the top anchor.

5 / 5

Total

18

/

20

Passed

Validation

93%

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 15 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

CriteriaDescriptionResult

frontmatter_unknown_keys

Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata

Warning

Total

15

/

16

Passed

Repository

anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins

Path

finance/skills/variance-analysis/SKILL.md

Reviewed

Table of Contents

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