AI for FP&A
Ultramarine Work reads the GL exports, budget model and customer ARR cube in your FP&A folder and drafts the variance commentary, the forecast update and the board slides. Each figure cites the file it came from.
Q3-board-pack.pptxExampleAsk it for
“Compare September actuals to forecast and to last year. Write commentary for every line that moved more than $75k and 8%, and separate one-offs from run rate.”
Sep-variance-commentary.docx“FY26 forecast roll-forward: lock July actuals, flex volumes off the sales team’s deck, and keep base, upside and downside scenarios in one workbook.”
FY26-rolling-forecast.xlsx“Cost the 9 open reqs in the FY26 headcount plan fully loaded, with the Social Security wage-base cap, our 28% benefits load and start-month proration.”
Headcount-plan-FY26.xlsx“Rebuild the Q3 ARR bridge off the customer cube with NRR and pipeline coverage, and refresh the slides in last quarter’s board deck.”
Q3-board-pack.pptx“Turn the AR and AP agings, payroll calendar and debt schedule into the 13-week cash forecast. Flag any week that ends below the $2m minimum cash.”
13-week-cash-forecast.xlsx“Price the renewal: 15% off list in year 1 ramping to 25% by year 3, two free months, net-90 terms. Show effective price over the term and flag ASC 606 effects.”
Deal-desk-review.xlsx
How it works
- 1
Load the FP&A folder
GL and trial balance exports, the budget model, HR’s comp file, the ARR cube by customer, AR and AP agings, last quarter’s board deck and the credit agreement go in the folder. Connectors read SharePoint or Google Drive folders you turn on.
- 2
Ask in your own words
Write the request as you would say it to the analyst beside you. Workbooks come back with live formulas and no plugs, and new files follow the folder’s fonts and layouts.
- 3
Review and decide
Run the new model against a closed period before you trust it. Confirm each variance cause with the budget owner, and decide what goes to the CFO. Nothing posts to the ERP or the planning tool, and you review every file it touched.
Inside the FP&A mode
Close variance and forecasting
Writes the monthly variance pack, names the driver and evidence behind every material flux line, and locks closed months into the forecast as actuals.
Long-range plan and capital raise
Assembles the 3–5 year model with dated assumptions and scenarios, links the statements so cash ties, and shows headroom under the covenant definitions.
Business case and capital allocation
Frames the capital request the way the review committee reads it: NPV, IRR and payback, build-versus-buy options, benefits marked hard or soft, with sources.
Operating metrics and reviews
Maintains the ARR bridge, cohort retention, pipeline coverage and forecast roll-ups that feed the weekly flash, the QBR and the board’s operating slides.
Headcount and workforce plan
Costs each position fully loaded, with employer taxes capped at their wage bases, benefits by tier, proration from start month and backfills priced separately.
Product and customer profitability
Builds the list-to-pocket waterfall by customer and SKU, then layers cost-to-serve over it to show where pocket margin erodes across rebates and freight.
Deal desk review
Computes what a non-standard deal nets over the term with ramps, free months and net-90 terms, weighs it against the approval bands and flags ASC 606 effects.
Cash forecasting
Runs the daily cash position and the 13-week forecast off the payroll calendar, AR and AP agings and debt schedule, and reconciles forecast weeks to actual.
Credit underwriting and covenants
Drafts the credit memo, sizes baskets and incremental capacity, and updates the covenant model and compliance certificate, with headroom shown by test date.
- Office skills
- Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF
- Tools
- Read, edit and write files, Search files, Run code, Search and read the web, View images
- Connectors
- SharePoint, Google Drive, Gmail, and additional custom connectors
- House style
- Your fonts, layouts and rules, on every file
Who it’s for
FP&A and finance business partner teams at every level, from analysts to the head of FP&A, in companies, hospitals, universities and nonprofits.
Questions
Will it guess at a driver for a variance it can’t explain?
It will not invent a driver. A line whose cause is not in the files, or that the files contradict, comes back marked for follow-up, and every number in the draft carries a source note. The calculated variance and the written cause sit in separate columns, and unresolved lines become open items for the budget owner to confirm before the commentary goes out.
Will it hardcode values where formulas belong?
No, it builds the model with live formulas. The assumptions sit on their own tab, so a change to any of them flows through the whole model. Review the file the way you would check any analyst’s model: look for hardcoded cells and run the output against a quarter that has already closed.
Where do our financial numbers go?
Ultramarine Work changes files only in the project’s folder. When a request needs it, it can read files elsewhere on your computer, never passwords, keys or app data, and you can turn that off in settings. The model runs on Paper Instruments’ servers, so the content it works on is sent there to be processed. Paper Instruments is SOC 2 Type II, and our security and compliance details are on our compliance page.
Can it model covenant headroom off our credit agreement?
Yes, if the executed agreement and the last compliance certificate are in the folder. It builds the leverage and coverage ratios on a trailing-twelve-month basis the way the agreement defines them, add-backs and caps included, and shows headroom at each test date. Where a defined term can be read two ways, you and counsel choose the reading, and the workbook shows which inputs it used.
Do we still own the forecast decisions?
The forecast decisions stay with you. It assembles the models, the commentary and the packs. Choosing the assumptions, the reforecast calls and the story the CFO hears is your work, and nothing reaches the board until you have been through every file it worked on.