Finance · Q1 Financial Report Analysis
Upload your quarterly financial report and let the AI calculate YoY growth, rank cost increases, and draft board-ready commentary — all grounded in your actual numbers.
Describe the task
Upload your quarterly financial report and let the AI calculate YoY growth, rank cost increases, and draft board-ready commentary — all grounded in your actual numbers.
Persona: FP&A analyst preparing the monthly board pack.
Here is our Q1 2025 financial report. Please: 1. Calculate the year-over-year revenue growth rate (Q1 2025 vs Q1 2024) and tell me the absolute dollar change. 2. List the top 3 cost areas with the biggest increase compared to Q1 2024 — show absolute dollar change AND percentage change for each, so I can see both views. 3. Present the cost answer as a markdown table. 4. Add a 2-line commentary I can paste into the board deck.
Before you start
- Upload
q1-2025-financial-report.xlsxto your workspace and wait for file indexing to complete. - Note that all figures in the workbook are in USD thousands (e.g. $49,800k = $49.8M) — check the Notes sheet if in doubt.
- Start a new chat so there is no leftover context from another conversation.
Sample Files
q1-2025-financial-report.xlsx
Globex Solutions Inc. preliminary Q1 2025 financial report. Four sheets: Executive Summary (top-level P&L + key metrics), Revenue (by product line and region), Cost Centres (line-item detail with YoY columns), and Notes (reading guide and methodology). All figures in USD thousands.
What RedbrickAI does
When you upload the financial report and paste this prompt, the AI reads all four sheets — Executive Summary, Revenue, Cost Centres, and Notes — to compute the year-over-year revenue growth, identify and rank the top cost increases by both absolute dollar and percentage, present them as a formatted markdown table, and draft concise board-deck commentary grounded in the workbook figures.
Example output
Part 1 — YoY Revenue Growth > Q1 2025 revenue was $49.8 million versus $42.1 million in Q1 2024, for an absolute increase of $7.7 million and a year-over-year growth rate of 18.3%. All figures in the report are presented in USD thousands.
Part 2 & 3 — Top 3 Cost Increases (ranked by absolute $ change) > The three largest year-over-year cost increases were Cloud infrastructure (hosting), Sales headcount & commissions, and Engineering (headcount + tools). Their increases were $1.4 million (36.8%), $1.01 million (24.0%), and $0.84 million (10.0%), respectively.
| Rank | Cost Area | Q1 2025 | Q1 2024 | Absolute Change | Percentage Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cloud infrastructure (hosting) | $5.20m | $3.80m | +$1.40m | +36.8% |
| 2 | Sales headcount & commissions | $5.21m | $4.20m | +$1.01m | +24.0% |
| 3 | Engineering (headcount + tools) | $9.26m | $8.42m | +$0.84m | +10.0% |
Part 4 — Board Commentary > Board-ready commentary: Revenue grew 18.3% YoY to $49.8 million, with an absolute increase of $7.7 million, while operating costs rose more moderately overall. The largest cost pressures came from cloud infrastructure, sales hiring/commissions, and engineering investment, which together explain most of the year-over-year increase in spend.
What a good answer looks like
| Fact | Expected wording |
|---|---|
| Q1 2025 revenue | $49,800k ($49.8M) |
| Q1 2024 revenue | $42,100k ($42.1M) |
| YoY revenue growth | +18.3% and +$7,700k absolute dollar change |
| Cost #1 (both methods) | Cloud infrastructure: +$1,400k (+36.8%) |
| Cost #2 (both methods) | Sales headcount & commissions: +$1,010k (+24.0%) |
| Cost #3 (varies by method) | Engineering +$840k (+10.0%) by absolute $, or Marketing +$400k (+19.0%) by % — AI must state which method was used |
| Board commentary | 2 lines, includes 18% growth rate and $49.8M figure, names at least one cost driver with its growth rate |
Pass
Correct revenue numbers and 18.3% growth, top 3 cost lines correctly identified with both $ and % columns in the table, AI states which ranking method it used, board commentary is concise and references specific drivers.
Partial pass
Numbers right but only one ranking method shown, or table missing a $ or % column, or commentary too generic (no specific figures or drivers named).
Fail
Wrong revenue figure (e.g. confuses thousands with millions, reports $49.8B), invents a cost line not in the workbook, or fails to produce the markdown table.
Try follow-up prompts
Follow-up prompts let you iterate on the document in the same chat — the AI already has full context and can refine specific sections without you repeating the setup.
Initial prompt
“Are there any minor signals worth flagging that didn't make the top 3?”
AI response
Yes — a few secondary signals came up that did not make the top 3 but are still worth flagging. Marketing costs grew significantly by 19.0% (+$400k), which is a larger percentage jump than Engineering, even though its absolute dollar impact was smaller. Additionally, General & Administrative (G&A) expenses remained flat year-over-year at $2.1 million, demonstrating strong fixed-cost control during this growth phase.
Follow-up prompt
“State clearly whether your ranking is by absolute dollar change or by percentage change, and show both columns in the table regardless.”
Updated AI response
The primary analysis ranks the cost increases by absolute dollar change, which highlights where the largest volume of new cash was deployed (Cloud infrastructure and Sales). If ranked strictly by percentage change, the list shifts: Cloud infrastructure remains #1 (+36.8%), but Marketing climbs to #2 (+19.0% / +$400k), and Sales headcount drops to #3 (+24.0% / +$1,010k), while Engineering (+10.0%) drops out of the top 3 entirely.