How to Create Financial Reports with AI
Save hours every month by using an AI assistant to generate financial reports, budget tracking, and variance analysis in Google Sheets.
Manual financial reporting is time-consuming and error-prone. Between gathering data from multiple sources, calculating variances, formatting reports, and creating visualizations, finance teams can spend days on monthly closes. This guide shows you how to use ModelMonkey's conversational AI assistant to streamline the process, reducing hours of manual work to simple natural language requests.
What You'll Need
- A Google Sheets account
- Basic familiarity with spreadsheets and financial statements
- ModelMonkey add-on installed (free trial available)
- Historical financial data in Google Sheets or exported as CSV
Step-by-Step Guide
Set Up Your Data Structure
Organize your raw financial data in a clean, consistent format that ModelMonkey can process.
- Create a new Google Sheet or open your existing financial data
- Ensure your data includes columns for: Date, Account Name, Category, Amount, and any other relevant dimensions (Department, Project, etc.)
- Remove any merged cells, hidden rows, or complex formatting that might interfere with analysis
- Place your raw data in a dedicated "Data" tab separate from your reports
Pro Tip
Keep your raw data in a simple table format. The cleaner your source data, the easier it is to work with the AI assistant.
Install and Open ModelMonkey
Add the ModelMonkey add-on to your Google Sheet and start a conversation.
- Open your Google Sheet and go to Extensions > Add-ons > Get add-ons
- Search for "ModelMonkey" and click Install
- Once installed, go to Extensions > ModelMonkey > Open
- Sign in and select your plan (Free trial available for new users)
- The ModelMonkey sidebar will open, showing a chat interface where you can type requests
Pro Tip
ModelMonkey works like a conversational assistant - you describe what you want in plain English and it analyzes your data and creates the reports.
Create Your First Report: Monthly P&L
Use natural language to ask ModelMonkey to create a profit and loss statement.
- In the ModelMonkey chat input at the bottom of the sidebar, type your request in plain English
- Example: "Create a monthly profit and loss statement grouped by category, comparing current month to previous month with variance analysis"
- Press Enter to submit your request
- ModelMonkey will analyze your data and propose changes (like creating a new sheet for the P&L)
- Review each proposed change and click "Approve" when you're ready to apply it
- The report will be created in your spreadsheet with formulas that reference your source data
Pro Tip
Be specific about what you want. Instead of "create a report," say "create a monthly P&L with revenue, expenses, and net income, grouped by category with month-over-month variance."
Create Budget vs Actual Analysis
Ask the AI to compare your actual results against budget.
- First, create a separate "Budget" tab with your planned budget by category and month
- In the ModelMonkey chat, type: "Compare actual spending to budget by category, calculate variance as both dollar amount and percentage, and highlight variances greater than 10%"
- ModelMonkey will propose creating formulas to join your actual data with your budget
- It may also suggest conditional formatting to highlight over-budget items in red and under-budget in green
- Review and approve each step as it proposes changes
Pro Tip
You can ask follow-up questions like "Make the over-budget cells bright red with bold text" to refine the formatting.
Build a Rolling 12-Month Forecast
Ask the AI to analyze trends and create projections.
- In the chat, type: "Analyze the last 12 months of revenue and expenses by category, identify trends, and create a 12-month projection"
- ModelMonkey will examine your historical data and propose formulas for trend analysis (like AVERAGE, GROWTH, or FORECAST functions)
- Review the proposed approach and approve the changes
- You can refine by asking: "Adjust the forecast to assume 5% monthly growth in revenue" or "Account for seasonality based on last year's pattern"
- The AI will update the formulas based on your feedback
Pro Tip
Combine AI-generated trends with your business knowledge by asking for specific adjustments after seeing the initial forecast.
Create Executive Dashboards
Build visual dashboards by asking the AI to create charts and summary metrics.
- Create a new "Dashboard" tab in your workbook (or ask ModelMonkey to create one)
- In the chat, type: "Create a financial dashboard with total revenue, total expenses, net income, gross margin %, and a pie chart showing top 5 expense categories"
- ModelMonkey will propose creating summary formulas and charts
- Review the preview and approve each element (charts, formatting, formulas)
- Ask for refinements: "Make the chart colors match our brand palette" or "Add sparklines showing monthly trends"
- Share the dashboard tab with executives while keeping raw data tabs hidden
Pro Tip
Build dashboards iteratively - start simple, then ask the AI to add more elements one at a time.
Update Reports as Data Changes
Reuse the AI assistant whenever you need to refresh or modify reports.
- When new data arrives, simply add it to your "Data" tab
- Open ModelMonkey and click the history button to resume your previous conversation
- Ask: "Update the P&L report with the latest data" or "Refresh all calculations"
- If formulas are already set up properly, they may update automatically - just ask the AI to verify
- For structural changes, describe what you need: "Add a new expense category called Marketing and update all reports"
Pro Tip
ModelMonkey remembers the context of your conversation, so you can refer back to previous work: "Update that dashboard we created last week with this month's data."
