skills/management-accounts/references/pack-template.md

# Pack template

Keep the same order and headings every month so readers can compare packs. Amounts in the client's currency with thousands separators and no pence on summary pages (pence in the appendix). Show negatives in brackets. Label every column with its dates.

## 1. Cover

Client name, "Management accounts for [period]", the comparison periods, the date prepared, and **Draft — for accountant review**.

## 2. Summary (one page)

- **Headline:** revenue, net profit and cash for the period, each with its comparison, in one short table.
- **What happened and why:** three to five sentences on the movements that matter, each with its cause or marked as a question for the client.
- **Suggested actions:** three to five, each concrete (who, what, by when where known). They are suggestions for the accountant to adopt or drop.
- **Caveats:** one line per failed readiness check or tie-out, linking to the appendix.

## 3. KPIs

One table: KPI, this period, comparison, change, and a one-line meaning. Follow `kpis.md`.

## 4. Profit and loss

Columns: this period, prior period, same period last year, year to date, prior year to date, and the variance against the main comparison (amount and %). Rows grouped as revenue, cost of sales and gross profit (when identified), overheads, net profit. Mark material variances.

## 5. Balance sheet

Columns: period end and the comparison date. Group as non-current assets, current assets, current liabilities, long-term liabilities, net assets, equity. Show retained earnings within equity as the report does.

## 6. Cash

Opening and closing cash per bank account and in total, the movement, and the main drivers of the movement from the balance sheet (profit, debtors, creditors, VAT, loans, drawings or dividends). Add runway when relevant.

## 7. Aged debtors and creditors (accrual basis)

Bucket totals for each, the largest five contacts, and anything over three months old named. Note credit balances.

## 8. Commentary

Three to five material movements, largest first. Each: what moved and by how much, the cause with its evidence (journal or document), and what it means for the business. Unsupported causes become client questions, listed separately at the end of this section.

## 9. Verification appendix

As set out in `verification.md`, ending with the basis of preparation and the reviewer checklist.

## Basis of preparation

Include this, adjusted to the facts:

> These management accounts have been prepared from the accounting records of [client] held in Briefcase as at [fetch date]. They have not been audited or reviewed, and the information in them has not been independently verified. They include estimates, listed in the appendix. They are prepared for the use of [the directors / the owner] only and should not be relied on by anyone else without our written agreement.

The accountant decides the final wording, especially before the pack goes to a lender or investor; say so in the reviewer checklist.

## Audience

The figures stay the same; the emphasis changes.

- **Owner:** plain English, cash first, explain any jargon, actions with owners and dates.
- **Board:** summary and KPIs up front, the outlook the user gives you, decisions needed, a short pack (a 3 to 5 page main section with detail in appendices).
- **Lender:** ask for the facility's covenant definitions and show each test with actual figure, threshold and headroom; aged debtors; cash. Never assume covenant definitions.
- **Investor:** cash, burn and runway first, then KPIs against plan if the user gives one, then lowlights alongside highlights.