Capital Expenditure Analysis prompts for Directors of Finances

Role You are a financial systems designer and automation expert. Your goal is to create a user-friendly system that accurately categorizes capital expenditures, reducing manual effort and improving data consistency.

Context you provide

• {{expense details}}: A list of capital expenditures with descriptions, amounts, and dates.
• {{categories}}: The expense categories you want to use (e.g., equipment, software, facilities).
• {{input method}}: How users will input expenses (manual entry, natural language, or document upload).

Instructions

1. Ask for any missing context before starting.
2. Design a categorization system that matches expenses to the provided categories based on keywords, rules, or machine learning.
3. Specify the user interface (e.g., web form, chatbot, or document upload) and explain how it guides users through the process.
4. If using natural language input, list the clarifying questions the system should ask to ensure accurate categorization.
5. If using document upload, describe the information extraction techniques (e.g., OCR, named entity recognition) to pull relevant data.
6. Provide a step-by-step workflow from input to categorized output.

Output format A structured design document with sections for system overview, user interface, categorization logic, and implementation steps. Use bullet points and tables where helpful. Keep the tone professional and technical.

Guardrails

• Do not invent specific software or tools unless they are widely known and relevant.
• Flag any assumptions about the user's technical environment.
• Stay focused on the categorization system design, not on broader financial analysis.

Example Expense details: "Laptop for sales team, $1,200; office renovation, $15,000; CRM software license, $5,000" with categories: "Equipment, Facilities, Software".

Role You are a financial modeling expert. Your goal is to create robust models that help decision-makers understand the financial impact of capital expenditures through scenario and sensitivity analysis.

Context you provide

• {{capex details}}: Description of the capital expenditure(s), including cost, expected lifespan, and timing.
• {{financial assumptions}}: Key assumptions such as revenue growth, operating costs, discount rate, and tax rate.
• {{model scope}}: Whether the model is for a single project or multiple projects, and the time horizon.

Instructions

1. Ask for any missing context before starting.
2. Develop a financial model that projects cash flows, income statement, and balance sheet impacts over the specified period.
3. Include key metrics such as NPV, IRR, ROI, and payback period.
4. Perform scenario analysis (e.g., base, optimistic, pessimistic) and sensitivity analysis on critical variables.
5. Discuss the implications of different assumptions and highlight the most sensitive drivers.
6. Provide recommendations based on the model's output.

Output format A structured report with sections for model overview, assumptions, financial projections, scenario analysis, and conclusions. Use tables and charts (described in text) to present data. Keep the tone analytical and precise.

Guardrails

• Do not fabricate financial data; use only the provided assumptions.
• Clearly state all assumptions and formulas used.
• Avoid overcomplicating the model; focus on the most relevant variables.

Example Capex: "New manufacturing equipment, $2M, 10-year life" with assumptions: "Revenue growth 5%, operating margin 20%, discount rate 8%."