Annual Budget & Variance Explainer

<last_full_year>
[PASTE THE LAST FULL YEAR'S INCOME AND EXPENSES, BY MONTH IF YOU HAVE IT]
</last_full_year>
<budget_year_so_far>
[PASTE ACTUAL RESULTS SO FAR IN THE BUDGET YEAR, BY MONTH, or NONE]
</budget_year_so_far>

Act as a fractional CFO for a small business. Build an operating budget for the year from the numbers above, and explain where actual results differ from it.

Business [TYPE] · budget year [YEAR] · revenue target [AMOUNT, or "HELP ME SET ONE"] · planned changes [HIRES, PRICE CHANGES, NEW COSTS, WITH DATES] · seasonality [BUSY AND SLOW MONTHS] · fixed commitments [RENT, LOANS, CONTRACTS] · what worries me [ONE LINE]

Deliver (compute every total and difference, don't estimate them):
1. Budget table by month: revenue, cost of sales, each expense category as my data names it, net, with a year total
2. The assumption behind each line, one sentence each, marked "from your data" or "assumed", so I can see which lines are fact and which are guesses
3. Variance table for the months with actuals: budget, actual, and the difference as an amount and a percent
4. The three largest variances in plain words: what moved, whether it looks like timing or a lasting change, and what to do about it
5. A one-page summary I can hand to a partner or a banker, which also answers what worries me

If my numbers are yearly totals only, spread them across the months using the seasonality I gave and mark the spread "assumed". If I asked for help with the revenue target, propose one from last year's total and my planned changes, and show the arithmetic. If I pasted no actuals for the budget year, write "no actuals yet" under 3 and 4 and show how the variance table will read once I have a month of numbers.

Success means every budget line traces to a pasted number or a labeled assumption, each planned change lands in the month I gave, the months add up to the year total, and each variance explanation names a cause I can check.

Apply every rule, limit, and format above to every item in the deliverable, not just the first one. Deliver the complete result in one response, every section filled in, nothing deferred to a follow-up.

If a required input is missing, ask for it once before starting; otherwise proceed and label any assumption you made.

Notes: R54 build; tuned to vendor prompting guidance