Last month, an equity research analyst reached out with an unusual request.
Unusual because of who he was. Two decades of building financial models. Covered sectors across the market. Trained junior analysts. The kind of analyst who can spot red flags in a balance sheet before the auditors do.
Yet here he was, asking about AI.
Not skeptically. More like someone who’d been watching from the sidelines and finally decided to step onto the field.
“I’ve built thousands of models,” he said. “I know how to do this. But I don’t want to spend six hours on what should take one. I don’t want to chase formula errors at midnight anymore.”
Then he said something that stuck with me.
“Building the model isn’t the hard part. Anyone can learn that in thirty days. The hard part is knowing what questions to ask once it’s built. That’s where twenty years shows up. That’s what I should be spending my time on.”
He was right.
Extracting numbers, linking formulas, debugging why the balance sheet doesn’t balance, none of that is analysis. It’s administration. The real work starts after the model is built.
So I built him something. A system that creates 13-sheet integrated financial models with three-statement flows and DCF valuation. Tested it. Fixed the gaps. Refined it until it worked the way a model built by a serious analyst would work.
And now I’m giving it away.
Not the exact version customized for him. But the core framework, packaged as a Claude Skill you can deploy in under few minutes.
This newsletter documents everything: how the skill works, how to set it up, and what changes when you can build models in an hour instead of six.
Let’s begin.
What This Skill Actually Does
Before we get into setup, let me show you what you’re getting.
The Integrated Financial Modeling Skill creates a complete 13-sheet Excel model with:
Core Financial Statements (Sheets 1-5)
Introduction: Company overview, key metrics, current valuation
Consolidated P&L: Profit & Loss with projections
Consolidated Balance Sheet: Always balances
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement: Always reconciles
Reconciliation: Cash validation check
Analysis Sheets (Sheets 6-8)
Ratio Analysis: 30+ financial ratios across all periods
Common Size P&L: Vertical analysis (% of revenue)
Common Size BS: Vertical analysis (% of assets)
Supporting Schedules (Sheets 9-11)
Revenue Model: Bottom-up revenue build from drivers
Quarterly Data: Latest quarters for tracking
Capex Model: Fixed assets and depreciation schedule
Valuation (Sheets 12-13)
DCF Valuation: Three methods: Gordon Growth, FCFE, FCFF with sensitivity tables
Scenarios: Bear/Base/Bull cases
Everything is formula-driven. Historical years pull from annual reports. Projection years are 100% formulas linked to assumptions. Change one input, and the entire model updates, P&L flows to Balance Sheet, Balance Sheet changes drive Cash Flow, Cash Flow reconciles back.
No hardcoding. No broken links. No midnight debugging.
The DCF sheet alone runs three independent valuations and averages them for a final target price. Two sensitivity tables show you how the valuation moves with different discount rates and growth assumptions.
This is the structure institutional analysts use. Now it’s yours.
What You Need Before Starting
This skill runs on Claude, Anthropic’s AI. You’ll need a few things set up before you can use it.
1. Claude Pro Plan
The Skills feature requires Claude Pro. It costs $20/month (roughly ₹1,800).
Go to claude.ai, sign up, and upgrade to Pro from Settings. Without Pro, you won’t have access to Skills or Projects, both of which this system requires.
2. Enable Skills
Once you’re on Pro:
Go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Turn on the toggle for Skill Creator (Beta)
This allows Claude to read custom skill files you upload.
3. Download the Skill Package
I’m giving away the complete skill as a zip file. It contains:
SKILL.md: The main instruction file Claude reads
references/: Detailed methodology guides, DCF specifications, prompt templates
examples/: A working template model for reference
Download that .zip file to your computer.
You’ll upload this file in the next step.
Go back to Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Click Upload Skill
Drag and drop the downloaded .zip file into the upload window.
Wait for confirmation, your Skill will now appear under My Skills.
Now you’re ready to generate full financial models, instantly.
One more hack.
Want to use your own in-house template instead of the one provided?
Start a new chat. Upload the skill zip file along with your own Excel model template. Then say:
“I want to follow the structure of this template instead of the current skill template. Update the skill accordingly.”Claude will decode the skill, make the necessary changes to match your template’s structure and formatting, and give you a new zip file. Upload that to your project, and you’re set with a customized skill built around your own standards.
Demo to upload this skill:
4. Financial Data from Perplexity Finance
Go to perplexity.ai/finance and search for your company. Download the Excel file, it includes balance sheet, cash flow statement, P&L, and key statistics across multiple years.
One thing to note for Indian companies: the downloaded Excel sometimes shows the currency unit as “USD” or “Billion USD” at the top, even though all figures are actually in Indian Rupees. Just edit that header to show the correct unit (₹ Crores or ₹ Lakhs) before uploading to Claude.
That’s it. Pro plan, skills enabled, skill package downloaded, financial data ready.
Now let’s set it up.