By Forecraft, updated

Good financial commentary answers four things in order: what moved, by how much, why it moved, and what should happen next. This page gives you that sentence structure, three before-and-after rewrites showing weak commentary turned into decisions, and the specific habits that make commentary unreadable.

The four-part structure

Every sentence of useful commentary carries the same four elements. Written out as a pattern:

[Category] [direction] [amount] ([percentage]) to [new value]
because [driver],
so [implication or action].
What moved
The category, by name. “Costs” is too broad to act on.
By how much
The currency amount and the percentage. The amount shows the scale and the percentage shows how unusual the movement is.
Why
The driver: volume, price, timing, one-off, or correction. You can only write this part once you have done the work.
So what
The implication, or a plain statement that no action is needed. The reader learns something from that too.

Three rewrites

The figures are illustrative and invented, carried over from the variance analysis example so the two pages agree. They are not customer data or benchmarks.

Rewrite 1

Before: “Software costs increased this month.”

The problem: States the direction with no size, no cause, and nothing to act on.

After: “Software and subscriptions rose 2,700 (84 percent) to 5,900 because the annual analytics renewal posted in full this month; the run rate returns to roughly 3,200 from next month, so no action is needed.”

Rewrite 2

Before: “Revenue was up 10 percent, a strong result.”

The problem: Praises a movement without checking the ratio underneath it. Gross margin fell while revenue grew.

After: “Revenue rose 12,000 (10.0 percent) to 132,000, but cost of goods sold rose 16.9 percent over the same period, taking gross margin from 60.0 to 57.5 percent; the growth was won at a lower margin and pricing should be reviewed before the next quarter.”

Rewrite 3

Before: “Marketing spend was down, which helped profitability.”

The problem: Treats an underspend as a win without asking whether it was deliberate or a deferred commitment.

After: “Marketing fell 2,700 (30 percent) to 6,300 because the Q3 campaign did not run in the period; the spend is expected to land next month, so this is timing and nothing was saved.”

Habits that make commentary unreadable

Restating the table in prose
If a sentence adds nothing to the number already shown, delete it.
Hedging
“Costs appear to have somewhat increased” tells the reader nobody checked. If the driver is still unknown, say so and say who is finding out.
Explaining everything
Commentary on twenty lines buries the two that matter. Explain what passed your materiality threshold and leave the rest.
Burying the ratio
Margin, runway, and collection days move without appearing in any variance column. Check them separately.
Ending without an owner
“Pricing should be reviewed” is an observation until it has a name and a date attached.
Adjectives instead of drivers
“Disappointing” and “strong” are judgments. Give the cause and let the reader judge.

The three-sentence executive summary

The summary at the top of a pack has its own shape: three sentences, each with one job.

What happened
The headline result for the period.
Why
The single largest driver. Pick one.
What it means
The implication, or the decision the client needs to make.

If a fourth sentence is needed, it usually belongs in the variance section. An executive summary that runs to a page gets skipped.

“Pricing should be reviewed” is an observation until it has a name and a date attached.

How Forecraft handles this

Forecraft drafts commentary in this structure from your uploaded figures, with every number traceable to the source row. It produces a first draft you edit. It does not send anything to a client on your behalf, and the judgment in the “so what” clause stays yours.

See how it works for fractional CFOsSee a finished pack

Related notes