The Claude Finance plugin.
Commands and checks.
Short answer: Anthropic’s Finance plugin adds eight commands to Claude Cowork for month-end work: /journal-entry, /journal-entry-prep, /reconciliation, /financial-statements, /variance-analysis, /close-management, /sox-testing and /audit-support. It works on files you upload or paste, or on data from connectors you add. Anthropic says every output must be reviewed by a qualified financial professional before it is used in reporting or filings.
We installed the plugin in Claude Cowork on October 28, 2026 and list the commands as Cowork shows them, with descriptions from Cowork and Anthropic’s documentation, then ran two of them on fictional data (see the example). Cowork itself needs a paid Claude plan: Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise.
The eight commands
| Command | What it does | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
/journal-entry | Prepares journal entries with debits, credits and supporting detail | Month-end accruals (AP, payroll, prepaid), depreciation and amortization, revenue recognition and deferred revenue adjustments |
/journal-entry-prep | Prepares entries with supporting documentation for the close | Any manual entry that needs a support file for review or audit |
/reconciliation | Compares GL balances with subledgers, bank statements or third-party data and categorizes reconciling items | Bank reconciliations, GL-to-subledger and intercompany reconciliations |
/financial-statements | Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement with period-over-period comparison and variance flags | Monthly or quarterly P&L, actual vs budget, a summary for leadership |
/variance-analysis | Breaks variances into drivers with a narrative and a waterfall | Budget vs actual and period-over-period commentary |
/close-management | Sequences close tasks, dependencies and status | Planning the close calendar, tracking progress, finding blockers |
/sox-testing | Sample selections, testing workpapers and control assessments | Quarterly or annual SOX 404 testing for revenue, procure-to-pay, ITGC or close controls |
/audit-support | SOX 404 testing methodology, sample selection and documentation standards | Preparing for internal or external audits, classifying control deficiencies |
Who it is for
The plugin is written for corporate accounting teams: SOX testing, intercompany reconciliations and ERP data are built in. Bookkeepers and small firms can still use /journal-entry, /reconciliation and /financial-statements on exports from QuickBooks, Xero or FreshBooks. Small business owners who want ready-made close, payroll and tax-prep workflows may be better served by Claude for Small Business.
Install
- Cowork. Open the Finance plugin page in Claude’s directory and choose Install in Cowork. The commands then appear when you type
/in a Cowork task. - Claude Code. Anthropic’s README gives two commands:
claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins, thenclaude plugin install finance@knowledge-work-plugins. - Team and Enterprise. An owner decides which plugins the firm can use, and can mark a plugin as installed by default, required or not available.
Where the data comes from
Anthropic suggests connecting an ERP (such as NetSuite or SAP), a data warehouse (such as Snowflake or BigQuery) and spreadsheet tools through MCP; without them, you upload files or paste data. For smaller firms the usual sources are the QuickBooks connector, Xero’s read-only connector, FreshBooks’ read-only connector or a CSV export. For a reconciliation, give Claude both sides: the ledger export and the bank or subledger file.
A month-end sequence
- Plan the calendar and owners with
/close-management. - Book accruals, prepaid amortization and depreciation with
/journal-entry; ask for the support schedule with each entry. - Reconcile cash and accounts receivable with
/reconciliation. - Produce the period P&L, balance sheet and cash flow with
/financial-statements. - Explain the big movements with
/variance-analysis.
This follows the close example in Anthropic’s README, which runs the AP accrual, prepaid and fixed-asset entries, then the cash and receivables reconciliations, then the monthly P&L.
Example: a month-end on our fictional coffee shop
We ran two of the plugin’s commands, /financial-statements and /reconciliation, on the fictional coffee-shop data from our free template: 24 cash transactions from January to June 2026. Every number below was recalculated with a script and ties to the file’s known totals: $48,250 in, $32,840 out, $15,410 net.
| Line | Q1 | Q2 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | $21,150 | $27,100 | +28.1% |
| Supplies (cost of sales) | $2,531 | $4,591 | +81.4% |
| Gross profit | $18,619 | $22,509 | Margin 88.0% → 83.1% |
| Payroll | $6,489 | $8,429 | +29.9% |
| Rent | $5,400 | $5,400 | 0% |
| Net income | $6,730 | $8,680 | +29.0% |
The variance worth flagging: supplies grew about three times faster than sales, from 10.9% of sales in January to 18.4% in June, which cost almost five points of gross margin. The data can’t say why (price increases, waste, a different product mix), so the right output is a question for the owner, not an invented reason.
The reconciliation: for June, the books show net cash of +$3,000 and the bank shows +$3,300. Three bank lines are missing from the books: a $450 catering receipt, a $120 milk delivery and $30 of card fees, which net to exactly the $300 difference. All three need adjusting entries (cash and sales $450; supplies and cash $120; merchant fees and cash $30), after which the difference is zero.
Checks before you rely on it
- Every journal entry balances, uses your chart of accounts and has a source document.
- Reconciling items add up exactly to the difference, and each points to a line in one of the files.
- Statement totals tie to the trial balance you exported.
- Every driver in a variance narrative traces to numbers; delete any reason Claude couldn’t have known.
- Try each command first on fictional data with known totals, such as our sample transactions, before client files. More checks: eight checks for AI financial calculations.
Client data rules still apply: firm account, minimum data, and the US rules for tax preparers. See Claude for accounting firms and the client data checklist.
Sources: Anthropic’s Finance plugin listing and README on GitHub; Cowork on Team and Enterprise plans; the command list as shown in Claude Cowork. Checked October 28, 2026. The Experts AI is independent and not affiliated with Anthropic.
Frequently asked questions
Where is /income-statement in the Claude Finance plugin?
Anthropic’s GitHub README lists an /income-statement command, but in Claude Cowork on October 28, 2026 the plugin showed /financial-statements instead, which covers the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement.
Does the Claude Finance plugin work with QuickBooks?
It has no built-in QuickBooks integration. Add Intuit’s QuickBooks connector for Claude, or upload a QuickBooks export, and the commands work on that data.
Can the Finance plugin post journal entries to my ledger?
Anthropic describes it as preparing entries with supporting detail for review. Post them yourself in your accounting system after a person has checked them.
Who is the Claude Finance plugin for?
Mainly corporate accounting teams: it covers SOX testing, intercompany reconciliations and ERP data. Bookkeepers and small firms can use the journal entry, reconciliation and financial statement commands on exports; small business owners may prefer Anthropic’s Claude for Small Business plugin.
Turn a CSV into a working cash flow dashboard.
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