Cost center spend trends

Analyzes monthly spend evolution by cost center over 6 months and detects centers whose spending deviates from their normal pattern.

โ†“ Download skill (.md)
83/100ยท๐Ÿ“† MonthlyยทIntermediateFinance AnalystController
Spend analysisReportsspendesk_analyze_spendget_cost_centers

๐ŸŽฏ Skill purpose

Analyzes monthly spend evolution by cost center over 6 months and detects centers whose spending deviates from their normal pattern.

๐Ÿ“Š What it produces

Trend table by cost center with monthly growth, trend indicator, and alerts on detected anomalies.

โšก Benefit

Before

Spend trends are only visible at end-of-quarter budget reviews, too late to correct course.

After

Proactive detection of cost center drift, enabling corrective action before the problem escalates.



# Spend trends by cost center

## Purpose
Analyze the month-over-month evolution of spend for each cost center. Identify cost centers whose spend is growing abnormally and those underspending their budget.

## Instructions

### Step 1 โ€” Retrieve the list of cost centers
```
Call get_cost_centers.
For each cost center: note id, name, code.
Exclude archived centers if the API allows it.
```

### Step 2 โ€” Analyze spend for the last 6 months
```
For a month-over-month analysis over 6 months:
  Call spendesk_analyze_spend with:
    - groupBy: costCenter
    - period: last 6 complete months (M-6 to M-1)
    - granularity: monthly (if available) or make 6 monthly calls

  For each month M:
    Spend by cost center: [centreId, month, amount, currency]
```

### Step 3 โ€” Calculate the trends
```
For each cost center with at least 3 months of data:
  Growth M vs M-1 = (spend_M - spend_M-1) / spend_M-1 ร— 100
  6-month trend = simple linear regression (or growth M vs M-6)
  Volatility = monthly standard deviation / monthly average (coefficient of variation)

Trend categories:
  ๐Ÿ“ˆ Strong increase: growth M vs M-1 > +20%
  โ†—๏ธ Moderate increase: growth between +5% and +20%
  โžก๏ธ Stable: variation between -5% and +5%
  โ†˜๏ธ Moderate decrease: decrease between -5% and -20%
  ๐Ÿ“‰ Strong decrease: decrease > -20%
```

### Step 4 โ€” Identify anomalies
```
Anomalies to flag:
  ๐Ÿ”ด Sudden spike: current month > 3-month average ร— 1.5
  ๐ŸŸก Sustained upward trend: 3 consecutive months of growth > +10%
  ๐Ÿ’ก Notable underspend: current month < 3-month average ร— 0.5
  โš ๏ธ Reactivated inactive center: no spend for 2+ months, then activity
```

### Step 5 โ€” Trend report
```
Present:
1. Summary table:
   Cost center | M-5 | M-4 | M-3 | M-2 | M-1 | M | Trend | M/M variation

2. Top 5 fastest-growing centers (with % and absolute amount)
3. Top 5 centers with a significant decrease
4. Detected anomalies with explanation and recommended action

5. Overview:
   Total spend M vs M-1: Xโ‚ฌ (ยฑY%)
   Centers increasing: X | Decreasing: X | Stable: X
```

## Points to watch
- Cost centers with no spend for a month don't always appear in the API โ€” treat them as 0โ‚ฌ
- Compare trends to annual budgets when available for context
- Some increases are normal (year-end spike, seasonality)

## Example prompts
- "Which cost centers have the biggest spend increases this quarter?"
- "Show me the spend evolution of each BU over the last 6 months"
- "Are there any cost centers spiraling out of control?"

How to install this skill

/
  1. 1
    Download the file s54-cost-center-spend-trends.md using the button above.
  2. 2
    Place the file in the .claude/ directory of your project (or ~/.claude/ for a global install).
    cp s54-cost-center-spend-trends.md .claude/s54-cost-center-spend-trends.md
  3. 3
    Use in Claude Code โ€” the skill is automatically discovered. Describe your need in natural language and Claude will apply the skill instructions.
๐Ÿ’ก Make sure the Spendesk MCP is configured in your .claude/settings.json with the tools spendesk_analyze_spend, get_cost_centers.

Similar skills

โ˜… Top
95/100ยท๐Ÿ” Ad hocยทExpert

MCP coverage audit & gap analysis

Probes all available MCP tools, re-evaluates coverage of 50 persona use cases, detects new fields or tools, and regenerates the gap analysis report.

CFOControllerAP Manager
90/100ยท๐Ÿ“… WeeklyยทBeginner

Card requests via get_requests

Explains how to use get_requests for card requests and why expense reimbursements don't appear there. Avoids a frequent source of confusion between two distinct workflows.

ControllerFinance Analyst
90/100ยท๐Ÿ” Ad hocยทIntermediate

Active vs archived cost centers

Distinguishes active cost centers from archived ones with correct use of get_cost_centers. Avoids the counter-intuitive isArchived vs isActive naming convention pitfall.

ControllerFinance Analyst