It’s one thing to spot a jump in overheads on the P&L. It’s another to work out which suppliers are behind it while someone’s waiting for an answer. And once you’ve found the transactions, you still need to explain what happened in a way that makes sense to someone who hasn’t spent the morning in the accounts.
Here’s how to work through that at month-end with Joiin Intelligence. We’ll use the P&L of Bramblewick Studio, a fictional company, and follow a £3,000 increase in overheads from the first question to the note you put in front of management. You can adapt the prompts to your own reports.
Start with the movement on the P&L
Say overheads have risen from £9,400 in September to £12,400 in October. You know the total has moved, but before you open a list of transactions, it helps to know which accounts explain the difference.
Open the P&L in Joiin and select the AI button above the report. Then give Joiin AI the company, the two periods and the line you’re looking at.
Compare October overheads with September for Bramblewick Studio. Show me the three accounts with the biggest movements, with the amount for each month and the difference in pounds.
In this example, software costs account for £2,400 of the increase. That’s where to look first. And because overheads rose by £3,000 in total, you know there’s another £600 to account for before you write the commentary.
Check the transactions behind the increase
Stay in the same chat and ask for the entries behind the software costs.
Show me the supplier transactions behind the increase in software costs. Include the supplier, posting date and amount, and flag any credits that offset the increase.
Suppose a £2,400 invoice from one supplier accounts for the software movement. Open the underlying transaction and check the invoice description and the period it covers. The amount alone won’t tell you whether it’s an annual renewal, an extra licence or a change to the monthly subscription.
In this example, the invoice confirms it’s an annual renewal posted in October. The other overhead accounts explain the remaining £600. You now have a breakdown that adds up to the £3,000 movement and an explanation for the largest item.
Write the note management will actually read
Once you’ve checked the detail, you can use AI commentary in Report Packs to draft a short note alongside the P&L. Give it the facts you’ve verified, including anything you learned from the invoice that isn’t obvious from the report.
Write two sentences for the October management pack. Overheads rose by £3,000, from £9,400 to £12,400. A £2,400 annual software renewal posted in October accounted for most of the increase. Other overheads rose by £600 in total.
Your finished note could read:
Overheads rose by £3,000 in October to £12,400. An annual software renewal posted in October accounted for £2,400 of the increase, with the remaining £600 spread across other overheads.
That’s enough for a reader to see how much changed and what drove it. If the figures move before the pack goes out, regenerate the commentary and check it against the updated report.
If you already draft your updates in Claude
The Joiin MCP server lets a compatible AI assistant such as Claude query the Joiin data you authorise. If you’re already drafting your management update there, you can ask Claude to pull the October and September P&L figures directly from Joiin and use them in the draft. Add what you confirmed from the invoice so the note explains the movement as well as showing the numbers.
Try it with a number you already need to explain
Pick a line on this month’s P&L that someone is likely to ask about. Compare it with last month, check the entries behind the biggest change and see if you can explain it in two sentences.
If you’re new to Joiin, you can watch a walkthrough on the Joiin YouTube channel or try the same workflow with your own figures on a 14-day free trial.
