Proforma Engine

What It Is

A financial modeling and value quantification engine for PE-backed consulting engagements. Produces a structured 7-tab Excel workbook: P&L pro-forma, benchmark analysis, signal scoring, root cause hypotheses, initiative design, summary, and assumptions. All values computed in Python and hardcoded to cells — the "compute first, write values" discipline eliminates the blank-cell reliability problem that plagues AI-generated financial models.

Why It Matters

A financial model that references breaks when sheets are rearranged, columns are inserted, or files are shared across environments. A financial model that computes does not. The Proforma Engine computes every value in Python, then writes the result as a hardcoded cell.

Code Interpreter-generated Excel formulas break when sheets are rearranged, columns are inserted, or files are shared across environments. The Proforma Engine eliminates this failure mode: Python computes every value, then writes the result as a hardcoded cell value. The workbook is a rendered artifact, not a live computation — it can be shared, modified, and audited without formula integrity concerns. The 11 markdown guides encoding system instructions, anti-patterns, benchmarks, scoring thresholds, and exemplars represent years of accumulated consulting engagement methodology. Signal scoring thresholds connect to the process-dictionary framework; benchmarks derive from curated industry databases.

Proof Points

7-tab workbook: P&L, benchmarks, signals, root causes, initiatives, summary, assumptions
"Compute first, write values": eliminates formula fragility in AI-generated Excel
11 markdown guides encoding consulting methodology and anti-patterns
Signal scoring thresholds from validated knowledge base
Applied to PE portfolio company engagements with measurable outcomes
Web implementation: Proforma Intelligence app (5-step diagnostic)
Benchmark databases from curated industry sources
Process-dictionary integration for signal scoring

Market Position and IP

The Proforma Engine is proprietary consulting IP built from engagement experience. The signal scoring thresholds and benchmark databases represent accumulated knowledge that cannot be replicated from public data. The "compute first, write values" discipline is a technical innovation that solves a real reliability problem — no competing AI financial modeling tool addresses formula fragility at the architectural level.

Novel Research Contribution

Identifies and solves the formula fragility problem in AI-generated financial models. The insight: separating computation (Python) from presentation (Excel) eliminates the class of failures caused by formula reference integrity — a problem that every Code Interpreter-based financial tool inherits. The 7-tab structure and signal scoring methodology formalize a PE diagnostic process that is typically tacit consulting knowledge.

Implementation and Impact

Delivered as client-ready Excel workbooks during PE operating model engagements. The Proforma Intelligence web app provides the same diagnostic through a browser interface with a 5-step guided flow. Clients receive auditable, reproducible financial analysis where every number has a computable provenance. Outcome: financial deliverables that survive sharing, modification, and PE-grade scrutiny.

Connections

Imperatives: Cross-cutting
Builds: Proforma Intelligence
Papers: cost-of-rationality, pe-ai-thesis
Capabilities: Financial Value Creation and Capture