The sudden appearance of ChatGPT is changing the way we work. Finance is especially ripe for ChatGPT’s transformative power. After all, finance is a complex field. Even those who have mastered its intricacies can use a little help to position themselves and their businesses to attract new clients, better serve existing clients, and outfox the competition.

This is where ChatGPT prompts play a key role. It’s easy to see where ChatGPT can automate mundane functions, but are you seizing the power of ChatGPT prompts? These queries put AI to work extracting information customized just for you. Consider these 6 examples, and ChatGPT could provide startling new insights.

1. Generating reports

Generating reports is a key function of tax and accounting work, but it also consumes time and energy better spent on growing your business and devising innovative solutions to your clients’ biggest challenges.

ChatGPT prompts can introduce you to a wealth of tips and strategies for streamlining the report process. With structured data about your own business, you can ask it to summarize key points, trends, and observations. Try using it to automate regular reports, such as quarterly earnings summaries.

For better ways of producing client reports, get specific. Consider the best prompts for ChatGPT that focus on your core clients, such as nonprofits, government entities, or complex multinational firms.

Suggested prompts:  

• “I need to create a financial analysis report for (your business or a client). Can you provide a template and recommend relevant tools?” 
• “What are some strategies for reducing accounting errors and improving accuracy in financial reporting?” 

2. Analyzing text data

You went into finances because you’re good with numbers, but gaining a real edge demands a keen eye for trends in key sectors and disruptive factors in the industry. News articles, analysts’ findings, social media, and academic studies are rich with valuable nuggets of information that you can leverage — if you have time to read them all.

Your ChatGPT prompts launch searches of all that text and retrieves the most relevant findings. With the power to spot oncoming trends, you can approach clients with proactive solutions and position your firm to react before your competitors do.

Suggested prompt: “Analyze these news articles and financial reports, and extract insights that indicate the overall market sentiment towards this sector.”

3. Interactive data analysis

Writing effective ChatGPT prompts is less like inviting your dog to play fetch with a tennis ball, and more like asking it to also share interesting thoughts on the ball’s bounce, durability, and competitive advantages on the tennis court.

Leverage the best prompts for ChatGPT to go more deeply into the subject at hand. If you can approach your clients with new ways to cut costs or report their finances more efficiently, you will make yourself and your services indispensable. Offer ChatGPT the information you want to see analyzed, and ask it to perform specific analyses, offer visualizations, or examine key metrics.

Suggested prompts: 

• “I’m providing financial data for two companies, As You Wish Corp. and ROUS Inc. Analyze and compare the revenue performance of these two companies over the last five years.  
• “Conduct a budget analysis by generating reports and analyzing data to identify areas where cost savings can be made.” 

4. Create readable summaries and translate financial jargon

Advising clients on tax strategies and investments is fraught with risks and frustrations. First, there’s the time-consuming task of analyzing tax codes and market trends in real-time. Then, there’s the task of putting your recommendations in plain English, to help clients make the best decisions for their needs and circumstances.

The sophisticated AI whirring away behind your ChatGPT prompts can also turn key findings into readable, relatable text that non-experts can understand. You will streamline your preparation, and clients will thank you for simplifying a daunting process.

Suggested prompts: 

• “Review the data I’m providing on several investment options, including stocks, bonds, and ETFs. Generate a brief, human-readable summary for each investment, highlighting key features and performance metrics.” 
• “Put these financial terms in plain, easy-to-understand language: ‘return on investment,’ ‘liquidity,’ ‘capital appreciation,’ and ‘diversification.'” 

5. Forecasting

Predictive AI is the form that analyzes countless bits of information to make a highly educated guess about what comes next. ChatGPT doesn’t go there, but it can pair with predictive models to form narratives around financial forecasts. For example, predictive analytics might forecast next quarter’s sales. Combine it with ChatGPT, and you can produce a plain-language narrative of what the future could hold for your clients or your own business. You can also ask ChatGPT how to get maximum advantage from predictive analytics. 

Suggested prompts: 

• “This forecast from a predictive model indicates that sales for Buttercup Corp. will increase by 10% next quarter. Create a narrative that explains this forecast in layman’s terms.” 
• “How can predictive analytics identify potential accounting irregularities or fraud in financial statements? Provide a step-by-step process for implementing this approach.”

6. Staff orientation and training

Using ChatGPT prompts for staff orientation and training can be highly productive. With ChatGPT, you have a tireless coach who can generate scenarios for role playing, offer responses to likely scenarios, or simulate situations to advise strategy development.

Suggested prompts: 

• “Generate a hypothetical scenario involving a sudden notice of an IRS audit. Follow it with guidance on how an accountant might navigate this situation for a client.” 
• “Can you generate ideas to conduct orientation and training for my new accounting hires?” 

Seize the power of technology with Surgent CPE

In the age of AI, lifelong learning is a professional survival tool. Surgent CPE, the leader in continuing professional education (CPE) for accounting and financial professionals, offers more than 1,500 CPE webinars each year, a full library of self-study courses, tailored in-firm seminars and training, and accounting exam prep programs for several core credentials and certifications.

For administrators, strategic features eliminate the challenges of managing and administering a program internally:

• Firm CPE Portal. Get instant access to detailed performance reports about your employees’ progress and usage of flex access hours. 
• Timely content. Surgent’s industry experts provide real-time releases of content when your staff needs it most. 
• All-in-one courses. Enable your staff with immediate, practical application of what they have learned. 
• Monthly webinar series. Monthly webinars compile the latest industry updates in one package, providing your staff with the knowledge they need. 

 Firms with 10 or more CPAs can leverage Surgent’s flex access program, a cost-effective and convenient option that includes a bank of CPE credit hours, live webinars and self-study CPE courses, and the ability for administrators to track usage, monitor compliance, and add more hours.

Embrace the power of ChatGPT

ChatGPT can never replace your professional judgment. It is a tool for streamlining your workflow and extracting new ideas for your consideration. Make sure the data being culled comes from trusted sources and keep your expertise in the forefront.

However, this new world of AI and ChatGPT creates unheralded opportunities for financial professionals. Your workflow becomes streamlined. Your insights grow more sophisticated. A complex field suddenly becomes transparent to outsiders, and this is your chance to welcome them to your world. For the key to success, visiting Surgent CPE today to learn how to make technology work for you.