How to use the Financial Statement Analysis agent skill

What the skill makes the agent do

The skill, named financial-statement and published under the MIT licence in the HKUDS/Vibe-Trading repository, focuses on three things. It checks whether reported profit turns into real operating cash. It breaks return on equity (ROE) into profitability, efficiency and leverage using DuPont analysis. It screens for 12 red flags linked to financial manipulation.

The output is a structured report with a summary table, an earnings-quality score and a verdict. The skill's own template includes a three-statement overview, a scored earnings-quality table, a DuPont breakdown, a red-flag checklist and a conclusion.

• Three-statement overview: revenue, net profit, operating cash flow (CFO) and debt ratio by year
• Earnings-quality score based on weighted indicators
• DuPont decomposition showing what drove ROE up or down
• Red-flag checklist marking each signal as clear or needing attention

Install the skill from the ZIP download

Download the skill ZIP from this page and unzip it. The skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file. Place that folder in one of two locations: your personal skills directory at ~/.claude/skills/, or a project-specific .claude/skills/ folder inside the project you work in. A personal install is available in every project; a project install applies only to that project.

If you use the Claude apps instead of a local setup, you can upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal: ~/.claude/skills/
• Project-only: .claude/skills/ inside your project folder
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload

Trigger the skill with a natural request

You do not need a special command. Ask the agent in plain language about a company's financial statements, earnings quality, cash flow, ROE or fraud warning signs, and the agent can use the skill when the request matches its description. Naming the company and the period makes the result more useful.

Good requests name a company or stock code, state the years you care about, and say what you want to know. For A-share companies, you can name the stock code directly.

• "Check whether Company X's reported profit is backed by operating cash flow over the last two years."
• "Break down the ROE of this company for 2024 and 2025 using DuPont analysis."
• "Screen this company's accounts for financial red flags and give me an earnings-quality score."
• "Compare the three statements for this company and tell me whether the numbers reconcile."

What you need before you start

The skill's file includes Python snippets that use pandas-style calculations, so you need a Python environment for the calculations shown in the instructions. You also need financial statement data for the target company. The file names tushare as a source for A-share data and notes that an account or API token is likely needed. The skill does not supply that data itself.

The skill runs no scripts and makes no network calls on its own, according to its listing. The data-fetching step depends on the source you connect.

• Python environment (pandas-style calculations)
• Financial statement data for the company, for example from tushare for A-share companies
• A tushare account or API token, likely required for that source

Read the report: earnings quality, DuPont and red flags

The core test compares net income with operating cash flow. The skill's rule of thumb treats a CFO-to-net-profit ratio above 1.0 as a sign that profit is backed by cash, and a ratio below 0.5 as a sign that much of the profit has not turned into cash. The scorecard weights CFO/net profit at 25%, the receivables-versus-revenue trend at 20%, the ratio of recurring to total net profit at 20%, the CFO trend at 20%, and inventory turnover at 15%. A total of 2.5 or more out of 3 is rated excellent, 1.5 to 2.5 needs attention, and below 1.5 is rated poor.

For DuPont analysis, ROE is shown as net margin times asset turnover times the equity multiplier. The skill's template shows which driver lifted or weakened ROE between two years, so you can see whether improvement came from profitability, efficiency or borrowing.

The red-flag list covers 12 signals, including cash and debt both being high, receivables growing much faster than revenue, negative operating cash flow despite positive profit, high related-party transactions, frequent auditor changes and non-standard audit opinions. The skill maps the number of flags to a generic likelihood band, from low at 0 to 1 flags to very high at 6 or more.

Example: a checklist you can read in five minutes

Suppose you ask the agent to review a company's 2024 and 2025 accounts. A typical report, following the skill's template, starts with a yearly table of revenue, net profit, CFO and debt ratio. It then scores earnings quality and shows a DuPont table where each driver is marked as improving or weakening. The red-flag section ends with a checklist in which each item is marked clear or needing attention, and a short conclusion.

The thresholds are generic rules of thumb. Treat the report as a structured starting point for your own review, not a finished judgment.

Safety notes and limits

The skill's scores and thresholds are generic and are not tailored to a specific sector or market. The file warns that banks and insurance companies have a different statement structure, so the usual reconciliation does not apply to them. It also warns that Chinese, IFRS and US GAAP standards differ, so cross-border comparisons need adjustment.

Data quality matters. The skill's own check flags a mismatch between cash change and the sum of the three cash flows, and the file notes that tushare can provide extra fields such as PE, PB and ROE. Verify figures against the original filings before relying on them.

• Not a substitute for professional review of investment decisions
• Not suitable for banks and insurers under this framework
• Compare companies only on comparable accounting bases
• Check that asset turnover is compared within the same industry
• Watch for changes in consolidation scope after acquisitions or disposals, which can make year-on-year comparisons misleading

Tips for better results

Use the same accounting basis and period type when comparing. The file recommends reading quarterly figures year on year rather than quarter on quarter, because seasonal effects can be large. Compare asset turnover only within an industry, since capital-heavy and asset-light businesses differ.

• Ask for year-on-year quarterly comparisons, not quarter-on-quarter
• Compare asset turnover only with peers in the same industry
• Ask the agent to note any change in the consolidation scope
• Ask for the reasoning behind each flag, not just the total count