Management accounts in Claude or ChatGPT with the Briefcase MCP

What Claude or ChatGPT can do with the Briefcase MCP

The Briefcase MCP server lets an AI assistant use Briefcase’s tools. Once connected, it can read a Briefcase Ledger client’s profit and loss, balance sheet, trial balance, aged debtors and creditors and journals, build or change a custom report, and give you the PDF.

• It works as you, seeing only what you can, for the clients you choose.
• Changes are previewed first. Briefcase saves a report only when you agree, and a report never changes the books.
• It doesn’t move money or send the pack to your client.

New to management packs? Start with our guide to management accounts, which uses the same example.

Connect Briefcase to Claude or ChatGPT

Both sign in with OAuth: Briefcase opens in your browser, you sign in and choose which businesses the assistant can work on. Then ask “Check my Briefcase connection” to confirm what it can see. Our help article on connecting Claude or ChatGPT has the full steps, and the Briefcase MCP page lists every tool.

Six prompts from ledger to board pack

Run on Initech Consulting Ltd, a fictional IT consultancy in Briefcase Ledger’s demo books, for September 2026.

1. Pull the pack

   You

   Open Initech Consulting Ltd’s management accounts for September 2026. If there isn’t a pack, create one from the Monthly management pack template, compared with August.

   Assistant

   Finds the saved report, or previews a new one from the template, then quotes the key figures exactly: revenue £41,950, net profit £7,704.

2. Add KPIs

   You

   Add a second row of key figures with months of cover, EBITDA margin and current ratio.

   Assistant

   Previews the new KPI widget and where it goes: 8.3 months of cover, 19.1% EBITDA margin and a current ratio of 1.85.

3. Write the variance commentary

   You

   Explain every movement on August of at least 10% and £1,000, citing the journals behind it, and put it in the summary.

   Assistant

   Finds two movements over both thresholds, traces each to its journals and drafts the summary for you to edit.

4. Lay it out for the board

   You

   Lay it out for the board: summary and key figures first, then a profit bridge from August, then the profit and loss. Move aged debtors and creditors to the appendix.

   Assistant

   Reorders the widgets and lists everything added, moved or removed before saving. The pack now opens like this:

   Management accounts for September 2026

   Initech Consulting Ltd

   Summary

   Subcontractor costs rose £5,900 to £19,300, on higher Gibbons Data Engineering and Bolton IT Contracting invoices and a £2,500 accrual for Bolton’s late-September days. Gross margin fell from 70.2% to 54.0%.

   IT and software rose £1,055 to £3,020, as September’s cloud hosting was accrued for the first time.

   • Revenue:£41,950▼ 6.6% vs Aug
   • Gross margin:54.0%▼ 16.2 pts vs Aug
   • Net profit:£7,704▼ 56.0% vs Aug
   • Cash at bank:£118,260▲ 8.9% vs Aug
   • Debtor days:24 days▲ 4 days vs AugBased on 6 months
   • Creditor days:33 days▲ 1 day vs AugBased on 6 months

5. Check the figures

   You

   Before I send this, check every figure in the pack against the ledger.

   Assistant

   Ties the pack to the trial balance, balance sheet and aged reports and puts any failed check first. For Initech, every check agrees.

6. Get the PDF

   You

   Give me the PDF.

   Assistant

   Returns a download link, valid for 15 minutes, to a PDF in your firm’s branding.

White-label packs in your firm’s branding

Every PDF the assistant downloads uses the branding saved in Briefcase, so the pack reads as your firm’s work. An admin adds your logo, main and accent colours, contact line and footer note once, under Settings → Branding, and picks one of five themes: Quiet Clinic, Halyard, Recap, Outlook or Spatial. Your main colour becomes the theme’s highlight on the cover, totals and current month.

Each client’s settings choose whose brand leads: yours, the client’s own invoice logo and colour for packs they send to their board or lender, or both, with “Prepared by” your firm under their logo. A client can also have its own theme, logo or colours. The pack opens with a cover and contents, and can close with a back page giving your contact details and the client’s coming HMRC payments. Page footers still say the pack was prepared by your firm with Briefcase.

The assistant can’t change the branding or theme; those stay in the app. It changes what sits inside them: the widgets, their order and width, the KPIs, the period and the comparison.

What it can’t do

The report tools work only for clients whose books are in Briefcase Ledger, not Xero or QuickBooks. Packs download as a PDF, not a spreadsheet. There is no budget to compare against and no consolidation: each report covers one client. Branding, account roles and sharing are set in the Briefcase app, not the chat; see custom reports and KPIs.