Work Smarter, Not Harder: Top 5 AI Prompts Every Finance Professional in Brunei Darussalam Should Use in 2025

Finance teams in Brunei Darussalam operate where oil and gas still underpin roughly half the economy while the government pushes for diversification and a 30% renewable-energy target by 2035 - a mix that makes timely forecasts, scenario planning and liquidity monitoring essential for resilience; see the U.S. State Department 2024 Investment Climate Statement for Brunei (2024 Investment Climate Statement for Brunei - U.S. State Department).

Practical AI prompts - from 13‑week cash‑flow reforecasts to flagged AR aging buckets - can compress routine analysis into minutes and surface risks fast; a curated set of ready prompts is a handy starting point (Glean blog: 30 AI prompts for finance professionals).

For finance professionals who need hands‑on prompt-writing and safe deployment skills, the AI Essentials for Work bootcamp offers a structured path to apply these tools on the job (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp - practical AI skills for the workplace).

“The highly comprehensive COVID-19 vaccination program has enabled Brunei Darussalam to shift to an endemic phase, allowing fuller economic re-opening and the recovery of economic activities, particularly in the services sector. Despite this positive development, the economy is expected to register a negative growth of 1.2 percent in 2022, weighed down by the decline in the upstream O&G production.”

Prompts were chosen by mapping proven FP&A techniques to the practical needs of Brunei finance teams: priority went to three‑statement and cash‑flow models, sensitivity/scenario prompts, and short‑horizon cash reforecasts so outputs match treasury rhythms and local reporting in BND; the selection draws on FP&A best practices like those in the FP&A modeling guide (FP&A modeling skills and techniques - Adaptive) and cash‑forecasting fundamentals from PwC (preparing a cash flow forecast - PwC).

Practicality was a filter: each prompt must be automatable in common FP&A stacks (considering capabilities described by Epicor and CCH Tagetik) and designed to surface the “so what?” - e.g., convert payment terms into days‑to‑cash so a 90‑day invoice won't blindside the liquidity runway.

Prompts were localised by replacing generic currencies and timing with BND and Brunei payment practices, adding AR/AP cadence suited to regional collections cycles, and ensuring scenario buckets (base/worst/best) reflect the volatility profiles highlighted in cash‑flow guidance and FP&A tooling that supports ML‑assisted forecasting.

“Epicor FP&A gives us the ability to customize views and present information in a format that makes sense to each audience.”

Refresh the forecast by plugging [month] actuals into the model in BND, then reconcile changes against the latest macro signals - for example, the EIU's country briefing and AMRO's regional outlook show slightly different momentum for Brunei next year, so run the base/worst/best scenarios to see which one the new actuals support (EIU Brunei insights and analysis, AMRO Brunei regional growth outlook).

Translate revisions into Q[ ] and full‑year projections by updating revenue phasing (especially for upstream O&G receipts), tax and subsidy assumptions, and short‑term working‑capital flows; a single miss on a large receivable can shorten the liquidity runway faster than an annual GDP headline implies, so surface the impact on cash and covenant ratios in BND and flag any material swings for management.

Cross‑check central bank guidance and business‑sentiment signals before finalising the numbers to ensure projections reflect both realized activity and near‑term demand shifts.

When reforecasting a rolling 13‑week cash view for Brunei firms, the fastest way to sharpen liquidity runway by entity in BND is to fold the past 7–14 days of AR and AP activity into the weekly model, reconcile Monday opening balances and then rerun weekly receipts/payables assumptions so each subsidiary's closing cash is visible at a glance; practical playbooks - from GrowthLab's stepwise 13‑week process to Atlar's guidance on automating bank and ERP feeds - show why this short lookback tightens accuracy and flags timing risks early (GrowthLab 10 Steps to a 13‑Week Cash Flow Forecast Guide, Atlar Ultimate Guide to the 13‑Week Cash Flow Forecast).

Use the direct‑method weekly columns GTreasury describes to convert recent AR/AP movements into predicted receipts and disbursements, then display a per‑entity liquidity runway (weeks to a chosen buffer) so management can see who needs collection focus or temporary funding.

Automate tagging where possible, reconcile variances each Monday, and surface any single large overdue receivable immediately - the extra clarity often buys enough time to arrange a short‑term fix before a cash squeeze becomes a crisis (GTreasury How to Use a 13‑Week Cash Flow Model).

Turn the AR aging report into a short, sharp operating tool for Brunei teams: summarise open receivables in BND by the standard buckets (current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90, 90+ days), then produce a ranked Top 10 overdue customers by outstanding amount so follow‑up effort targets the biggest cash impact first; automation and daily/weekly cadence make this practical, as explained in the HighRadius accounts receivable aging report (HighRadius accounts receivable aging report) and Tabs AR aging best practices (Tabs AR aging best practices).

Recommended actions: gentle reminders and early‑payment incentives for 1–30 day slips, senior‑team outreach and negotiated plans for 31–60 days, service holds and formal repayment schedules for 61–90 days, and legal/collection agency review plus bad‑debt provisioning for 90+ days; always reconcile the aging to the GL before escalation.

For Brunei, show all amounts in BND, update weekly, and spotlight any single large overdue that can turn a healthy 13‑week runway red - that single-ticket visibility is the so what? that wins management attention.

“Top 10 overdue customers”

“so what?”

Flag any GL account that moves more than 10% month‑on‑month (show balances in BND) and treat it as a live issue: set configurable thresholds in your reconciliation workflow so the preparer must explain the variance and assign an owner before the month is closed - this is exactly what reconciliation tools like Adra Balancer enable for faster, auditable sign‑offs (Trintech guide to variance analysis for month‑end close).

Explanations should separate true business drivers (volume, price, efficiency) from process drivers (timing, amortization, miscodes or missing JEs); numeric platforms can auto‑surface likely causes and speed narrative build‑out for management review (Numeric variance analysis guide and tools).

Don't forget timing‑based mismatches - cloud cost amortization, support fees and corporate close calendars often create apparent GL swings that need tie‑outs to source billing and amort schedules, as explained in AWS's guidance on GL alignment (AWS guidance on aligning cloud costs with the general ledger for accurate financial analysis).

For each flagged line, list the missing supporting documents (invoice, contract, delivery note, bank statement, amortization schedule) and next steps: quick data correction, business explanation, or escalation to senior finance; remember, a single unreconciled large ticket can turn a healthy 13‑week runway red, so prioritise material items for immediate action.

Which high‑value invoices (>BND20,000) are most at risk of late payment? Treat them as a shortlist: any invoice above the threshold that sits with approval pending, has an exception flag, lacks a PO or supporting docs, or is submitted by non‑e‑invoicing suppliers should jump to the top - these are the classic blockers tracked by AP KPIs like invoice processing time, exception rate and DPO (days payable outstanding) and flagged in automation dashboards (top KPIs for accounts payable).

In practice, the biggest culprits are slow approvers, unmatched line items, vendor-bank changes that trigger fraud checks, and manual payment methods that require extra steps; monitoring touchless processing and exception rates helps surface which $20K+ tickets are stuck in which stage (essential accounts payable metrics and KPIs).

For Brunei teams reporting in BND, bring these invoices into weekly 13‑week cash views and tag the owner, the blocker (exception/approval/verification/payment method), and the potential cash impact - a single late BND20K+ bill is often the single‑ticket shock that shortens a liquidity runway faster than a GDP headline, so visualise it on the treasury dashboard and escalate accordingly.

“Paying bills was one of the most annoying things for me as a founder. There were so many bills coming from everywhere, and we were getting hit with a ton of late fees because it was so difficult to manage. Brex bill pay helped eliminate the least fun part of my job, and we're saving 20-30% because Brex's automation put an end to all the late fees we were paying.”

Next steps for Brunei finance teams are pragmatic: pick a short pilot of 2–3 high‑impact prompts (for example, a 13‑week cash reforecast using the last 7–14 days of AR/AP, an AR aging + Top‑10 overdue drill, and a GL variance (>10%) flag) and run them against a controlled dataset before widening access; templates and examples are available in prompt libraries like Glean's collection of finance prompts (Glean AI prompts for finance professionals) and Concourse's playbook of executional prompts for FP&A, treasury and AR/AP (Concourse AI prompts playbook for finance teams (FP&A, treasury, AR/AP)).

Use an agent platform that supports SOC 2, role‑based permissions and full audit logging so every prompt, data pull and action is traceable; localise outputs to BND, embed escalation rules (e.g., single invoices >BND20K auto‑escalate) and codify approval gates so automation reduces risk rather than amplifies it.

Pair the pilot with short, practical upskilling - the AI Essentials for Work course teaches prompt writing, safe deployment and job‑based application - then bake successful prompts into weekly cadence (forecast refresh, Monday close checks, AR health) so the team moves from occasional wins to predictable, auditable improvement while keeping treasury and audit comfort levels high (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work course).