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

Sioux Falls finance teams should add AI prompts in 2025 because local momentum makes them a competitive necessity: AI is forecast to grow at 37.3% annually and a quarter of companies are already adopting it to offset labor shortages, so prompts turn tools into repeatable workflows that save time and reduce risk.

Dakota State University is already helping firms pilot agents and student–faculty projects for practical adoption, while a Prairie Family Business Association session showed only 13% of firms have implemented AI and 18% feel fully skilled - a clear signal to upskill now.

Finance leaders also face a trust gap (78% of US CFOs cite security and privacy concerns), so start with controlled prompts for forecasting, AR prioritization, and compliance checks; small automations can reclaim 5–10 hours a week for strategic work.

For guided, job-focused training, consider the AI Essentials for Work bootcamp from Nucamp to learn prompting and operational safeguards. Sioux Falls AI at Work report on balancing innovation and challenges, Dakota State University AI support for local businesses, Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp syllabus.

“AI-focused skills will empower finance professionals to confidently work with AI technologies and bridge the trust gap by ensuring decisions made by AI systems are transparent and understandable. … By combining human expertise with AI's analytical capabilities, organizations can make more informed decisions.” - Morné Rossouw, Chief AI Officer, Kyriba

Selection of the top five prompts started with practical criteria tailored for South Dakota finance teams: pick high‑ROI tasks that shrink routine work, minimize data exposure, and map directly to everyday cycles like close, AR collections, and forecasting.

Prompts were cross‑checked against Deloitte's finance prompt taxonomy (summarizing, predicting, extracting, writing, reformatting) to ensure coverage of core workflows, tuned to follow OpenAI's prompt‑engineering best practices (clear instructions first, examples or few‑shot where helpful, and explicit output formats), and hardened with Lakera-style security guardrails to reduce prompt‑injection and production risk.

Iteration and user feedback were prioritized - test small, measure accuracy, then refine - so each prompt moves from zero‑shot to a repeatable recipe. The final picks also reflect common finance use cases (reporting, cash management, compliance checks) so a 20‑page quarterly packet can be condensed to a one‑page action list, freeing time for strategic analysis.

Learn more about the finance prompt framework from Deloitte, practical prompt rules from OpenAI, and prompt security principles from Lakera.

A well-crafted prompt that begins “Act as a Sr. treasury analyst…” gives Sioux Falls finance teams a repeatable way to produce cash‑flow forecasts, scenario analyses, and an operational checklist that maps directly to local banking tools - think virtual accounts, ACH, lockbox, remote deposit, Positive Pay and fraud controls - so teams can move from sifting statements to a single, actionable dashboard that flags timing risks before they become problems.

Use the prompt to ask for short‑ and medium‑term forecasts, recommendations for payment sweeps or virtual‑account structures, and a prioritized roadmap to cut reconciliation time; local partners like First PREMIER, with deep South Dakota roots and a full suite of treasury services, can execute ACH, lockbox and integrated reporting to realize those recommendations quickly (First PREMIER Treasury Services).

For multi‑entity firms or those considering pooling mechanics, include a prompt step to evaluate cash‑concentration and notional/physical pooling options so treasury can optimize liquidity and reduce fees across accounts (guide to multi‑entity treasury management).

Start small, test accuracy against bank statements, then scale the prompt into an operational routine that frees time for strategic work while preserving controls.

FP&A and finance leaders in Sioux Falls can make the “Build three financial scenarios (base case, upside, downside)” prompt the core of every board-ready package - ask the model to output a concise executive summary, assumptions, P&L/BS/CF variances, and a recommended action per scenario so the C-suite sees tradeoffs at a glance instead of wrestling with a 40+ slide deck; use a template-driven approach (downloadable board‑deck templates and 12‑month forecast models help) to turn verbose reports into clear decision prompts for boards and lenders.

Tie the base case to rolling forecasts and budget‑vs‑actual drivers, frame the upside as opportunity triggers, and make the downside explicitly test cash runway and mitigation steps so liquidity risks are visible before they bite.

For visuals and ready slides, pair the prompt output with a board deck template like Cube's Ultimate Quarterly Board Deck and scenario slide kits from SlideTeam, and follow Burkland's guidance on presenting cash runway and KPI dashboards so every slide earns a yes or an action.

Cube quarterly board deck templates and 12‑month forecasting resources, Scenario slide templates for finance presentations, Burkland Associates guidance on cash runway and board reporting.

Make “Flag journal entries over $50K missing documentation” the close‑desk sentinel: train prompts to scan the full GL for entries exceeding the $50K threshold, then triage by obvious red flags - no attached invoice or calculation, weekend or post‑close timestamps, round numbers, or postings to seldom‑used accounts - and surface a prioritized exception list for human review.

AI anomaly detectors that analyze amount, timing and frequency across the ledger can catch what manual sampling misses (think a large, round $50,000 entry posted on a Sunday), so combine pattern detection with keyword searches in descriptions for terms like “adjustment” or “plug” and require attachments before approval, following supporting‑documentation rules used in practice (attach source docs and line‑level descriptions at submission).

Pair prompt results with risk‑based journal testing rules from audit guidance to focus internal audit or controller attention where it matters most, and use the findings to tighten controls and reduce manual top‑side adjustments.

Learn more about AI anomaly detection and continuous ledger testing from MindBridge, practical red flags from Collemi Consulting, and supporting documentation standards from UCSF.

Make the prompt “Act as a Sr. treasury analyst. I want an analytical report…” a cash‑management workhorse by asking for paired AR and AP aging analyses, prioritized collection actions, and a short cash‑flow forecast that folds expected collections into upcoming payables - a single automated report can turn that $50,000 December invoice that left a January shortfall into a flagged action item before payroll day.

Run AR and AP aging reports at a cadence that fits the business (weekly for most SMBs, daily if automation allows) and include KPIs like DSO, CEI and expected cash collections so decision‑makers see both timing and risk; use aging buckets to drive vendor prioritization, early‑payment discount calculus, and payment automation rules.

For AP, embed payment priorities and automated schedules to preserve supplier relationships while protecting liquidity. Practical how‑tos and templates are available for creating aging reports and prioritizing payments from Drivetrain's guide on AR/AP aging reports, Corcentric's AP aging best practices, and Versapay's list of AR KPIs for performance tracking to make the prompt output immediately operational.

At the Strategic/CFO level, the prompt “Analyze our historical excess cash balances and recommend the best allocation strategy” should return a defensible, actionable plan that treats cash as a managed asset - not a parking lot: start by using historical daily/weekly balances to build confidence intervals for a maximum downside scenario and define the minimum operating buffer, as Fort Washington recommends in its cash‑segmentation “stair‑step” approach (Fort Washington cash levels are rising and rates are falling - optimize your liquidity); next, map excess into three buckets (operating, tactical, strategic), calibrate a target‑cash policy (Emagia and Napolitano best practices suggest routine review, forecasting and covering near‑term needs like 2–3 months of payroll), and test a 5–10% portfolio cash rule of thumb for long‑term reserves where appropriate, per Hennion & Walsh's guidance on cash drag (Hennion & Walsh guide to how much cash is too much in your portfolio).

Operationalize the recommendation with ML‑backed cash‑flow forecasts, sweep funds and pooling techniques so idle balances automatically ladder into higher‑yield, liquid instruments - turning that idle cushion into working capital or short‑term income without risking liquidity - using cash‑management tools and sweep automation described by ION (ION cash management tools and techniques for treasury), and surface the plan on a single dashboard for board and lender review.

Final next steps for Sioux Falls finance teams: pick one high‑value prompt from this guide and run a short pilot tied to a real close or collections cycle so outcomes are measurable - track time saved, accuracy versus source documents, and exceptions triaged - then scale the workflow with clear guardrails and human review; if teams need practical prompting and governance skills, consider the Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp registration (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp registration); keep an eye on vendor features that simplify market and earnings signals (MarketBeat Summer of AI tools for investors MarketBeat Summer of AI tools for investors); engage local forums like the Prairie Family Business Association to share practical pilots and ROI stories (Prairie Family Business Association AI session details Prairie Family Business Association AI session details), and prepare data‑governance checklists now as South Dakota debates attracting data centers - policy and infrastructure moves will affect vendor choice and security requirements.

A single, well‑measured pilot this quarter can turn a one‑page prompt into a repeatable process that reclaims analyst time for higher‑value work.

“We're taking a fast, focused approach. If there's a single source of reliable data, like an earnings transcript, we can build something quickly that makes a real difference. When we have to pull from multiple sources like dividends, stats and news, it takes more time, but the payoff is worth it.” - Bekah Van Maanen