# Financial Forensic Audit — Intake & Method
*Reusable template. Paste into a new session, answer the questions, attach your transaction export, and run the audit.*

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## How to use this
1. Export your transactions (CSV or markdown) — ideally 12+ months, all accounts.
2. Answer the questions in **Section A** below (skip any you don't know).
3. Attach the export and say: *"Run the forensic audit using my answers."*
4. The audit follows the method in **Section B** and delivers the outputs in **Section C**.

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## Section A — Questions to answer first

### 1. Fixed overhead (the non-negotiables)
- What's your monthly housing cost (mortgage/rent), and is it fixed or variable?
- Monthly utilities, insurance (home/auto/life/health), and any loan or car payments?
- How many people does this budget support? Any dependents/kids' activities?

### 2. Income & cash flow
- Rough monthly take-home income (after tax)?
- Is income steady (salary) or variable (commission, self-employed, seasonal)?
- Any income NOT in the transaction export (cash, side gigs, partner's income)?

### 3. Variable & discretionary spending
- Any categories you already know are too high?
- Do you use cash/Venmo/Cash App often? (These are usually untracked blind spots.)
- Any large one-off purchases in this period to exclude from "normal" spending?

### 4. Subscriptions & recurring software
- Which recurring charges are for a **business/side hustle** vs. personal? (Affects tax write-offs.)
- Any subscriptions you're not sure you still use?
- Any free trials that may have converted to paid?

### 5. Debt & credit
- Do you carry a credit card balance month to month, or pay in full?
- Any high-interest debt (cards, personal loans, BNPL)?
- Current interest rates on any debt?

### 6. Savings & investments
- Current balances: cash savings, checking, retirement (401k/IRA), brokerage?
- Current APY on your savings account (if known)?
- Are you getting your full employer 401k match?
- Emergency fund target you're comfortable with (in months)?

### 7. Goals
- Top 1–3 financial goals (e.g., save $X, pay off Y, buy Z, retire by N)?
- Time horizon for each?
- Risk comfort: do you want safe/liquid, or are you open to investing?

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## Section B — Audit method (what gets checked)

1. **Data integrity** — detect duplicate imports, double-labeled accounts, and miscategorized transactions before any analysis. (Bad data = wrong conclusions.)
2. **Spending breakdown** — total + per-category spend, separating fixed / variable / discretionary, and excluding transfers and credit-card payments from "real" spend.
3. **Trend analysis** — track key categories (e.g., dining) month over month to catch creep.
4. **Subscription sweep** — list every recurring charge, flag duplicates, forgotten trials, and overlapping services; tag business vs. personal.
5. **Anomaly & fraud scan** — unknown merchants, duplicate charges, fees/interest paid, unusual large outflows.
6. **Leak ranking** — rank controllable leaks by dollar impact and ease of fixing.
7. **Savings & rate check** — net savings rate, interest earned vs. market rates, emergency-fund adequacy.
8. **Tax angle** — identify deductible business expenses (Schedule C is separate from the standard deduction).
9. **Action plan** — concrete, dollar-quantified changes ranked easy → hard.

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## Section C — What you get back

- **Cleaned transaction file** (duplicates removed, accounts fixed).
- **Visual summaries** of top leaks and key trends.
- **Subscription inventory** (business vs. personal).
- **Anomaly report** (anything to verify or fix immediately).
- **Savings assessment** + current best-rate comparison.
- **Quantified action plan** — "if you do X, you save $Y/year."

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## Ground rules
- Always clean the data **before** drawing conclusions.
- Quantify every recommendation in dollars.
- Separate "easy / no sacrifice" wins from "requires discipline."
- Flag, don't assume: confirm anomalies with the user before calling them errors.
- Not licensed financial, tax, or investment advice — confirm big decisions with a CPA/advisor.