One Prompt, Full P&L in Power BI: What Claude Got Wrong (Free File)

FREE FILE (the 2 CSV files, the prompt, check numbers): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f1WH... I gave Claude Code two CSV files, a general ledger and a chart of accounts, and one plain-English prompt: build a P&L report in Power BI. About five minutes later it saved a Power BI project (.pbip) that opened in Power BI Desktop on the first try. You see what Claude Code is and how to start it in Windows Terminal, the real run (sped up), the report in Power BI Desktop, and a scorecard against my answer key. The accounting was right: row order, signs, returns netted out of revenue, balance sheet accounts left out, Gross Profit, Operating Income and Gross Margin %. All 90 numbers in the table matched my own calculation. What it got wrong: the revenue card shows 2M for 1,772,654 (automatic display units), the subtotal rows are not bold, there is no Total Operating Expenses line, and it read files from another project folder on my PC. Chapters 0:00 One prompt → a full P&L in Power BI 1:14 The job: 2 CSV files + 6 P&L traps 3:03 Start Claude Code + the one prompt 4:35 Watch Claude Code work (real run, sped up) 6:02 Open it in Power BI Desktop 7:33 Scorecard: what Claude got right + wrong 9:25 What I'd do at work + quiz Prompt used (Claude Code in Windows Terminal, Opus 5.5, auto mode; one real run on Oct 22, 2026, not staged) "Build a P&L report in Power BI from gl_2026.csv and chart_of_accounts.csv in this folder, and save it as Northwind_PnL.pbip, ready to open in Power BI Desktop. Show the P&L lines in the right order with subtotals for Gross Profit and Operating Income, plus Gross Margin %, with one column per month for 2026 and a year-to-date total." (In the video my typing tool dropped the % sign and moved the last clause to the front; that scrambled version is what Claude received. This is the clean prompt.) Check number: year-to-date revenue = 1,772,654 (gl_2026.csv, accounts 4000, 4100 and 4900, sign flipped). Gross Profit 780,570, Operating Income 233,508, Gross Margin 44.0%. Balance sheet rows that must stay out: 108. Follow-up prompts (my suggestions, NOT run in the video, check the result the same way) 1. "Show the four cards in thousands with one decimal, or as whole dollars, not in automatic display units." 2. "Make the Gross Profit, Gross Margin % and Operating Income rows bold with a light shaded background." 3. "Add a Total Operating Expenses subtotal row above Operating Income." 4. For the folder's CLAUDE.md file: "Only use files in this folder. Do not read or copy anything from other folders." Honest notes: this is one real run; yours will look different, so the checks matter more than the layout. The terminal recording ends at 3 minutes 48 seconds (I switched windows); the rest of the run and Claude's final answer are shown from the session log and labelled. The CSV views in Excel are re-created from the practice files and labelled. My folder had a one-line note telling Claude not to open Excel or Power BI itself, which is why it did not test the file in Desktop. Claude Code searched my Documents and Desktop folders for other Power BI projects and copied a theme file from one of them; it said so in its answer. Use a folder with only the files it needs. Claude Code needs a paid Claude plan; Power BI Desktop is free. This is not accounting advice. Quiz answers are in the pinned comment. Next: Budget vs Actual in Power BI, built with Claude:    • Budget vs Actual in Power BI: Build It wit...   Northwind Outfitters is a fictional company; all numbers are practice data in US dollars. #ClaudeCode #PowerBI #Claude #AIforWork