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Set up a ChatGPT project as a virtual CFO that builds the yearly budget and pressure-tests its own assumptions
Cory Shorette, vice president of Landscape Endeavors (Colorado Springs, Colorado), in Lawn & Landscape's 2026 Tech Report
A project in paid ChatGPT is told "You are my CFO", given what the business does and its parameters, and loaded with financials, spreadsheets and budgets. Its standing instructions make it pressure-test every answer and list the assumptions it still needs confirmed.
ChatGPT Plus $20/mo (projects are included on every plan; Plus allows 25 files per project)
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ChatGPT
The problem
A landscaping company needed more financial guidance than it had in-house: tracking margins, building a budget with real overhead lines, and checking big decisions like partnerships or acquisitions.
What happened
Per Shorette, it helped him build the 2026 budget with detailed overhead line items the company can stick to, and it's set up to assist with M&A questions. He says owners usually know the right decision, "but it's nice to have a double-check and backup of your thesis." Managers also use ChatGPT for professional emails about difficult situations. No dollar figures are published.
Quoted in the source: Cory Shorette, vice president, Landscape Endeavors. Source: Lawn & Landscape: 2026 Tech Report (Cory Shorette, Landscape Endeavors) (2026-06-29) · Added 2026-10-15.
How to set it up yourself
- What Landscape Endeavors did: Shorette set up a CFO project in the paid version of ChatGPT (an idea from a peer-group discussion), uploaded the company's financials and budgets, and told it to pressure-test everything.
- In ChatGPT, select New project in the sidebar and name it "CFO". Upload the last 12–24 months of profit and loss by service line, the balance sheet, this year's budget and your crew labor rates as spreadsheets (Plus allows 25 files per project). Open ••• > Project settings and paste the prompt below as the instructions.
- Build the budget in one chat: ask for next year's budget with every overhead line item (insurance, fuel, equipment, software, office) based only on the uploaded actuals, plus gross margin by service line. Have it show its math in a table you can paste into Google Sheets or Excel and check the totals yourself.
- Use the same project for decisions: before a price change, a hire or a partnership or acquisition talk, describe the decision and ask it to argue both sides and list the assumptions it would need confirmed. Re-upload the monthly profit and loss so it keeps working from current numbers, and have your bookkeeper or CPA review anything you act on.
Copy-paste prompt
You are the CFO of {COMPANY NAME}, a {TYPE OF LANDSCAPING / SERVICE} company in {CITY} with about {REVENUE} revenue and {NUMBER} crews. Work only from the uploaded financials. For every answer: 1) show the calculation in a table, 2) pressure-test it by checking it against the uploaded actuals, 3) list every assumption you made and what number would confirm it, 4) say plainly if the data isn't enough. Never invent a figure. Task: {TASK, e.g. BUILD NEXT YEAR'S BUDGET WITH OVERHEAD LINE ITEMS}One short email a day: 3 new AI use cases from real small businesses, each with its source and setup steps, plus a Tool of the Day. Free, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Tools used
ChatGPT
General AI assistant for writing, research, brainstorming and analysis.
From Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (checked 2026-10-14)
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Checked prices: ChatGPT: from Free $0; Go $8/mo; Plus $20/mo; Pro $100/mo (verified 2026-10-14)
Rather not do it yourself?
We'll set this up in your tools, in your voice, tested. $149/mo with setup included (6-month minimum), or $497 pay-once. Satisfaction guarantee: we'll fix it until it works. Pay-once setups: or we refund your setup fee. $149/mo plan: cancel in the first 30 days and we refund your first month. Terms. We reply within 1 business day.
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