finance
the money — runway, close processes, financial records
Holds the money as decisions: what a month costs, what it buys, and who can spend what without asking. Take it when spending questions have started arriving as messages to the founder.
structure generate department financeFinance — Mission
the money — runway, close processes, financial records.
Purpose. One paragraph: what this department is accountable for, said in terms of decisions rather than reports. "Everyone knows what a month costs and what a month buys" is a purpose; "financial reporting" is a chore.
How work gets done here. Steering docs live at this root — who can spend what, and on whose
say-so. Repeatable how-tos in processes/; statements, models and closes accumulate in records/.
---
type: mission
standing: draft
owner: "{{owner}}"
updated: "{{date}}"
---
# Finance — Mission
_the money — runway, close processes, financial records._
**Purpose.** _One paragraph: what this department is accountable for, said in terms of decisions
rather than reports. "Everyone knows what a month costs and what a month buys" is a purpose;
"financial reporting" is a chore._
**How work gets done here.** Steering docs live at this root — who can spend what, and on whose
say-so. Repeatable how-tos in `processes/`; statements, models and closes accumulate in `records/`.
type: department
name: finance
description: "the money — runway, close processes, financial records"
about: "Holds the money as decisions: what a month costs, what it buys, and who can spend what without asking. Take it when spending questions have started arriving as messages to the founder."
version: "0.1.0"
Also in the folder
Spending Policydepartments/finance/spending-policy.md
Spending Policy
Who can spend what without asking. Small companies skip this document and pay for it in interruptions — every unwritten limit becomes a message to the founder.
The limits. A short table or list: amount, who can approve it, what it covers. Write the numbers you actually mean today, not the ones you expect to mean next year.
What always needs a second pair of eyes. Recurring charges, anything that renews by itself, anything touching payroll or customer money. Name the category, not the vendor.
How something gets bought. Card, invoice, or a person to ask — and where the receipt goes afterwards, since that is the step that actually fails.
What we don't buy. The categories that are a no on principle, with the reason. This is short and it saves entire conversations.
Runway, and who watches it. The number that would change this policy, who is looking at it, and how often.