Send clear monthly finance reports to managers without manual work. The flow builds cost center level results, adds AI insights, and emails a clean summary to the right people. It fits teams that track budgets, projects, and staffing across divisions.

On the fifth day of each month, a schedule starts the run. The date and previous month are set for filtering. SQL queries pull cost centers with active budgets and fetch YTD versus previous month numbers, department level profit and loss, project WIP, and employee counts. Each cost center runs in a loop. Code nodes format the data into HTML tables and merge everything into one report. An AI step powered by Google Gemini reads the tables and writes a plain summary with key takeaways. The flow then sends an HTML email through Outlook, with a wait node to pace delivery.

Setup needs access to your database and an Outlook mailbox. Expect big time savings by removing copy and paste work and manual spreadsheet updates. Finance leads, operations heads, and unit managers can review accurate results on time every month. It works well for firms with many cost centers and a MySQL finance store or similar data source.

• Monthly schedule runs on the fifth day to keep a steady reporting cadence
• Dynamic date logic calculates the previous month and year for filtering
• SQL queries discover active cost centers with budgets and pull core finance data
• Loop processes each cost center separately for clean, unit level reports
• HTML table builders convert query results into readable email sections
• Merged report compiles YTD versus previous month, departments, projects, and employees
• AI analysis with Google Gemini turns raw tables into a plain summary and recommendations
• Outlook email sends a responsive HTML report to chosen recipients
• Wait control manages pacing to avoid email throttling
• Optional filter lets you test a single cost center before full runs

• Reduce monthly report prep from 8 hours to 15 minutes
• Automate about 90 percent of report assembly and delivery
• Improve accuracy by removing copy and paste errors by up to 95 percent
• Handle dozens of cost centers with controlled batch sending
• Connect your database, AI analysis, and Outlook email in one flow
• Give managers faster insights for quicker monthly decisions

1. Import the template into n8n: Create a new workflow in n8n > Click the three dots menu > Select 'Import from File' > Choose the downloaded JSON file.
2. You'll need accounts with MySQL, Microsoft Outlook and Google Gemini. See the Tools Required section above for links to create accounts with these services.
3. In the n8n credentials manager, create a new MySQL credential. Enter host, port, database name, user, and password. If your database is behind a firewall, whitelist the n8n Cloud IP.
4. Open each MySQL node and choose your MySQL credential in the 'Credential to connect with' dropdown. Run a single query in the node to confirm the connection works.
5. For Microsoft Outlook, open the Outlook node, click 'Create new credential', sign in with your Microsoft account, and approve the permissions. Send a test email to your own address to verify delivery.
6. For Google Gemini, open the Google Gemini Chat Model node, click 'Create new credential', and paste your API key from the Google AI Studio API page. Run the node with sample text to confirm it responds.
7. Set the schedule: open the Schedule Trigger and confirm it runs monthly on day 5. Adjust the day if your close calendar is different.
8. Review SQL queries in the finance nodes and map table or field names to your schema. Start by testing the 'Get Cost Centers with Budgets' node, then run the YTD versus previous month and other queries.
9. Use the Filter node to test a single cost center. Run the workflow once and check the HTML output and AI summary before turning on the loop.
10. Open the Microsoft Outlook node and replace the recipient email with your finance distribution list. Send a manual test run to confirm formatting in email clients.
11. Adjust the Wait node duration to control pacing when sending multiple cost center emails. Enable the workflow and monitor the first monthly run.
12. Troubleshooting: if queries fail, check database permissions and date filters. If the email shows broken formatting, verify the HTML nodes and that the Outlook body is set to HTML. If the AI step errors, confirm your API key and usage limits.