Automate Your Month End With Excel
(Learn to use the best Modern Excel features so finance teams save time and reduce stress during monthly-end reporting cycles.)
Masterclass Overview
Microsoft Excel is the key tool used by finance teams every day. Yet most month-end processes still use Excel like it's 1993. As a result, working late and feeling stressed is common during reporting cycles. It doesn’t need to be that way.
Over the last 20 years, Excel features such as Tables, Power Query, Dynamic Arrays and Copilot have been released. These enable users to automate month-end tasks without writing code and reclaim significant amounts of time. This Masterclass will show you how to leverage these features, meaning you can spend less time at work and more time doing what you love.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, you will learn:
- Why traditional month-end processes are inefficient
- The 7 stages of the Reporting & Analysis Blueprint
- Structuring data for efficient reporting
- Best practice in input management
- Using dynamic parameters to repoint to new inputs
- Optimal data structure
- Using Tables, Power Query, Dynamic Arrays, and Copilot for automating processes.
Masterclass Content
Part #1: Introduction
- Reporting & Analysis Blueprint
- Tables
- Structured references
- Optimal data layout
- Controlling input
Part #2: Using Power Query
- Getting data into Power Query
- Common transformations
- Loading data into Excel
- Using dynamic input paths
Part #3: Dynamic Arrays
- Going deep with the FILTER function
- The Group Filter Aggregate Method
- Using LET to simplify formulas
Part #4: Leveraging Copilot
- Deterministic vs probabilistic processes
- Using Copilot for the right tasks
- Maintaining auditability and accountability
- Example: Automating reconciliations
Software and Technical Requirements
- Windows 10 or later
- Microsoft Excel 2021, 2024 or Excel M 365
- Optional M365 Copilot license. (Required to work along and complete the example in full. Not required to understand how to build AI processes).
