Speed up your monthly reports with these simple tools

By Tom Olinger, CPA

Creating reports for your council or board can take a significant amount of time. It can be a cumbersome process, especially if you’re trying to input data into a consistent format that council members can understand. But the good news is, there are two simple tools that can save you time and prevent headaches. And it’s likely you already have access to them in Microsoft Excel.

 

Here’s how Microsoft’s Power Query and Copilot can speed up the creation of your next monthly report.

 

Tap into Power Query

 

Creating a report requires pulling data from your organization’s financial system, which can be cumbersome in and of itself. There is where Power Query can help.

 

Power Query is a data transformation and data preparation tool that allows you to easily import data from databases, websites, PDFs, Excel and many other data points and create custom report templates in Excel.

 

Basically, it automates the data retrieval process and reorganizes data from your financial system. This helps to prevent the need for manual entry and reformatting. Once you’ve created a template, you can simply refresh your data to get an updated report.

 

Using Power Query can be helpful for reports such as your organization’s check register, budget-to-actual reports, cash and investment reports, fund balance reports and many other monthly reports sent to council.

 

Power Query is a feature in Excel; think of it like Spellcheck. You can find it under the “Data” toolbar tab (go to Data > Get Data).

 

Benefits of using Power Query:

• Avoid or reduce manual data entry and reformatting
• Create reusable and consistent report templates
• Increased confidence in your report (up-to-date data)

 

Get to know Copilot

You may be familiar with Copilot as Microsoft’s version of ChatGPT. This AI-powered assistant tool can help you with a range of tasks, but it can be especially powerful when used to create board and council reports.

 

Copilot can be very helpful for recapping meeting minutes, summarizing contracts, and even writing policies. What may be one of its lesser-known features, however, is its ability to write Excel formulas.

 

Using Copilot to write formulas can not only save you time but also allow you to dial in your report templates using Power Query. For instance, you can use Copilot to create a formula and consistent data queries in Power Query.

 

Copilot may be most helpful in answering this question: “I want to do X in Excel. How do I do this?” Copilot will then map out the process and write the formula for you.

 

Benefits of using Copilot:

• Quickly recap meeting minutes and draft policies
• Fully leverage the features of Power Query
• Easily create complex formulas in Excel

 

Save time and reduce headaches

 

Preparing monthly reports in Excel can be a drain on your time and mental capacity. But they don’t have to be!

 

If you haven’t explored Power Query or Copilot, consider trying out these tools on your next report. Sure, shaking up your usual routine can feel like more work at first, but the long-term payoff is often worth it. Taking even a one step toward a more efficient reporting process can feel like a big win.

 

At Abdo, we understand how challenging the reporting process can be. If you’d like to bring more efficiencies to your processes, we’re here to help. We can guide you through these tools and even set up Excel templates and formulas for you.

 

Let’s free up your time to focus more on what matters. Contact us today.