Spreadsheet

Microsoft has a fascinating new contest underway, but there’s something even more interesting going on in forward-thinking companies. When companies use the word “champion,” they’re not usually talking about someone who wins a competition so much as someone who puts their full support behind a project or initiative. Thanks to an upcoming opportunity from Microsoft, however, for Excel users the word could soon mean the same thing.  Back in the summer we wrote about the teenage winner of a U.S. National Champion of Microsoft Excel. Now, according to WinBeta, comes the Microsoft Excel World Championship, which will focus more specifically on those who have taken their spreadsheet skills to the next level. A blog post from the company says the global competition will start next month and go four rounds, into early 2017. The prizes will include not only the bragging rights but a chance to offer direct feedback on future versions of Excel by meeting product leads at its headquarters in Redmond, Seattle. “Overall, the competition is open to those around the world who have come to rely on Microsoft Excel each and every day,” the story said. “Entrants, nonetheless, will have to show skills and work through questions which focus on data management, data visualization, and formula management.” If this isn’t a clarion call to finance departments around the world, what is? Then again, finance departments are often already Excel “champions” in that other sense of the word. Despite repeated claims that spreadsheets are cumbersome, inefficient or error-prone, they consistently prove the naysayers wrong. The advent of cloud-based CPM has just given them more ammunition. It’s interesting, however, to imagine what the long-term impact of augmenting spreadsheets with more sophisticated back-end capabilities will mean for events like the Excel World Championships. For instance, a story on Digital Trends noted some of the specific hoops entrants will have to jump through: We’re also told that there will be categories such as data relays, where you’ll be accessing, structuring and manipulating data; chart gymnastics, which will involve visually representing data to best tell a story; and formula wrestling, which will have you dynamically solving questions even as the data changes. Some finance pros might argue they’re already running data relays today, but not to prove their lever of Excel expertise. Instead, they’re accessing structuring and manipulating data to deliver actionable insight rather than high-level reporting. When they’re doing chart gymnastics, they’re making financial information more accessible to other departments. And when they’re wrestling formulas, they’re showing that the future of the finance department is acting as a real-time problem-solver to the entire organization. Treating Excel as a platform might not be quite the same as winning the Excel World Championships — it could be even more rewarding.

Unusual use cases for products like Excel are just a good reminder of why users gravitate to real-time data collection and analysis. There are all kinds of reasons a company’s financial close might run a bit late – too many competing priorities, outdated processes, inadequate technology – but hopefully it’s not because the finance department is too busy playing Pokemon Go. For those who haven’t already gotten hooked, Pokemon Go is a game whereby people can use their smartphone to hunt for digital versions of the popular show characters in city streets or pretty much anywhere. As with any mobile game, there are plenty of people who want to claim bragging rights, as well as people who band together to improve their odds of success. What’s more unexpected is a key tool that some are using for this process: the same spreadsheet software beloved by finance departments the world over. A story on SegmentNext profiled how this approach is allowing some players to quantify combat points (CP) in Pokemon Go: A Reddit user named Carlitocarlin created a community-driven spreadsheet detailing how much a CP boost does a Pokemon gain after undergoing Pokemon Go Evolution. The reason as to why the spreadsheet is community-driven is once a user triggers Pokemon evolution, he/she submits the findings in a small questionaire which is then added to the spreadsheet. Since the findings are all community driven, the creator has also warned against potential trolls and has promised to keep on double-checking facts to prevent it. This is about as “real-time” as data gets, but it’s far from the only area where spreadsheets offer unique value. In fact, this was one of the key themes at a recent annual workshop that took place in Vienna. Called Software Engineering Methods in Spreadsheets, the event brought together academics to explore where products like Microsoft Excel could open up new fields of study and generate powerful insights. The conference offered a strong rebuke to anyone who suggests using spreadsheets leaves data static, trapped or irrelevant. Professor Felienne Hermans, head of the Spreadsheet Lab at Delft University of Technology, noted that the liveness and directness of spreadsheets makes them attractive to use,” as the Financial Times reported. “With spreadsheets, the results are instantly visible, or ‘live,’ as you change numbers or formulas. You also see ‘directly’ the entirety of the field of play — formulas, data, output — as you work. By contrast, when developing a website, there is distance between what is visible on the site and where you can edit the code that produces it.” The addition of enterprise-grade database capabilities will only build upon this foundation for those that want to take advantage of these benefits. Forget Pokemon Go – you can use your spreadsheets and get down to even more serious business. The post If Spreadsheets Can Help Win Pokemon Go, They Can Help Finance Teams Win Too appeared first on Blog | Vena Voice | Vena Solutions.

Excel power users at different stages of their professional lives tend to sound much the same about their goals and approaches. It may be a little early to say for sure, but Michael Kelly sounds a lot like the next generation of finance professionals who could one day get the CFO’s job. He’s just proven he’s got one of the role’s most essential skills. 18-year-old Kelly is a high-school student in Nebraska who recently became the 2016 National Champion of Microsoft Excel in Orlando at the 15th annual Microsoft Office Specialist U.S. National Championship. Far beyond the spelling bees and debating competitions that are often a part of early academic life, Kelly and his rivals were given a number of challenging spreadsheet problems to solve, and he aced them. It’s actually worth reading ‘This Teen Knows More About Excel Than You Do About Anything,’ on the online publication The Ringer in its entirety, but the following exchange really stood out: Q: A wise colleague recently told me: “Don’t let anyone know you’re good at PowerPoint or you’ll be forced to make them for everyone for the rest of your life.” Are you at all worried about that for Excel? A: I don’t know. I’m not too worried. Excel isn’t the only thing I’m good at. I really don’t want to be tied into a job where all I do is enter stuff into Excel, but if I’m trying to figure something out or see what’s happening, I wouldn’t be opposed to whipping up a quick spreadsheet. That’s no problem. This is an interesting variation on a common theme you see in finance department circles, where Excel is sometimes presented as antiquated or something that CFOs and their teams should leave behind. Kelly’s response is a perfect example of not only why Excel is so compelling, but what the best and the brightest do with it: solve complex problems. For a sense of what an obsession with Excel looks like slightly later in life, check out this profile of Monica Williams on Geekwire. Williams is the CFO of Avvo, an online legal service directory firm, and she has no problem with wearing her love for a certain spreadsheet program with pride. (ie., when asked about her favourite app: “Excel, of course. Excel makes me happy.”). It was when she was asked about where she gets her best ideas, however, that the secrets of her success emerged: From talking with people. I love working in a collaborative setting and getting different perspectives. There’s always something I didn’t think of and that we can build on. Michael Kelly and Monica Williams may be at very different stages of their careers, but they share some really important traits: an open mind, a desire to be helpful and a bias towards using tools they trust to help people. Just more proof that those who love Excel . . . well, tend to excel. The post This is What Defines Excel Champions appeared first on Blog | Vena Voice | Vena Solutions.

To turn spreadsheet programs into an enterprise platform, you need to identify the early adopters willing to spread the love. Katharine Stewart may behave as though she would be a great asset to the average finance department, but her passion for spreadsheets is no reason to make fun of her. In a lifestyle column for the EU newspaper The Daily Record, Stewart talks about being focused on many of the things everyone else is focused on this time of year: shopping and vacation planning. Unlike most people, however, Stewart believes you can “live your life in Excel,” and encourages those who follow her advice to “spread(sheet) the love.” All puns aside, she says working in columns and rows is much more intuitive than jotting free-form notes that inevitably get lost: “So while my colleagues scoff at my checklist, I can’t go on holiday without it. It really is like a comfort blanket. Knowing that I can neatly tick the items off the list as I pack my case and tick them back in again when it’s time to go home makes me feel calm,” she writes. “While my behaviour may reek of OCD, it’s actually very relaxing. My outfits are planned and I have no need to scramble through my suitcase looking for forgotten items.” Here’s the interesting thing about Excel: when people use it from the very beginning, all seems to go well. It’s only when it’s treated as a mere backup to a process that people tend to complain about it. BBC News recently ran a story, for example, which discussed how the recent election of Sadiq Khan was nearly derailed by a database problem. “London Mayoral count resorted to spreadsheets,” the headline lamented, as though pulling data out of Excel were as antiquated as recording stories on stone tablets. Perhaps one of the key steps in turning Excel into a platform is finding an early champion who breaks through the stereotypes and demonstrates not only a willingness to use spreadsheets outside of finance departments but does so joyfully. If that person isn’t within your company today, look for champions outside. Take Ruan Oosthuizen, who published a post on the tech site Memeburn that make the case for spreadsheets in marketing departments: “I have heard so many marketing managers complain about how they don’t like to work with numbers and budgets. In fact, I am sure one or two marketing managers have tossed and turned late at night over the thought of the looming excel spreadsheet which needs to get done. I, on the other hand, could not be more opposite. I can tinker away at a spreadsheet the whole day and not get enough of it.” You can either jeer at people like Stewart and Oosthuizen, or you can join them. It’s not hard to figure out which route will likely make an individual, and perhaps even an entire organization, more successful in how they manage data and make decisions. The post Let’s Find (And Celebrate) the Excel Champions Out There appeared first on Blog | Vena Voice | Vena Solutions.

When we say spreadsheets are the future of financial reporting, we’re not talking about just any spreadsheet. No one is saying that spreadsheet columns and rows are always pretty—things can get messy when you start to outgrow Excel—but suggesting that Excel can’t be used across the organization? That’s just ugly. Bernard Marr, author a book on big data in the enterprise, recent published a post on Forbes which he titled, “Excel Reporting: 5 Reasons It Is Bad For Business.” Some of those reasons are debatable — in Marr’s view, many employees outside of finance don’t like Excel, and can’t make sense of them – but others are laughable. This includes the notion that Excel spreadsheets aren’t easy to share or that they can’t store historical data. The whole point of using Excel as a front-end tool for an enterprise platform is based on the fact sharing and looking at historical data has never been easier. “Employees want to be included in discussions about overall business performance, and that means that key performance indicators and other data must be communicated to large groups of people at every level of the business,” he writes. “There’s nothing inherently wrong with spreadsheets; they’re excellent tools for many different jobs. But data visualization and data communication is not one of them.” Of course, spreadsheets don’t have to be the final mechanism by which strategic insights are presented to other parts of the business, but there’s no question that they can outperform almost anything else. In fact, this is a good time to note the power of Microsoft Excel in particular. Even though spreadsheets are often getting criticized in general, there are plenty of other companies trying to come up with an “Excel killer.” A recent post on Business2Community actually went through a detailed look at Excel vs. Google Sheets, for instance, and weighed everything from ease of use to security. The winner? Microsoft Excel! While Google Sheets does have all the basics and a few of the functionalities of Excel, it still has a long way to go in terms of versatility. As a native app, Microsoft Excel can do pretty much anything. You can get it to solve Sudoku puzzles for you, or even power a Tetris game. You can automate most of your work, and you can collect an unreal amount of data without any hiccups or crashes. Excel spreadsheets aren’t perfect. They don’t need to be – that’s why there are more sophisticated cloud-based CPM tools you can layer on top of them and bring value across the organization.

Excel’s growth into other forms of analytics are a good reminder of why it will remain a foundational element in corporate finance and elsewhere. For a long time, the kinds of tools needed for “creative” types versus “business” types were pretty distinct. Those working in finance roles, obviously, would be drawn to calculators or spreadsheets, while those working in journalism or other forms of storytelling could probably function with little more than some word processing software. Those lines, however, are starting to blur. A good example is Finding Stories in Spreadsheets, a new book from veteran editor and reporter Paul Bradshaw, who tries to teach his peers about the ways Excel could become a key part of making headline news. Crunching data that the public might not understand or have the time to pursue, for instance, could help explain everything from crime rates to government spending. The book’s introduction is worth thinking about for those who use Excel for any kind of analysis, however: I’ve yet to meet a spreadsheet that didn’t have a story to tell. More often than not, they are bursting with those stories. Some have stories of success and (often more interestingly) failure. Others can hold a mirror up to ourselves, and tell stories about where we’ve been, and where we’re going; how we’ve changed, and how we’ve stayed the same. The key to all these stories, as with all sources, is knowing what questions to ask. When Stories Lift Off If the scenarios outlined in Bradshaw’s book aren’t inspiring enough, consider a recent exercise that has been suggested to high school teachers by the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Lab: using Microsoft Excel to model the velocity of the Dawn satellite mission that was launched back in 2007. “Students reinforce their knowledge of Newton’s Laws by applying them to a real-world problem: determining the velocity and distance traveled by a hypothetical spacecraft similar to Dawn, and graphing the data they generate,” the lab says. If kids in a classroom are using spreadsheets to explore those kinds of questions, just imagine the possibilities for those using Excel for revenue planning or financial consolidation. The only difference for business users, of course, is that enterprise-grade database capabilities could help ensure you can pursue those questions in the most meaningful way. At the end of the day, however, it’s about how you weave those answers into a story that’s compelling and can influence your company’s strategic direction. The post How Spreadsheets Can Make you a Storyteller appeared first on Blog | Vena Voice | Vena Solutions.

When baseball season starts each Spring, it doesn’t take long for die-hard fans to start donning caps, talking about their favourite players or, most importantly, defending their team from pre-emptive criticism. Surprisingly, finance experts treat Excel spreadsheets much the same way. But unlike the passionate disparity between rival teams like the Red Sox and the Yankees, virtually everyone in the finance world agrees that Excel is the only team to support.  Not long ago, for example, a web site called Financial Planning published one of those articles you often see lately that suggest Excel spreadsheets are too simplistic to offer real strategic value. The response from advisors was so immediate, so volatile and ultimately so thoughtful that the publication felt it had no choice but to offer a follow-up piece, “Are You On Team Excel or Not?” that highlighted the best reader reactions. Some of these comments are well worth examining by those leading finance teams who are reaching a decision point around their future use of Excel. Take this one: If you really know Excel well, you can out do most of the financial planning software and maintain control. By knowing it well, I mean being an advanced user that understands pivot tables, use of macros, programming in visual basic and being able to integrate monte carlo simulation. Excel is an extraordinarily powerful tool if you know how to use it. I would add to this that most clients do not care for detailed analysis and want to have simple answers that make sense. The only nitpick here is that detailed analysis does not have to come at the expense of simplicity. In fact, the best approach – whether it’s accountants to CFOs who want to bring real value to their customers or stakeholders — is to ensure that the tools they use reduce complexity while offering insight. Besides simplicity, what anyone looking at data values most is accuracy. That’s where the idea financial applications that connect structured source systems to front-end tools becomes really powerful. To put it another way, it’s the difference between simply using Excel and using Excel as a platform.  This was something a writer on Forbes noted almost a year ago, talking about the way Excel is becoming a conduit to information stored in ERP, for example. “These types of add-in technologies help Excel do more than ‘simple’ spreadsheet functionality,” the piece said. By all means, be a member of Team Excel (we all are!). As corporate performance management becomes more sophisticated, however, there should be even more for finance professionals of every kind to cheer about. The post What Will Make ‘Team Excel’ Even More Boisterous appeared first on Blog | Vena Voice | Vena Solutions.

When you hear the name J.K. Rowling, you probably think “Harry Potter,” “best-selling author” and possibly “imaginative.” The surprising thing is, you could just as accurately think “enterprise business,” “forecasting” and “spreadsheets.” After all, Rowling’s success as a writer is on an order of magnitude, from a financial perspective, that plenty of businesses only wish they had attained. And as a recent article on Radio Times recently revealed, she approached her work with the kind of granular planning that isn’t far removed from the average finance department. The article showed a spreadsheet – handwritten in ink, on looseleaf paper – that breaks down all the elements that went into Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. “It details how she worked out what to do with various plot threads, from the mysterious prophesy that lurked in the department of mysteries to the burgeoning love story between the Boy Who Lived and Cho Chang,” the article said. “It’s a lesson in novel planning, and an amusing insight into the mind of the acclaimed author.” It’s also a good example of how spreadsheets are not merely a solid tool for itemizing data but for thinking through its implications and solving complex problems. Rowling might have made her life a little easier had she used a real spreadsheet program, like Excel, to more easily manipulate the various elements of her novel, but the point is this: if one woman can work this way to generate millions in sales, why couldn’t a company that combines Excel with more powerful CPM capabilities do the same? After all, Excel spreadsheets appeal to a very human need for getting organized, laying out the variables in a simple manner and making changes as required. Pope Francis as CFO In most cases, unfortunately, spreadsheets only enter the picture when things go wrong and there’s no easy way to obtain data or to analyze processes informed by data. We’re not just talking about modern-day enterprises here. It even happens at century-old organizations like The Vatican, where, as a result of reliable data, “new rules will put more spreadsheets into the saint-making process,” according to a blog post on NPR. While you might think that selecting someone to be canonized would be entirely about spiritual reflection, there is a lot of donations involved in funding the research necessary to prove who’s deserving. According to two recently-published books, Pope Francis is cracking down on the lack of reporting that currently takes place: “Many postulators — the people who spearhead the canonization of a given candidate for sainthood — weren’t keeping track of how the money was spent. No budgets, no expense reports, no financial statements.” This isn’t meant to be a sermon, but the Catholic Church is demonstrating that it’s never too late to put the processes, the information and even the technology in place to make better decisions. What it does take is a committed vision, whether you’re an author, a Pontiff or the CFO of a major company. Without it, you haven’t got a prayer. The post Harry Potter and the Spreadsheets that Told His Future appeared first on Blog | Vena Voice | Vena Solutions.

Originally published on the Certent Insider blog. Technology is supposed to save time, and the most successful technologies make it easy to do. With the advent of the automobile, few people continued to try and make the horse and buggy more efficient. But even today’s concept cars still have four wheels and a front-end engine. The same logic applies to modern financial tools, especially when it comes to the month-end close. The Least Wonderful Time of the Month Ask any finance professional what part of their job they like the least, and they’re more than likely to say Financial Close Management (FCM) and in particular, the month-end close. Working through nights and weekends, cutting, pasting and consolidating data from dozens, if not hundreds of Excel spreadsheets – it’s no surprise FCM is the bane of many finance departments, as a sub-par month-end close can have costly consequences:   Taking up to 2 weeks to complete, even longer to report; Reducing the trust that finance and management have in the final numbers; Taking resources away from forecasting, modeling, and other decision-making supports; Challenges in meeting the increasing breadth of regulatory reporting requirements; Reporting inaccuracies that directly impact companies’ share price and credit rating In addition to the amount of manual effort involved, another contributing factor to the pains of financial close management is the degree to which companies still rely on standalone spreadsheets. Research from the Financial Executives Research Foundation and Robert Half have shown that 65% of companies still use manual, spreadsheet-driven means for their financial close process. And the errors that too often stem from this approach come with steep costs. Approximately 20% of companies issuing restatements report a resulting change in credit rating, according to PwC. Not to mention the impact on investor confidence. FCM: The Devil’s in the Details While the same could be said of budgeting or forecasting, the month-end close is a different breed of financial management. It’s time consuming, high stress, and done under tight deadlines. And if that’s not enough, it comes around every 30 days. What’s more, the FCM process requires much more attention to fine-grained detail, often spread out across multiple regions, business units, and subsidiary companies. The three main phases of FCM all involve multiple tasks that are time-consuming and error-prone at best including: Closing: data collection and adjustments, account reconciliation, transaction matching, manual journal entries, intercompany transactions, close workflow and management Consolidating: currency translation (ForEx), intercompany eliminations, joint venture and minority interests, company and top-side journal adjustments, sub-ledger systems, accruals, and prepaids Reporting: both internal (financial and management dashboards) and external (GAAP, footnotes and disclosures, and regulatory compliance) reporting From Close Out to Burnout It’s not hard to imagine the toll Financial Close Management takes on your team at a personal level. A recent CFO Magazine survey highlights this reality in a study of work-life balance. Among the more than 400 finance executives that took part: 52% claimed that work stress has had a harmful effect on their health, and 68% experienced burnout at some time in the recent past Simply asking employees to work faster and longer hours can only accomplish so much in terms of accelerating the close cycle, often with disastrous results. Overtime and burnout lead to turnover, an all too common and costly reality in the finance department. Turnover not only adds to the risk of accounting and reporting errors; according to PwC it can cost up to 65% of an employee’s annual salary just to fill an open position. The Solution: Automated, Integrated Spreadsheets How do you bridge the gap between the tools your team knows best, and the growing pressures put on them every month? There is certainly no shortage of technologies available – from mega-vendors to niche software players. We’ve found the best FCM solutions combine three key ingredients. The first two are consistently at the top of most financial technology wish lists: automation and integration. Whatever application you’re using, it must include: Source System Integration: The keystone of automation. Eliminate the manual bottleneck of data collection through real time integration with your existing ERP, GL, or other accounting systems. Enterprise-Grade Workflow: Gain control over the entire process with workflow that includes version control, a detailed audit-trail (including footnote disclosure), and easy to assign tasks for contributors. But no technology is a silver bullet. In fact, many companies already have too many overlapping, sometimes redundant applications for most to be effective. The third ingredient in the best FCM solutions, and the one application that outperforms all others in adoption, familiarity and flexibility is – Excel. Excel gets the job done, so don’t try to replace it – find a solution that embraces it. Find a solution with these ingredients, and you’ll combine the best of both worlds; automating the manual processes that need it, and allowing your team to work with the tools they know best – i.e., spreadsheets. Indeed, with automation and integration, Excel can be the key to working smarter – not harder – and giving your team the morale boost they deserve.