Quicker Excel reports, without starting again
You don't need to replace everything to get better reporting. Often the right answer is making the spreadsheet you already use work much better.
Month-end summary.xlsx
| Region | OctoberOct £k | SeptemberSep £k | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| North West | 182 | 171 | +6.4% |
| London | 164 | 168 | −2.4% |
| Midlands | 131 | 119 | +10.1% |
| Yorkshire | 97 | 92 | +5.4% |
| Total | 574 | 550 | +4.4% |
Example with sample data, for illustration only.
This might help if…
- The same report is rebuilt by hand every week or month.
- One person is the only one who understands how the spreadsheet works.
- Figures are typed in more than once, in more than one place.
- The workbook is slow, fragile, or full of tabs nobody dares delete.
What we can do
- Tidier, easier Excel workbooks
- Clearer layouts, consistent formulas and fewer places for mistakes to creep in.
- Automating repetitive steps
- Recurring reports that build themselves, using Excel's own tools and, where it makes sense, macros: small recorded routines that do the clicking for you.
- Less manual data entry
- Information typed in once and reused, instead of being re-keyed into several sheets.
- Combining scattered reports
- Several similar reports brought into one, so there's one version to maintain.
- Practical use of AI tools
- Only where it genuinely saves time, such as reading supplier documents or tidying up text, and always explained in plain terms.
- Moving to Power BI when it helps
- If a report has outgrown Excel, we can move it across without changing how your team works day to day.
If a report has outgrown Excel, Power BI can take over without changing how your team works.
Once the figures are reliable, a dashboard can show the important ones on a single page.
See an example of three large spreadsheets distilled into one summary sheet that you can try for yourself.
What you end up with
- Hours back every week or month
- Fewer errors and late-night corrections
- Spreadsheets more than one person can look after
Words you might hear from us
- Macro
- A small set of saved instructions in Excel that repeats a task for you, such as tidying an export or building a summary.
- Automation
- Getting a computer to do a repetitive job that a person currently does by hand, the same way every time.
Guides on this topic
- Excel or Power BI: which is better for a small business?
A plain-English comparison of Excel and Power BI for small businesses: what each is good at, what Power BI costs, and how to decide which you need.
- How to make monthly reporting less manual
Why the monthly report takes so long, which parts can usually be automated, and how to start without replacing the spreadsheets you rely on.
Other ways we can help
Dashboards & reports
Turn pages of figures into a clear view of how things are going.
We can turn pages of figures into a single page showing the handful of numbers you actually keep an eye on.
Find out more about dashboards & reportsOrganising your information
Bring information from different places together, so reporting gets easier.
We can bring information from different places together so your team isn't maintaining the same details in several spreadsheets.
Find out more about organising your informationClient portals
Secure areas where your clients log in to see their own reports, data and documents.
Instead of emailing every client the same monthly report, give them a login where their latest figures, documents and invoices are always waiting.
Find out more about client portals
Show us what you're working with.
Send us a short note about the spreadsheets or reports that are taking up too much time. We'll arrange a friendly, no-obligation chat and suggest the simplest way to improve things.