💰 Finance & Accounting

Analyze a budget-vs-actuals table in Excel

💰 Finance & AccountingMicrosoft 365 CopilotBeginner

Task · Variance analysis
Time saved · 30-60 min per month-end (estimate, not measured)

Steps

1. Format data as an Excel table
2. Save to OneDrive/SharePoint
3. Open Copilot and paste prompt
4. Verify formulas it adds

Prompt / template

Show the top 5 variances between Budget and Actual by department and add a column explaining the % difference.

Source · https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot-excel
Last checked · 2026-10-16

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