Excel for Budgeting & Planning
Most financial professionals have used Excel at some point in their careers. After all, it is widely accepted by the accounting and finance community as the one of the simplest budgeting and planing solutions. However, it’s important to evaluate the pros and cons as a way to ensure that you are using this tool in the most effective way.
Pros of Using Excel
One of the most obvious pros for using excel is how commonly it is used. Most, if not all, financial professionals have used it for budgeting and planning already. In many ways, this streamlines the exchange of information and makes it easier for everybody to be on the same page.
There is no denying how flexible it is to use Excel. There are many functions available that allow people to customize their budgets in a way that is most useful for their particular company. While it is incredibly familiar to many professionals, it’s also easy to adjust in order to get the most for their particular needs.
Cons of Using Excel
The biggest pain point for using Excel boils down to its lack of features, primarily for the financial sector. Some of the most missed features include system integration, data scalability, and version control.
However, while it may seem like a no-brainer to simply resort to an enterprise solution, there are a slew of additional concerns to weigh. For example, most financial professionals already knew Excel well before they entered the workplace. A new system will require upfront costs, additional training, and across the board integration. This boils down to more cost and time.
The Best of Both Worlds.
Perhaps the solution is a system that incorporates Excel into the integration. A new eBook presented by Vena Solutions titled Enterprise Budgeting & Planning with Excel for Dummies teaches financial professionals how to use both the new and old systems in ways that complement each other. This combination could be just the ticket, when it comes to implementing an improved system with more sophisticated options.
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