Limiting Capabilities Due to Excel Formula Learning Curves for Businesses

For decades, Microsoft Excel has been one of the most popular business tools for companies everywhere. Businesses across industries use spreadsheet formulas daily to accomplish a diverse task range, from cost accounting to bookkeeping to project management. Many companies have come to depend on Excel formulas so much that they use them when other software programs can perform job functions more accurately and efficiently. 

Although Excel is useful for some tasks, it has limitations. Many successful business owners are the first to say that automated software outperforms conventional spreadsheets for many accounting tasks, specifically for growing and emerging companies. At Centage Corporation, we offer Planning Maestro^® as an industry-leading solution that uses cloud-computing innovation and practical methods to streamline automation, performance, and integration. 

Excel Formula Disadvantages for Businesses

Some of the disadvantages of using Excel formulas over more consistent, cloud-based solutions like Planning Maestro include:

• Learning curves: While understanding the core functions of Excel is easy for most new employees, learning how formulas work and building them is an entirely different story. Even the most seasoned Excel users have contrasting philosophies on creating formulas. When a company hires a new employee, it sometimes takes significantly longer before they learn how a spreadsheet operates.
• A complex interface: As Excel spreadsheets expand and become more complex, users often need to scroll through thousands of rows and columns to locate specific information. In addition, it is impossible to know who edited a cell or formula, making it challenging to pinpoint the source when an error occurs. Depending on the formula type, Excel can also round off large numbers using unprecise calculations, compromising your data's accuracy.
• Inefficiencies: One of the primary disadvantages of spreadsheets is that their lack of automation crease workflow inefficiencies. Manual entry is time-consuming from a data entry standpoint, and errors can cause hours of unnecessary corrections. These tedious tasks can also take away employees' time to perform more critical company duties.
• Lack of control: A large file size can cause the program to operate much slower than usual. Breaking the data into smaller files can sometimes result in lost or misplaced information. Excel is a standalone application and does not integrate with other programs, preventing multiple employees from viewing the most recent updates as they occur.

Implementing Planning Maestro as a Solution

Once you understand all the potential obstacles and challenges associated with Excel formulas, the need for a reliable, cloud-based solution becomes more apparent. Planning Maestro allows you to make decisions more confidently and faster through streamlined financial planning. The software offers users an accurate way to plan, budget, forecast, and communicate financial performance.

Planning Maestro's primary benefits include:

• Agility: Planning Maestro connects with virtually any data source to provide a centralized location where users can accurately monitor and modify information.
• Collaboration: Our software gives users visibility to the most updated data, allowing contributors and managers to collaborate on the most critical issues.
• Automation: Planning Maestro automates tedious tasks using financial intelligence and built-in logic, reducing manual data input while improving workflow efficiencies. 
• Connectivity: Our software can automatically integrate with your general ledger for budget analysis, offering a clearer picture of your company's financials.

Connect With the Professionals at Centage Corporation Today

Planning Maestro comes with the tools you need to optimize your company's financial analysis and planning capabilities, eliminating the learning curves, data-entry errors, and other inefficiencies associated with using Excel formulas. 

Discover why many businesses continue to choose our software to improve their accounting processes. Contact us online or call 800-366-5111 to get started learning how our solutions can benefit your organization.

Centage provides modern FP&A software solutions that empower Finance teams to lead the way to a stronger, more agile business. Our cloud platform, Planning Maestro, makes sophisticated budgeting, planning, and forecasting easy and accessible. Intuitive automation accelerates workflows and improves accuracy, enabling Finance leaders to deliver reliable information and meaningful insights at the speed of today’s business. For more information on how to modernize your FP&A process, view our product demonstration video, or call 800-366-5111.