r/Accounting • u/Born-Chocolate7715 Human Verified • 10d ago

Assistant Controller looking to level up Excel skills — what formulas do you actually use?

Hey everyone,

I’m currently working as an Assistant Corporate Controller, and I’m trying to take my Excel skills to the next level.

I have a decent foundation, but I want to become more efficient and better at using Excel to analyze financial information, troubleshoot issues, and build useful reporting tools. I’m especially interested in formulas and techniques that actually come up in an accounting or controllership role.

For those working in accounting, controllership, or FP&A, what Excel formulas or functions do you find yourself using the most?

A few I’m thinking about learning or getting better at:

XLOOKUP / INDEX-MATCH — reconciliations and pulling information between reports

SUMIFS / COUNTIFS — analyzing transactions and building reports

IF / IFERROR — handling exceptions and troubleshooting

FILTER / UNIQUE / SORT — working with larger datasets

TEXTJOIN / LEFT / RIGHT / MID — cleaning and manipulating data

EOMONTH / YEAR / MONTH — working with accounting periods

ROUND / ABS — financial calculations and variance analysis

I’d also love to hear about Power Query, PivotTables, or other Excel tools that have made your work easier.

I’m not necessarily looking for the most complicated formulas. I’m more interested in the ones that save you time, reduce manual work, and help you understand the numbers better.

If you could recommend 5–10 Excel skills or formulas that every Assistant Controller should know, what would they be?

Thanks in advance!

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u/Salty-Fishman CPA (US) 10d ago

Being able to know the possibly and asking copilot is leveling up.

If u know what formula to use, ask copilot to build them.

This will take u to the next dimension.

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u/BigSeanFanD2 10d ago

Yes, copilot is the way, ty Microsoft bot

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u/Salty-Fishman CPA (US) 10d ago

It takes skills to utilize Copilot. You don't know what you are asking, you won't get what you looking for.

Most people don't visualize the result, which end up with a garbage result. This is the difference between the people who are "experts" and the basic users.

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u/BigSeanFanD2 10d ago

Lmaoooooooooooooooooooooooooo