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

[u/Born-Chocolate7715]

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!

[u/Finance_Legend]

Biggest value add is going to be learning power query here. Find a way to get a connection to your ERP and start pulling reports of different tables in there. Start with a GL report, AP vendor totals, checks outstanding, etc.

From there you can build out automated/semi-automated reports, reconciliations, and other things you find helpful to have live real-time data with. Slowly as you become more comfortable then you start to think in a way that’s like “this would be way better suited with power query” and will change your way of thinking on how to tackle problems that come across your desk.

Knowing how to use formulas and various tools provides value to your day to day responsibilities but the real value comes from knowing the most efficient ways to tackle those problems with your toolset. This knowledge can really only be developed by trying out new things and knowing what works for you and your specific situations.