Finance edition
Microsoft is adding accounting features to Copilot in Excel: the public preview starts at the end of October 2026, and general availability follows on 13 November 2026.
Copilot in Excel will also be used in accounting
Microsoft is adding accounting features to Copilot in Excel and to Cowork. This lets finance staff do common accounting work in programs they already use.
Copilot can reconcile accounts and draft journal entries. It also analyzes financial results and variances and prepares financial reports. There are also features for budgeting, forecasting, audit, tax, compliance and training.
Do you work in accounting, in accounts receivable or payable, or as a controller? With a Copilot license in Excel, you get help with reconciliations, journal entries and finding the reasons for variances in the numbers.
The public preview starts at the end of October 2026. During the preview you need a Copilot license and you must be signed up for Microsoft Copilot Frontier. Your administrator turns on Frontier in the Microsoft 365 admin center, for all users or only for your team. General availability starts on 13 November 2026 and continues until the end of November. From that day, signing up for Frontier is no longer needed.
Background for subscribersCopilot in Excel can reconcile accounts, draft journal entries and analyze deviations in the figures. Nothing is posted to your ERP or other core system without your approval. If you choose the audit trail, the chat history shows what Copilot changed and why.
Deloitte: companies cannot see what an AI application costs
A Deloitte survey of 3,500 executives shows that the costs of AI are often hard to see. Of the organizations, 71 percent track total spending on AI inference and APIs. But only 51 percent record token volume and 44 percent record the cost per inference unit. This makes it hard to compare the cost of an application with what it earns. Deloitte says that linking the cost of a work process to the value it delivers is a way not to lose return on investment.
Background for subscribersThis is a taster.
Subscribers read the whole Finance edition: every story, each with its background in plain language.
Subscribe →Not ready for that? Read the free letter first →
AI and tech, made simple.
This is the Finance edition. Subscribers get the background to every story, in plain language.
Subscribe
inklaretaal · Amsterdam · © 2026