How many CFOs are still relying on Excel only?

In today’s fiercely competitive economy, business leaders are turning to the finance group to do a lot more than accounting. Yet despite the world of finance (and the role of the CFO) being turned on its head, spreadsheet functionality has remained basically the same for years. Today’s version of Excel would be instantly familiar to someone who hadn’t used it for a decade.

Whilst CFOs are being increasingly relied upon to turn companies around, how many are still only relying on a static, relatively unchanged formula – the good old electronic spreadsheet? Microsoft gauges the number of Excel users worldwide at more than 400 million, and Forrester Research estimates 50 to 80 percent of enterprises still rely on stand-alone spreadsheets for critical applications like financial reporting or budget forecasting.

Yet increasingly, a common lament for CFO users is that piecing together cash flow, profitability and operations data with Excel spreadsheets and static reports is inefficient and inadequate. Even within companies who have BI tools in-house and have spent significant money on this, when it comes to ad-hoc reports or shared forecast processes, the “last mile” will still be done from many CFOs with an Excel spreadsheet.

This tug-of-war between data consistency and flexibility will plague users of stand-alone spreadsheets for the foreseeable future. CFOs need to take aim squarely – or at least obliquely – at Excel. The answer lies in CPM and BI tools, like Palo, that are absolutely essential to optimize spreadsheets: online modules that are low or no cost, and truly Web-based allowing for file sharing on a global basis. Because, more than ever, companies compete based on the decisions they make.