For finance teams working with Microsoft Dynamics GP or Business Central, Excel often becomes the go-to reporting tool. It’s familiar. It’s flexible. And it’s “free.” But what seems like a convenient solution on the surface can carry significant—and often overlooked—costs.
If your team is still leaning on spreadsheets to manage financial reporting, it’s time to consider what that reliance is really costing your business.
1. Time Lost to Manual Processes
Building reports manually in Excel requires constant exports, formatting, and reconciliations. Add in version control, formula errors, and last-minute changes—and you’ve got a process that consumes hours (if not days) of valuable time.
The cost: Finance teams waste 30–50% of their reporting cycle on tasks that should be automated. That’s time that could be spent on strategy, forecasting, or analysis.
2. Risk of Human Error
A single copy/paste mistake or incorrect formula can derail an entire report. And with spreadsheets passed around via email or saved to local drives, audit trails are nearly impossible to maintain.
The cost: Errors erode confidence in reporting and introduce compliance risk, particularly for organizations facing audits or regulatory reviews.
3. Dependency on Key Personnel
Excel-based processes often depend on one or two power users who “own” the reporting templates. If they’re unavailable—or leave the organization—the knowledge gap can be significant.
The cost: Business continuity risk increases, and onboarding new team members becomes harder and slower.
4. Hidden IT and Support Costs
While Excel itself is low-cost, the downstream effects aren’t. When finance teams run into problems, they often escalate to IT for troubleshooting, data extraction, or integration fixes. In some cases, they even purchase expensive plug-ins just to close the gap.
The cost: Unbudgeted support hours, workarounds, and third-party tools inflate the total cost of ownership.
5. Poor Scalability
As your organization grows, so do your reporting requirements—multi-entity consolidations, dimensional tracking, volume of data, and more. Excel doesn’t scale with that complexity.
The cost: Excel limits your ability to report confidently across business units, leaving executives with incomplete or outdated information.
There’s a Better Way: Purpose-Built Reporting with FYIsoft
FYIsoft was built to replace manual, Excel-dependent reporting with something smarter:
- Direct integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP and Business Central
- Automated report generation and distribution
- Cloud-based access and role-based security
- Support for complex accounting requirements and audit readiness
Instead of stitching together data in spreadsheets, FYIsoft gives your finance team the speed, control, and accuracy they need—without relying on IT or compromising on compliance.
Excel will always have a place in finance. But it shouldn’t be the backbone of your financial reporting. The hidden costs are too high, and the stakes are too great. With FYIsoft, you can take the burden off your team, modernize your processes, and future-proof your reporting—all in one move.
Learn more about how FYIsoft helps Dynamics users move beyond Excel.
