Turn the monthly report into a refresh
I automate the monthly Excel report with Power Query, Power BI or SQL. Fixed price, agreed before I start.
The three day month end pack, and why it breaks
Exports from accounting, the CRM and payroll get pasted into tabs, patched and checked by eye. It breaks in predictable places:
- The export layout changes and a formula quietly points at the wrong column.
- A range doesn't extend to the new rows, so the total is short and nobody notices.
- The usual person is out and a step gets skipped.
- Nobody else knows the steps, because they were never written down.
What I automate
- Excel with Power Query
- Drop the new export in a folder and click Refresh. The cleanup steps are recorded once and run the same way every month.
- Power BI
- When the report has to be shared, filtered by the people reading it, or refreshed on a schedule without anyone opening a file.
- Power Automate exports
- A flow that saves the latest export from an email or a system into SharePoint, so fresh data is waiting when the report refreshes.
- SQL views
- When the data already sits in a database, the logic belongs there, where every report can reuse it and nobody has to retype a formula.
If the current process runs on VBA macros, see my Excel VBA migration service.
Month end reporting pack: what goes in it
- A summary page with the handful of numbers leadership looks at first.
- Profit and loss against budget and against the same month last year.
- Cash, and accounts receivable by age.
- A reconciliation tab showing the totals tie back to the accounting system.
The reconciliation tab matters most. If the pack and the books disagree, people stop using the pack.
Pricing
Most automation projects are a fixed price between $1,500 and $5,000, quoted after I've seen the data. Smaller jobs are $85 an hour against a cap. What changes the price
Questions
Will my team still be able to change it?
Yes. Power Query steps are named and visible, and the handover notes cover likely changes: a new month, account or export column. If your team prefers Excel, it stays in Excel.
Licensing questions are answered on the pricing page.
Tell me what's broken.
Which report, where the data comes from, and how long it takes now. I reply within one business day.