Copilot in Excel for accountants: practical uses

Copilot in Excel is Microsoft’s AI assistant inside the spreadsheet: you describe a task in plain English and it cleans data, writes formulas, builds charts, PivotTables and models, or explains a workbook. For accountants, the best uses are the repetitive preparation jobs, with every output reviewed before it reaches a client file. This guide covers practical uses, what it costs in the UK and the controls a firm needs, checked on 6 November 2026.

What can Copilot in Excel do?

Copilot works on the open workbook from a pane you open with the Copilot icon. Microsoft’s support page lists these tasks:

• edit sheets, add conditional formatting, data validation and styles
• write formulas and generate data across sheets
• create charts, PivotTables and dashboards linked to source data
• answer questions about trends and outliers
• sort, filter and highlight data
• import data from other workbooks on OneDrive, SharePoint or your computer
• search the web, with citations

It also lets you save repeatable tasks as custom “skills”. The full edit, plan and chat modes work on Windows, Mac and Excel for the web; iPad and iPhone have fewer modes.

Which mode should you use?

Use Plan or Chat only on client files until you trust the output. Copilot has three modes:

Allow editing is the default, so switch it deliberately when you open a client workbook.

Practical uses for accountants

David Benaim FCA, a Microsoft MVP, gave ICAEW 10 Copilot use cases for Excel on 13 August 2026. The ones most useful in practice are below.

1. Clean a bank or ledger export. Ask “clean this data” to standardise supplier name variants, convert numbers stored as text and fix scanning errors before a bank reconciliation.
2. Check and explain formulas. Ask “check these formulas” or “explain this workbook” when you inherit a client’s spreadsheet.
3. Document a file. “Create documentation for this file” lists the tables and functions used, which helps with review notes and handovers.
4. Fix UK dates. “Make these dates the right format” converts US month-day-year exports to UK day-month-year.
5. Categorise transactions. “Categorise this dataset” sorts items such as professional fees and distribution costs. Check every line.
6. Build a simple model. Ask for a loan repayment schedule or cash flow forecast with adjustable inputs.
7. Create a dashboard. Turn management accounts data into charts. Benaim notes it currently uses formulas such as SUMIFS rather than PivotTables.
8. Write Power Query, DAX or VBA. Copilot chat can draft the code for you to paste in; there is no direct Copilot interface inside Power Query or Power Pivot.

ICAEW’s article warns that research and categorisation outputs can contain hallucinations, so they must be checked.

What happened to the COPILOT function?

Microsoft withdrew it. The COPILOT function page says that from 14 September 2026 the function is no longer available in Excel. It had been a preview feature for Frontier and Microsoft 365 Insider users only.

Existing results stay as cached values, but on recalculation the cell returns #NAME?. If any client or internal workbook used =COPILOT(), replace those cells with values or ordinary formulas.

How much does Copilot in Excel cost?

Copilot in Excel needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence. Microsoft’s UK pricing page showed these prices on 6 November 2026, all excluding VAT:

The £13.80 add-on price is a first-year offer running from 1 July to 31 December 2026 for existing Business customers on an annual commitment. Business plans cover up to 300 users. Microsoft says some advanced features are billed by usage in Copilot Credits on top of the licence. The enterprise add-on is paid yearly.

Is client data safe in Copilot in Excel?

Microsoft’s privacy documentation, dated 9 July 2026, makes three commitments that matter to firms:

• prompts, responses and data accessed through Microsoft Graph are not used to train foundation models
• Copilot only surfaces data the user already has at least view permission for
• sensitivity labels and encryption from Microsoft Purview are honoured

It also says Copilot can route processing to other regions at busy times, and that Anthropic models used inside Copilot sit outside the EU Data Boundary. Tidy SharePoint permissions before rollout, because Copilot will find anything a user can open. See whether ChatGPT is safe for client data for the wider issues.

What firms should do now

1. Write an AI policy covering which tools, which data and who reviews output. Start from our AI policy template.
2. Check SharePoint and OneDrive permissions before turning Copilot on.
3. Search for =COPILOT() in templates and client files and replace it.
4. Pilot on dummy data and record what works.
5. Keep review evidence on file for anything Copilot built.

Compare other options in AI tools for finance teams and our Microsoft Copilot review.

Frequently asked questions

Is Copilot in Excel free?

No. The in-workbook features need a qualifying licence; the Copilot Business add-on is £16.10 per user a month on a yearly plan, or £13.80 under the offer running to 31 December 2026, excluding VAT.

Can Copilot in Excel do a bank reconciliation?

It can clean and match the data and flag differences, but it does not replace your reconciliation process. Use Plan mode and check every match yourself.

Does Microsoft train its AI on my client spreadsheets?

Microsoft says prompts, responses and Microsoft Graph data are not used to train foundation models, and that data is processed under your organisation’s Microsoft 365 commitments.

Why does my COPILOT formula show #NAME?

Microsoft withdrew the COPILOT function on 14 September 2026. Cells using it return #NAME? on recalculation, so replace them with values or ordinary formulas.

Should I rely on Copilot for final accounts figures?

No. Microsoft says generative AI output is not guaranteed to be accurate, so use standard formulas for the numbers and Copilot for preparation and review support.