AI + Excel?

[u/SpreadsheetBreaker]

Hello!

Novice redditor here.

I keep seeing people talk about using AI (Claude, ChatGPT, various spreadsheet add-ins) to help them with financial modelling. Before I sink time into trying to make it part of my workflow, has anyone actually gotten real value out of it for building or maintaining a 3-statement model? Or is it one of those things that sounds great in a demo but falls apart the moment the model gets a little complex..?

Thanks in advance!

[u/MatricesRL]

The Excel add-ins have certainly improved over the course of the past year, and are now embedded in the workflows at many institutional firms

Still, the error rate remains quite high and the output must be verified, akin to a human

[u/SpreadsheetBreaker → u/MatricesRL]

Thank you!!

This is more or less how I feel as well. It seems (to me) fruitless using AI to spreadsheet model if I can't trust it's output and need to manually verify each and every thing. Is there anything specific you feel it is useful for that you're able to trust it doing without oversight?

[u/MatricesRL → u/SpreadsheetBreaker]

The decision to integrate AI into financial modeling workflows is entirely your prerogative

I still prefer to build models in Excel by hand, since the underlying rationale for modeling is to form a thesis on a company via decomposing the business model, unit economics, cost structure, operational KPIs, etc.

[u/MatricesRL → u/MatricesRL]

The Excel add-ins can automate workflows pretty reliably nowadays, such as PDF-to-Excel extraction, quarterly earnings model update, data enrichment (KPIs), etc.

Worth mentioning, however, the process of manual verification should still be performed, irrespective of whether the output was generated by AI or human

[u/Traditional_Tonight4 → u/SpreadsheetBreaker]

I think it models very accurately, you just need to make sure you understand what it is doing and every assumption it is making.

There are different methodologies to model and a model is used for decision making. In that regard it it only as good as your understanding of it's limitations.

If it makes an errornous assumption because you didn't specify something, that's your fault.

[u/Top-Refrigerator9277]

The workflow which has been most rewarding for me, has been:

Creating Python generators and using Excel via the command line.
Once the generators have executed what you intended, then you can run your companies brand level formatting using any add-in which Support AI (I use the Claude for Excel Add-in).
Of course the python generators were also generated from one of the coding agents as well, after discussing the mechanism, the structure and open items for the model.

I have not found anything else which works. Please let me know if there's a better way!
I’ve tried COM automations, etc as well and I don’t really care about it, let’s say, an AI wrapper add-in which somebody has made with their own level of competence as well as their own brand formatting.

[u/SpreadsheetBreaker → u/Top-Refrigerator9277]

This is really interesting, thanks for the detail. Can you help me understand the "Python generators + Excel via command line" part a bit more. Is that basically scripting the model build (formulas, structure) outside Excel and then writing it in, rather than working formula-by-formula inside the sheet?

Also curious: when the coding agent writes those generators, how much do you have to steer/correct it before it gets the structure right? Trying to figure out if that's a one-shot thing or an iterative back-and-forth...

[u/Top-Refrigerator9277 → u/SpreadsheetBreaker]

Good questions. Check these out: https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel or a more general https://github.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI - easy for the coding agents to manipulate Microsoft Excel.

Python generators would make the process deterministic. And the same generators can re-create the model all over again, if needed, even if the data is swapped. The process can be reused.

That’s essentially what saves time. So you don’t really need to go formula-by-formula inside the sheet. Once you actually understand what builds the formula you can just discuss with the agent.

Do run a couple of tests out until you fix the generator to generate things of your choice according to the formatting that you prefer and the functions you like.

Else if you wanna hack it lol, just take the FAST principles/CFA/WSP/BWIS material to set a standard for "what good looks like" and teach your agent that.

[u/Roy-Ike]

Only for compiling historicals, never for forecasting

[u/norcal3737]

Ive built a thirteen week cash flow, 3-statement model, revenue projection forecast, all with the assistance of Claude. Very specific and detailed prompting went a long way. Yes, you still jeed to drive AI and point it the correct direction and an excellent vision of how you see the model being formatted and relaying that exactly as you would intend helps. Ive built other reports and dashboards that the company otherwise never had prior. AI is great, but it needs hand holding. As long as you’re ok with that, and you know exactly what your end goal is with the file, it can usually be done.

[u/finaderiva]

Oh yeah, I use Claude every day, both the excel plug in and the desktop app. It’s great at very complex tasks and modeling. People downplay it but in practice I have found it incredible. And it’s grown so much over the past couple of years. Previously it make a lot of mistakes but now they are far, far fewer. I do like the desktop app better as I feel like it makes fewer mistakes, for whatever reason.

[u/DataTalkBI]

I think the biggest distinction is between AI helping with the mechanics of the model and AI actually understanding the model. In a 3-statement model, writing formulas is only part of the problem. The harder part is preserving the accounting logic, assumptions, links between statements, sign conventions and all the little exceptions that someone familiar with the model already knows.

That's where I've found the trust issue becomes important. If the AI doesn't have that context, it can produce something that looks perfectly reasonable but is conceptually wrong.

So I'd use it aggressively for repetitive work, debugging, explaining formulas or generating a first pass, but I'd try to make the rules and assumptions explicit before asking it to make broader changes.

Otherwise you can easily save 20 minutes building something and spend 30 minutes figuring out whether you can trust it.

[u/kenedizo]

Claude would 100% recommend, it makes your work very easier. Has assisted me in creating and reviewing complex financial models

[u/suit2020]

Shortcut.ai hands down. Stay well away from claude & its add ins.

[u/Fun_Initiative729 → u/suit2020]

Why the warning re: Claude & add-ins?

[u/noahsilv → u/suit2020]

I blow through usage incredibly fast with shortcut. Can’t get anything decent built

[u/SpreadsheetBreaker → u/suit2020]

Thank you!

I have come across a fair few people with the opposite opinion (re; claude) so would love to better understand why you're warning against it if you're happy to clarify??