Keep Excel. Lose the Roll-Forward Ritual.
We are not here to kill Excel. We are here to automate the specific processes that make your monthly reporting fragile and time-consuming.
The Monthly Ritual We All Know
Save As
Copy last month's file, update the name to June_2024_Board_Pack.xlsx
Update Headers
Manually change all the date headers from May to June
Refresh Links
Re-link to the new data source, fix any broken references
Pray
Hope nothing broke. Run spot checks. Find the one cell that didn't update.
What Excel Does Brilliantly
- Ad-hoc analysis and exploration
- One-off calculations and modeling
- Quick what-if scenarios
- Flexible formatting and presentation
- Universal familiarity across finance
Keep using Excel for these. It is genuinely the best tool.
What ClosePack Automates
- Monthly/quarterly roll-forward process
- Period header and formula updates
- Data refresh from ERP sources
- Variance calculation and flagging
- Commentary archival and templates
The repetitive, error-prone stuff that eats your first week.
The Comparison
| Feature | ClosePack | Excel Reporting |
|---|---|---|
| Roll-Forward Process | Automatic | Save As + Manual Updates |
| Broken Link Risk | ||
| Version Control | Built-in | Final_v3_REAL.xlsx |
| Unmapped Account Detection | ||
| Variance Bridge Charts | Auto-generated | Manual creation |
| Commentary Archive | Automatic | Overwritten monthly |
| Flexibility | Structured | Infinite |
| Ad-hoc Analysis | Use Excel | Native |
The Right Tool for the Right Job
Excel is the Swiss Army knife of finance. It can do anything. That is both its superpower and its weakness. Because it can do anything, it often gets used for everything - including things it was never designed to do well.
Monthly management reporting is one of those things. The repetitive nature of roll-forwards, the risk of broken links, the lack of version control - these are not Excel problems, they are workflow problems.
ClosePack solves the workflow. You can still export to Excel for ad-hoc analysis. You can still tweak formatting. But the core reporting process - the roll-forward, the variance analysis, the commentary - that happens in a system designed for it.
Stop Wrestling with Spreadsheets
You still have a job to do. This just lets you do more of it at a higher level. Join the waitlist and be among the first to get the grunt work off your plate.