A Day in the Life of a Financial Analyst with Copilot

November 21, 2024

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing the finance industry, enabling professionals to tackle tasks like budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis, and corporate performance management with unprecedented efficiency. AI-powered tools, such as Microsoft Copilot, are now central to these transformations, providing the ability to analyze vast amounts of data, leverage process-based models, and uncover actionable insights. These tools enhance the accuracy of financial projections and free up time for more strategic decision-making.

Using Copilot in Finance

This article follows Hillary, a financial analyst, as she navigates her day with the help of Copilot, showcasing how AI is integrated into her workflow to boost productivity and deliver impactful results.

A Day in the Life of Hilary, a Financial Analyst with Copilot

8:00 AM: Crunching Numbers in Excel

Hillary starts her day in Excel, reviewing the latest Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) estimates for a new product launch. To refine the data for her analysis, she turns to Copilot.

She types the following prompt into Copilot: "Sort the data by product feature and then filter out the Priority 2 features."

Within seconds, Copilot organizes the spreadsheet, allowing Hillary to focus on interpreting the data and preparing insights for her team.

Copilot in Excel

9:30 AM: Collaborative Insights in Teams

Hillary joins a meeting with her manager and the IT department to discuss updates to reporting requirements from the sales organization. During the discussion, Hillary multitasks by using Copilot in Microsoft Teams to capture essential points.

She prompts Copilot:

By the end of the meeting, she has a comprehensive summary ready to share, ensuring everyone remains aligned on action items.

10:00 AM: Deep-Dive Financial Analysis

Hillary transitions to her main project for the day: analyzing due diligence materials for a potential acquisition target, Fabrikam. She relies on Copilot to streamline this complex task, using the following prompt: "Summarize the information in Fabrikam financial data, Fabrikam operations analysis, and Fabrikam integration plan."

Timely tasks completed in seconds with Copilot

With a clear, concise overview generated by Copilot, Hillary quickly identifies key points and drafts recommendations for the acquisition team.

1:00 PM: Creating a Presentation on the Acquisition

After finalizing her analysis in Word, Hillary needs to present her findings to the business development team. Rather than starting from scratch, she uses Copilot in PowerPoint to transform her Word document into a polished presentation.

She simply types: "Create a presentation from [Word document link to Fabrikam acquisition overview.docx]."

The result is a professional, visually appealing deck that’s ready for her meeting, saving her hours of manual work.

Saving time and creating value with Copilot in Powerpoint

2:00 PM: Catching Up on Conversations

Later, Hillary catches up on a chat thread in Microsoft Teams from earlier in the day. To quickly extract the most relevant points, she uses Copilot again.

Her prompt: "Summarize this thread, calling out where my name was mentioned and any action items for me."

Copilot distills the thread into a clear summary, helping Hillary stay on top of her responsibilities without needing to sift through lengthy messages.

4:00 PM: Advanced What-If Scenarios in Excel

As the day winds down, Hillary returns to Excel to update acquisition models with the latest scenarios. She explores the impact of different budget adjustments using Copilot.

Her prompt: "What is the impact of doubling the IT integration budget on the revenue per month?"

Copilot calculates the scenario and generates charts that Hillary can seamlessly incorporate into the business planning presentation, ensuring her analysis is both accurate and visually compelling.

The Impact of AI on Financial Operations

Hillary’s day illustrates how Microsoft Copilot streamlines workflows, reduces time spent on repetitive tasks, and empowers financial professionals to focus on high-value activities. By reducing departmental spending, improving tools, and accelerating decision-making, AI transforms financial operations into a more strategic and cost-effective process.

At Microsoft Ignite, CEO Satya Nadella announced significant updates to Excel, reinforcing Copilot's role in shaping the future of data analytics. He emphasized: "Now, you never have to start from blank. Simply tell Excel what you want, and Copilot will give you your first draft."

With tools like Copilot, professionals like Hillary can achieve more, faster, and with greater confidence, marking a new era for finance and beyond.