If the report is prepared every month from the same source, in the same layout and with the same calculations, you do not have to prepare it by hand. An automation that takes the data and produces the tables, charts and summary by the same rules reduces copy-paste errors and delivers the report in the same format every month.
In many companies, the first days of the month are report days. Someone exports the data from the accounting or sales software into Excel, copies last month’s file, pastes the figures into a new sheet, checks the formulas, updates the charts and sends the report to management. The work is the same every month, yet every month it is done by hand all over again. The question is: do you have to prepare this report by hand every month?
The hidden cost of a manually prepared report
The cost of a manually prepared report is not only the hours spent. The real cost lies in the small errors that creep in as the work is repeated:
- Copy-paste errors. One row too few or too many is pasted, and the total quietly changes.
- Shifting formulas. A formula moved to a new sheet starts referring to the wrong cell; the result looks right but is not.
- Changing layout. When the person preparing the report changes, the order and names of the columns and the way things are calculated may change too; two months’ reports can no longer be compared.
- Dependence on one person. If the person who knows how to prepare the report is on leave, the report is late.
How does an automated report work?
The logic of an automated report is simple: every month the data is taken from the same source, goes through the same calculations and is placed into the same template. The source can be accounting software, a sales system or an Excel file exported on a regular basis. The system produces the tables, charts and summary figures from this data; the report is prepared as a PDF or Excel file and sent to the designated people.
AI can do one additional job in this workflow: summarising notable changes in the figures in a short text, for example “the product group with the largest increase this month” or “the region that fell compared with last month”. This summary is written after the figures have been calculated; the calculation itself is not left to AI. We describe this workflow in detail on the Report and Quote Automation page.
The benefit of a report that comes out in the same layout every month
From management’s point of view, the most valuable feature of a report is that it can be compared. When the columns, definitions and charts are the same every month, the eye looks for change; no time is wasted working out the layout. The report arrives on the same day at the same time; nobody has to ask when it will be ready. And the person who prepares the report spends their time interpreting what the figures say rather than collecting them.
Which reports are suited to automation?
Not every report is suited to automation. The ones that are have these features in common:
- It is prepared at regular intervals (weekly, monthly).
- Its data comes from the same place every time.
- The calculation rules are clear and can be written down.
- Its format is the same every time.
On the other hand, for a one-off analysis, a piece of work that looks for an answer to a different question each time, or a report whose data is collected by hand from scattered sources, setting up automation may take more effort than it saves. The same logic applies to preparing quotes; we covered this in the article why preparing a quote takes so long.
What to prepare before you start
- A report prepared in the last few months (as an example).
- Where the data is taken from and in what format it arrives.
- How each figure is calculated: which products belong to which group, how returns are deducted, whether VAT is included or excluded.
- Who will receive the report, and when.
Points to watch
Automation repeats a wrong rule every month just as quickly. That is why, for the first few months, the automated report should be compared side by side with the manually prepared one; once the two reports match, manual preparation can stop. When something changes in the source system (a new product group, a different export format), the report needs to be reviewed as well. In short, an automated report is a rule, set up correctly once, that is applied the same way every month; and setting up the rule correctly depends on a few hours of careful work at the start.
Frequently asked questions
Can a monthly report be prepared fully automatically?
Reports whose data comes from the same source every month, whose calculation rules are clear and whose format is fixed can largely be prepared automatically. In the first months, the automated report should be verified by comparing it with the manually prepared one.
Does AI calculate the figures itself?
No. The figures are calculated according to defined rules. AI can only be used to summarise notable changes in the calculated figures in a short text.
What happens if our accounting software changes?
When the data source changes, the part of the automation that takes in the data is adapted to the new source. The calculation rules and the report template usually stay the same.
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