Microsoft boosts Copilot for finance tasks
Microsoft announced Thursday it is bolstering Copilot’s AI tools for finance professionals, introducing over 25 specialized skills and “partner-built plug-ins” to streamline accounting processes and enhance analytical tasks. The updates allow users to initiate workflows directly within Copilot, while still integrating Excel when necessary, expanding the assistant’s role beyond traditional spreadsheet functions.
According to the company, the new capabilities allow users to start broader workflows directly in the Copilot app and bring in Excel when needed. Brian Jones, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of the Excel product group, said the goal is to build Copilot for the breadth of finance, from preparing a month-end close to evaluating an acquisition.
Companies can connect Copilot to their existing data sources, and users can customize the assistant to perform specific finance work. By demonstrating a process in Excel, the system can create a reusable set of instructions to guide Copilot the next time the task is performed.
The new finance features arrive as Microsoft reports wider adoption of Copilot across its products. Satya Nadella, CEO, said automated tasks in Copilot had nearly doubled since July, with daily users rising nearly 50% from the previous quarter. They are seeing significant growth in the use of Copilot.
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Amy Hood, Microsoft CFO, said Copilot revenue growth accelerated from the prior quarter across Microsoft 365, GitHub, and Security. The company reported $45.2 billion in capital expenditures for its most recent quarter, with a focus on investing in infrastructure, including data centers and computing equipment. Hood expressed confidence in the return on investment, saying the company feels good about the return on every dollar spent.
The new accounting capabilities can help finance professionals compare balances and transactions, identify discrepancies, and analyze financial performance against plans. In a limited availability period, over 8,000 unique users invoked accounting skills more than 44,000 times across over 18,000 Copilot conversations.
Microsoft is also connecting Copilot to enterprise systems and outside data providers, including accounting software such as QuickBooks, Xero, and Zoho Books, as well as financial information providers like FactSet and Morningstar. This integration enables users to access a wide range of financial data and tools, making it easier to perform complex analysis and tasks. The finance plug-in for Cowork can assemble materials for a close review or forecast review, including supporting spreadsheets, presentations, and follow-up communications.
