Overview

This course from Blocknorth shows finance and accounting professionals how to actually use their Microsoft 365 Copilot licence day to day. No technical background is needed: you will learn how Copilot helps with Excel analysis, reporting and reconciliations, how to prompt it well for finance tasks, and why checking every number against source is the one habit that matters most.

Target Audience

Finance and accounting teams: management accountants, financial analysts, finance business partners and their managers. No technical background required.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion, learners will gain a full and clear understanding of:

• What Microsoft 365 Copilot is and how it draws on your own data, in a finance context
• How to use Copilot for practical finance tasks including Excel analysis, reporting and reconciliations
• How to write clear, finance-specific prompts, naming exact ranges, tabs and sources
• What agents are, at a high level, and where they might help with repetitive finance workflows
• How to apply a consistent verification habit to every Copilot-assisted number before relying on it
• What Copilot should never replace: audit, reconciliation controls, regulatory sign-off and professional judgement

Course Contents

Unit 1: Copilot for Finance and Accounting

• What Microsoft 365 Copilot is, and the free versus licensed distinction
• Where Copilot appears across Excel, Outlook, Teams, Word and PowerPoint
• How Copilot draws on your own data through Microsoft Graph, and what it can and cannot see
• Why accuracy matters more in finance than in most roles

Unit 2: Copilot in Your Finance Tasks

• Understanding a spreadsheet you did not build, and getting formula help in plain English
• Building analysis, charts and management reports faster
• Using Copilot to help with reconciliation work, and exactly where the line sits
• Summarising financial documents, contracts and statements

Unit 3: Prompting Copilot for Finance Work

• Understanding a spreadsheet you did not build, and getting formula help in plain English
• Building analysis, charts and management reports faster
• Using Copilot to help with reconciliation work, and exactly where the line sits
• Summarising financial documents, contracts and statements

Unit 4: Accuracy, Verification and Trust

• Why every Copilot-assisted number must be checked against source
• What hallucination means, and what it looks like in a financial context
• What Copilot should never replace: audit, reconciliation controls and regulatory sign-off
• Data security for financial and personal data, and building the habit across a team