When Microsoft first released Copilot in 2023, it was unable to process even simple Excel tasks such as lookup formulas. So recalls David Fortin CPA, specialist Copilot Instructor and Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP).

Now that Copilot’s artificial intelligence (AI) has had three years to develop, he tells us, it’s a different story.

“I think of Copilot as a great generalist,” Fortin says. “Some AI tools have a specific focus – on financial modelling, say, or making graphics. But in accountancy, Copilot has become a really effective general assistant on a day-to-day basis, helping people to be more productive at work. At the same time, it’s very capable of executing specific tasks, such as helping with Excel formulas. That’s just one of the basic functions that Copilot lends itself to.”

However, Fortin believes that accountants could make even bigger dents in their workloads by flexing more of the tool’s muscles. Here are his picks of five capabilities that will help finance professionals to go further with Copilot:

1. Equal Copilot, or ‘=Copilot’

Currently in Beta testing – so keep an eye out for its release – this function enables users to essentially summon Copilot for on-the-spot evaluations and troubleshooting.

“Let’s say you’re a CFO dealing with an accounts receivable (AR) task,” Fortin says. “You’re aware that your business is suffering from payment issues, and there’s a long list of invoices on your screen. Some clients look as though they are going to be late, and others are already past due. You have a comment from your AR analyst attached to the data, and you want a clear picture of your risks.”

According to Fortin, if you type =COPILOT() to open a bracket and load Copilot, you can enter a prompt such as “Assign high, medium and low risk ratings to these invoices based on due dates and this comment,” then drag the bracket down the invoice data. Almost instantly, Copilot will produce those risk ratings.

“That’s very handy for rapid sentiment analysis,” Fortin says.

2. Excel Agent Mode

Just out of Beta, so well worth exploring, Agent Mode is housed within Excel itself and can be tasked with a variety of different duties. For example, on the accounts payable side, imagine you have a batch of credit card statements from all 10 of your company’s vice presidents. For monthly reporting purposes, you need to combine those statements into one Excel sheet.

Fortin explains: “You can activate Copilot’s Excel Agent Mode and enter a prompt such as, ‘Merge all these statements into one sheet so I can do a Pivot Table analysis on the data – plus, include tabs to identify which information comes from which VP.’ It’s a great capability that I’ve tested many times.”

He notes: “In this sort of scenario, I’d advise asking Agent Mode to add a validation sheet for exhaustivity testing. That will enable you to double-check the results and ensure that nothing’s been lost in translation.”

That is just one type of task that the versatile Excel Agent Mode can execute. In Fortin’s assessment, this marks a steep evolution – in its early days, Copilot provided verbal assistance on Excel procedures, but no hands-on, problem-solving input.

3. Formula Completion

With this capability, you can ask Copilot to make an informed guess or prediction about which sort of Excel formula you need to create at a particular stage of the workflow.

Once activated, the tool will use its AI reasoning to deduce the nature of the required formula from the information available around a specific cell – ie, the headings of columns and numerical data such as dates.

“It's pretty accurate,” Fortin says. “I’d say around 99% of the time, it will predict what you want to do.”

4. Researcher Agent

While Agent Mode is housed within Excel, Researcher Agent lives within the subscription-based, business version of Copilot in Microsoft 365.

Fortin explains: “If you opt for the paid version of Copilot, it will be able to access your entire 365 environment – including areas such as your Outlook calendar, plus your chats and meetings history in Teams.”

Researcher Agent, he notes, is a pre-built Copilot function that requires no special tailoring, and can be put to multiple different uses in the 365 setting. For example, you could ask it at the beginning of the week to help you prepare for any upcoming meetings scheduled for the next few days, and it will hunt around your Microsoft systems for the relevant information.

“The agent may ask you a few follow-up questions, such as whether it should focus on a particular client or project. But typically, it will gather up all the details you need in something like eight to 13 minutes. It’s particularly useful for busy people.”

5. Customised agents

Alongside pre-built agents that can be put to various uses, Copilot also enables users to craft their own agents tailored to how their business works.

For example, consider a business with particularly complex accounts that require input from multiple departments. That company could build an agent that shows members of staff how the accounts are organised and where new data should be entered.

However, Fortin points out: “Customised agents don’t have to be for accounting purposes at all – just anything that helps to make your business more efficient. For example, I make lots of YouTube videos, so I have an agent that helps me to create titles based on the transcripts. I have many others that aren’t accounting related.”

He stresses: “If you haven’t dipped your toes into building agents yet, I strongly recommend giving it a try.”

Keep pushing

In that spirit, Fortin encourages accountants to approach Copilot in a positive frame of mind, rooted in experimentation and persistence.

"To get the most out of Copilot and go even further, the key is to not give up,” he says. “You may try something and not get the result you were looking for – but the thing you wanted to achieve may be doable in six months’ time, because the AI is always evolving. This is a big revolution. So, you really need to keep trying and learning.”