Most charity finance teams didn't choose to run their reporting on spreadsheets, the processes simply evolved that way, as funder expectations, trustee demands and regulatory requirements grew faster than the systems underneath them. The result is familiar across the sector: skilled finance professionals spending more time gathering, checking and reformatting data than analysing it.

With the reporting environment tightening, the gap between what's being asked of finance teams and what legacy processes can deliver is only widening.

This practical session sets out how charity finance teams can reduce the spreadsheet burden incrementally, identifying where time is really being lost, building towards a single trusted source of financial data, automating routine work, and making reporting easier for trustees and funders. So finance can spend less time on administration and more time supporting the mission.

You’ll learn how to:

• Recognise the warning signs that spreadsheet workarounds have quietly become reporting systems

• Map your own reporting data journey to spot risk and time drains

• Take practical, low-disruption first steps toward a single source of financial truth

• Identify which routine finance tasks are the best candidates for automation