Introducing Microsoft Copilot for Finance

Transform financial operations with intelligent automation, real-time insights, and seamless integration across Microsoft 365

The finance department is often considered the heart of an organisation, managing a wide range of critical yet complex responsibilities—from quote-to-cash processes like credit and collections to risk management and compliance. Financial teams are not only tasked with executing these essential operations but are increasingly expected to deliver real-time insights into business performance and provide strategic recommendations for growth.

According to recent research, 80% of finance leaders and teams face challenges in shifting their focus from operational duties to more strategic work. While finance professionals are ready to play a greater role in shaping business strategy, they cannot neglect the core responsibilities that keep the organisation running.

To support this evolving role, Flotek wants you to know that Microsoft has introduced Copilot for Finance—a new AI-powered experience within Microsoft 365 designed specifically for financial professionals. Now available in public preview, Copilot for Finance integrates with existing financial systems such as Dynamics 365 and SAP, offering role-specific workflow automation, guided actions, and intelligent recommendations across familiar tools like Outlook, Excel, and Teams.

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Accelerating Financial Innovation

Finance teams are key drivers of operational efficiency and innovation. However, many still spend a significant portion of their time on repetitive, manual tasks. In fact, 62% of finance professionals report being bogged down by data entry and review cycles. While some tasks—such as compliance and tax reporting—require human oversight, many others could benefit from automation.

With the pace of business accelerating, investing in technologies like generative AI (GenAI) is becoming essential. In the next three to five years, 68% of CFOs expect revenue growth driven by GenAI. By automating time-consuming processes and delivering actionable insights, Copilot for Finance enables finance teams to focus on high-impact, strategic work.

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Microsoft Copilot for Finance: Accomplish more with less

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Copilot for Finance brings AI-powered assistance directly into Microsoft 365 applications, helping finance professionals streamline audits, simplify collections, and accelerate reporting. It enables users to interact using natural language prompts, such as:
“Help me understand forecast-to-actuals variance data.”

Copilot then pulls relevant data from connected systems, surfaces insights, and suggests next steps—all while maintaining transparency by allowing users to verify source data.

Key capabilities include:

• Audit automation: Reconcile data and identify discrepancies with a single prompt.

• Collections support: Prioritise accounts, summarise conversations, and generate payment plans.

• Variance detection: Identify outliers and generate contextual insights for financial reporting.

Copilot for Finance integrates with Microsoft Copilot Studio, allowing connections to thousands of financial systems. It not only pulls data but can also update records, keeping users in the flow of work.

Built for finance professionals

Copilot for Finance is well versed in the critical and often time-consuming tasks and processes across a finance professional’s workday, providing a simple way to ask questions about data, surface insights, and automate processes—helping to reduce the time spent on repetitive actions. While today’s modern finance team is responsible for a litany of tasks, let’s explore three scenarios that Copilot for Finance supports at public preview.  

Audits of a company’s financial statements are critical to ensuring accuracy and mitigating risk. Traditionally, accounts receivable managers were required to pull account data manually from ERP records, reconcile it in Excel, and look for inaccuracies manually. 

With Copilot for Finance, these critical steps are done with a single prompt, allowing AR managers to act on inconsistencies and any delinquencies found with Copilot suggested copy and relevant invoices.   

The collections process is another critical responsibility as it affects company cash flow, profitability, and customer relationships. Collection coordinators spend their time reviewing outstanding accounts and attempting to reconcile them in a timely manner. This often means phone calls, emails, and negotiating payment plans. With Copilot for Finance, collection coordinators can focus their time on more meaningful client-facing interactions by leaving the busy work to Copilot. 

Copilot for Finance supports the collections process end-to-end by suggesting priority accounts, summarising conversations to record back to ERP, and providing customised payment plans for customers.    

Copilot for Finance can also help financial analysts to reduce the risk of reporting errors and missing unidentified variances. Rather than manually reviewing large financial data sets for unusual patterns, users can prompt Copilot to detect outliers and highlight variances for investigation. Copilot for Finance streamlines variance identification with reusable natural language instructions in the enterprise context. A financial analyst can direct Copilot to identify answers for variances, and Copilot will gather supporting data autonomously.  

Need help navigating the latest enhancements to Copilot?  

Microsoft Copilot for Finance represents a significant step forward in empowering finance teams to do more with less. By automating routine tasks and surfacing strategic insights, it enables professionals to focus on what truly matters—driving business performance and growth.

As finance continues to evolve, tools like Copilot for Finance will be essential in helping teams stay agile, efficient, and impactful. Get in touch today

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