Microsoft expands Copilot’s reach in finance workflows

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Dive Brief:

• Microsoft is further expanding its artificial intelligence capabilities for finance teams, equipping its Copilot assistant with new features that can help automate accounting tasks and support more complex analysis, the company announced Thursday.

• The update includes more than 25 new finance skills and “partner-built plug-ins” across Microsoft Copilot, according to the announcement. While Excel has long been a central tool for finance professionals’ analysis and modeling, the new capabilities let users start broader workflows directly in the Copilot app and bring in Excel when needed, Microsoft said.

• “From preparing a month-end close to evaluating an acquisition, we’re building Copilot for the breadth of finance,” Brian Jones, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of the Excel product group,…