Yes. A company that uses Google Sheets can use browser-based financial planning and analysis (FP&A) software or choose a platform that connects directly to Sheets. If you want to keep modeling in Sheets, test data refreshes, budget inputs and access controls there. Check which tasks need Excel and what recipients can see in shared files.
Does FP&A software work for a company that does not use Excel?
FP&A software can work without Excel when the required workflows run in a browser or connect directly to Google Sheets. An Excel add-in may be one interface among several. Check the interface required for each person’s planning, reporting and approval tasks.
Browser-based platforms give budget owners another way to enter and review plans. If the team wants to keep existing Google Sheets models, include those models in the evaluation and ask budget owners to test the proposed workflow.
Illustrative example: a company introduces an Excel-dependent planning workflow while budget owners continue editing Google Sheets copies. Finance then has to determine which version contains the approved assumptions. Test the workflow with a budget owner before choosing a tool.
Ask the vendor which features work in Google Sheets, which require Excel or the web application, and which are in beta. Have them demonstrate the workflows your team needs.
Do I need Excel licenses for everyone to use FP&A software?
FP&A software does not always require Excel licenses. Tools that run in a browser, or that support Google Sheets directly, let budget owners work without Excel. Tools whose core workflows run only through an Excel add-in need an Excel license for each person who touches those workflows.
Check access requirements for every role: finance analysts, budget owners, reviewers and approvers. Some may work in Excel, while others can complete their tasks in Sheets or the web application. Ask the vendor to demonstrate the intended workflow for each role.
Avoid repeated file conversion. If an existing model must move between Excel and Sheets, test its formulas, charts, formatting and automation with the same inputs in both tools. Record any differences before making the converted file the approved model.
A connected setup lets people use the supported interface that fits their work. Compare reports using the same source data, definitions, period and version. Confirm the refresh status in each file before treating the numbers as equivalent.
Can FP&A software push data back into Google Sheets?
FP&A software can send refreshable data into Google Sheets when it has a supported reporting connection. Check how refresh is triggered and whether it preserves the model’s formulas and formatting. Reading actuals into Sheets and submitting budget changes back to the platform are separate workflows; ask the vendor to demonstrate each.
A common workaround uses IMPORTRANGE to pull data from a source spreadsheet into departmental models. Chained imports can delay updates. There is also an access issue: after a destination spreadsheet is authorized, any editor of that file can use IMPORTRANGE to pull from any part of the source. A narrow formula range does not create a department-level permission boundary.
Ask any vendor to show three things:
- Data landing in Sheets through a documented refresh process, with the trigger and data freshness visible.
- A user retrieving only authorized data, followed by a check of what shared-file recipients can see.
- A refresh that preserves the formulas and formatting sitting next to the data.
If a refresh overwrites a budget owner’s notes or formulas, the model needs a different layout or refresh configuration. Test with the real template and check which cells the connection updates.
Can I do serious cash modeling in Google Sheets?
Google Sheets can support a cash forecast when the model has clear ownership, reconciled inputs and controlled assumptions. Test the actual workload: bank data, currencies, refresh dependencies and the review process. With multiple contributors, agree how changes will be reviewed and traced.
Cell capacity alone does not tell you whether a cash model will work well. Check Google’s current spreadsheet limits, then test import chains, calculation time and refresh behavior with representative data. A model that opens successfully still needs to reconcile and respond reliably during a forecast review.
Illustrative example: a bank export switches from month-first to day-first dates. If the import uses the wrong locale or treats dates as text, payments can land in the wrong forecast week. Validate date parsing before relying on the forecast.
For each bank account and period, reconcile opening balance plus inflows minus outflows to closing balance in the account’s currency. Validate dates and check for duplicate or missing transactions before grouping them into forecast weeks. Direct feeds can reduce file-format handling, but reconciliation checks still matter when evaluating cash forecasting tool architectures.
How do I share financial models with non-finance teams who work in Google Sheets?
Share a separate spreadsheet containing only the figures its recipients are allowed to see. Protected ranges restrict editing, and hidden sheets are not a reliable confidentiality control. Datarails permissions govern what a user can pull or drill into; they do not hide values already written into a shared spreadsheet. Check the file’s contents and sharing settings before sending it.
Illustrative example: finance shares a hiring spreadsheet with a hidden payroll tab. A recipient who is allowed to make a copy can unhide that tab in the copy. Remove confidential detail from the version being shared.
Google’s sharing controls let owners limit downloading, printing and copying by user role. These controls reduce some routes for taking a copy, but Google says they cannot prevent recipients from sharing content in other ways. Keep compensation data out of files shared with people who should not see it.
Use separate files for audiences with different access rights, and check that each file contains only the approved data. A sales leader’s report can show permitted headcount costs without payroll detail. Also check who can refresh the file: a refresh by someone with broader access can write additional data into shared cells.
What should a Google-first finance team look for in FP&A software?
Look for full Google Sheets support across the workflows your team needs. Check refresh behavior, planning submissions and file sharing separately. Use the questions below to distinguish supported reporting features from planning features with separate availability or requirements.
| Question for the vendor | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Which features work in Google Sheets, and which need Excel or the web app? | Identifies which planning and reporting tasks stay in Sheets |
| Does data in Sheets refresh, or arrive as a paste? | Shows when and how the numbers refresh |
| Do refreshes keep formulas and notes next to the data? | Protects the formulas and context budget owners add |
| What can each user retrieve, and what can shared-file recipients see? | Shared recipients can see values already written into cells |
| Do budget owners need an Excel license? | Clarifies access requirements for each role |
| Can bank and ERP data feed a Sheets cash model directly? | Tests source coverage, validation and reconciliation |
Datarails FP&A supports teams that work in spreadsheets, and Google Sheets is supported alongside Excel. The Google Sheets add-in brings governed numbers into formulas and tables, with filters and drill-down. Click Refresh to pull updated data from Datarails; changing a filter or reference date also refreshes the report.
FinanceOS®, the foundation underneath Datarails, holds shared financial mappings, definitions and permissions. Teams in Sheets and Excel can work from the same financial context, with data freshness checked in each report.
Planning submissions use the separate Datarails Contributors for Google Sheets feature, currently in beta and enabled per organization. It opens a snapshot of a planning document in Sheets. Editable cell values go back to Datarails when the user clicks Submit; saving in Google Drive does not submit them, and formulas are sent as calculated values. Datarails FP&A covers budgeting and reporting, and Datarails Cash connects bank data directly for the cash model.
Use an illustrative hiring model in the evaluation. Ask the vendor to give a sales leader a Sheets file with only the permitted headcount costs. Check the cells, hidden sheets, allowed downloads and what happens when someone refreshes with a different account.
How to evaluate Datarails with your Google Sheets model
Bring a Google Sheets model to a Datarails demo. Test a refresh and the intended sharing workflow, then confirm whether the planning submission features your budget owners need are enabled for your organization.
