Summary
- Microsoft is adding new accounting capabilities to Copilot in Excel and Cowork for finance workflows such as reconciliations, journal entries, variance analysis, reporting, budgeting, forecasting, audit, tax, compliance, and training.
- The change is aimed at finance professionals using Microsoft Copilot, including accountants, AP/AR specialists, and controllers.
- Copilot only works with content users can access, respects existing permissions and sensitivity labels, and does not post anything to an ERP or system of record without user approval.
- During Public Preview, access is controlled through Microsoft 365 admin center Frontier settings; admins must enable Frontier and assign Copilot licenses to the intended users.
- Frontier enrollment is not required once General Availability begins.
Primary Service: M365 Copilot
Admin Impact: Medium
User Impact: Medium
Release Start: 13 Nov 2026
Release End: 30 Nov 2026
Services: Excel, M365 Copilot
Category: Stay informed
Tags: Admin Action, New Feature, User Adoption, Highlighted
History
11/3/2026 Item Added to Message Center
Microsoft Message
New accounting capabilities in Copilot in Excel and Cowork help finance professionals complete common accounting tasks in the tools they already use. Users can reconcile accounts, prepare journal entries, analyze financial performance and variances, and prepare financial reports. Additional capabilities support budgeting, forecasting, audit, tax, compliance, and training.
Copilot prepares the work while users retain control of review, approval, and posting. Nothing is posted automatically to an ERP or system of record without approval.
Rollout schedule
- Public Preview: We will begin rolling out in late October 2026 and expect to complete by mid-November 2026
- General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out on November 13, 2026, and expect to complete by late November 2026
Impact on your organization
Who is affected
Accountants, AP/AR specialists, controllers, and other finance professionals with a Microsoft Copilot licenses
Platforms and services
- Microsoft Copilot
- Microsoft Excel
- Cowork
What will happen
- Users can reconcile accounts by comparing balances and transactions, identifying discrepancies, and preparing reconciling items for review.
- Users can draft journal entries, including accruals, reclassifications, allocations, reversals, and recurring entries, with checks for required inputs and balanced entries.
- Users can analyze financial performance against plan, identify key drivers, and prepare financial reporting and variance analysis.
- Additional capabilities support budgeting, forecasting, audit, tax, compliance, and training.
- In Excel and Cowork, finance professionals can choose to capture an audit trail when they invoke an accounting capability. When selected, a record of what Copilot changed and why is created in their chat history. Audit trails are currently available in Excel and are planned for Cowork.
- Copilot works only with content each user can access, respects existing permissions and sensitivity labels, and stays within the Microsoft 365 service boundary.
- Nothing is posted automatically to an ERP or system of record without user approval.
- Accounting capabilities can use connectors as separate sources, including sources used to read from or write to ERP systems. The accounting capabilities do not depend on these connectors. Third-party accounting connectors may require separate licensing or admin enablement.
Action required and recommendations
Action required: During Public Preview, accounting capabilities in Excel and Cowork are available to users who have a Microsoft Copilot license and are enrolled in Microsoft Copilot Frontier. Beginning with General Availability on November 13, 2026, Frontier enrollment will not be required.
To provide access during Public Preview:
- Assign Microsoft Copilot licenses to finance users who need access.
- In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Copilot > Settings > Frontier, turn on Frontier, and choose whether to provide access to all eligible users or specific users or groups, such as your finance team.
- Enroll your admin account in Frontier if you need to see and manage Frontier features such as Cowork in the admin center.
- Consider notifying your finance teams about the new accounting capabilities.
Learn more
- Available plugins for Copilot Cowork | Microsoft Learn
- Microsoft Copilot for finance: Purpose-built for the way finance teams work | Microsoft Copilot Blog
- Use built-in skills and skills created by Microsoft with Copilot in Excel | Microsoft Support
- Explore AI Early Access in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Frontier
- Get Started with Frontier for IT Admins | Microsoft Frontier
Compliance considerations
Question: Does the change introduce or significantly modify AI/ML or agent capabilities that interact with or provide access to customer data?
Answer: Yes. The new accounting capabilities use Microsoft Copilot to perform accounting-related work using content the user can access.
Question: Does the change provide end users a new way of interacting with generative AI?
Answer: Yes. Finance users can use Copilot accounting capabilities in Excel and Cowork for reconciliation, journal entries, analysis, and reporting.