Tips for finance

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Work with budgets

• Create & collaborate on budget proposals
• Brainstorm in real time about budgets & strategies
• Create financial statements & budgets with templates

Visualize and organize data

• Build financial models to assess projects
• Show fluctuations using pivot tables or waterfall charts
• Organize financial information with functions

Collaborate and share content

• Share & manage file access for cross-functional teams
• Conduct internal surveys & analyze results
• Create presentations for proposals & planning
• Host real-time metrics & data visualizations on a website
• Use generative AI at work

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Create & collaborate on budget proposals

Draft a budget proposal for a project and get feedback from your team using Google Docs. The people you share the draft with can add comments and suggest inline edits. You can then respond to comments and obtain the necessary approvals. In the revision history, there’s an audit trail to see who made which changes and you can revert to a previous version at any time.

Brainstorm in real time about budgets & strategies

After you confirm your project budget, get your team involved by collaborating in a Google Meet video meeting. Share a link in the meeting to your budget spreadsheets in Google Sheets that everyone can edit and use to brainstorm. Then, during the call, start strategizing together and writing down ideas so everyone is on the same page.

Create financial statements & budgets with templates

Create financial statements and balance the books with a Sheets template from Xero Accounting Software. Use a template from Intuit Quickbooks to track your annual income and expenses.

Get templates now: Google Sheets template gallery

Build financial models to assess projects

To find out if your proposed project is worthwhile, create financial models using Sheets. Calculate internal rate of return (IRR), return on investment (ROI), and net present value (NPV). See the impact of what-if scenarios by adjusting key inputs in your model. Show when costs approach budget limitations using conditional formatting colors. Then, share the spreadsheet with your team to get their feedback.

Learn how at the Google Docs Editors Help Center

Show fluctuations using pivot tables or waterfall charts

See how your company’s profit changes quarterly from year to year with a waterfall chart. Or, group total sales from different regions so you can see a combined subtotal in a pivot table.

Organize financial information with functions

Sheets makes it easy to bring order and meaning to financial data. Move financial data from several spreadsheets into a single spreadsheet with the IMPORTRANGE function. Add stock prices to visualize trends with the GOOGLEFINANCE function.

Share & manage file access for cross-functional teams

Finance teams often work cross-functionally with other departments, such as marketing and sales. Keeping everyone in the loop can be a daunting task, whether you’re hosting an internal discussion with staff members or communicating between different departments. Google Groups makes it easy to communicate quickly with everyone at once. You can also limit how confidential or sensitive project information is shared by only adding certain people to a group. After adding email accounts to a group, you can send an email.

Create a group

Conduct internal surveys & analyze results

If your finance department is providing services to another group, you can measure the quality of those services with an internal survey. Or, help prioritize projects by sending stakeholders a survey to collect financial data. You can also streamline your operations using internal surveys to identify redundant processes or procedures that have marginal value. Use Google Forms to build and send your survey. Then, quickly analyze the responses captured in Sheets to inform team decisions.

Create presentations for proposals & planning

When beginning a project, craft a visually compelling proposal with Google Vids and Slides. Share the presentation with your team so everyone can add their feedback.

Learn how:

• Get started with Google Vids
• Create your first presentation in Slides

Host real-time metrics & data visualizations on a website

When working cross-functionally, team members often need key metrics on topics, such as budgets, ROI, and bottom lines. Create an internal team website in Google Sites to host this data as well as links to important documents. Then, use permissions and Groups to control access to sensitive information.

Learn how

Create a site in Google Sites

Choose an option:

• In Sites, at the top, click Blank or Template gallery and select a template.
• In Drive, click New MoreGoogle Sites.

Learn more: Get started with Google Sites

Create a group & add team members

1. Sign in to Google Groups.
2. At the top, click Create group.
3. Enter information and choose settings for the group. Here are some suggested settings:
   • Who can view conversations: Only members of the team (if you want to keep project communications private.
   • Group members: Email address of each person on the project team
   • Group managers: Email address of any team member who might need to add others to the team later.
   • Directly add members: Turn this option On so you can control who joins the group.
4. Click Create group.

Wait a few minutes for your new group to become active before sending a message to it. Otherwise, you might get a notification that your message couldn't be delivered.

Learn more at the Groups Help Center

Grant site access to your team members

1. On a computer, open a site in new Google Sites.
2. At the top, click Share .
3. Next to "Published site," from the drop-down list, select Restricted or Public.
   • If you use Sites for work or school, you may find other options. 
4. Click Save or Done.
5. ​If you selected "Restricted," you can share your site with specific people and add groups. Enter the name or email address of the person you want to add, then click the dropdown  Published Viewer Send.
   • To send an email notification to the person or group, check "Notify people."

Learn more at the Google Sites Help Center

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