Tip 200) Excel: A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing​

Old sayings have a habit of being proven time and time again - I once tried to save £500 by scrimping on an accountant, and nearly missed £3k of tax savings for my trouble. I’ve seen senior directors waste whole days on 5-minute jobs because they didn’t know the right spreadsheet formulas. My current client wouldn’t even use their main financial reporting file because it was poorly designed, making it slow and difficult to use.

You can’t be good at everything, so focus your energy on what you’re good at and accept that a specialist can be worth far more than you realise – they won’t just do what you want but will pick up on what you need too, preventing problems elsewhere.

They’re usually happy to chat for free just to demonstrate how much value they can add. For my client, I spent a short time automating a process that saved them 2 man days per month forever: £200 one-off cost vs £5k per year savings. Plus their reporting file is now slick and easy to use, giving them access to extensive insights they should’ve had for years.


I specialise in financial modelling, data analytics, forecasting & automation – in fact anything in a spreadsheet. This forces me to think through problems thoroughly and in ways that others might not; my major client already pays all my bills so I’m not looking for major income but I’d like to be part of something interesting, and a go-to guy for small businesses locally when they’re thinking of a new project. Or maybe you have a broken spreadsheet and don’t know where to start?

I might even fix it for free cos I’m nice like that.

Matt Gibbs

You can find Matt at https://www.facebook.com/Gatcombe/