Reconcile a budget export against actuals and draft commentary

Step 1: Confirm you have the approved budget, not a draftExcel

Check the file name and the approval date against whoever owns budget sign-off before starting.

A draft version that looked final but had one more revision cycle will produce commentary that's confidently wrong in a way that's hard to catch after the fact, since every number downstream still looks internally consistent.

Step 2: Let Cowork do the full reconciliationCopilot Cowork

Hand it both files and let it work through the comparison end-to-end rather than doing the matching yourself first.

Prompt idea:

Reconcile this quarter's actuals against the approved budget by line item. For any variance over 10%, draft a short commentary paragraph explaining the likely driver based on what changed this quarter.

Step 3: Edit the commentary for context Cowork doesn't haveExcel

It can describe what changed in the numbers; it can't know about the contract renegotiation or headcount freeze that actually explains it — add that context yourself.

Step 4: File it with the source data linkedExcel

Keep the reconciliation sheet linked to both source files so anyone questioning a number later can trace it.

Check the work

• Confirm the reconciliation totals tie back to both source files exactly.
• Read every drafted commentary paragraph against what you actually know happened that quarter.
• Check that variances under your threshold weren't silently dropped from the summary.

Source: A Guide to Cloud, "Microsoft Copilot Cowork — Complete Use-Cases Guide" (2026)