Finatical Software

05/08/2026

In the restaurant world, cash doesn’t lie. But it does disappear faster than a plate of fries.

Margins are tight. Labor moves. Food costs fluctuate.

And most operators? Still looking backward.

The ones who stay ahead live in the 13-week sales trend. A weekly pulse check: What’s happening now. What’s about to hit.

But building it? Not exactly fun. Food costs and labor don’t even live in the same place.

In QuickBooks Online, you’re pulling different reports… and stitching them together manually. Every. Week.

So it either takes hours, breaks, or quietly gets ignored.

Now flip it: structured data in Excel, refreshing live. A rolling 13-week view… that actually rolls.

Add AI: “Why does cash dip in week 6?” "What if labor ticks up 5%?” Answers in seconds.

Less spreadsheet gymnastics. More actual decisions. That’s where Finatical Software fits in. Structured, accurate data, every time.

Because in restaurants, you don’t get time to figure it out later. You get about 13 weeks… if you’re lucky.

04/29/2026

“The 60% Fairy Tale”. Most restaurateurs know the number. 60% prime cost. That’s the target. That’s the goal. That’s what a healthy operation looks like. But getting there? That’s where it breaks down.

Labor creeps up during busy weeks. Food costs drift with supplier changes. Reports arrive too late to act. And every month becomes a rebuild exercise just to see what happened.

So instead of managing toward 60%, you’re reacting to what already went wrong. The issue isn’t effort. It’s not knowledge either. It’s visibility and format.

When prime cost isn’t tracked weekly, structured in a way operators can actually use, and consistent period over period, you don’t manage it. You chase it.

That’s exactly the gap Finatical is able to solve with Flash Reports.

With Flash: prime cost numbers are updated live in your Dashboard, weekly operator reports provide clarity, labor + COGS can be grouped to report together. You can actually see the drift before it becomes a problem.

So instead of asking “What happened last month?” You start asking “What do we adjust for next week?” And that’s how you get to 60%.

If you’re working with restaurant clients and still rebuilding reports every month, it might be time to rethink the workflow.

Sign up for the webinar to learn more: https://bit.ly/4sX95de

04/24/2026

Most CFOs are using AI wrong. They use it for speed. Faster formulas. Faster models. That’s not the advantage.

The real advantage? Better inputs. Take this question:

“What happens if we raise prices 5%?”

There’s no template for that.

It depends on:
Volume
Behavior
Cost structure

AI can help you model it. But only if your data is ready.

Clean.
Structured.
Live.

Otherwise… it’s just guessing faster.

That’s why tools like Finatical Software matter. They turn Excel into a structured, refreshable data layer.

Not static exports.
Not broken models.

Now add AI, and the toughest, most ambiguous decision models become possible:

“Build a pricing sensitivity model with volume scenarios and margin impact.”

And suddenly:
• You test decisions in minutes
• You adjust assumptions live
• You see trade-offs instantly

This isn’t Excel work. It’s decision modeling. AI is the accelerator.
Structured data is the foundation. The best CFOs use both.

04/22/2026

Restaurant clients don’t have monthly problems… they have weekly ones. Food costs spike mid-week. Labor overruns happen shift by shift. Cash leaks out quietly — long before the month-end P&L shows up.

But it’s not just a timing issue. It’s a report format problem too.

Even when the numbers are available, most practitioners can’t get them into a format operators can actually use — which means more manual work, more rebuilding, and still no right insights.

That’s the gap. On April 29, we’re showing how to fix both.

Join QuickBooks ProAdvisor Debra Kilsheimer and Finatical's Chris Meyer for a live session built specifically for accountants, CAS teams, and fractional CFOs serving restaurants.

They'll walk through the 3 weekly reports that shift you from reporting to real advisory:
• Prime Cost Report → food + labor as % of sales, tracked weekly against targets (

04/15/2026

Your clients don't need another static report...

They need insights they can act on.

Many firms still pull QBO data manually, drop it into Excel, and spend hours formatting before any real analysis begins.

There's a faster way.

Flash Reports refreshes your client's QBO financial data directly in Excel. No exports. No copy-paste. Just live data.

Then Claude for Excel does the heavy lifting.

One prompt. Four key ratios. With plain-language insights your clients will actually understand.

Current ratio. Quick ratio. Debt-to-equity. Gross margin - in fact, any ratios.

Calculated and results explained in seconds.

This is how modern firms are delivering more value without adding more hours.

Not a new platform. Not a complex implementation.

Just three tools working together inside the Excel your team already knows.

Check this out to see the full workflow. 👇

04/01/2026

Most people don’t struggle with Excel.
They struggle with how they’re learning Excel.
At some point, every spreadsheet turns into this:

=IF(C90,(B9-C9)/ABS(C9),"")

You stare at it.

You recognize parts of it.

But not enough to confidently explain it… or extend it.

And that’s the real issue.

Not complexity.

Lack of a learning loop.

Because Excel itself isn’t the problem.

It’s one of the most powerful tools ever built for Finance.

The problem is how we’ve been forced to learn it:
• Google → copy → paste
• ChatGPT (in a browser) → copy → paste
• Hope it works
• Experimentation

No feedback.
Limited understanding.
Slow improvement over time.

So formulas keep feeling “hard”:

• Nested IFs that don’t scale
• INDEX + MATCH combinations that feel fragile
• SUMIFS that silently break
• Date logic that takes too long to get right

But now there’s a better way to learn.

Not by replacing Excel.

By bringing Claude into Excel.

Now you can ask—right next to your data:
“Explain this formula step by step.”
“Why is this returning /A?”
“How would you improve this?”
“Add a variance column and % with formatting.”

And instead of guessing…and experimenting

You get immediate explanation.

Context.

Feedback.

That’s the shift:

From
copying formulas

→ to
understanding logic as you build

And once that happens…

Excel helps you scale and move from creating reports and dashboards to developing insights.

Faster.

03/24/2026

So you installed Claude for Excel.

Now what?

Most people will use it like a faster Google.

That’s the wrong play.

The real shift isn’t speed.
It’s how you interact with your models.

Here are 5 ways I see finance teams using it every day — and the prompts that actually make it useful:

1. Understand, don’t just use formulas

Most models break because no one really understands them.

Claude fixes that.

Prompt:
"Explain what the formula in D14 is doing. Break down each part in plain English and reference the cells it depends on."

2. Stop hunting for errors

hashtag !, hashtag !, circular references…
These used to cost time.

Now they’re just questions.

Prompt:
"Cell F22 shows a hashtag ! error. Trace where it comes from, explain the cause, and suggest the best fix."

3. Change inputs without breaking the model

One of the biggest risks in Excel = accidental damage.

Claude lets you be precise.

Prompt:
"Update the growth rate in B5 from 8% to 12%. Only change that input. Don’t modify any dependent formulas. Highlight the change."

4. Build analysis on demand

You don’t need to “set aside time” to improve reports anymore.

You can extend them as you think.

Prompt:
"Add a gross margin % column next to revenue and cost. Create the formula, insert it correctly, and explain the calculation."

5. Finally, understand multi-tab models

Most workbooks weren’t built to be understood.

They were built to work.

Claude bridges that gap.

Prompt:
"Trace how the revenue on the Summary tab is calculated. Show which sheets feed into it and how the data flows end-to-end."

The takeaway:

This isn’t about AI doing the work for you.

It’s about removing friction between thinking and building.

The people who figure this out first won’t just be faster.

They’ll build better models.

And that compounds.

03/17/2026

Most accountants don’t struggle with what variance is.

They struggle with the time it takes to build it into every report.

Variance column.
Variance %.
Formatting.
Consistency across clients.

It adds up.

In this video, I show how I used Claude for Excel to generate:
- A variance column
- A variance % column
- Clean conditional formatting

In seconds — directly inside Excel.

A basic example that just illustrates the principle.

But what’s interesting isn’t just the speed.

It’s what this unlocks.

When the mechanics of reporting get compressed… you get more time to focus on what actually matters:

👉 Explaining the numbers
👉 Advising the client
👉 Driving decisions

And if your reports are already live from QuickBooks into Excel… this becomes even more powerful.

AI isn’t replacing Excel.

It’s turning it into an advisory workspace.

Check out the video here:

Want to add additional columns or extend a report and not totally sure how? No problem. Now you can just add Claude in Excel to build out these additional co...

03/12/2026

Ever seen this Excel error?

/0!

It usually shows up right when you're building a variance column or updating a report.

You know the fix probably involves wrapping the formula in an IF statement… but remembering the exact syntax usually means a quick search on Google (or lately asking ChatGPT).

But now tools like Claude can work directly inside Excel.

Instead of leaving the spreadsheet, you can just ask Claude why the formula is returning the error and to fix it.

In this quick video, our Chris Meyer shows Claude identifying the issue and fixing all the formulas. Check it out.

Curious — have you started using AI to troubleshoot spreadsheet errors yet?

03/03/2026

Be honest — how many times has a client looked at you across the table and asked, “Am I actually making money?”

It should be an easy question to answer. But when all you have is a standard set of financials — and limited time after getting everything booked and reconciled — it’s not that simple. Right?

And that’s just one of the five questions that come up in nearly every client meeting. They’re the questions that separate bookkeepers and practitioners who report numbers…from Advisors who drive decisions.

The shift from bookkeeper to Client Advisory Services (CAS) provider isn’t about getting a new credential or learning a new accounting standard. It’s about answering the questions your clients are already asking — with confidence, with data, and with a framework that makes you the most valuable person in the room.

Join us for a live webinar:

📅 Date: Thursday March 5th
⏰ Time: 12pm EST
🎤 Presenters: Debra Kilsheimer & Chris Meyer
💻 Format: Live Webinar + Q&A

👉 Reserve your spot here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rL8qxIvRS_Om3iNm_Euh4Q

Together, we’ll cover:

Answer "Am I making money?" with a real profitability picture your client will actually understand

Answer "Can I afford to hire someone?" using live data that gives you a clear yes, no, or not yet.

Answer "Am I actually growing?" with trend analysis that shows what's real momentum versus a one-off good month.

Answer "What should I do next?" like the Strategic Advisor your client already thinks you are and that you can now be billing for.

The secret? It’s not about working harder. It’s about combining the right tools. We’ll show you how Flash Reports pulls real-time QuickBooks Online data directly into Excel — and how pairing that with AI-powered interpretation by Claude in Excel lets you walk into every client meeting with advisory-grade insights ready to go. No extra hours. No guesswork. Just a smarter workflow that elevates your services and your fees.

About the Presenters:

Debra Kilsheimer

Debra Kilsheimer is a nationally recognized accounting practice strategist and founder of Behind the Scenes Financials. She helps bookkeepers and accounting firms transition from transactional work to profitable Consulting & Advisory Services (CAS) through smarter workflows, clearer messaging, and client-centric advisory models.

Chris Meyer

Chris Meyer is the CEO and Co-Founder of Finatical Software and an expert in financial systems and Excel-based reporting. A former KPMG auditor and Chartered Accountant (SA), Chris helps accounting firms replace manual reporting with live, refreshable QBO-to-Excel workflows that power modern advisory practices.

If you’ve been thinking about how to offer more to your clients — and charge accordingly — this is the hour that shows you exactly how to start.

We look forward to seeing you there,

Chris and Debra