Copilot Workshop
for Accounting Teams
Microsoft 365 Copilot, hands-on, on your team's own files
Bottom line: the Copilot workshop for accounting teams shows each person how to use Copilot on Monday morning's work. The AP person cross-checks two files and gets the gaps listed. The credit controller drafts the chasers. Whoever does reconciliations pulls amounts, dates and payment terms out of PDFs and email threads into one table.
I've worked and trained on Gen AI since early 2022, and I've run 264 AI sessions in 112 organisations (updated October 2026).
Who sits in the room: Copilot for accounts payable and receivable
Copilot for accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) starts with the people who handle the documents. That means AP, AR and credit control, the people who do bank and balance-sheet reconciliations, and whoever builds the month-end pack and the audit request list. One room (they usually share half the files anyway).
If your team lives in Excel models and management reports, the Copilot in Excel workshop for finance teams fits better. Sourcing and negotiation are the procurement team workshop.
What your team practises: Microsoft Copilot training for accountants
Microsoft Copilot training for accountants here means your people bring their own real tasks. Here are six to start from.
01Cross-check two files
Copilot for reconciliations starts here: two files, one list of the gaps. You read the list and decide what's real.
02Documents into a table
Amounts, dates and payment terms out of PDFs and email threads, into one table you can sort.
03Clean an ERP export in Excel
The export arrives messy. Copilot helps you tidy it before anyone touches a formula.
04Compare periods
Two periods side by side, with what looks odd flagged for you to check.
05Credit-control and supplier emails
First drafts of the chaser and the reply. You change the tone and send.
06The "still missing" list
Copilot for month-end close, before the close: what hasn't arrived yet, and from whom.
Your team brings the tasks, so the outputs aren't guaranteed. What is guaranteed: each participant leaves with the prompts they wrote on their own real tasks (I'd rather keep the promise small and true).
Microsoft 365 Copilot prepares, your controls stay where they are
A wrong number costs real money here, so here is where the line sits. Copilot prepares, cross-checks and drafts. Every number that goes into an official document passes the same control as if a person had prepared it.
This is Microsoft 365 Copilot, which works on files, email, chats and meetings. It isn't an agent-building course.
Microsoft states in its Copilot privacy documentation (2026) that Copilot only surfaces organisational data to which the user has at least view permissions. More in Copilot, GDPR and EU data residency.
How the Copilot workshop for accounting teams runs
The workshop runs 1.5 to 4 hours, for up to 20 participants, on site or online. The details, including the length, are agreed on a short call.
Why a session and not just a licence? According to Recon Analytics (February 2026), only 35.8% of US workers who have Copilot available at work use it as their main AI tool. Here's why Copilot rollouts stall.
Mixed roles in one room? There's the general Copilot workshop. Head of Accounting wants the manager's view first? Copilot training for managers.
Common questions
What does an accounting team actually practise in a Copilot workshop?
Your team works on its own real accounting tasks. For example reconciling two Excel files, checking supplier and customer balances, chasing missing invoices by email, building the "what's still missing" list before month-end close, or making sense of a formula in a workbook someone else built. Everyone leaves with the prompts they wrote themselves.
How long is a Copilot workshop for accounting teams, how many people can join, and can it run online?
It runs 1.5 to 4 hours, for up to 20 participants, on site or online. The details are agreed on a short call.
How is the Copilot workshop for accounting teams different from Copilot training for finance teams?
This one is built around the day-to-day accounting operation: AP, AR and collections, reconciliations and month-end prep. The finance teams session focuses on analysis in Excel and management reports. If your team does both, say so on the call.
Can accountants trust Copilot in Excel with the numbers?
Copilot in Excel builds with Excel's own features, so the result stays editable and every cell can be checked (Microsoft support documentation, September 2026). The person who signs off the numbers is still you. So the checking gets practised too: ask, read the formula, compare it with the source.
Can Copilot show my accounting team files they shouldn't see?
According to Microsoft, Copilot only surfaces organisational data that the user already has at least view permission for (Microsoft privacy documentation, 2026). So the real question is what each person can already open. More in Copilot, GDPR and EU data residency.
Does every participant need a Copilot licence?
The workshop practises on your organisation's own Copilot, so the people in the room need access to it. If you're not sure who has it, we sort that out on the short call.
We already pay for Copilot licences. Why does the accounting team need a workshop?
Because a licence isn't the same as use. According to Recon Analytics (February 2026), only 35.8% of US workers who have Copilot available at work use it as their main AI tool. The workshop works on that gap with your accounting team's own tasks. The CFO has a session for the leadership team too.
Who runs the workshop, and what experience do you have?
I do. I've been working with and training on Gen AI since early 2022, and I've run 264 AI sessions in 112 organisations (updated October 2026). Organisations I have worked with include EY, Deloitte, Intel, Roche, Amdocs, Sapiens and Rapyd (the full list is in the strip above). These were AI lectures and workshops of different kinds, not all of them for accounting teams.
Bring your team's real files.
Tell me who is on your accounting team and which tasks eat the most time.