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Tips for finance

Google Workspace productivity guide

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Work with budgets

Visualize and organize data

Collaborate and share content


               

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Create and collaborate on budget proposals

Draft a budget proposal for a project and get feedback from your team using 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.

Learn how

Share a spreadsheet file from Google Drive

  1. Select the file you want to share.
  2. Click Share or Share Share.
  3. Enter the email address or Google group you want to share with.
  4. To decide what role people will have on your file, select Viewer, Commenter, or Editor.
  5. If your account is eligible, you can add an expiration date for access.
  6. Choose to notify people.
    • If you want to notify people that you shared an item with them, check the box next to Notify people. If you notify people, each email address you enter will be included in the email.
    • If you don't want to notify people, uncheck the box.
  7. Click Send or Share.

Brainstorm in real time about budgets and 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 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.

Learn how

Present during a video meeting

  1. Join a Meet video meeting.
  2. At the bottom, click Present now Share screen .
  3. Select A tab, A window, or Your entire screen.
    • If you present a Chrome tab, it shares that tab's audio by default.
    • To present a different tab:
      1. Select the tab that you want to present.
      2. On the banner, click Share this tab instead.
    • If you present a Slides presentation through a tab, you can control it in Meet.
  4. Click Share.
  5. Optional: To unpin your presentation and show it as a tile, click Unpin . You can now find more participants while you present.

Tips:

  • If your camera is turned on, your video is active while you're presenting.
  • For better presentations and to prevent mirroring, share a new window or a specific tab instead of the meeting window.
  • To share your audio, you must select Share a Chrome tab or Share this tab.

Add financial data to a spreadsheet

  1. In Sheets, open a spreadsheet.
  2. In an empty cell, type =GOOGLEFINANCE.
  3. In parenthesis, add any of the following, separated by a comma:
    • A ticker symbol in quotation marks.
    • (Optional) The attribute you want to show, such as price, in quotation marks.
    • (Optional) A start and an end date preceded by DATE and followed with the numerical date in parenthesis.
    • (Optional) Daily or weekly frequency in quotation marks.
  4. Press Enter.

Create financial statements and 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.

Learn how

Add a waterfall chart

  1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
  2. Select the cells you want to include in your chart.
  3. Click Insert and then Chart.

Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center

Add a pivot table

  1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
  2. Select the cells with source data you want to use. Important: Each column needs a header.
  3. In the menu at the top, click Insert and then Pivot table. Click the pivot table sheet, if it’s not already open.
  4. In the side panel, next to "Rows" or "Columns," click Add, then choose a value.
    • Sometimes, you'll see recommended pivot tables based on the data you choose. To add a pivot table, under "Suggested," choose a pivot table.
    • High confidence pivot table suggestions will be automatically inserted upon pivot table creation.
    • To turn off pivot table suggestions:
      1. At the top, click Tools and then Suggestion controls.
      2. Turn off Enable Pivot table suggestions.
  5. In the side panel, next to "Values," click Add, then choose the value you want to see over your rows or columns.
  6. You can change how your data is listed, sorted, summarized, or filtered. Next to what you want to change, click the Down Arrow Down arrow.

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.

Learn how
  1. In Sheets, open a spreadsheet.
  2. In an empty cell, type =GOOGLEFINANCE.
  3. In parenthesis, add any of the following, separated by a comma:
    • A ticker symbol in quotation marks.
    • (Optional) The attribute you want to show, such as price, in quotation marks.
    • (Optional) A start and an end date preceded by DATE and followed with the numerical date in parenthesis.
    • (Optional) Daily or weekly frequency in quotation marks.
  4. Press Enter.

For example: To list the Google stock price, taken at the same time daily for 2019, you type: =GOOGLEFINANCE("GOOG", "price", DATE(2019,1,1), DATE(2019,12,31), "DAILY")

Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center

Share and 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. 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.

Get started with Google Groups

Conduct internal surveys and 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 Forms to build and send your survey. Then, quickly analyze the responses captured in Sheets to inform team decisions.

Learn how

Create your survey in Forms

  1.  Go to Google Forms.
  2. Click Blank Plus .
  3. A new form will open.

Learn more: Add questions and customize your design

View results in a spreadsheet

  1. Open a form in Google Forms.
  2. At the top, under “Responses,” click Summary.
  3. At the top right, click More More and then Select destination for responses.
  4. Select an option:
    • Create a new spreadsheet: Creates a spreadsheet for responses in Google Sheets.
      • When you use your Google Forms data to create a new sheet, Google Sheets automatically puts your data in a table, bringing format and structure to your data. Learn how to use tables in Google Sheets.
    • Select existing spreadsheet: To store responses, select from your existing spreadsheets in Google Sheets.
  5. Click Create or Select.

Create presentations for proposals and planning

When beginning a project, draft a proposal in Slides; you can even start by generating images to save time. Add key objectives, project milestones, planning initiatives, and any updates. Share the presentation with your team so everyone can add their feedback. Then, present the proposal to cross-functional teams across the globe.

Learn how: Create a presentation with Slides

Host real-time metrics and 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 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:

  • From the Sites homepage, at the top, click Blank, or to choose a template, click Template gallery and select a template.
  • From Google Drive, click New and thenMoreand thenGoogle Sites.

Create a group and 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.

Grant site access to your team members

  1. On a computer, open a site in new Google Sites.
  2. At the top, click Share Share with others.
  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 and then Published Viewerand then Send.
    • To send an email notification to the person or group, check "Notify people."

Learn more at the Google Sites Help Center

 

Use generative AI at work

If your organization supports it, you can use the artificial intelligence add-on, Gemini for Google Workspace. Use Gemini directly in Google Workspace apps like Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, Vids, and Gmail, to help you write, visualize, organize, and connect. You can also use Gemini as a standalone experience at gemini.google.com. 

Learn how

 

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