The Spreadsheet Hangover We’re Still Pretending We Don’t Have

This is part one of my mini-series reflecting on the 2025 SaaS CFO Tech Stack Report by Ben Murray. And spoiler alert: the spreadsheet hangover is very real.

Let’s talk FP&A.

According to the report:
📊 68% of SaaS companies are still using spreadsheets for forecasting and budgeting.
And that number went up this year.

Honestly? I’m not shocked. I’ve been that controller, that VP, that spreadsheet magician with 34 tabs and three cups of coffee—trying to explain why headcount jumped by 12 in one cell but disappeared in another.

We love Excel because it’s flexible. Because it’s fast. Because it’s familiar.
But let’s be real—it’s fragile.

One wrong formula, one broken link, one last-minute board deck—and suddenly, your entire forecast feels like fiction.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

There are so many great FP&A tools out there now. Ones that actually connect to your GL. That show you budget vs. actuals without the monthly fire drill. That let your department leads see their numbers without you having to send 12 versions of the same file.

But here’s the truth: most teams don’t delay because they don’t know the tools exist.

They delay because they’re buried. Because they’re waiting for “next quarter.” Because they think it’ll be painful to change.

And maybe it will—for a week.

But after that? You get time back. You get trust in your numbers. And your team gets to do actual finance work—not just formatting.

👉 Action item: Automate one thing in your forecast process this quarter.
Maybe it’s pulling actuals. Maybe it’s your headcount tab. Just one.
You don’t have to rebuild Rome. Just patch the roof.

Because in 2025, FP&A shouldn’t feel like fortune-telling.