Help and ideas for busy numbers people
“The key didn’t match any rows in the table” is one of the most common errors in Power Query.
The way it’s always explained is that it is caused when the original data changes format or name, or has been deleted.
However, there is a third, related option, which I’m writing about here because it stumped me for a while.
Continue reading ““The key didn’t match any rows in the table” error in Power Query”
I’m pleased to announce that in 2025 I’m now offering a standalone Power Query course that individuals can sign up to.
Up to this point, I’ve mostly created and delivered bespoke Excel training courses for teams. And sometimes I cover a brief introduction to Power Query within these courses.
This is because I know from experience that Power Query is an enormous time saver in a range of roles. If you find yourself doing repetitive processes in Excel (copying, pasting, updating formulas etc), you will benefit from some Power Query training.
However, I know that lots of people who would benefit the most from Power Query might not work in a team. Perhaps you are a consultant, or you’re the only finance or data person in an organisation.
You might even have tried to learn Power Query yourself but got stuck. Or perhaps you just prefer in person training.
Continue reading “New standalone power query course”
How do you learn more Power Query? This is a post addressed to people who have already learned initial navigation and have played around with a few of the buttons. Perhaps you attended one of my Introduction to Power Query courses.
How do you connect to a Sharepoint folder in Power Query if you don’t have “from Sharepoint folder” as an option?
Continue reading “No “From Sharepoint Folder” option in Power Query? No problem!”
Why isn’t Power Query better known amongst finance teams?
Continue reading “Why isn’t Power Query better known amongst finance teams?”
On the face of it, processing timesheets with Power Query ought to be fairly straightforward. By “processing timesheets” I am primarily thinking about records of hours worked that feed into payroll or job costing calculations.
Continue reading “Processing timesheets with Power Query – what about the human factor?”Here are the five most useful power query functions for accountants, in my personal opinion:
It is, of course, impossible to pick just five. However, the point of this post is to illustrate that the power query functions I use the most are actually the simple ones. They are still enormous timesavers. Let’s have a look.
Continue reading “The most useful power query functions for accountants”Power Query has been out for over a decade and yet the majority of accountants I meet still seem unaware of what it can do for them.
A possible issue is that it is usually presented in the context of Power BI, and analysing Big Data. And the type of people who like to talk about that also like to talk about other scary things such as VBA and SQL. There aren’t many training resources or articles focussing on Power Query for accountants more generally.
I recently set up a management accounts model using Power Query to combine multiple forecasts.
This is for a startup charity, where we need the ability to forecast at a high level over a five year period but to be able to update that quickly based on current decisions. We also need to do a detailed six monthly forecast for cash flow purposes. We also want to approve changes on a quarterly basis. Finally, we want to be able to assess the quality of our forecasting so that we can continue to improve it.
Continue reading “Multiple forecasts with Power Query”
Power Query gives you many more tools beyond standard Excel for automating management accounts. This post sets out some points to consider. It is not intended as a step-by-step guide, because one size does not fit all, and the path you take will vary depending on what you want to report and your source data.
However, the key message is that Power Query makes complex and lengthy transformations really easy, and completely repeatable. Whatever you want to do, you can do it better with Power Query.
Continue reading “Automating management accounts with Power Query”