It's 2026. Why Are We Still Forecasting Cash on Spreadsheets?

I recently sat with a corporate treasurer who manages billions across geographies. She leaned in and said, "Our team still uses Excel for forecasting. It's fast, familiar... and terrifying."

Terrifying not because spreadsheets are bad tools, but because they are the wrong tools for the world we now operate in.

We live in a real-time economy—with on-demand commerce, instant payments, and AI-driven everything. Yet inside most banks and corporates, treasury teams are operating on batch logic, next-day reports, and backward-looking views.

The Spreadsheet Paradox

There’s a dangerous comfort in spreadsheets. They give a sense of control, of customization, of simplicity. But behind every manually updated model is a cascade of risks:

• Delayed funding decisions
• Fragmented liquidity views
• Overexposed cash buffers
• Compliance gaps

In truth, spreadsheets are a symptom. The deeper diagnosis? Treasury infrastructure that is siloed, reactive, and analog in a digital-first world.

Seven Signs Your Bank is Not Ready for the Real-Time Mandate

In our Point of View, we outline seven sub-optimal setups that continue to hold banks and corporates back:

• Fragmented Liquidity Views — Treasurers toggle between systems to understand positions
• Delayed Settlements — Working capital remains trapped in transit
• After-the-Fact Alerts — Risks surface after damage is done
• Manual Forecasting — Spreadsheets dominate even in complex scenarios
• Siloed FX Operations — Currency exposure is managed in isolation
• ERP Disconnects — No embedded banking in the flow of business
• Static Reporting — Dashboards show what happened, not what’s next

So Why Are We Still Here?

Transformation is hard. Core systems are old. Talent is scarce. And the treasury function is often treated as a cost center rather than a competitive advantage.

But here's the truth: In 2026, the gap between real-time commerce and delayed treasury decisions is no longer tolerable. Not to your clients. Not to your regulators. Not to your CFO.

The Cost of Delay

Every day a decision is made based on stale data, a cost is incurred:

• Missed yield opportunities
• Excess capital buffers
• Broken supply chain flows
• Compliance and audit exposure

And it all traces back to a reliance on manual models instead of embedded intelligence.

The Shift is Happening

Some banks are already leading the change:

• Moving from static reports to predictive dashboards
• Embedding treasury into ERP systems
• Automating cash pooling and forecasting with AI

These aren’t moonshots. They’re mandates.

If Not Now, When?

Spreadsheets gave us a good run. But it’s time for banks to treat treasury modernization as a board-level priority.

Treasury is no longer a back-office function. It’s a frontline lever of resilience, agility, and growth.

And it deserves better than Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V.