Formula for trouble: Why Excel can’t handle FX portfolio management anymore

Spreadsheets have served treasury teams well – but markets, tech, and FX risk have moved on. It’s time to rethink how you manage your foreign currency portfolio and stop clicking on that familiar green icon.

Love it or hate it, Excel is embedded in treasury workflows across the globe. But what started in the 1980s as a flexible, go-to tool has become a bottleneck –especially for mid-market teams managing multi-entity, multi-currency portfolios in fast-moving conditions.

AsPierre Anderson, Co-Founder, Bracket, explains: “It’s not that Excel is broken per se. It’s just not designed to handle the complexity of modern FX portfolios. And it’s holding many treasury teams back.”

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Why spreadsheets are no longer cutting it for Treasury teams

1. Markets move fast. Excel doesn’t.

FX is a real-time market. Spreadsheets are typically static (unless you do the work to automatically pull in rates, which many teams don’t have the in-house skills or resources to achieve).

So, by the time treasury has updated yesterday’s rates and rebuilt its exposure view in Excel, the market has already shifted. “That delay has both operational and strategic impacts, weakening decision-making and potentially increasing risk,” cautions Anderson.

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2. Risk management shouldn’t rely on VLOOKUP

In addition to the lack of real-time data, when markets are calm, spreadsheets can give the illusion of control. But in volatile conditions, the cracks become obvious.

“Rather than being purely reactive to market moves, treasurers are increasingly looking to be proactive around their FX exposures, running stress tests, modelling worst-case scenarios, and determining clear courses of action,” elaboratesAnderson.

ButExcel isn’t built for that. “Simulating the impact of a 5% move in EUR/USD on cash flow, for example, typically requires manual inputs, duplicated tabs, and formula checks. Often, it also means hours of work – and the potential for human error can lead to a lack of confidence in the result,” he notes.

The problem with Excel isn’t just humans, of course. It’s more structural:

• No in-built scenario modelling
• No alerts when thresholds are breached
• No consolidated risk view across the portfolio
• No audit trail to explain how numbers were generated
• No ability to benchmark against best practice (or best price)

“All this means there’s no real safety net. And when you’re managing millions in FX exposure, that’s not only inefficient, but also dangerous,” explains Anderson.

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3. Your team is working around the system, not with it

Many treasury teams have built complex workarounds just to make Excel behave like anFX portfolio management tool.

They’ve added macros, linked files, and built templates with tabs for each counterparty and/or currency. And in some cases, they’ve created truly impressive set-ups(with very limited resources). Until a link breaks and things unravel. Or the key person who built the macros decides to leave, taking their knowledge with them.

AsAnderson points out: “This kind of workaround also means highly qualified professionals are buried in repetitive maintenance tasks, spending more time updating spreadsheets than thinking about pricing, timing, or strategy. Understandably, team members become frustrated. It’s not sustainable and doesn’t add value.”

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4. Fragmented files mean fragmented decisions

Another challenge facing many mid-market businesses is that FX exposure doesn’t live in one place. There is no single source of truth.

AsAnderson explains: “Different business units often maintain their own spreadsheets. Trades might be logged in different formats. Subsidiaries might also update their numbers at different times. Group Treasury is then expected to manually piece together a coherent view from scattered sources.”

Unsurprisingly, this approach can be time-consuming and unreliable. “We’ve also seen teams double-count trades because of mismatched formats. Or miss exposures entirely because of delayed updates. Another common issue is making hedging decisions based on partial data, only to revise them days later when new numbers surface.”

In other words, this fragmentation makes it much harder to act decisively or explain the company’s true risk position.

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Time to rethink managing FX on ExCel?

What’s clear to Anderson (and no doubt many treasury leaders) is that Excel was never meant to be the main tool for managing currency risk. It’s become the default because it’s accessible, affordable – and already in place.

But when Excel starts hampering decision-making, limiting talent, and draining value from the function, it’s time to think again.

“I’m not advocating entirely ditching Excel! It’s just about choosing the right tool for the job,” explains Anderson. “Spreadsheets are still useful. But they’re not enough for managing currency exposure at scale. And we see more mid-market firms making the switch to dedicated FX portfolio management tools. Because they’ve realised that Excel was creating blind spots they couldn’t afford to ignore.”

In contrast, a centralised FX portfolio management platform creates a single source of truth. “Everyone sees the same data. Everyone works from the same numbers. And when a fast decision is needed, treasury is prepared and ready, not busy reconciling.”

The benefits are real:

• Instant visibility into exposures across all business units
• Ability to challenge brokers using independent pricing and mark-to-market tools
• Scenario modelling that supports faster, board-ready decisions
• Clear audit trails for every trade, including independent valuations

And perhaps most importantly, a team that’s no longer buried in ‘busywork’, thanks to the significant reduction in time spent on manual data entry and reconciliation

AsAnderson concludes: “Spreadsheets have served their purpose, and still do in many areas. But FX portfolios have evolved. The tools we use to manage them need to evolve too. Because when you’re using something that wasn’t built for the job, you’re not managing risk. You’re adding to it.”

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Have you outgrown Excel?

If your team is still managing FX with spreadsheets, you’re not alone. But the risk is growing – and the tools to fix it already exist.

Download our Guide to Efficiently Manage Your FX Portfolio and explore how other treasury teams have replaced manual processes, improved visibility, and moved beyond the Excel trap.