This free course shows you how to take a trial balance in Excel and convert it into complete financial statements using PivotXL.

Each tutorial builds on the last:

  1. Sign up and install PivotXL
  2. Create your first data cube
  3. Use rollups and operators
  4. Put it all together to generate financial statements

Below link is a detailed product manual if you would like to review

PivotXL Documentation – Table of Contents

You’ll find the video tutorials and downloadable files in each section below.

🎬 Part 1: Getting Started with PivotXL

In this first tutorial, you’ll learn how to:

  • Sign up for a PivotXL account
  • Install the Excel add-in
  • Sign in to the add-in and get connected

This step ensures you are ready to start mapping your trial balance data to financial statements. Once you complete the setup, you can move directly into building your first data cube.

🎬 Part 2: Create a Data Cube in PivotXL

A data cube is a multi-dimensional database. Instead of relying on scattered Excel sheets, you can store data centrally and view it from different perspectives.

In this lesson, you’ll:

  • Open the cube setup in PivotXL
  • Add dimensions such as Accounts, Scenario, Time, and Measure
  • Create sample members (Account 1–3, Actuals, Forecast, Amount)
  • Connect the cube to Excel both horizontally and vertically
  • Enter and retrieve data (e.g., 100, 200, 300)

As a result, you’ll see how the cube keeps data separate from presentation. This makes reporting more flexible and eliminates many errors caused by manual formulas.

🎬 Part 3: Rollups & Operators

After setting up a cube, the next step is to create rollups. Rollups let you group multiple accounts into a single line item, much like an Excel SUM formula.

In this tutorial, you will:

  • Start with a manual SUM in Excel (=SUM(B2:D2))
  • Create a rollup in PivotXL with all positive operators
  • Map the rollup to a vertical sheet and refresh with Get Data
  • Adjust the Excel formula to Account 1 + Account 2 – Account 3
  • Mirror the same logic in PivotXL by changing the operator for Account 3

By doing this, you learn that PivotXL rollups can handle both additions and subtractions, while staying reusable and consistent across reports.

🎬 Part 4: Building Financial Statements

Finally, everything comes together. This video is slightly longer because it walks through the full process of generating financial statements.

👉 Related article: How to Prepare Financial Statements from a Trial Balance in Excel

You’ll see how to:

  • Load the trial balance and map the measure field to Net Credit
  • Use Auto Map to add accounts to the cube
  • Map Scenario to Actuals and Time to the current month (or relative time 0)
  • Define rollups with a prepared CSV file
  • Verify that rollups are mapped correctly
  • Generate the Income Statement and Balance Sheet with one Get Data refresh

💡 Note: In the previous video we demonstrated manual mapping. Here, you’ll see automated roll-up mapping. For details, check the description.

At the end of this step, your trial balance has been transformed into structured financial statements — automatically.

Sample Trial Balance Upload
Financial Statement Template To map

🚀 Conclusion

By completing this course, you’ve learned how to:

  • Set up PivotXL and connect it to Excel
  • Build a cube and store data centrally
  • Use rollups and operators for flexible mapping
  • Generate financial statements directly from a trial balance

This is just the beginning. The same approach can be scaled to thousands of accounts, complex reporting needs, and advanced analysis like horizontal comparisons, vertical analysis, and forecasting.