No, but it helps. Hey Monika doesn't require you to already know Excel formulas to start a Scenario or Challenge — the bookkeeping tasks themselves don't depend on it. That said, several Challenges and Scenarios involve working with transaction data in a way that's much faster if you're comfortable with Excel: lookups, filtering, and pivot tables all come up in the kind of data work that bookkeeping roles involve. Building both skill sets in parallel — rather than waiting to be "ready" on Excel first — is the more realistic approach most trainees end up taking. Help videos are embedded within the platform to support you as you go.
More detail
Excel is genuinely useful alongside Hey Monika, not a prerequisite for it.
Reconciliation-heavy Challenges go faster once you're comfortable with lookups and basic data manipulation.
Pivot tables and filtering are real bookkeeping skills — not just "nice to have" extras — and they come up in practice.
Help videos are built into the platform to support you where you need it.
Frequently asked questions
Which Excel skills matter most for bookkeeping?
VLOOKUPs (or XLOOKUP), basic filtering, and pivot tables are the most commonly useful. Conditional formatting and SUM functions come up constantly in reconciliation work.
Can I practise Excel skills separately while using Hey Monika?
Yes — and most trainees do. Microsoft's free Excel training resources are a straightforward complement to Hey Monika's Scenario-based practice.
Does Hey Monika ever ask me to use Excel directly? Some Scenarios involve working with data in a way that rewards good spreadsheet skills, but you don't submit Excel files — the skills make the work faster and more accurate, rather than being a direct requirement.
Get started
Don't let Excel hold you back from starting — begin with a Foundational Challenge while you're building Excel skills on the side. The two complement each other well.