ExcelRewind for FP&A: the Audit Trail Behind Every Model Change
An independent product, not affiliated with Microsoft.
Every FP&A team has lived this meeting: a number moved since the last board deck, and nobody can say why. The model file shows the new value. Version history shows an older value. The reasoning lives in a departed analyst's head, a buried email thread, or nowhere. ExcelRewind exists for exactly that gap.
Why do financial models lose their reasoning?
A model accumulates hundreds of judgment calls: a growth rate haircut after a customer call, a churn tweak from a board comment, an FX override before close. Excel keeps the resulting numbers. The judgment calls themselves are never stored anywhere, so reviews turn into archaeology and handoffs start from zero. File names like model_v14_FINAL_v2.xlsx are the symptom, not the system.
What does recording a model session change?
ExcelRewind is an Excel add-in (with a Google Sheets add-on) that records why the numbers in a spreadsheet change. It captures every cell edit with timing and a note explaining the reasoning, and saves them to a shareable, replayable .rewind companion file. It never modifies the original workbook and never uploads spreadsheet content1.
Model review
Reviewers replay the session in a browser and watch assumptions move one edit at a time, each with its note. Questions get answered by the timeline instead of a meeting.
Audit trail
A permanent, replayable record of every change with its stated reason. No 60-day cap, no dependence on where the file is stored. See what the built-in tools miss.
Handoff and offboarding
An analyst's recordings carry the how and the why of the model to their successor, not just the final grid.
Sensitive models
Recording is local; content is never uploaded. With end-to-end encryption enabled, a .rewind file is locked with a passphrase before it is shared. How data is handled.
How does it fit an FP&A workflow?
- Before a modeling session, click Record in the task pane.
- Work normally. Add a short note when an assumption changes: "haircut to 12% per pipeline review".
- Stop recording. A .rewind file saves next to the model; the model itself is untouched.
- Share the recording (or an encrypted version) with the reviewer, who replays it in the browser with no install and no account.
Watch a live replay Install the add-in
Frequently asked questions
How do FP&A teams keep an audit trail of financial model changes?
Most rely on file naming (model_v14_FINAL.xlsx), OneDrive version history, or memory. Those show what a model looked like, not why an assumption moved. ExcelRewind records each cell edit with timing and a note into a replayable .rewind file, so the reasoning behind every change survives the quarter.
Can I share a model walkthrough without sending the model?
Yes. A .rewind recording replays in the browser: reviewers watch the edits appear in order and read the note attached to each one, without receiving the live workbook. The original .xlsx never leaves your control, and with end-to-end encryption enabled the recording is locked with a passphrase before it is shared.
Does ExcelRewind see the contents of our financial models?
No. Recording happens locally and spreadsheet content is never uploaded. The .rewind file stays with you, and with end-to-end encryption enabled it is locked with a passphrase you choose; ExcelRewind cannot read it.
1 The one exception: a Kiosk/Exam mode submission uploads the finished exam recording to ExcelRewind's storage for instructor review, sealed to the organization's encryption key when one is enabled.
Last updated: July 2026.
ExcelRewind is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft and Excel are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Questions? [email protected].