Why Every Commerce Student Should Learn Excel and Power BI?

In the world of commerce and finance, knowing what's in the textbook will not be enough. Employers want students who fit into the industry, who can handle data, and present it in a way that helps promote good decision-making. For that reason, every commerce student: whether you are pursuing ACCA, CA, CMA USA, or any other accounting designation, should have a focus on learning Excel + Power BI.

Table of Contents

1. Excel: The Basis of Business Skills
1.1 Daily Tasks in Accounting
1.2 Answering the Skills Gap
1.3 Establishing a Career Foundation

2. Power BI: The Future of Data in Commerce
2.1 From Data to Reporting
2.2 The Growing Demand Globally
2.3 Better Career Potential

3. Why Commerce Students Should Be Concerned
3.1 Application in Professional Courses
3.2 Making Yourself Relevant to Industry

4. How Elance Prepares You for Industry?

5. Your Edge in the Commerce World

6. Frequently Asked Questions

Excel is one of the top tools used in finance and accounting. It's not only a spreadsheet software, it's the foundation for data management and decision making.

Whether preparing balance sheets or tracking expenses, Excel is a tool that helps you complete daily tasks in commerce. Even if all you see yourself doing is taking an entry-level position in accounting roles, students with strict knowledge of how to create formulas, pivot tables, and charts in Excel will quickly produce documents that are professional in nature.

 Surveys show that 57% of employees are either not skilled in Excel or only use basic Excel, resulting in a lack of productivity equating to 26 working days a year. By becoming good (not necessarily expert) in this software, you are taking a step beyond most students into a small group at your workplace who will be saving your company time (and money).

For students who are studying ACCA or CA or CMA USA, Excel will introduce you to higher-level tools such as Power BI. Once you develop a good base in Excel, it will be easier to advance to other business intelligence software.

Power BI is an excellent application that makes complex business and financial data understandable and visually engaging. Instead of working only with spreadsheets of numbers, students and practitioners can create dashboards indicating trends which lead to more rapid and insightful decision-making.

Power BI is not a focus on calculation such Excel is but instead you build dashboards and charts. So for example, rather than showing sales of raw data in numbers, you could show a visual trend line indicating whether or not a trend upward in sales performance is occurring or is trending downward.

The global business intelligence market is expected to be 33.3 billion USD by 2025. In India, currently there are thousands of job postings in related fields that require Power BI as a requisite skill or competency with companies such as Deloitte, EY, Infosys, and Accenture leading the way.

In India, salaries for Power BI professionals range from ₹3.5 to 10 lakhs a year. Specifically for commerce students the combination of accounting knowledge with Power BI can result in career opportunities to work in finance, accounting, auditing, consulting, and in analytics with much growth potential.

For commerce students, Excel and Power BI are no longer simply an additional skill set. They bridge the learning from theories in the classroom to applying that learning in the workplace.

In ACCA, CA, or CMA USA, you are likely to be studying the areas of financial reporting, management accounting, and taxation. If you study Excel and Power BI during or alongside your professional studies, you will both understand the concepts as well as be able to use the concepts in practical applications such as budgeting, cost analysis, and forecasting.

Employers want graduates who can demonstrate they can solve problems, not just memorize to pass an exam. If you can prepare dashboards on company performance through Excel or create financial models in Excel, you demonstrate to prospective employers you are ready for industry problems.

At Elance, we understand that theory is not enough for commerce students to grow in today’s competitive environment, which is why we developed Prime and Prime+ programs focused on developing industry-ready skills through hands-on experience.

- Hands-on Workshops: Students learn industry-used software before entering the workforce, including basic Excel, advanced Excel, as well as Power BI workshops.

- Projects & Exposure to Industry: Students will not receive an assignment- instead, they work on live projects that fill the gap between theory and application while exposing students to the type of challenges faced in the workplace through various initiatives like the IIM Collaboration case study competition, LEAP, high stakes pitching competition, EDGE, practical excel exposure, EXCEL HACKATHON, and AUDITLAB, the immersive audit experience.

- Relevant Certifications: Alongside professional designations such as ACCA, CA, and CMA USA, students will be exposed to even more certifications that will help build their profiles; therefore, distinguishing them from other candidates.

- Practical learning focus: Every initiative is aimed at building the skills employers value most, ensuring our students are industry ready.

Through Prime and Prime+, Elance transforms students into confident professionals able to merge their accounting knowledge and technical skills to thrive in an increasingly global workplace.

The direction of commerce is certain, data-driven, fast, and global. If you are studying for ACCA, CA, CMA USA, or any other commerce professional program, being proficient in tools such as Excel and Power BI are not optional skills. They create the bridge from theory to practice by providing you with the ability to use these tools with real-world business issues, which will give you a competitive advantage when entering the job market.

With a combination of subject materials, practical tools, and even programs like Elance’s Prime and Prime+ programs, you can make a true transition into an industry-ready professional. The sooner you start developing these skills, the stronger your career will be.

1. Is Power BI useful for BCom students?
Yes, absolutely. Power BI helps BCom students turn raw data into easy-to-read dashboards and visuals. It adds a practical skill that makes them more attractive to employers, especially when combined with accounting knowledge.

2. Which is better to learn, Excel or Power BI?
Both are important. Excel is the foundation and is used in almost every company, while Power BI is the advanced tool for creating dashboards and business insights. Start with Excel, then move on to Power BI for deeper analysis.

3. Will Power BI replace Excel?
No. Power BI and Excel complement each other. Excel is best for calculations, financial models, and day-to-day tasks, while Power BI is best for creating visuals and analyzing large data. Employers value professionals who can use both together.

4. Is Power BI better than data analysis?
Power BI is not separate from data analysis—it’s a tool for doing data analysis more effectively. It allows you to clean data, model it, and present it in visuals that help businesses make quick decisions.