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How to Create an Accounts Payable Dashboard in Excel with ChatGPT

Cody Schneider•

Building a dynamic Accounts Payable dashboard in Excel lets you see exactly who you owe and what’s overdue at a glance, but the process of building it can feel daunting. Using ChatGPT as your personal Excel assistant completely changes the game, making it easy to generate the right formulas and design an effective layout. This article will show you how to prepare your AP data, use ChatGPT to speed up the technical steps, and build a fully functional dashboard from scratch.

What Exactly is an Accounts Payable Dashboard?

An Accounts Payable (AP) dashboard is a visual report that summarizes how much your business owes to its suppliers. Instead of digging through endless spreadsheet rows or accounting software reports, it presents key information in a digestible, at-a-glance format. Think of it as a control panel for your company’s short-term debts.

A good AP dashboard helps you:

  • Improve cash flow management: Knowing precisely when payments are due lets you manage your cash more effectively and avoid surprises.

  • Avoid late fees: By highlighting overdue invoices, you can steer clear of unnecessary penalties and fines.

  • Strengthen vendor relationships: Paying suppliers on time builds trust and can lead to better terms in the future.

  • Spot trends and issues: Quickly see if payables are creeping up, identify invoicing delays from specific vendors, or find opportunities to negotiate for early payment discounts.

Key Metrics for an AP Dashboard

Every business is different, but a great AP dashboard typically includes these core metrics:

  • Total Outstanding Payables: The total amount of money your company currently owes to its vendors.

  • Accounts Payable Aging: Invoices broken down by how old they are (e.g., Current, 1-30 days overdue, 31-60 days overdue).

  • Payables by Vendor: A ranked list showing which suppliers you owe the most money to.

  • Days Payable Outstanding (DPO): An average of how long it takes your company to pay its invoices.

  • Payment Status: A simple breakdown of invoices by status (e.g., Paid, Due Soon, Overdue).

Step 1: Get Your Data Ready for Analysis

The quality of your dashboard depends entirely on the quality of your data. Before you can build anything, you need to export and clean the information that will feed your charts and metrics.

Exporting Your AP Data

First, you need a raw data export. Log into your accounting platform (like QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Oracle) and export your accounts payable detail report as a CSV or Excel file. Make sure your data includes the following standard columns:

  • Vendor Name

  • Invoice #

  • Invoice Date

  • Due Date

  • Invoice Amount

  • Payment Date (this will be blank for unpaid invoices)

Cleaning and Structuring in Excel

Once you have your data in an Excel sheet, the most important organizational step is to format it as an official Excel Table.

To do this, click any cell within your data and press Ctrl + T (or Cmd + T on a Mac). In the pop-up, make sure the box for "My table has headers" is checked and click OK. Formatting your data as a Table makes your formulas and PivotTables update automatically when you add new data.

Adding Calculated Columns with Formulas

Next, we need to add a few "helper" columns to our table to perform the calculations needed for our dashboard. This is a perfect opportunity to use ChatGPT to generate the perfect formulas without any guesswork.

Calculating "Days Overdue"

To determine invoice aging, we need to know how many days each unpaid invoice is past its due date. Let's create a "Days Overdue" column.

First, pick a cell at the top of your sheet (outside the Table, like cell J1) and label it "Report Date". Enter today's date there. Using a dedicated cell for the report date gives you more control than using the =TODAY() function directly in your formula, as your numbers won't shift every day.

Now, let's ask ChatGPT for help. You might prompt:

"I have an Excel table with a 'Due Date' column and a 'Payment Date' column. I need a formula for a new column called 'Days Overdue'. If the 'Payment Date' cell is filled, the result should be 0. Otherwise, it should calculate the number of days between the 'Due Date' and the 'Report Date' in cell J1. My table is a structured reference table."

ChatGPT would likely give you something like this:

Add this formula to your new "Days Overdue" column. The dollar signs ($J$1) lock the reference to your Report Date as an absolute reference, so it stays fixed for every row.

Creating "Aging Buckets"

Now we can use the "Days Overdue" column to categorize each invoice into an aging bucket. Let's head back to ChatGPT:

"Based on my 'Days Overdue' column in Excel, I need a formula to categorize each invoice into these buckets: 'Current' (0 or less), '1-30 Days', '31-60 Days', '61-90 Days', and '91+ Days.'"

This will likely give you an IFS formula:

Add a new column called "Aging Bucket" and paste this formula in. Excel will automatically fill it down for all rows in your table. Your prepared data is now ready for dashboarding!

Step 2: Use ChatGPT to Design Your Dashboard

ChatGPT is not only a formula-writer - it’s also a great brainstorming partner for dashboard design. Before building charts, describe your goal and ask for recommendations.

You could use a prompt like this:

"I'm building an Accounts Payable dashboard in Excel. My data includes 'Vendor Name', 'Invoice Amount', and 'Aging Bucket'. What are the best chart types to visually represent this information effectively for a finance manager?"

ChatGPT's response might include suggestions such as:

  • Bar Chart for Top Vendors: "Use a horizontal bar chart to show the total amount owed to your top 5 or 10 vendors. This makes it easy to see your largest creditors at a glance."

  • Pie or Donut Chart for Aging: "A donut chart is perfect for displaying the percentage of your total payables in each aging bucket ('Current', '1-30 Days', etc.). This gives a quick sense of how much of your debt is overdue."

  • KPI Cards for Summary Metrics: "Use text boxes or single-cell tables to prominently display your most important KPIs, like 'Total Payables', 'Total Invoices Overdue', and 'Average Days Payable Outstanding'."

Step 3: Build the Dashboard with PivotTables and PivotCharts

Now for the fun part: bringing your dashboard to life. We’ll use PivotTables - Excel's powerful summary tool - to slice and dice our data and then create charts based on them.

1. Create Your PivotTables

First, create a new sheet in your workbook and name it "Dashboard".

Go back to your data sheet, click anywhere inside your table, go to the Insert tab, and click PivotTable. In the dialog box, choose to place the PivotTable on your "Dashboard" sheet.

PivotTable 1: AP Aging by Bucket

In the PivotTable Fields pane on the right:

  1. Drag the "Aging Bucket" field into the Rows area.

  2. Drag the "Invoice Amount" field into the Values area.

You now have a clean summary of your total outstanding debt organized by aging category.

PivotTable 2: Top Vendors by Amount Due

Create a second PivotTable next to the first one. This time:

  1. Drag "Vendor Name" into the Rows area.

  2. Drag "Invoice Amount" into the Values area.

  3. Click the filter arrow next to "Row Labels", go to Value Filters, and select Top 10.... This will automatically show you only the ten vendors you owe the most.

2. Visualize with PivotCharts

Now, let's turn those tables into visuals.

  • AP Aging Donut Chart: Click anywhere on your aging PivotTable. Go to the PivotTable Analyze tab and click PivotChart. Choose a Pie chart, and then select the Donut style.

  • Top Vendors Bar Chart: Click on your vendors PivotTable, click PivotChart again, and this time choose a Bar chart.

3. Add Slicers for Interactivity

Slicers are interactive filters that make your dashboard dynamic. From the PivotTable Analyze tab, click Insert Slicer. Choose to add a slicer for "Vendor Name".

A new slicer box will appear. By default, it only controls the PivotTable it was created from. To make it control everything, right-click the slicer, select Report Connections..., and check the boxes for all PivotTables on your sheet. Now, when you click a vendor's name in the slicer, both charts will update instantly to show data just for that vendor.

4. Assemble and Stylize Your Dashboard

Move your charts and slicer into an organized layout. Use the area at the top for major KPIs. You can create these "KPI cards" by making a very small PivotTable that just shows a grand total amount, or simply by typing an equals sign in a cell and linking it to a specific value in a PivotTable like this: =GETPIVOTDATA("Invoice Amount",A3). Spend some time removing unnecessary elements like field buttons on the charts (right-click and choose "Hide All Field Buttons on Chart") and gridlines (View > uncheck Gridlines) to give your dashboard a clean, professional look.

Final Thoughts

Creating an interactive Accounts Payable dashboard in Excel is an incredibly powerful way to get a firm grip on your company's finances. By using ChatGPT as an assistant, you can quickly move past the technical hurdles of formulas and report design and get straight to building a tool that provides real, actionable insights.

While this Excel-based approach offers a great deal of control, it still relies on manual data exports and periodic refreshes. Each week, you have to download fresh data, paste it in, and refresh your tables. Our team built Graphed because we believe there’s an easier way. We've automated that entire process by connecting directly to your data sources. You can create a real-time Accounts Payable dashboard just by asking in simple English - like "Show me a dashboard of my AP aging by vendor from QuickBooks" - and it updates automatically, so you’re always working with the most current information without lifting a finger.