Financial model version control
Review every change to the model before it ships
A forecast or board model changes, and an assumption moves or a formula becomes a hard-coded input — and nobody catches it until the board, the investment committee, or an auditor is looking. SheetDelta compares every change, shows who made it, and lets you sign off before the model goes out.
The change you didn’t catch is the one that surfaces in the meeting
A model is only as trustworthy as the last edit nobody reviewed. Forecasts get re-versioned every cycle; deal models pass through three people before the committee; a validation team has to evidence what they checked. Across all of it, the risk is the same: a single change slips through — a driver nudged, a formula overwritten, a link repointed — and it doesn’t get noticed until the worst possible audience is the one asking about the number.
Opening last quarter’s file next to this one and scanning for differences doesn’t scale to a model with thousands of formulas. You need the change itself made visible — every revision, at the cell level, with the author attached — and a review step before the version goes out.
The four ways a model breaks between versions
None of these look wrong at a glance. All of them show up in a cell-level comparison.
An assumption quietly moved
Someone nudges the growth rate from 3% to 5% in a corner of the assumptions tab. The outputs shift, the model still “works,” and nobody notices the driver changed until the committee asks why the number is different.
A formula became a hard-coded input
A calculated cell gets a number pasted over it to “just make it tie.” The formula is gone; the cell now lies about how it’s derived, and the next person who changes an upstream input gets no update.
A link broke
A reference points at the wrong cell or a renamed tab, and the result is plausible but wrong. A side-by-side glance won’t catch it; a comparison that shows the formula itself changed will.
A control total no longer foots
The check row that’s supposed to sum to zero doesn’t anymore. Caught in review, it’s a five-minute fix. Caught by the auditor, it’s a credibility problem.
A review step on the model, not a new tool to adopt
SheetDelta watches the SharePoint or OneDrive library where the model already lives. Every time someone saves a new version, it’s compared against the last one — assumptions, drivers, and outputs — and the changes are laid out cell by cell with the author attached. A reviewer comments on anything that looks off, and signs off before the version is distributed.
For the models where a bad version reaching the board is genuinely costly, you can hold a change until it’s approved and run content checks first — a control total that no longer foots, a value pasted over a formula, an edit inside a locked input range. The result is a defensible record of who changed what and who approved it, captured automatically as people work the way they already do.
Built for the teams whose models get looked at
The same review step, aimed at the places a wrong number is most expensive.
FP&A
Rolling forecasts and budgets that get re-versioned every cycle. See exactly what moved between this month’s model and last — which driver, which assumption, which output — before it goes into the board pack.
PE, infra & real estate
Deal and asset models passed between analyst, associate, and partner. Review every change before it reaches an investment committee, with a record of who changed which assumption and who signed off.
Actuarial & model validation
Models that have to be reviewed and evidenced. A cell-level comparison of every revision plus an exportable trail gives validation a defensible record instead of a side-by-side eyeball check.
Frequently asked questions
How should we version a financial model?
How do we review model changes before the board sees them?
Does it work with our SharePoint or OneDrive?
Does it merge two versions of a model?
Can we prove later who changed an assumption?
Related
The full version-control story for teams.
Provable who-changed-what-when for auditors.
Right-sized control across all your critical files.
Where model review and sign-off run.
See every changed cell and formula, free, in your browser.
For model teams that keep workbooks in Git.
Catch the moved assumption before the board does
Connect the library your model lives in and review the next version’s changes before it ships.