Scrutive vs Excel: a workbook, or a system of record.
Stay in Excel if one person keeps a single file and nobody else has to trust the close. Move when owners, dates, and a leadership pack have to come from the same record.
Excel wins for analysis. It is already on the laptop of anyone with Microsoft 365, and one auditor can model a population with formulas and PivotTables without waiting for a project. A one-person function with one file does not need another system.
Scrutive wins when that file has become the audit system. A workbook can be copied and saved under a new name. Anyone who can edit the sheet can type Closed. Excel does not require a second person to verify evidence, and it does not send the owner a follow-up because a due date arrived.
What each one is for
- Excel: calculations, samples, and a draft matrix you already know how to build.
- Scrutive: one finding, one owner, one due date, evidence attached, and an independent verifier before close.
- Leadership pack: in Excel it is copied into a document. In Scrutive it is printed from the live records for management or the audit committee.
Price, checked 15 November 2026
Excel comes with Microsoft 365. Scrutive Starter is a flat USD 129 a month for up to 3 users, and includes import from Excel. You pay nothing until you accept the first leadership pack. Control owners who only answer a follow-up do not need a paid seat.
How a team moves
Download the template, paste the risk and control matrix, and upload it. Correct the rows on screen. Keep Excel for the working papers and the sums. Stop using it as the place where closure is decided.