A workpaper gets built in Excel. Then, to be signed and reviewed, it leaves Excel: exported, turned into a PDF, emailed around, tracked in a separate tool. By tax time that one handoff has multiplied across dozens of files, and half the job becomes working out which version is the real one.

That chaos usually gets blamed on discipline. Name your files better, tidy the folder, be more careful. But it isn't really a discipline problem. It's arithmetic. Every export makes a copy, and copies compete to be the truth. The more you export, the more contenders you create.

The building of a workpaper happens in Excel. The signing and reviewing often happen somewhere else, which is why tax time turns into a paper-chase of exports, PDFs, and version control. It doesn't have to.

Can you sign workpapers digitally in Excel?

Yes, with cloud-integrated workpapers. RadiusCore adds digital signatures to workpapers built in Excel, so completed work is signed off in the file itself, without exporting to another system. Each signature is verified through the signer's Xero login.

How does workpaper review work?

Review sits alongside the signature. A preparer completes the file, a reviewer checks it, and sign-off is recorded against the workpaper itself.

Because the data is connected to Xero, the reviewer checks current figures, not an export that may have aged since the preparer pulled it. That matters most at tax time, when dozens of files move through review at once and a stale number is easy to miss.

Why keeping it in Excel matters

Every time work leaves Excel to be signed or reviewed elsewhere, you add steps and version risk. Which PDF is final? Was this the reviewed copy? Did the signed one have the corrected figure?

Keeping signatures and review in the workbook removes the question entirely. There are no copies to reconcile, because there's only ever one file. One workbook, current data, signed and reviewed in place.

Where RadiusCore fits

RadiusCore is an Excel add-in that connects Microsoft Excel directly to Xero, with two-way sync and cloud-integrated workpapers that include digital signatures and review. Build in Excel, pull live Xero data with a click, and sign off in the file itself, verified by each signer's Xero login.

So the sign-off chain, prepare, review, sign, all happens in one place, against one set of current numbers. Nothing forks off into a folder of near-identical PDFs. Plans start at $75/month with a 30-day free trial.

FAQ

• Can you digitally sign a workpaper without leaving Excel? Yes. RadiusCore adds digital signatures to workpapers built in Excel. Sign-off is recorded in the Excel file itself, and each signature is verified through the signer's Xero login, so you know exactly who signed.

• Does the reviewer see current Xero figures? Yes. Because workpapers are connected to Xero, review happens against live data.

• Is review tracked in the workpaper itself? Yes. Review and sign-off are recorded against the workpaper, so there's no separate system or loose PDF.