Caventis
Supplier cost documents, a calculator and material samples, illustrating cost reduction

Spend analysis template

An Excel workbook that turns a supplier payments export into a clear view of spend by category and supplier.

A spend analysis shows how much you spend, with whom and on what. It is the starting point for almost every cost reduction programme, because you cannot renegotiate spend you cannot see.

This template takes a payments or accounts payable export from your finance system and organises it by supplier, category and business unit. Summary tabs show your largest suppliers and categories, so you can decide which contracts to review first.

Free to download. Available as Excel.

What's included

  • Data tab with column headings matching a typical finance export
  • Category taxonomy tab you can edit
  • Supplier to category mapping tab
  • Summary by category, supplier and business unit
  • Top suppliers ranking
  • Instructions tab and data checks

How to use this template

  1. Export 12 months of supplier payments from your finance system.
  2. Paste the export into the data tab, keeping the column headings.
  3. Adjust the category list so it fits your business.
  4. Map each supplier to a category, starting with the largest suppliers.
  5. Check that the summary total matches your finance system total.
  6. Review the summary tabs and list the categories to investigate first.

Frequently asked questions

Twelve months of payments is usually enough to capture seasonal spend and annual contracts. Use a longer period if spend is very irregular.

Use net amounts excluding VAT where possible, because recoverable VAT is not a cost to most VAT-registered businesses. Be consistent across the whole dataset.

A spend cube looks at spend across three dimensions at once, usually supplier, category and business unit. This template is a simpler first view; our free spend cube builder on the Insights page takes the analysis further.

Need help putting this into practice?

Every engagement is managed by our founder, starting with objectives agreed with you. Book an introductory call to see how our spend analytics work could help.

Spend analyticsBook an introductory call

Related templates

Last updated 22 October 2026