Free finance datasets to practise Power BI
DATA DARE on findi360 has free finance practice datasets by industry — retail, manufacturing, logistics, hospital and real estate — and by finance area — general ledger and trial balance, budget vs actual, procurement and spend, project accounting, HR and payroll, consolidation and data transformation. Each has a graded question bank at up to five levels (L1 to L5), the expected result in the Question Book so you can check your own (L5 holds its answers back), and a discussion under every question. The files are free; downloading them takes a free account.
What is in each dataset
Every set is a finance dataset first: trial balances, billing, sales transactions, work orders, encounters, shipments — the tables a finance team actually models, not a sales demo. Each comes with a short Business Introduction, a relationship model and a question bank that grows with the level.
- L1 — about 10,000 rows in Excel, 5 tables, 30 questions. Enough to build a first model and get the measures right.
- L2 — about 30,000 rows in CSV, 8 tables. Relationships, a calendar, CALCULATE and time intelligence.
- L3 — about 500,000 rows in Parquet, 12 tables. Modelling at scale, performance, harder business questions.
- L4 — millions of rows in Parquet batches, 18 tables, 60 questions. The shape of a real enterprise package.
- L5 — group-close sets of 12–14 million general-ledger lines, for people aiming at senior finance-data roles.
Which level to start at
Start at L1 if you are new to Power BI or to finance data: the file opens in Excel and the questions are answerable with a handful of measures. Move to L2 once relationships and CALCULATE feel natural. L3 and L4 are for practising what a large model demands — Parquet, star schemas, DAX that stays fast. Nothing stops you jumping levels; the question bank tells you quickly whether you jumped too far.
Any tool, not only Power BI
The questions ask for a number or a table — consolidated revenue after eliminations, the department with the longest waiting time, the variance on a work order — not for a Power BI step. So the same set works in Excel, Power BI, Python (pandas or Polars) or SQL, and each question lists the tools it suits. Most people use Power BI for L1–L3 and reach for Python or SQL at L4.
How to start
- Open the DATA DARE library and filter by industry and level.
- Create a free account (a minute) and download the package.
- Read the Business Introduction — it explains what the company does and what the tables mean.
- Answer the first three questions and compare with the expected results in the Question Book.
- Stuck or done? Post under the question; the discussion is where people compare approaches.
The industries published now
- Accounts Payable & Payments 3 sets L1L2L3 Start with Mizan Retail: Who We Owe and When We Pay — Accounts Payable & Payments (L1).
- Accounts Receivable & Collections 2 sets L1L2 Start with Mizan Manufacturing: Sales Up, Cash Slow — Accounts Receivable & Collections (L1).
- Budget vs Actual 2 sets L1L3 Start with Mizan Manufacturing: The Customer Who Left — Budget, Reforecasts and Actual (L1).
- Cash Flow Planning 2 sets L1L2 Start with Mizan Manufacturing: The 13-Week Cash Forecast — Cash Flow Planning (L1).
- Consolidation 3 sets L2L3L4 Start with Group Consolidation: Subsidiaries, NCI & Intercompany (L2).
- Data Transformation 4 sets L1L2L3L4 Start with Basic Data Cleaning and Shaping (L1).
- General Ledger & Trial Balance 2 sets L1L3 Start with Mizan Retail: Sales Up, Profit Down — Journals, Trial Balance and Budget (L1).
- HR & Payroll Analytics 3 sets L1L2L3 Start with Mizan Retail: Who Works Here, and What Do They Cost? — HR & Payroll Analytics (L1).
- Healthcare 4 sets L1L2L3L4 Start with Outpatient Service Performance (L1).
- Inventory & Stock 2 sets L1L2 Start with Mizan Retail: Shelves, Stock and Ramadan — Inventory & Stock (L1).
- Logistics 4 sets L1L2L3L4 Start with Shipment Delivery Performance and Fleet Efficiency (L1).
- Manufacturing 5 sets L1L2L3L4L5 Start with Production Output and Plant Efficiency (L1).
- Procurement & Spend 2 sets L1L3 Start with Mizan Manufacturing: Orders, Deliveries and Invoices — Procurement & Spend (L1).
- Project Management & Project Accounting 2 sets L1L3 Start with Mizan Retail: Stores on Time, on Budget? — Project Management & Project Accounting (L1).
- Real Estate 4 sets L1L2L3L4 Start with Residential Rental Income and Occupancy (L1).
- Retail 5 sets L1L2L3L4L5 Start with Daily Grocery Sales and Store Performance (L1).
- Working Capital 2 sets L1L2 Start with Mizan Manufacturing: Where the Cash Is Tied Up — Working Capital (L1).