There is ALWAYS a way to use code. However, I don't have a clear enough
picture of what is actually going on to give a solution just yet. Let me ask
a few questions, gather some information, and then we can hammer out some
code to do this. I will start at the beginning and work our way towards the
final result.

You said: "accessing 5 other workbooks, and returning the information for
2000 records"

When one of the cells checks another workbook, what is it actually doing?
(possessing 2000 records in the other workbook, but what exactly?) Does it
give you an average, the most recent value, or something else?

The more detail you can give without divulging company secrets the better.