Running a successful modern business requires so much more than the basic financial tools companies leaned on in the past. To thrive in today’s complex environment, many organizations turn to an Extended Financial Planning and Analysis (xFP&A) solution: Vital software that automates and improves financial and operational reporting, among other benefits.
When businesses implement an xFP&A solution to upgrade their reporting processes, they arm themselves with the critical data they need to make faster and more intelligent business decisions.
How Advanced Reporting Tools Enhance Decision-Making
Outdated reporting processes and time-consuming input methods can lead to unclear decision-making, and a feeling that all future financial and operational plans are simply guesswork. Alternatively, modern xFP&A solutions equipped with advanced reporting capabilities rely on time-saving automation to streamline the reporting process, while ensuring accuracy and clarity for business leaders and their teams.
With an xFP&A solution for reporting, you can:
- Easily consolidate data from multiple sources, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and other tools.
- Store relevant financial and operational information in one centralized place.
- Reduce or eliminate slow and error-prone manual data entry.
- Free up valuable time for completing other business tasks.
- Quickly analyze and share data in real-time.
Designed for today’s complex economy, advanced reporting tools collate the data you need to best understand your company’s strengths and weaknesses. This understanding empowers you to make critical adjustments to your business strategy—and boost profitability. When you use these powerful resources, you can transform the way you manage your company’s finances, and position your organization for growth and prosperity.
Advanced Reporting Made Simple
Reporting and analysis should concentrate on the areas of the business that impact revenue growth, costs, and profitability. To support your goal of more analysis and less manual work, leading xFP&As offer report design features, as well as ready-to-use templates that make financial and operational reporting simple on any timeline. These templates should be customizable to your business’ specific needs and used in accordance with best practices for reporting. Report templates can include the following:
- Project Revenues and Margins: This report allows managers to effortlessly compare revenues, expenses, and gross margin across a selected set of projects. Construction companies can use reports like this to compare the profitability of various renovation projects in their portfolio.
- Statement of Activities: This report offers a detailed financial statement with actual, budget, and variances for revenues and expenses. Nonprofit organizations rely on these reports to file their taxes and show donors and other stakeholders how they’re spending money.
- Revenue and Operating Margin by Service Type: Using this comparative format, a senior living business can easily analyze revenues, expenses, and gross margins across different business areas such as assisted living and independent living.
- Transaction Detail: This report allows users to track project revenue and expense entries with detailed insights, down to the task level. This is crucial for construction companies, which require a thorough understanding of the costs associated with each project they undertake.
- Membership Overview: Designed for membership organizations, including some nonprofits, this report facilitates a company’s analysis of actual and budgeted membership dues, drops in membership, and variances.
- KPI Scorecard: This scorecard layout provides a tabular overview of all key performance indicators (KPIs), with actual and budget comparisons for monthly and year-to-date figures. A senior living business could use this report to examine its progress toward financial goals and make adjustments, as needed.
In addition to customizable templates, the leading xFP&A solutions also offer ad hoc reporting: self-service tools that answer important business questions instantly. On-demand data is, after all, the new differentiator between successful businesses and leaders in the market and everyone else. One of the best ways to ensure your company can access on-demand data is to choose financial planning and reporting software that enables various stakeholders to quickly and easily run their self-service reports. Of course, on-demand reports should be available in addition to receiving scheduled monthly reports and participating in financial presentations.
Dashboards can also be helpful reporting tools. Commonly paired with consolidated and individual financial reports, dashboards for revenue benchmarking, expense benchmarking, and KPI benchmarking (among other areas) can streamline the reporting process while providing you and your team with metrics that help drive faster and better decisions.
Streamline Your Reporting—and Make Better Decisions—with Solver
Making world-class decisions is imperative for any organization to succeed, and the ability to do it quickly and efficiently gives a business a competitive advantage. An xFP&A suite can significantly enhance your company's ability to make these decisions, providing the reporting and analysis tools you need to capitalize on opportunities for growth.
Our expert team is ready to help you with all your financial planning needs. Contact Solver today to learn more about how our innovative xFP&A solution can support your company's success.
