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While mid-market and enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors offer native
financial consolidation software, their limitations often leave users still in search of a solution that can produce. Here are a few reasons why it has been difficult for ERP vendors to deliver the financial consolidation functionality inside the ERPs itself.
Some cloud-based CPM vendors like Solver now also offer an Excel add-in to give power users more flexible and familiar report design. Additionally, in some CPM solutions, end users can still run the same reports in the cloud using their web browsers. They could do the same using their local Excel on the desktop connected to the CPM database in the cloud. Additionally, modern cloud-based CPM solutions typically house advanced budgeting and workflow capabilities. This allows for a single solution and a single report/form designer for financial reporting, consolidations and budgeting.
Common Limitations in Current Financial Consolidation ERPs
- Problematic to consolidate across subsidiaries with different ERPs
- Clunky consolidation process with too many steps
- Manual consolidation adjustments, which can be tedious to post
- Inability to handle different chart of accounts
- Weak auto-elimination functionality
- Limited currency conversion functionality
- Weak financial report writer to produce the consolidated reports
- Lack of dynamic pro-forma consolidations
- Inability to consolidate across subsidiaries with different fiscal calendars
Your ERP’s Current Consolidation Solution
Even with many popular ERP systems such as Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (D365 FO), SAP, Oracle or Workday, customers with significant consolidations and related financial reporting needs often end up depending on Excel, especially in the final steps of the process. While ERP systems typically contain many consolidation features, and might even have a native Management Reporter that is an above-the-average report writer, it is increasingly normal that customers add on a “best-of-breed” corporate performance management (CPM) solution to simplify their financial consolidation and reporting software.Modern cloud-based CPM solutions
Solver is an example of a CPM solution that comes with several added advantages, especially for Microsoft customers.Advantages of Solver CPM for Financial Consolidation
- Solution is cloud-based Azure
- It’s configurable to general ledgers as well as sub-ledgers
- It has a pre-built connector to Power BI for visualization
Some cloud-based CPM vendors like Solver now also offer an Excel add-in to give power users more flexible and familiar report design. Additionally, in some CPM solutions, end users can still run the same reports in the cloud using their web browsers. They could do the same using their local Excel on the desktop connected to the CPM database in the cloud. Additionally, modern cloud-based CPM solutions typically house advanced budgeting and workflow capabilities. This allows for a single solution and a single report/form designer for financial reporting, consolidations and budgeting.