Glossary

Using a P&L Report with Automated Full Year Estimates to Streamline the Monthly Reporting Process

Written by Nils R. | Jan 30, 2022 8:00:00 AM
How can Financial Statement s Drive Faster and Better Decisions? As CFOs increasingly become key advisors in the Monthly Reporting Process, they must rely on modern self-service corporate performance management (CPM) and business intelligence (BI) tools. Using interactive Financial Statements like the P&L Report with Automated Full Year Estimate template shown below enables them and users from the board and executive teams to experience near real time forward-looking projections based on actual data year-to-date and budgets or forecasts for the remainder of the year that help drive faster and better decisions. Who uses the P&L Report with Automated Full Year Estimate and What are Some Key Analytical Features? In today’s fast-paced business environment, CFOs are under high pressure to supply end users like CFOs, budget managers and executive leaders with timely and concise Financial Statements. Companies use key features like the ones below to support their users with effective analysis that helps drive more accurate decisions:
  • Dynamic full year estimate with Actual data up to the current month and budgets or forecasts for the remaining months
  • Variance information showing the difference between the original budget and the estimate (Actual YTD + budget for remainder of the year)
  • Expandable rows (to drill to GL account and below) and columns ( to see individual months)
The P&L Report with Automated Full Year Estimate template can be used as a key element of the Monthly Reporting process: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2246"] Example of a P&L Report with Automated Full Year Estimate to Streamline the Monthly Reporting Process[/caption] The P&L Report with Automated Full Year Estimate is a ready-to-use Financial Statement from the Solver Marketplace. A Brief Description of the P&L Report with Automated Full Year Estimate Template Financial Statements like the one seen in the image above are interactive and parameter driven and typically contain sections with automatic narrative text followed by fully formatted P&L estimate report sections. One of the important features that aid the user in the analysis process is the ability to use dynamic parameters, exception indicators and drill-down to do root-cause analysis of the actual and budget monthly data. P&L Report with Automated Full Year Estimate reports are often used in conjunction with budget reports, forecast input models, balance sheets, cash flow statements and KPI dashboards. Data Integration to Transaction Systems Most organizations these days want automated and streamlined planning, reporting and analysis. However, many of the benefits described earlier rely on best of breed Corporate Performance Management (CPM) tools and/or Business Intelligence (BI) capabilities as well as data marts or data warehouses that use pre-built integrations to the organization’s ERP system. Oftentimes, they also need integrations to other key data sources like CRM, subscription systems, payroll tools, etc. Modern, cloud-based ERPs like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance (D365 Finance), Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC), Sage Intacct, Acumatica, Netsuite and SAP have robust APIs which allow for dynamic integrations to CPM and BI tools that are fully automated and flexible to run on a schedule or on-demand. Additional Resources to Aid with Research of Templates, CPM and BI Tools