Glossary

Using Balance Sheet Budget Dashboards to Streamline the Planning Process

Written by Nils R. | Nov 24, 2021 8:00:00 AM
How can Budget Dashboard s Drive Faster and Better Decisions? As Budget Managers increasingly become key drivers of the Planning Process, they must rely on modern self-service corporate performance management (CPM) and business intelligence (BI) tools. Using interactive Budget Dashboards like the Balance Sheet Budget Dashboard template shown below enables them and users from the Finance team to experience near real time budget analysis that help drive faster and better decisions. Who uses Balance Sheet Budget Dashboard s and What are Some Key Analytical Features? In today’s fast-paced business environment, Budget Managers are under high pressure to supply end users like analysts and executives with timely and concise Budget Dashboards. Companies use key features like the ones below to support their users with effective analysis that helps drive accurate asset and liability budgets.
  • Actual year-to-date (YTD) compared to the Budget for next year
  • Asset and Liability balances by GL Account
  • Interactive charts that reflects which account in the tables the user clicks on
The Balance Sheet Budget Dashboard template can be used as a key element of the Planning process: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2560"] Example of a Balance Sheet Budget Dashboard to Streamline the Planning Process[/caption] The Balance Sheet Budget Dashboard is a ready-to-use Budget Dashboard from the Solver Marketplace A Brief Description of the Balance Sheet Budget Dashboard Template Budget Dashboards like the one seen in the image above are interactive and parameter driven and typically contain sections with trend charts for Current Assets, Non Current Assets, Current Liabilities, Non Current Liabilities. One of the important features that aid the user in the analysis process is the ability to select the last closed period and the charts and tables will automatically display Actual YTD amounts the current year and compare these to the budget for next year. Balance Sheet Budget Dashboards are often used in conjunction with balance sheet budget input templates, cash flow dashboards and balance sheet budget reports. 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