Research Articles – iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment.

Financial reporting and analytics solutions

Jennene Kelly — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 09:28:40 +0000

Businesses decide to implement new ERP systems for a variety of reasons, including increased efficiencies, better inventory control, stronger cash flow and capital management, increased revenue, and reduced costs. In this downloadable guide, we explore the various benefits that can be achieved by deploying a modern ERP software package. We delve into detail on the advantages of robust ERP systems and provide real-world examples of how those benefits can be achieved.

We also address the top complaint that we hear from business leaders who have recently implemented a new system, namely, shortcomings in the financial reporting and analysis tools that come with those systems out of the box.

“We address the top complaint that we hear from business leaders.”

This guide provides an overview of the practical business benefits of ERP software, and it explores ways to enhance the value of ERP by ensuring that systems deliver real-time visibility to business performance, confidence in the accuracy of information, and a strong foundation for making insightful, well-timed business decisions.

Contents:

- Introduction
- Improve Working Capital
- Increase Revenue
- Reduce Costs
- Improve Compliance
- Improve F&A and Tighten Internal Controls
- Retire Legacy Systems
- Software Features and Benefits that Matter to Finance

Download the white paper: Financial Reporting and Analytics Solutions: Why, When, and How to Invest Wisely

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From manual to modern planning processes

Jennene Kelly — Fri, 17 Sep 2021 03:44:49 +0000

As companies grow, they often need to develop new systems and processes to scale up more effectively as the size and complexity of the business increases. Systems that might have worked well in the past can become increasingly unwieldy as new people join the company, as responsibilities in the organization shift, and as business processes and practices mature.

How can growing businesses move from manual, time-consuming financial planning processes to modern planning processes that meet the needs of all stakeholders? It all starts with making the business case to business leadership.

It all starts with making the business case to business leadership.

In this free downloadable guide, you’ll learn:

Some common pain points that growing businesses experience with planning, forecasting, and budgeting
Key strategies for building a sustainable process that sets your team on a path to working smarter rather than harder
Advice for FP&A professionals as they prepare to persuade business leaders of the need for robust planning tools
Key attributes to look for in the best financial planning software

Download the whitepaper: From Manual to Modern Planning Processes: Making the Business Case

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Whitepaper: Data warehouse automation and ERP

Jennene Kelly — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 21:27:38 +0000

Upgrading an ERP system presents a number of challenges to many organisations. However, many of these challenges can be alleviated by integrating a business intelligence (BI) solution during the upgrade process. This is especially true if the BI solution is based on a data warehouse and implemented using a data warehouse automation platform.

Data conversion is one of the key activities involved in upgrading an ERP system. Therefore, it is also an appropriate time to assess the quality of the data that will be converted. Businesses that decide to implement a data warehouse during the ERP will discover that doing so provides an opportunity to address all their data quality issues.

“The tasks involved in the ERP upgrade process become more straightforward and less time-consuming when a data warehouse and BI solution is part of the upgrade.”

Traditionally, report conversion is another key activity of the ERP upgrade process. However, when businesses are implementing a data warehouse at the same time, they have an opportune moment to reevaluate their reporting needs to avoid spending time converting obsolete reports.

This whitepaper will examine the challenges of data migration and report conversion in an ERP upgrade and how integrating a data warehouse-based BI solution into the project can help.

Download the whitepaper: How implementing a Data Warehouse Solution can accelerate and facilitate an ERP upgrade

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Whitepaper: How to futureproof your financial report builds

Jennene Kelly — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:04:22 +0000

During periods of rapid change, it is especially important for leaders to have real-time access to information based on a reliable single source of truth.  Unfortunately, keeping up with evolving requirements for operational and financial reporting usually creates an ongoing cost burden.

Most off-the-shelf ERP reporting tools fall short of the mark because they lack the flexibility to adapt quickly. They typically require specialised technical expertise and are not able to combine data from multiple software systems. Over the long term, the costs of reporting can really add up.

When reporting becomes a money pit, it’s time to look for a new solution.

With the right technology tools, business leaders can increase the speed and agility of the business, gain insights based on real-time data, and reduce total cost of ownership.  By planning ahead, businesses can be more adaptable as the organisation’s needs change, as technology evolves, and as new needs emerge.

Learn how to prepare for the future and help your business gain accurate real-time insights, lower your costs, and increase agility.

Contents:

Introduction

PROBLEM 1:
The Business Changes

PROBLEM 2:
The Software Changes

PROBLEM 3:
Information Requirements Change

THE SOLUTION:
Information at the Speed of Business

Download the whitepaper: How to futureproof your financial report builds

eBook: The new AP department

Jennene Kelly — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 01:51:59 +0000

If there’s any silver lining to be found subsequent to global economic disruption, it’s the catalyst it’s created for business innovation. Organisations and AP teams across the globe have been faced with both a major challenge and an opportunity to rethink their processes to promote both short- and long-term success.

The global economic disruption has provided an opportunity to rethink processes to promote both short- and long-term success.

This new and insightful eBook explores the outlook of the ‘New AP Department’: what’s changed, what changes will stick and how to promote business continuity with an AP automation solution with benefits such as:

Ability for AP staff to competently do their jobs from any location, without compromising quality
Optimised cash flow thanks to electronic payments & greater visibility into spend-related activities
Improved collaboration & relationships with key suppliers by providing a vendor self-service portal

What’s on the docket:

Business disruption prompting business innovation
Enabling remote work
Eliminating manual processes
Optimising cash flow
Improving supplier management & supplier relations
Enhancing visibility
Creating a more strategic AP with automation

Download the ebook: The new AP department

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Whitepaper: Streamline your financial year-end close

Jennene Kelly — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 23:47:39 +0000

If you’ve ever been in the midst of the festive celebrations and are suddenly hit with dread of an upcoming, cumbersome, financial year-end close, you’re not alone. Not only do you have to complete the usual processes involved with a month-end close, but you have the additional tasks of working back through each month to make any needed adjustments, preparing tax reporting, and planning for the next year. Getting the job done requires a real, concerted team effort. Sometimes you might need to involve IT or external consultants to help pull reports. This can take more time and result in errors due to misunderstanding or miscommunication.

This adds up to greater productivity, less stress and more accurate data to drive strategic insights and identify efficiencies.

The year-end close is likely to be the time when you feel the most frustration toward your ERP – surely there must be an easier way than relying on a platform that isn’t customised to your year-end needs.

In this guide we discuss each of your likely pain points throughout the different stages of a year-end close, and the best ways to resolve them.

Contents:

Tackling year-end close challenges
- Reporting
- Consolidation
- Tax provision and reporting
- Operational transfer pricing
- Planning
Summary of potential struggles
The right year-end close tools to make the process a breeze

Download the white paper: Streamline Your Financial Year-End Close Process to Free Up Time for Analysis

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With integration comes power

Jennene Kelly — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 21:36:13 +0000

We get it.

You understand and are enthused by the potential of integration to enable you to seamlessly access and utilise real-time data, and automate processes between disparate, bespoke or customised legacy solutions. You’re excited by the potential to gain a significant competitive edge and extend the lifetime value of your applications.

And what business wouldn’t be?

What’s in the way of making your project a powerhouse for the business?

But where do you start? How do you make sure that your investment in time and money deliver a successful project? And what’s in the way of making your project a powerhouse for the business?

The four roadblocks to integration project success

Lack of technical expertise, capability and capacity. Let’s face it; few organisations have the requisite internal resources with the up-to-date technical knowledge, capabilities and capacity to deliver a comprehensive and challenging integration project. You’re unlikely to have the people you need just ‘kicking around’ in case you one day need them. So challenge number one is to find a partner you can trust, who has what you need, on tap.

The challenges of getting up to speed with technology. Good on you. You’ve made the strategic decision to move ahead with an integration project, and you’re ready and willing to reap significant value from your disparate but critically important applications. But the big question is: ‘What technologies and approach are best suited for your needs?’. You’ve probably invested time and effort researching and even shortlisting viable technology platforms. You’ve started to discuss API management and had some interesting internal debates on how to enforce consistency and security for your line-of-business, mobile and legacy applications, website and new systems. You’ve downloaded whitepapers and watched the videos. But where to from here? How do you work through the vast amount of information you and other stakeholders have gathered to make the right decision for the business? And where do you get expert advice from to ensure you don’t make a potentially expensive mistake?

Not coming to terms with a. where you are now, and b. where you want to be. You can’t start anything new and expect it to work without understanding where you are starting from. It’s time for some soul searching by asking (more) big questions like: ‘Are we ready for an integration platform refresh? How mature are our current approaches? And how can we move forward? Who will be responsible for what? Are our people ready?’. While it may by this stage be tempting to offer the number 42 as the answer to everything, working through these questions, and coming up with sensible, in-depth and documented answers and processes, is critical to project success.

Deciding when to ‘green light’ the project. You’ve done the research, validated your choice of technologies, and understand the where-to-from here process to realise a successful implementation. But before you press ‘go’ you need evidence that the project vision will meet your business needs. In other words, will this integration do what you want it to do, and what’s going to be involved? The only way to make this decision is to set up the proof of value goals, scope, and inputs required to achieve them. And then build part of the integration to demonstrate that it’s going to work. Setting off on your integration journey without ‘proof’ is a high-risk strategy at the best of times.

So, how do you raze these roadblocks to the ground?
Good question! And I’m going to keep the answers short and sweet.

Align yourself with a partner you trust. Someone who has the solutions, services, and proven capabilities to make your project a success. They should provide you with an overview of how the integration process will support your businesses strategy, and an understanding of the business benefits.
Educate yourself. Ask your partner to equip you with the in-depth knowledge and understanding you need to make an informed and confident technology recommendation to the business decision-makers in readiness to proceed to a detailed assessment of your environment and objectives.
Assess your status. Your partner should work with you to assess the maturity of capabilities and shortcomings of your current integrations. They need to roadmap your future plans and detail the steps to get there. And set cost and time expectations.
Verify your concept. Build part of the project. And need we say test it thoroughly? Once you have the confidence that the integration project will not only work, but deliver the expected business value, you are ready to hit ‘go’.

If you want to be roadblock free and ready to power ahead, either call or email Phil Cullen, or download the adaptiv.align, educate, assess and verify PDFs for more details.

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Five key factors to consider when evaluating financial reporting software

Jennene Kelly — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 00:34:35 +0000

Frustrated with constantly trying to fill the gaps between what business intelligence (BI) tools provide, and the actual reporting needs of your finance team? Does your team often resort to dumping ERP data into Excel and then manually manipulating it? If so, it’s probably time to consider financial reporting software.

When it comes to financial reporting, companies are quickly learning that business intelligence and financial intelligence just aren’t the same thing.

But how do you know what to look for? In this whitepaper, you will learn the five key factors to consider when evaluating financial reporting solutions.

Here are five key factors to consider when evaluating financial reporting solutions:

Finance-owned vs IT-owned
Direct, timely data access
Drill into detail
Multi-source connectivity
Time to value

Download whitepaper: Five key factors to consider when evaluating financial reporting software

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KPIs and Metrics for Finance Departments in 2020

Jennene Kelly — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 02:35:35 +0000

A finance department Key Performance Indicator (KPI) or metric is a clearly defined quantifiable measure used to evaluate a company’s financial performance. From an external perspective, investors compare the financial KPIs of different companies to determine which is a better investment. Internally, companies use financial metrics to evaluate prospective investments and track internal performance from a financial perspective.

Utilising KPIs within your Finance Department
Financial KPIs are a very broad topic. However, there are two common uses for financial KPIs. The first one is financial reporting, where your company is conveying information to shareholders. The other use is for internal auditing and process improvement.

Due to the number of financial performance indicators, a good approach to take is tiering the metrics. High level indicators should be directly reported to the CFO of a company, while higher resolution indicators should be analysed by the finance department. In this post, we will go over some finance manager KPIs, KRAs and KPIs for a finance department, and how financial reporting software is able to enhance this process.

KPIs for Finance Managers and the CFO
As we mentioned above, finance managers and CFOs need high level KPIs readily available to them so they can make decisions that impact the direction a company will take in the future. At insightsoftware, we came up with what we believe are the most important finance manager KPI examples:

Quick Ratio – As a CFO or financial manager, you want to quickly check the financial health of your company. This ratio does just that. The quick ratio determines a company’s ability to immediately cover its short-term financial obligations.Quick ratio = (Cash + Marketable Securities + Accounts Receivable) / Current Liabilities
Current Ratio – Another financial metric commonly used to assess the health of a company is the current ratio. It is like the quick ratio, but rather than checking if a company can immediately cover obligations, it checks to see if a company can meet its obligations within one year.Current Ratio = Current Assets / Current Liabilities
Working Capital – This key financial metric is used to measure the amount of money a company has available at their disposal, ready to be put to work. This can help a financial manager decide how aggressive a company should be in pursuing growth opportunities.Working Capital = Current Assets – Current Liabilities
Accounts Payable Turnover – It is good practice to keep the accounts payable turnover metric readily available. This financial KPI measures the amount of time it takes a company to pay its suppliers and is a strong leading indicator of a company’s financial position. If the ratio starts to decrease, it is a sign of potential cash flow problems.Accounts Payable (AP) Turnover = Total Supply Purchases / ((Beginning AP – Ending AP) / 2)
Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) – This is a financial performance indicator that measures how many days it takes a company to convert its goods back to cash. To do this, the metric analyses the number of days to sell inventory, collect receivables, and pay its bills. Ideally, a CFO would like to see this value stay the same, or decrease over time.CCC = Days of Inventory Outstanding + Days Sales Outstanding – Days Payables Outstanding
Return on Equity (ROE) – For a finance manager or CFO, shareholders are very important. One of the financial metrics that shareholders care most about is ROE, as it can be used to assess how efficiently shareholder’s equity is being utilised. This metric is often used when comparing two companies in the same industry to see which is a better investment.Return on Equity = Net Income / Average Shareholders’ Equity
Total Debt-to-Equity Ratio – This financial key performance indicator is used to measure a company’s liabilities against its shareholder’s equity. Finance managers should pay attention to this metric as it identifies how much debt is being used to grow a company. A high ratio can be worrying as an economic downturn could spell disaster.Total-Debt-to-Equity = (Short-Term Debt + Long-Term Debt) / Shareholder’s Equity
Gross Profit Margin – Gross profit margin is every CFO’s go-to metric. It calculates how much money is left from the revenue after removing the cost of goods sold and expresses it as a percentage of revenue. This shows how profitable your products are.Gross Profit Margin = (Net Sales – Cost of Goods Sold) / Net Sales
Net Profit Margin – This key financial metric is often referred to as the bottom line. At the end of the day, this is what is most important to any CFO, financial manager, or shareholder: how much money the company is making relative to revenue. Ideally, this number is always positive, and the higher, the better.Net Profit Margin = Net Income / Net Sales
Earnings Per Share (EPS) – This is one of the most important financial KPIs when it comes to reporting. Almost every analyst or news outlet will be touting a company’s EPS when it comes to announcing quarterly results. As such, it is a crucial financial metric that every CFO must pay attention to.EPS = (Net Income – Preferred Dividends) / (End-of-Period Common Shares Outstanding)
Compound Average Growth Rate (CAGR) – Your shareholders always want to know how much the company is growing, whether it be revenue, profit, or market share. This financial KPI calculates how much a certain aspect of the business has grown on a compound basis. For a CFO, this is a very important figure to be able to report to shareholders.
Operating cash flow – The operating cash flow financial metric is one of the most basic metrics used by CFOs. It measures how much income is generated from regular business operations. In a healthy company, this number should be positive, and can be used to help determine how much CAPEX a company can afford.Operating Cash Flow = EBIT + Depreciation – Taxes – Change in Working Capital
Operating expense – Commonly known as OPEX, this financial performance indicator is used to track how much it costs a business to carry on day-to day-operations. These expenses include rent, inventory costs, insurance, payroll, research and development, etc. This is important to financial managers, as the easiest way to increase profits is by cutting costs.
EBITDA & EBITDA growth – This might be a bit of a mouthful, but it stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation. This financial metric is used as an alternative for to net income, as it gives a more precise measure of corporate earnings by leaving out strategic accounting. EBITDA and EBITDA growth are best tracked using financial reporting software as they are very data intensive.
Employee count – Every good manager knows how many employees they have at any given time. This financial key performance indicator can also be utilised in conjunction with other KPIs to give insightful data on a per employee basis.

Now that you have had a good look through those sample KPIs for finance managers, we should look at the KPIs for the finance department. But just before we do that, we will review what makes an ideal KPI for the finance team.

What Makes a Good Key Performance Indicator for the Finance Department?
Financial managers and CFOs should be concerning themselves with KPIs and metrics that give a holistic view of how the company is performing. This helps them make decisions on a company-wide basis, and it is up to the finance department to implement these changes on a micro scale. With this in mind, we will discuss what kind of characteristics you should look for when assigning KRAs and KPIs to the finance department.

High resolution. These metrics need to look at the nitty gritty details of the company. They should scrutinise each process and business segment to see where bottlenecks occur, or to see where performance can be increased.
Project specific. Any time a company is looking at starting a new project or making an investment, the finance department should be analysing all the possible outcomes from a financial perspective and summarising it in a nice report.
Efficiency oriented. This might seem like a bit of a catch-all characteristic but hear us out. Efficiency oriented KPIs should be used to track different business segments and help develop processes that make the segments more efficient.

You might have noticed something in common with all those characteristics. All of them are low level, almost what you would call ‘hands on’ KPIs. That is because the finance department is meant to be monitoring, analysing, and looking for ways to implement change.

KPIs for the Finance Department
The finance department of any company often works tirelessly in the background to ensure financial operations run smoothly so other departments can focus on their own objectives. To do this, there are specific key performance indicators for the finance department to keep track of. Here are some examples of those financial key performance indicators:

Net Present Value (NPV) – This financial metric is used on a project by project basis to determine if an endeavor will be profitable. To do this, reconcile future cashflows over a period of time as a present value. This is a perfect example of a KPI for the finance department.Net Present Value = Today’s Value of Expected Cash Flows – Today’s Value of Invested Cash
Future Value (FV) – The future value financial KPI is also commonly used by finance departments when evaluating the value of prospective projects or endeavors. To do so, this financial performance indicator uses an assumed rate of return to estimate the value of an investment at a future date.Future Value = Present Value * (1 + Interest Rate)^Time
Reports produced per finance employee – This key performance indicator for the finance department is best used for internal audits. While quantity isn’t necessarily better than quality, this financial metric helps measure the performance of the finance team, and potentially identify areas of improvement. The use of a financial reporting solution can often improve this performance metric.
Finance report error rate – Every finance team would love this metric to read zero. However, that is not always the case. Like the KPI previously mentioned, this is another area where financial reporting solutions can provide finance departments with the proper tools to get the job done.
Payback period – This is a good KPI for the finance team. The payback period metric is best used on a project-by-project basis to determine the amount of time it takes an investment to pay for itself. This helps the finance department assess which projects seem the most promising.Payback Period = Initial Capital Cost for Project / Annual Savings or Earnings from Project
Internal Rate of Return (IRR) – The IRR financial KPI calculates the rate of return required for a net present value of zero. If this IRR is above the company’s required rate of return, the investment should be considered by the finance team. This metric is best used when comparing multiple investment opportunities and deciding which is the best, with a higher IRR being more attractive.
Return on investment (ROI) – It would take way too much time for a CFO or finance manager to review the ROI of every single investment a company made. As such, this falls onto the finance department to keep track of. This task can easily be automated using a financial KPI dashboard. Keeping this data safe and easily accessible on a dashboard helps with comparing past investments to estimate the performance of future investments.Return on Investment = (Current Value of Investment – Cost of Investment) / Cost of Investment
Total debt-to-asset ratio – As the name implies, this financial KPI measures the total amount of debt a company has and compares it to the company’s assets. This is a ratio that is better kept on the lower side. If the ratio is too high, a company may have difficulties acquiring future loans, as it shows that they have a higher chance of defaulting on their obligations. At the same time, all companies should make use of at least a little bit of debt to help fund expansion.Total-Debt-to-Asset = (Short-Term Debt + Long-Term Debt) / Total Assets
Interest coverage ratio – When you borrow money from anyone, the minimum amount you must pay is the interest. Is your company in a good position to do that? This KPI indicator for the finance department measures a company’s ability to cover its interest expense with its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT).Interest Coverage = EBIT / Interest Expense
Time to conduct budget and planning process – This is one of the top financial KPIs for a finance department. Everyone dreads the budget and planning process. That is why there is a finance metric to measure the amount of time it takes. However, just because there is a metric that tracks time, it doesn’t mean you can slack on quality.
Time to close – When it comes to the end of the quarter, there never seems to be enough time to close. Everyone is always in a panic, sending out emails to make sure all the expenses get submitted. Being able to close quickly and efficiently is the sign of a company that functions well—or one that uses good financial reporting software.

The finance department has a wide range of objectives that they must meet, with a variety of KPIs that they use to help them reach these objective. However, some of these tasks can easily be streamlined and even automated using high-quality financial reporting software solutions.

Streamline your KPI reporting with Financial Reporting Software
At insightsoftware, we eat, sleep, and breathe financial reporting. It is what we are passionate about. As such, we want to make the reporting process as easy as possible for our clients through the use of KPI dashboards. Here are some of the benefits to using a financial reporting solution:

Automated data collection. A KPI dashboard is a very powerful data collection tool. Our software is designed to be compatible with your existing ERP, so data extraction is as easy as one-two-three.
Data consolidation. Since your data is automatically extracted and collected for you, it is now conveniently all in one place. Gone are the days of emailing spreadsheets or passing a thumb drive to your neighbor.
Prebuilt KPI templates. Our software is out of the box ready. All the KPIs you could possibly think of are ready to go.
Generate reports instantly. When you couple prebuilt templates with automatic data collection, what do you get? Instant reports. Your finance department doesn’t have to stress about compiling reports for the CFO anymore. This will greatly reduce your time to close.

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eBook: Improving the customer experience

Jennene Kelly — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 21:59:16 +0000

What’s in the e-book?
There’s no doubt about it: Efficient order-to-cash (O2C) processes are important to company success. Nonetheless, they can be a challenge to attain. As different teams pursue their own goals and self-interests – utilising separate systems and applications in the process – what’s best for the organisation as a whole is often put on the backburner. Which is exactly why companies need to rethink traditional O2C processes and focus on the strategic end-goal for all: an improved customer experience.

Addressing the root causes of inefficiency makes future initiatives much easier to implement.

Why now? Because expectations have changed. Today’s customers care more about their experience and the ease of which they can do business with a company. In other words, customer service tactics from even 5-10 years ago simply don’t cut it anymore. Organisations that fail to adapt and evolve their service strategies are at risk of gaining and retaining business.

Table of contents:

Introduction
O2C Automation
Automation outcomes
Five teams
- Order management
- E-Commerce
- Logistics and distribution
- Accounts receivable
- Sales
Delivering a superior customer experience
Conclusion
Get to know Esker

Download the ebook: Improving the customer experience

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Five Excel tips for better budgeting and forecasting

Jennene Kelly — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 01:31:12 +0000

Excel has such a long history in business accounting and corporate finance that it has inevitably become the butt of some easy jokes. Despite the complexity of the program and its decades-long contributions to the world of finance, there’s no question that many professionals have their own personal frustrations with Microsoft’s iconic spreadsheet solution.

As finance technology and financial management solutions evolve and incorporate artificial intelligence, cloud-based software, and other tools and features that enhance financial practices, it’s easy to assume that Excel’s relevance to businesses has either declined in recent years or is operating on borrowed time. But the reality is that Excel, for all of its limitations and warts, still offers value to many businesses and continues to be relied upon in a wide range of use cases.

Excel isn’t perfect, but some of the challenges of using the software have more to do with the user’s lack of expertise.

Excel isn’t perfect, but some of the challenges of using the software have more to do with the user’s lack of expertise. In many cases, you can improve the value Excel offers your budgeting and forecasting activities just by taking time to learn some of its nuances.

To that end, we’ve compiled five useful tips to help you improve your use of Excel when budgeting and forecasting for your business.

1. Use file-sharing tools to make sure all collaborators are working from the most up-to-date spreadsheet
At large organisations, the budgeting and forecasting process isn’t a one-person job. Collaboration tools are essential to managing large projects and coordinating tasks and workflows among members of the finance team. But even when workflows are being effectively managed, the efficiency of this collaboration is largely dependent on the reliability of your data.

All collaborators need access to the same data sets, which themselves must represent the most up-to-date financial information possible. By integrating Excel with financial consolidation tools, you can ensure these data sets are regularly updated to support your finance team and reduce the risk of data discrepancies.

Excel makes it easy to manage large sets of data across multiple spreadsheets, all of which can be used in enterprise budgeting and forecasting. But your finance team also needs the tools in place to ensure that all collaborators are using the most recent files, which means you need an external platform connected to Excel that organises these versions and ensures collaborators are working off the same information. In the long run, this reduces your error rates and streamlines collaboration on key financial tasks.

2. Master advanced formulas and functions offered in Excel
If you’re using Excel for budgeting and forecasting, you’re probably familiar with the basic formulas and functions offered by the software. But you can increase the value of Excel in your financial tasks by taking time to master some of the more advanced functions that may offer particular benefits to finance professionals.

A few of these advanced functions include:

VLOOKUP: This function makes it easy to search through a database and pull information related to an item when all of the items in a list have a unique identifier. This has all sorts of applications, from finance to human resources, but finance teams might use it for invoicing, adding up costs, tracking spending or unpaid balances, and many other tasks. One challenge of this function is that it works only from left to right, meaning the unique identifier you use to find related values has to be placed to the left of your desired value in whatever list or database you’re using.
XLOOKUP: The left-to-right limitation of VLOOKUP is one reason Excel released an updated function, XLOOKUP, which offers one important benefit over its predecessor: Searches can be conducted from any starting point in a database, moving in any direction to find the desired value. XLOOKUP also defaults to searching for an exact match, rather than the approximate match sought by VLOOKUP, which may not always be preferable, depending on the type of values being sought. Still, XLOOKUP generally offers more benefits to users – but because it’s a relatively new function, many professionals might not be familiar with it.
Pivot tables: Pivot tables are one of the more complex functions available through Excel, but they are a valuable tool when dealing with large data sets – which is likely the case at an enterprise organisation. Pivot tables allow you to summarise data and even generate visual graphics based on the trends featured in the data. (A great tutorial on setting up pivot tables can be found here.)

If you haven’t brushed up on Excel’s functions lately, it might be time to revisit them and find out what you’re missing out on. Because the list of available functions has grown over time, there might be valuable new functions available to improve your use of the software.

3. Take advantage of Excel’s automation capabilities
Excel offers the functionality to enact simple automation for various tasks within the software. This is accomplished by creating custom logic within macros, which are essentially structured tasks that you can configure for processes you plan to repeat over time.

Macros aren’t equipped with artificial intelligence or other tools to enable robust automation for time-intensive processes, but they do make it possible to automate simple, predictable processes without having to write any code. That’s a huge benefit for finance professionals, who can use Excel to improve their own individual capabilities, reduce errors, and quickly build new solutions for basic financial tasks over time.

If you need stronger automation capabilities – or you just want to fully realise the benefits of using automation to support your finance team – then you might want to implement a comprehensive financial software suite. But even with that suite in place, Excel can help individual workers create basic automation solutions that make their jobs easier.

4. Use cloud-based data management to support Excel forecasting at scale
Excel is a complex program that’s capable of managing massive data sets and supporting budgeting and forecasting even at a large business. But there can still be issues when it comes to scaling Excel for enterprise businesses and maintaining a single source of truth for your financial data – among other challenges that are unique to large organisations.

One way to overcome Excel’s limitations of scale and workload volume is to connect this software program with a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, or a suite that can consolidate and centralise financial data for the entire organisation. Instead of functioning as the repository for all this data—and managing the data in all of its complexity – Excel instead uses the cloud-based solution as a resource for acquiring business data and using it for budgeting and forecasting functions.

As a result, Excel’s powerful spreadsheet management and formulaic functions can still be utilised by enterprise organisations. But an ERP or financial suite can do some of the heavy lifting around this financial data, such as maintaining audit trails, organising and saving different versions of files, improving information security, and ensuring that Excel’s functions have the benefit of a single source of truth when running their calculations.

5. Understand when your budgeting and forecasting have outgrown Excel
Many businesses, including enterprise organisations, can continue to find value in Excel even as their companies grow in both size and the complexity of their financial data. If you started out as a small organisation with simple financial data and limited resources, you were probably able to get by using Excel as a stand-alone solution.

Over time, though, you’re likely to experience growing pains related to Excel’s limitations. Even if you have plans to continue using Excel in the future, you might face a crossroads where additional financial solutions are critical to conducting budgeting, forecasting, and other financial activities at the level you require.

Disparate financial data, a lack of a single source of truth, and incomplete financial statements are just some of the scenarios in which Excel’s limitations can become more glaring. Similarly, you may want your financial data to drive better strategic decision-making through the use of dynamic modeling, custom reports, advanced analytics, or other insight-driven initiatives that Excel isn’t capable of supporting.

Excel can still offer value to large enterprise organisations in some capacity, but its role in overall budgeting and forecasting may diminish as your company’s size and strategic needs surpass what the software offers.

When you reach that crossroads, seek out a financial software solution like Tidemark, which uses cloud-based computing, advanced automation, and other enterprise-focused financial tools to integrate Excel into a state-of-the-art system for efficient financial management.

Curious about how Tidemark upgrades your Excel approach and improves financial operations? Request a demo today.

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Making Financial Planning a continuous and popular activity

Jennene Kelly — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 23:18:07 +0000

Living through periods of rapid upheaval and uncertainty, like the recent pandemic, forces us to adapt quickly to new working practices. One of the long-lasting lessons learned from COVID-19 is that the old way of planning doesn’t work anymore. Organisations now recognise the importance of being able to plan more frequently and integrate planning across business areas beyond finance to enable quick action in the face of rapidly changing market conditions. That’s why Gartner tells us that by 2024, 70 percent of new financial planning and analysis projects will become extended planning and analysis (xP&A) projects – where multiple inputs from across the organisation become the levers finance teams can use to make the right strategic planning decisions.

Incremental planning will give you the edge to be able to nimbly pivot when unexpected conditions arise.

Forward-looking enterprises that are achieving better outcomes have already quickly reworked forecasts on supply chains, materials, and costs. Even further, they’ve pivoted to better manage fluctuating conditions in this new environment for their workforce. These organisations were fast to catch on: they learned that consistently incorporating input from a wide range of departments invites professionals from all levels to share feedback, own their numbers, and feel a sense of commitment in shaping and fulfilling strategic objectives. It takes a modern, flexible approach like this that engages participants at all edges of an organisations through continuous planning, driver-based planning, and collaborative planning to achieve superior results.

Extended Planning and Analysis (xP&A) on demand
Teamwork, no matter how beneficial it is, tends to be pushed aside when the coordination itself gets in the way. We believe this frustration is the root of all silos across the corporate world, severely diminishing capacities to effectively plan as a whole. In fact, although each department may be on top of its own data and plans, the silo it operates within is woefully incompatible with other departments located just down the hall.

For example, imagine that you work at a large multinational with mining, manufacturing, and commercial divisions. Wouldn’t it be great if you could trace how disruptions to your mining operations will reverberate throughout your whole supply chain, affect costs, and help you proactively determine the next steps to take with every impacted entity? This is exactly what those savvy companies are already doing.

When you think about the considerations that go into planning, it becomes clear that having the ability to see all the relevant details whenever you want makes for an accurate and valuable picture to work from. How many times have you had to wait for the operations team to supply the data needed to complete a forecast? This is the type of situation that makes it nearly impossible to do the rapid, scenario-based planning needed to nimbly change direction while facing uncertain conditions.

Making xP&A planning smarter
If you assess multiple entities with differing cost structures, you know how difficult and time-consuming it is to gain access to the right data and then analyse it at a granular level. One area that often goes overlooked is the value that can be achieved from the application of consolidated KPIs to measure major indicators. Imagine having real-time indicators consolidated across sales, marketing, operations, and HR – in addition to metrics on recent acquisitions and overall market trends. By incorporating that intelligence within the context of your assets and liabilities all into one place, you can immediately see and address trends that could boost or derail profits and costs.

Navigating your transition to xP&A
A major goal and requirement in adopting xP&A is to bring people at the edges of an organisation into the planning process, which ultimately drives more accurate forecasts and greater accountability. As you begin to assess the existing data silos and key teams that need to participate, you will uncover various stress points in your organisation’s systems. Often, the addition of data types, stakeholders, and processes can place a strain on current operations and planning technology. Legacy systems weren’t built to handle the size of data we contend with today. Add to that the additional users and number of planning models you now create. The process of establishing a robust xP&A framework can be dramatically accelerated through implementing the right technology.

Multinational organisations share particularly acute pains associated with processing data across multiple regions, entities, and charts of account. The lack of a centralised data store for both operational and financial planning data creates the risk of issues and errors in reports as teams work to bring everything together in their planning. When forecasting across demand plans, capex plans, and labor plans, there can potentially be different dimensions used by each operational business unit, such as sales teams planning on a customer order basis, or product teams looking at SKUs or raw material. Having a centralised system will make it a lot easier to roll up this data to an account level to drive financial plans.

How modern xP&A solutions help
Modern planning solutions can help with these challenges. They are not only designed to handle the complexity, user numbers, and data volumes required to plan across entire organisations, but also to enable professionals at all levels of the organisation to participate. For this, friendly workflows, intuitive software design, and an overall system that speaks to people’s individual KPIs is one of the best ways to ensure that everyone – from store managers to corporate teams – will remain engaged.

What’s so helpful about implementing a system that embraces people across different departments and entities is that it motivates people to contribute real operational data that reflects current realities instead of outdated and often unrealistic perspectives of what’s happened. Operational data is critical for the driver-based modeling component of xP&A, which, in turn, rolls up into the financial plans to create more accurate planning and forecasting. This makes it simple for everyone to get information, answer questions, collaborate, and participate in the decision-making process. This also reinforces a positive feedback loop that ensures ongoing monitoring and engagement. Each loop through the planning cycle solidifies everyone’s commitment and makes the process easier and easier.

Be ready for any situation
When you have a robust plan based on accurate data that have been sourced from your frontline workers, then you are in a strong position to start asking those all-important ‘what-if’ questions. In uncertain times, the ability to test different hypotheses and prepare for a range of potential outcomes can be a huge competitive advantage. When you have the ability to perform unlimited scenario planning and apply predictive and in-process analytics in a flexible and intuitive modeling environment, you immediately position your business so you’re ready to take action, whatever the future throws at you.

Addressing long-lasting changes
The effects of COVID-19 will be felt for years to come as economies slowly rebound and return to normal. With this come many long-lasting changes that will fuel the need for frequent and flexible forecasting and planning efforts. It is unlikely that the pace of business forecasting will ever slow back down to pre-COVID rates.

Now is the time to take charge of identifying and addressing previously unseen opportunities and risks by breaking down information silos to perform continuous, dynamic, and extended planning. By engaging more teams outside finance in the planning process, you can ensure that operational needs are balanced with financial goals. And, most importantly, incremental planning will give you the edge to be able to nimbly pivot when unexpected conditions arise.

Download the whitepaper: Why Extended Planning and Analysis is a Necessity for Every Organisation.

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Whitepaper: Order to cash automation

Jennene Kelly — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 00:19:40 +0000

Cash is king and automated order-to-cash solutions have proven to be an effective way of getting cash flow moving in the right direction.

Order-to-cash solutions bridge the chasm between receiving orders and applying cash, automating all the processes required to receive and process sales, from order management and fulfillment to invoicing and payment processing.

This whitepaper will show you the cash-flow benefits of automating the O2C process:

Reduce DSO
Fewer customer deductions
Lower write-offs
Better financial control
More accurate cash forecasting

Each of these benefits of an automated O2C solution is impressive. Together, they can significantly accelerate a company’s cash flow.

The technology eliminates the friction that impacts cash flow.

Contents:

Sales order processing remains a manual affair
The problem with manual 02C processes
The ramifications of imperfect orders
An end-to-end solution to slow cash flow
The power of 02C automation
Why automate 02C now
About Esker
About the Institute of Finance and Mangement

Download the whitepaper: Order-to-cash automation

The post Whitepaper: Order to cash automation appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

Whitepaper: How to make your cash work harder for you

Jennene Kelly — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 00:18:02 +0000

Now more than ever, businesses are realising the importance of having an optimised cash conversion cycle and tools that provide full visibility into the day-to-day payables and receivables processes that have a big impact on cash flow. If your operations are still inundated with inflexible, manual practices, you’re likely missing out on heaps of cash caught up in inefficient processes.

Read the white paper to discover how a cloud-based automation solution can accelerate your cash conversion cycle, free up ‘unproductive’ cash and bring new levels of visibility and flexibility to your organisation.

Day-to-day payables and receivables processes have a big cash impact on a business

Table of content:

Introduction
Why the cash conversion cycle matters
Best practices for accelerating cash conversion
Empowering the business through cash conversion
Start transforming your cash conversion cycle

Download the whitepaper: How to make your cash work harder for you

ABOUT MARK BROUSSEAU //

Mark Brousseau is a noted analyst, speaker, writer and marketer, with over 21 years of experience in advising leading providers of financial operations solutions and services.

Brousseau is president of Brousseau & Associates, a full-service strategic marketing and business development consultancy with the largest client base of any firm of its kind. Brousseau & Associates counts among its clients many top solutions and services providers in the payables, receivables, payments, document management and healthcare verticals.

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Guide to successful online events

Jennene Kelly — Tue, 19 May 2020 03:32:07 +0000

Virtual events, online meetings, webcasts or webinars – call them what you will – are an effective and efficient alternative to in-person events.

They offer a platform to stay connected, build community or engage with clients or prospects, just as you would do with a physical event.

But just because the technology is easily accessible and the bar for attendance is low, doesn’t mean success is a given. With in-person options severely constrained under Covid-19 restrictions, marketers are scrambling to be heard amongst a din of competing online events across the world.

“There are some unique challenges that those new to the medium need to adapt plans around.”

To be successful, many of the same challenges that exist in creating engaging events offline also apply in the online realm. But there are some unique challenges that those new to the medium need to adapt plans around.

The Technology
By now, we’ve probably all engaged in some form of online work or social video meeting.

Through Skype, Teams, Facebook Messenger, Zoom, or a multitude of others, we’ve become familiar with connecting with friends and colleagues remotely.

We’ve probably also experienced the downsides. Background noise, connection or streaming issues, interruptions or a dominant attendee can all detract from the experience.

But for costs that range from free to tens of dollars a month, you can put up with it when bantering amongst friends and colleagues.

However, for a professional B2B or all-of-staff presentation you need a more controlled platform. This is when online meeting tools fall short – you need a webinar.

Webinar events are typically connecting people who do not know one another. They are attending out of a personal interest or to learn more about a topic. Invitations are needed to advertise the event and convert interest into registrations. Registered attendees need to be sent reminders and calendar updates, and their details need to be retained for follow up after the event.

To handle all that, you need a proper webinar tool, and that involves either taking up a paid subscription or engaging a partner.

If your organisation does not have a webinar platform, a Google search will quickly confirm that there are multiple products, features and pricing plans available.

Zoom (the webinar version), WebEx and GoToWebinar are the most commonly used in this part of the world, with Bluejeans also emerging. The products and prices are not all equal, so take the time to set up trial licenses and give the product a proper run through prior to purchase to make sure it meets your needs.

Look for features like customised registration pages, automated reminders, waiting rooms, multi-speaker views, recording, Q&A, live polls, integrated exit surveys etc.

Costs for a complete webinar platform range from around $50 to $500 a month, depending on features and maximum audience size.

Virtual Conferencing
If you are looking to create a more engaging experience, potentially with paid ticketing, you can move further upmarket into virtual conferencing systems. These are split into two categories:

Video streaming – which involves broadcasting live ‘speaker-on-stage’ events to remote attendees. Livestream and Brightcove are the leaders in this category, integrating industry-standard camera and audio feeds into a production console and broadcast quality streaming service.
Virtual conferencing – these seek to emulate the trade show experience for attendees, providing facilities such as break-out rooms, simultaneous presentations, live Q&A with speakers, casual chat between attendees etc. On24 and vFairs are examples of such platforms.

Costs for both these categories run into the thousands per event – typically $5,000-$10,000, or may be priced at the upper end of that range on an annual subscription for a capped number of events per year.

The environment requires significant configuration to set up so expect to also engage specialist services to assist with this aspect also.

VR/AR is emerging in this category (think salesmen as avatars roaming the virtual exhibition hall) but is more gimmicky than useful and a distraction away from the content attendees are wanting to see.

Hosted Platforms
You can also engage a partner to run webinars, using their platform of choice.

Under this scenario, you effectively outsource event management (including the platform, event collateral, promotion and all administrivia) to a partner.

Some publishers, event managers and even industry associations are offering hosted webinars with paid sponsorship options. Typically, they choose the theme and speakers and try to attract sponsors, so as a sponsor it is a matter of finding the right theme that fits your objectives and will attract the right audience.

iStart’s ‘Lunch Box’ webinars are another option. Our point of difference is that we usually work with a single sponsor and tailor an event to meet the sponsor’s specific objectives. We also come with our own database of prospects, promoting events to our subscribers who are Australia and New Zealand’s business and IT decisionmakers.

Tips for a Successful Event

You get the audience your content deserves. Take the high road with educational, high value content and quality speakers your target audience can relate to. People will not register for a sales pitch.
Independence delivers credibility. Companies who promote their own webinars, particularly with staff as presenters, are tarred with the perception that the event will be a sales pitch. Sadly, perception is very often reality.
Be interesting. Would you attend your webinar? Be brave, be creative and challenge yourself with that question. Being intelligent and professional doesn’t mean being boring. Have some fun, leverage your interesting clients or wider sports or other sponsorships. But please, don’t be boring.
Don’t script it. Speakers or panellists should be natural and confident with their content. If they can’t work without a script they’re probably not the right person. And if you need to be prescriptive, you’re on the wrong track with #3 above.
Keep it punchy. The downside of virtual attendance is that your audience is probably sitting at their desk or at home where distractions are but a click away. Energy and interaction are key tools that can capture and maintain engagement. An expert talking in monologue through a slide deck for an hour is a recipe for failure. A panel discussion exchanging shared perspectives is usually more engaging for the audience.

Good Luck!

iStart has been hosting webinar events since 2010, in that time introducing tech brands to over 14,000 business and IT decisionmakers from across A/NZ.

Past sponsors include NetSuite, SAP, Microsoft, FinancialForce and Infor as well as local partners like Realtech, Inecom and Fusion5, with many returning to host multiple events.

We provide a rare mix of news/editorial nous, an extensive network across the technology and business sectors, and a fully curated subscriber list.

If you want your next digital event to be a success, get in touch.

E: lunchbox@istart.co.nz
NZ Freephone: 0800 928 268
AU Freephone: 1800 462 388

…

eBook: Streamline your business operational process

Jennene Kelly — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 00:23:55 +0000

You don’t need a software vendor to tell you the most effective ways to combat intense competition and grow sustainably: Find new ways to manufacture innovative products faster, improve your business processes, and reduce costs.

“Move forward.”

Discover these three technology trends that can help you overcome today’s top four industry challenges.

Table of contents:
Move forward. Move beyond ERP
Today’s top four manufacturing challenges
Three technologies that will revolutionise your manufacturing process

Download the eBook: Streamline Your Business Operational Process

Whitepaper: CFO 3.0 – Digital Transformation beyond Financial Management

Jennene Kelly — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 23:07:35 +0000

The world of business is changing at a rapid pace. And for the finance department, that sentiment couldn’t be clearer. As we move to a digitised world, CFOs and finance teams are being required to move away from basic tasks such as manually inputting numbers and reporting on the figures. Now, when it comes to financial management, they are moving to interpreting real-time data.

However, the next step is to become a visionary within their businesses. But what does that mean for you as a CFO and how can you make that a reality for your role and your company?

The CFO 3.0 is expected to be a visionary, using and analysing data to predict the future direction of the organisation, uncover hidden opportunities and close.

This is a new guide that looks at the evolution of the chief financial officer.

Table of contents

Executive summary

Beyond the boom line – Forces driving industry change

Digitalisation of the industry
Number cruncher to business strategist
Millennials driving digital transformation

What’s keeping CFOs up at night

Roadblocks to digital transformation
Harnessing technology
Talent gap
Fraud and cybersecurity

Riding the tech wave

Alignment of culture and tech strategy
Focus on higher-value activities

Conclusion

Download the whitepaper: CFO 3.0 – Digital Transformation Beyond Financial Management

eBook: Seven tips for effectively managing your accounts receivable process in challenging times

Jennene Kelly — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 00:51:08 +0000

During times of significant disruption and uncertainty, it’s essential for organisations to maintain business process efficiency as well as communication with customers and team members. With more companies making the necessary transition to a remote workforce, it’s changing the way accounts receivable (AR) teams work.

Today’s unprecedented situation has had a direct impact on businesses and their ability to manage their AR process and collect cash. As a credit and collections manager, your job is to preserve cash flow and provide the same service level to customers.

In today’s current climate, your strategy may need to be adjusted to continue to bring efficiency.

We’ve compiled seven tips to help you adapt your collections strategy, continue collecting cash, take care of your customers, empower your team, and come out on top (without being impacted too severely).

Based on our research, here are seventips to help you adapt your collections strategy, continue collecting cash, take care of your customers, empower your team, and come out on top (without being impacted too severely).

Reassess your receivables situation
Adjust your collections strategy
Digitalise documents
Facilitate customer payments
Manage customer relationships
Ensure visibility and collaboration
Ensure staff wellbeing

Download the eBook: 7 tips for effectively managing your accounts receivable process in challenging times

…

Building a business case for AR automation

Jennene Kelly — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 22:16:06 +0000

Your project isn’t the only one vying for approval and budget dollars in the organisation. In order to create a clear and comprehensive business case for AR automation, AR and credit managers need to show how its benefits translate beyond just AR to the business as a whole.

The goal of this white paper is to empower accounts receivable (AR) and credit managers with the knowledge and strategies needed to make AR automation a reality. By better understanding how an automated solution works, AR and credit managers can more effectively persuade their organisation’s top decision makers to invest in one.

Before an AR automation project can hit the ground running, one critical hurdle must be cleared.

In this 14-page whitepaper, you’ll learn how and what to communicate to various key stakeholders.

Table of contents

The importance of persuasion
Why Automation Is a perfect fit for AR
Building your business case
Convincing the C-Suite and other members of executive management
Gaining the approval of AR team members
Selling AR Automation to sales
Conclusion

Download the whitepaper: Building a business case for AR automation

Whitepaper: How to pick an inventory management solution that scales with your business

Jennene Kelly — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 05:03:15 +0000

With the right inventory management solution in place, distributors can flex and adapt quickly regardless of market conditions, challenges or changing business models.

During the startup phase, distributors focus on launching their businesses, building market share and creating sustainable business models. Setting up shop, establishing physical or virtual locations, staffing up, choosing product lines, and finding customers are all top of mind during this stage, and rightfully so.

Distributors that have the right inventory solution:

Solve their biggest pain points
Scale up as distributors grow
Transform your inventory management approach

Download the whitepaper: How to pick an inventory management solution that scales with your business

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