Business finance is becoming increasingly complex, as businesses become more complex, market conditions more demanding and lenders and regulations more stringent than before. Financial planning software provides businesses with effective ways to address the challenges of streamlining and automating their core budgeting and forecasting, giving you better visibility and control over your cash flow planning process.
If you are considering investing in new cashflow forecasting or balance sheet software – or are migrating from a spreadsheet-based process – you will need to evaluate the time and cost benefits for your business. In this article, we will explore how an integrated financial planning software solution, such as Corporate Planner, can strengthen your company's cash flow and balance sheet.
Reduce Human Error
Traditional methods of manual cashflow planning, such as using a spreadsheet to manually consolidate different business drivers and data sources, and selecting the correct formulae to complete complex calculations, are notoriously prone to human error. Despite being widely used, Microsoft Excel is actually a highly complex application – with a steep learning curve for the more advanced functions. The result played out in thousands of UK businesses, is a planning system riddled with duplicate entries, broken or incorrect formulae, and missing data points.
When your business data is incorrect and unreliable, it is impossible to maintain precision cash flow forecasts when solely using spreadsheets. The cumulative effect of errors can, over time, have serious consequences for the accuracy of your cash flow planning. Dedicated cashflow planning software, such as Corporate Planner, eliminates the risk of human error by using advanced automated systems – including data validation, de-duplication, and consolidation – and does not require you to create custom formulae to generate accurate results; all the tools you need to generate responsive cash flow forecasts are available through your user reports and dashboards.
Facilitate Contingency Planning
Spreadsheet planning makes it very time-consuming to model different complex forecasts and will only provide you with one scenario based on the available data. Creating multiple scenarios may involve manually creating different versions of the spreadsheet and experimenting with different data configurations, which is not always feasible when timescales are tight.
It is rare for real-world events to play out exactly as you anticipated, as recent global history has demonstrated, so the ability to instantly compare different cash flow scenarios side-by-side is crucial to prepare your business by improving its agility and responsiveness. Financial planning software automatically adjusts your cash flow planning and budgeting forecasts to respond to emerging developments, so you can take the strategic decisions necessary to keep your business competitive.
Save Time
Manual data entry using spreadsheet software is incredibly time-consuming, tying up productive time that could be better deployed on other tasks. Not only that, but because business data sources are live and constantly changing, your team are required to constantly update the spreadsheets and will inevitably feel that they are chasing their tails. To save time and optimise your team’s workflows, opt for financial planning software which automates the process and gets the job done more quickly and accurately.
Consolidate Your Financial Planning And Cash Flow Management Processes
In many businesses, financial operations are often fragmented between departments and teams, which can lead to operational inefficiencies, overlapping areas of responsibility, duplication of labour, and more frequent mistakes. This fragmentation is worsened when there are no shared reports and dashboards or data repositories accessible by all financial stakeholders in the company.
Implementing a financial planning software solution allows staff across the business to plan and report simultaneously through the same interface, thereby improving collaboration and consistency. Instead of multiple copies of the same document, a single version of the truth is available for staff to work on together, with everyone viewing the same real-time information. Better collaboration results in greater efficiency, fewer errors, and higher cost savings.
Contact Account-Ability For A Free Demonstration
For a free, no-obligation demo of Corporate Planner, the world’s industry-leading financial management application for growing businesses, please contact us today.
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