FINANCIAL PLANNING AND ANALYSIS (FP&A)

Automate and integrate finance processes

A unified software solution for planning, budgeting and forecasting with a uniform data foundation gives finance more time for analysis and supports a data-driven look ahead. Automate time-consuming processes in day-to-day business with Metora-based financial models, while preserving the familiar Excel environment.

A unified solution for finance

Collecting data using Excel spreadsheets and relying on isolated solutions is time-consuming and error prone. Metora offers a unified platform solution for all accounting and finance tasks. All relevant data from different areas, branches and departments can be directly collected, commented, and automatically validated. They are then available centrally for planning, analysis, and performance management. Easily create automated forecasts and reports and perform profitability analyses. Metora also offers a fast, secure and auditable solution for legal consolidation.

UNIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNING AND ANALYSIS

Integrating P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow planning

The standardized processes around P&L, balance sheet and cash flow can be easily integrated with Jedox. With the help of ready-made financial models, you can automate a large part of the tasks that arise in internal and external accounting. Automatically integrate data from different entities. Currency conversions based on historical exchange rates are also done seamlessly. Comparisons with previous periods are done with just a click. Thanks to the Jedox Excel Add-in, you can continue to work directly in Excel, or utilize the intuitive web interface.

FINANCIAL PLANNING, BUDGETING, AND FORECASTING

Accelerate planning processes, create more accurate budgets, and automate forecasting

Streamline your planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes and say goodbye to repetitive manual tasks. Shorten your planning cycles with Jedox – through automated data integration and validation, and benefit from automated forecasts with increased accuracy. This makes it easy to implement rolling and short-term forecasts as well as accelerate and improve them with AI capabilities. The integration of sales and finance is seamless with a unified solution that provides users with direct access to all relevant data.

Planning for cost centers and HR is faster, unified, and more accurate

In many organizations, cost center and HR planning runs on dozens of Excel spreadsheets or other isolated solutions from the various cost center managers. Sending these back and forth, validating and consolidating them takes time and is error prone. Jedox unifies and accelerates processes through automation, flexible workflows, and a consistent database. Integrate planning from HR through overhead expenses to P&L and get more accurate plans.

PLANNING FOR COST CENTERS AND PERSONNEL

ANALYSES FOR COST ALLOCATION AND PROFITABILITY

Optimizing costs and increasing profitability

Get a centralized, always up-to-date view of actual costs incurred across the enterprise. From individual departments to business units and product groups to various locations and individual products. Jedox provides a holistic picture of direct, indirect, and fixed costs for each level of aggregation and their allocation. Profitability analyses can be carried out easily and quickly in order to shed more light on P&L figures with activity-based costing.

EPM and Data Science leaders in Malaysia

If you want to know how data science can improve planning in your business, give us a call.

Automate reporting to pave the way for better insights

In addition to the standard set of scheduled reports on financial statements, management often requests additional reporting from finance. Be it for quarterly business reviews or ad hoc for specific questions. With Jedox, report templates are flexibly created and distributed, enabling business users to create their own reports. This provides finance more time for analysis to reveal valuable insights and derive recommendations. Through seamless integration with Microsoft 365 and BI solutions such as Qlik or Tableau, reports can also be easily viewed with these tools.

REPORTING AND ANALYSIS FOR FINANCE

STATUTORY CONSOLIDATION & MANAGEMENT CONSOLIDATION

Quickly achieve auditable consolidated financial statements

External and internal consolidation processes are highly demanding and time-consuming, especially when a group has several subsidiaries. At the same time, however, the requirements are highly standardized and can therefore be automated – whether it is GAAP or IFRS requirements. Every step in the consolidation process can be integrated and done with Jedox. From data integration to final reporting, all steps are precisely traceable through the posting journal. This enables you to quickly produce auditable consolidated financial statements.

FAQ

Most frequent questions and answers

What is FP&A?

Financial Planning & Analysis is the intersection between finance and corporate management. It comprises all management measures for coordination within the finance division, and the intersection between finance and the service division. One of the most important objectives of FP&A is to safeguard liquidity, i.e. the company’s ability to meet its payment obligations at all times. Financial planning, budgeting and forecasting are the primary instruments used to ensure liquidity. FP&A also includes financial consolidation. It enables precise group reports, fast financial statements and comprehensive financial control. In addition to maintaining liquidity, maximizing profits or increasing shareholder value is another goal. Consequently, FP&A coordinates the company’s financial resources in such a way that investments in performance will lead to an increase in value.

What are the use cases for FP&A specialists?

Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting
Planning, budgeting and forecasting are the three key components of Enterprise Performance Management (EPM).
Reporting & Analysis
Reporting provides valuable information for the company and raises important questions. The analysis aims to answer the questions raised in the reporting.
Predictive Forecasting
The predictive forecast is an extension of the classic business forecast. It makes it possible to find new causal relationships and look as the path ahead for the company.
Financial Consolidation
Financial Consolidation describes the combination of various types of annual financial statements into consolidated financial statements that met a variety of legal requirements.
Ad-hoc Reporting
Fast, clear and yet precise. Ad-hoc reporting is a modern form of information exchange within a company.
Zero-Based Budgeting
Zero-baseed budgeting is a method that starts from zero for each budgeting period. This approach calls for justification of all expenses instead of only the new ones.
Top-down and Bottom-up planning
Corporate planning is an important aspect of success for any organization. Two of the most common planning methods are top-down and bottom-up.

Where does Financial Planning & Analysis start?

FP&A starts with financial planning, which is the foundation of economic success for any company. This involves drawing up detailed plans based on specific financial objectives. This enables the controller to capture, analyze and plan all the important financial aspects of the company. Financial planning also includes an analysis of the actual situation. The controller generally includes past events in the analysis. Once the actual situation has been analyzed, the controller compares it with the target situation, which is based on specific financial objectives. This results in a financial forecast. On the basis of this analysis, FP&A builds up the financial planning of future revenues and expenditures. All objectives and results that can be derived from the financial planning process are then recorded in a financial concept.

How can finance solve current challenges?

The impact of digital transformation is visible in business models and markets. This is noticeable in every organization of nearly every size and type. There is a need to identify and drive forward new initiatives that support changing strategic goals due to digital transformation. In companies that do not yet use an enterprise performance management solution, financial processes are still performed manually. The finance team often uses Excel spreadsheets for all budgeting, forecasting, modeling and reporting activities. Subsequently, organizational collaboration struggles. As a result, finance spends a lot of time creating budgets and forecasts so that they are out of date by the time the plans are completed. Due to this obstacle, the finance department can provide the basics, but then has limited time for any value-added activities to support decision makers in making better-informed decisions faster to create better strategy.

The benefits of Enterprise Performance Management in FP&A

Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) or Corporate Performance Management (CPM) is one of the central management tasks in a company. It summarizes the systematic, strategy-oriented management of corporate performance. This includes all processes and methods required to manage a company: all financial strategy processes such as planning, budgeting, forecasting and reporting and analysis. Consequently, EPM represents a particular benefit for FP&A, as it provides automation for multiple processes.

Advantages for finance:

Controllers play a greater role in the integrated planning process
Less support and training required for the finance team
Controllers can create more accurate forecasts
Uncertainty is reduced across the entire process

Digital EPM solutions generate immediate benefits because they:

Automate data entry
Minimize manual intervention
Reduce the reporting burden

Save time and create added value:

The analysis of deviations
The production of rolling forecasts
Cash flow modelling
The knowledge gain that affects financial performance

What are the advantages of FP&A software?

Numerous budgeting and planning processes can be simplified company-wide by using a FP&A software. Using a unified digital solution enables today’s controllers to become tomorrow’s decision makers. FP&A solutions give controllers insight into accurate and more up-to-date data.

Tight integration with Microsoft Excel enables users from other areas to create their own reports and act independently of the finance department when collecting data and information.