Monthly financials are so last decade. Level up with real-time reporting

Financial performance review processes have come a long way in recent decades. Computerized accounting systems made it possible to evaluate results on a quarterly basis as opposed to annually. Suddenly, monthly financials became the norm. But what if you could be even more in touch with your financial performance, seeing the past few days’ sales figures at the push of a button? With recent breakthrough technologies such as Tableau, Power BI, and dashboard reporting, real-time financial reporting is easier to achieve than you may think – and that intel can make a huge difference for your performance.

At the end of the 20th century, the role of accountants changed forever with the introduction of computers and accounting software. With less time needed for pure processing, accountants could begin preparing financial reporting on a more frequent basis; review of quarterly results could be used for faster business decisions, and eventually filed as public information for investors on the stock market to see the company’s operations as well.

This momentum continued in the 21st century with technology companies like Microsoft and Intuit building bigger and better programs where information can be easily entered into spreadsheets and other files. Additionally, the development of accounting system software began the automation of customer invoices and vendor transactions, integration of these systems with bank account activity, and standardized forms to process monotonous tasks like payroll. Quarterly financial information suddenly turned into monthly financial reporting, and companies became even better poised for their decision-making as a response to a market that moves faster and faster.

However, we are already at the point where waiting a full month for results can seem like an eternity – especially when more and more transactions are made on a real-time basis. Management needs to have their finger on the pulse of the business to be successful. So why not make our financial reporting capabilities even better than before, to meet management’s needs?

Real-time results mean real-time improvement

The business world is in an age of digital transformation. While the concept of machine learning and automation was considered science fiction even just a decade ago, the development of open-source software and technology has led to hundreds of AI-focused startups within just the last few years. Now, automated solutions are built into nearly every form of software. Surveys taken from executive leadership from a wide range of companies and industries have indicated that digital transformation, including automation and business intelligence, will be a focus of their investment for 2022 and beyond.

One of the latest trends is the development of data analytics and financial reporting dashboards. A computer program, such as Microsoft’s Power Tools or other providers like Tableau, has the capability to obtain vast amounts of data from many different reporting systems in a company, such as CRM software, manufacturing data, HR information like performance reviews, and financial information like journal entries and bank feeds. It can then take this enormous amount of mixed data and aggregate it into “dashboards” that allow management and staff to see the latest amounts and trends in a number of measures and key performance indicators.  After initial configuration of the data model and reporting dashboard, this information can be refreshed at the simple press of a button. Perhaps the best part is that these dashboards can be quickly and easily customized to reflect the information that are considered most important to different business models and roles.

With the relative ease of developing dashboards and the increasing capabilities to automatically process transactions, management can now obtain reporting for their most important measures on a real-time basis. This, combined with the fact that all of this can be processed on a device as small as a smartphone, is an impressive reminder of how far technology has come – and perhaps of how far we can still go.

Have you seen any AI or Business Intelligence applications that are great with financial dashboards? If so, which ones?