Using Excel for financial functions is on the decline, per the 2018 Benchmarking the Accounting and Finance Function report conducted by the Financial Executives Research Foundation. Many companies moving off Excel cite the need for better collaborative tools and the need to be able to...
Itās easy to understand why companies turn to spreadsheets for budgeting. The interfaces are familiar. The cost of entry is low. The software is accessible to everyone in the company. But as your company grows, using spreadsheets for business budgeting can cause more problems than...
In every business, decision making, risk management, cash flow, sales and even human resources all depend on budgeting and planning processes. For nearly every organization, accurate and efficient budget and cash flow processes are essential tools for setting and meeting targets. These two core functions...
By Alan Hart, Centage Guest Blog Author, Principal Consultant at Pacific Shine Group
Business lady feels pressure working under control of her boss The little time you spend entering notes and comments will pay generous dividends when you need to refer to them I spent many years in the software industry. I wasn’t a programmer or software architect,...
By Alan Hart, Centage Guest Blog Author, Principal Consultant at Pacific Shine Group
Be open minded and explore opportunities forĀ change Being part of a consulting firm in the area of accounting and finance I frequently get solicitations by phone and e-mail from vendors of accounting and finance software applications. These are vendors of accounting software, ERP applications, fixed...
By Alan Hart, Centage Guest Blog Author, Principal Consultant at Pacific Shine Group
Why using inadequate tools and approximating the balance of forecasted Balance Sheet accounts is a bad approach for budgeting I recently had a discussion with a colleague who is a partner in a local management consulting firm about organizations’ attitude toward the planning and budgeting...
Using spreadsheets and hard drive-based business budgeting software can keep a large volume of business data organized can be useful, but the advantages of a cloud-based solution are difficult to deny. From maintaining a single streamlined edition of the master file to permitting unlimited users...
By Alan Hart, Centage Guest Blog Author, Principal Consultant at Pacific Shine Group
How you can have Planning Maestro manage this task with ease and accuracy All organizations rely on software products in their daily operations across all departments and business segments. Enterprise software ranges from ERP, accounting and finance applications to engineering, CAD, CAM, marketing and sales...
By Alan Hart, Centage Guest Blog Author, Principal Consultant at Pacific Shine Group
How technology reduces the “art” element in successful FP&A activities This morning I received an e-mail fromĀ Proformative.comĀ inviting me to a webinar titled “The Art (and some Science) of Great FP&A”. I am glad to see a resurgence of such an important facet in any company’s...