Budgeting, forecasting, modeling, and financial planning in general is such an important task in business today – and a given, in order to understand what has happened, performance wise, in the past, so that you can better prepare for a competitive, successful organizational future. At Martin & Associates, we know that older tools and traditional processes for planning tend to fall short when it comes to today’s complex budgeting needs of most modern companies. Excel is probably just fine for household budgets, but companies of a healthy size are probably outgrowing the spreadsheet program. If you are reading this article, you’re probably at least curious about third party budgeting tools that pull your historical Intacct data and/or maybe information from payroll software like ADP to upgrade your planning processes. Modern budgeting solutions provide secure ways to collaborate on budgets and forecasts, which streamlines the teamwork needed to live within your organizational means.
Budgeting typically means that more than one person brings historical actuals and projected figures to the table to collaboratively design a financial plan for the year. Excel has consistently been such a fixture in the finance profession, around the world, but the manual process of linking spreadsheets together can be logistically challenging and unsecure. Most finance departments are still relying on Excel, so an independent software vendor (ISV) offering might seem like an expense you could avoid. This article will lay out how you can upgrade your Intacct experience with the best features and functionalities in today’s budgeting software.
ISV financial planning tools have been steadily building in popularity because of how easy-to-use, accessible, and collaborative they tend to be in today’s marketplace. Excel add-in solutions are pretty popular because they combine the familiarity related to the software’s ubiquity and the power of a top ribbon tool within the Excel window, which allows users to get away from manually linking homegrown, disparate spreadsheets. The premier third party planning software comes equipped with automation, accounting logic, and reusable templates for simple data management by your team.
We have heard that logistics and security are at the top of your list of concerns as a consumer, especially since it is an investment that you are making – and it involves confidential data. Access rights and password protection are modern features that are allowing collaboration to mean ownership for supervisors over the budget they have to manage through the year. You can get away from lengthy e-mail threads, with heavy spreadsheets attached. And budget managers can effectively organize a planning process that is inclusive and simple for everyone involved. Your potential return on investment won’t just be monetary either.
When you consider all of the time, money, and energy your company contributes to planning tasks, a modern budgeting tool can be very value-laden. What features and functions are essential when shopping for a replacement? Aspects you should think about: platform options: Excel, proprietary, and/or Web; budgeting functionalities; integration types; and stand-alone versus a full suite of BI tools.
To continue learning more about the best budgeting solutions for Intacct customers, read the rest of this article here.