Finance departments are typically heavy users of spreadsheets like Excel. That is fine for ad-hoc analysis, or creating small calculation tools, but sometimes those spreadsheets get large and unwieldy over time, or end up supporting a critical part of the business process. That is when you need to ask yourself whether Excel is really the appropriate tool as its file-based architecture is inherently risky, and it is not great for defining general business rules when formulae have to be defined at the cell level. When a spreadsheet develops large numbers of tabs, or links to external files, when it requires data to be copied from other systems, or takes ages to load, then you know that you have probably exceeded the reasonable limits of the spreadsheet approach. This is particularly risky when the spreadsheet forms a critical part of the organisation’s planning process, or when people feel that it is too complicated to change. Furthermore, spreadsheet files are easily overwritten, or people can end up looking at the wrong version, and similarly it is too easy to overwrite a cell formula, a simple mistake which is then almost impossible to spot.
Financial analysts, by their very nature, are always going to value the power and flexibility of spreadsheets, and are not going to abandon them overnight. What they need to support them is a more robust system to build and store the key elements of the business plan: the budget, sales and production forecasts etc, and to do the ‘heavy lifting’ of crunching the numbers, which can then integrate with Excel to allow them to explore the numbers in more detail. That is exactly the approach that Compas takes.
Compas has long been used by Finance departments to support financial planning and analysis. It can calculate a range of financial measures, including a full Profit and Loss account if needed. It also has a number of other capabilities to support budgeting, scenario analysis and forecasting. In summary, Compas supports financial planning and analysis in the following ways:
Compas is a flexible platform that can be tailored to a wide range of needs. Contact us now to discuss your requirements, or to see a demonstration.