Five key features a CPM for Finance software must have

Companies of a certain size require a powerful CPM software to make their financial management easier, quicker, and more reliable – no matter which industry they work in. However, the core of a good CPM for Finance solution requires certain key features and functions that you should not neglect when choosing a particular product, even if your current company size or work area doesn’t need all of them yet. Sooner or later, every business benefits from a holistic approach that fulfills future requirements and basic functions from the beginning.

 

Budgeting and Forecasting capabilities

Good CPM software specialized in Finance should go beyond a few select industries. It should cover every aspect of your planning requirements, including budgeting and forecasting capabilities. The traditional approach of planning everything on Excel sheets and database solutions that are oftentimes not compatible with other standards cannot keep up with modern CPM software solutions that use integrated financial planning and professional controlling for completely transparent budget planning. Making the right decisions in budget planning also requires powerful forecasting capabilities and modeling functions that should be integrated with the same budgeting tool. The advantage of a holistic, user-friendly solution is, as always, a simplified approach with only one software that covers it all. A good CPM tool should include a direct connection to your source systems as well as automation of your most complex processes. Such a solution delivers reliable forecasts for your scenario planning that help you make informed decisions and stay ahead of any storm.

 

Financial Consolidation and Close Management

Financial consolidation is one of the most important features and top priority for the majority of companies. However, handling financial consolidation is time-consuming and often contains too many errors. If you have used Excel or other comparable solutions for your financial consolidation tasks, you know what this means. A reliable software that can handle financial consolidation and automates most financial statement preparations can be a game changer for your company. You will reduce your workload, understand every step of the financial consolidation, and get audit-compliant results, designed specifically to your individual needs. Using professional CPM software for financial consolidation and close management can reduce your data error margin by up to 70% and provides completely traceable data. If you use a holistic software solution, completing financial statements will be much faster than you can imagine.

 

Financial Reporting and Analysis

Evaluations and analyses of financial processes are very important for any successful business. But how do you get reliable results and report them? The answer is simple – by using an automated management reporting software that processes high-quality data. A good software solution will provide you with all the information and assistance you need to make your evaluation processes quick and reliable, just like any concluding analysis. You will often want to report to other stakeholders such as investors or customers. Deadlines and different requirements can make preparing financial reports and analyses without a proper software solution a painstakingly slow process. Instead, the right software will do this for you and prepare all relevant indicators you and your stakeholders require.

Performance Scorecards and Dashboards

Dashboards and performance scorecards are important when you want reliable and up-to-date figures in your analyses. Especially in industries where changes occur daily, real-time integration of information is vital. This information is usually best provided by automated systems as human counterparts can only stay on top of some changes in the database 24/7. This is why powerful CPM software tools should support functions and apps that provide respective interfaces to reporting tools such as Microsoft Power BI. Preparing financial figures or displaying them in graphics, comparing them in real time and many other features are part of the solution. Visualization and data sharing are significantly simplified through centralized solutions that support mobile devices, diagrams, dashboards, and interactive functions.

 

Data Integration and Management

Over the past decades, many different financial accounting systems have been established. A good CPM for Finance software should be able to integrate business data from different sources in an automated way. All of this should be done in a simple and user-friendly way that will provide you with holistic access to all relevant aspects of your business and meet your individual requirements. Since MS Excel plays a significant role in most projects, a direct integration of this interface should also be available. The process can be further accelerated by allowing direct access from and to third-party systems and importing all relevant information, such as cost units or various transaction types.

 

Are you ready for the perfect CPM software solution?

You now have a good idea of how useful these five key features can be for your company. Even if you won’t be using all of them right away, you can easily see how important they are in managing corporate finances of any size. You may now be wondering how and where to get such complete software. Lucanet provides integrated solutions in its CPM for Financial software that includes all of the essential features – and more. Learn more about the qualities and superb usability of Lucanet solutions and simplify your financial management today.