10 More Questions To Consider: Forecast 5 vs. Spreadsheets
Don’t let yourself fall into the same old pattern of panic and stress when it comes to the budgeting season.
Consider some of the scenarios below and discover how Forecast 5 is the solution to your problems.
1. Does my budget software handle the full requirements, e.g. Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet, Loans, Fixed Assets, Sales, Costs, etc.
- Forecast 5 is a full solution catering for all the Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet entries needed to build a comprehensive model.
2. Does a generic one size, 30 days after the month end cashflow really work for you? Cash is king, and you need flexibility for every record. Some customers have different terms that effect the cashflow, e.g. your largest customer has 75 days to pay instead of 30. Missing these details can result in the actual bank being worse than the budget.
- Forecast 5 allows every record to define its own terms for cash flow from days credit, profile, hotlink and manual entry as well as 2 months, 3 months, annual and more
3. Are you able to properly handle your wages? Your budget for wages needs to reflect that the wages are paid in the current month and often the PAYE/PAYG is delayed. Also, wages can be a part of production costs or other records.
- Forecast 5 allows wages by individual or groups and by gross or net wages, differentiating PAYE/PAYG for each record.
4. Does your budgeting software incorporate the opening balance sheet? If not, the model is flawed. How do you handle you opening debtors and creditors? Banks or management will not tolerate such omissions.
- Forecast 5 has opening balances and can be entered, imported or integrated to complete the full budget and cashflow projection complete with the balance sheet.
5. Can you enter actuals and get a variance report to analyse your progress? Your ERP or accounting solution will report against a budget, it will not reflect the projections.
- Forecast 5 handles actuals being entered manually, imported from a spreadsheet or an accounting package. There is also an integrated variance report for analysis.
6. How easy is it for you to revise your forecast? Budgets are set at the beginning and forecast revisions allow real events to be reflected. Hence the importance of your solution to be able to enter revised forecasts and roll them through together with actuals and the original budget to keep your entity on track.
- Forecast 5 handles rolling forecasts with ease, allowing you to revise your forecast as necessary and provide reports when needed.
7. Will your solution support historical Metrix zero and KPI’s all in the same model? You may use Units for KPI’s and want results based on % (Metrix).
- Forecast 5 supports all these methods and in the same model. You can base one record on historical, another on a percentage of and the third as a KPI. With a single change, the KPI does the entire model and shows the net effect on the bank position.
8. Is your solution able to present you a full set of financials? A Profit & Loss (more than one year), a Balance Sheet with all the double entry rigour needed, a Cashflow and a Funds Flow, all tied in together.
- Forecast 5 provides a full reflective reporting suite plus schedules, visuals and assumption reports to give the complete answer with just one click of the mouse.
9. Can your system show you what if scenarios and the impact all the way through the model? Does it allow for growth extending beyond the first year?
- Forecast has a powerful what if analysis, instantly showing the new bank balance, profit and balance sheet simply by running the what if reports.
10. Is it industry standard, familiar look and feel, easy to use and logical?
- Forecast 5’s quick report views show you your overall position. With drill down to records from section summary, management is now so easy. Based on the Microsoft Office look and feel data is instantly understood. 10 times faster than spreadsheets and error free Forecast 5 is the leading choice for all budgeting and forecasting needs.
Its time for you to be able to trust your numbers and with Forecast 5, you can do just that!
Don’t keep making the same mistakes. Make the move to Forecast 5 today and reap the benefits of budgeting beyond spreadsheets!
(1)Raymond Pronko – Spreadsheets contain errors
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