THE CFO S GUIDE TO ENTERPRISE BUDGETING IN EXCEL

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1 THE CFO S GUIDE TO ENTERPRISE BUDGETING IN EXCEL REVIEW & VALIDATIONS Presented by Rishi Grover SVP Solutions Engineering, Vena Solutions Copyright Vena TM 1

2 RISHI GROVER SVP Solutions Engineering Rishi is responsible for the day-to-day operations and continued success of client implementations at Vena. He has helped many Fortune 500 companies re-engineer and optimize financial processes including: - Budgeting and Planning - Rolling Forecasts - Management Reporting & Analysis - Strategic Planning and Balance Scorecards - Regulatory Reporting and Disclosure Management 2

3 AGENDA Why do we use Excel for Budgeting? Problems with Review & Validation in Excel Review & Validation Best Practices in Excel Inside Excel Beyond Excel Internal Processes Vena Technology Overview 3

4 VENA THE WAY YOU THINK Created to make businesses work smarter, Vena uses an innovative approach to simplify complex enterprise processes. Gartner: Market Guide for Specialty Budgeting, Planning and Forecasting Applications; Notable Mention in 2016 CPM Magic Quadrant E&Y: Nominee for 2014 Entrepreneur of the Year Award Nucleus Research: Value Matrix Leadership Quadrant BPM Partners: Core Vendor and Top Customer Satisfaction Rating Trust Radius: Top Rated CPM Firm for Customer Satisfaction PwC and CIO Review: Most Promising, Up-and-coming and People s Choice Award 4

5 WHY DO WE USE EXCEL FOR BUDGETING? 5

6 WHY DO WE USE EXCEL FOR BUDGETING? Pros: High user adoption Highly configurable Flexible Strong modeling Powerful calculations Strong data tables More Pros: Conditional formatting Icon sets Spark lines/trend icons Top X rules Advanced charting Pivot tables and Power BI Sorting & filtering

7 WHY DO WE USE EXCEL FOR BUDGETING?

8 PROBLEMS WITH REVIEW & VALIDATION IN EXCEL 8

9 PROBLEMS WITH REVIEW & VALIDATION Budget Inputs Review and Approval Cons: G/L Sub-Ledgers Manually extract data & re-key into spreadsheets Version control Data inconsistencies Manual consolidations Late submissions No workflow Other Systems Source Data Numerous s and versions of each document

10 REVIEW & VALIDATION BEST PRACTICES IN EXCEL 10

11 Recommendation INSIDE EXCEL Description Data Validations Conditional Formatting Checklist / Homepage IFERROR() Workbook Protection / Range Protection To ensure entries are in the right format, and within an acceptable set of values/ranges. (Data > Data Validations) To flag any exceptions or missing information. (Home > Conditional Formatting) Include a Home worksheet that summarizes all validation rule results and includes a checklist the preparer must complete. Avoid #REF, #NA calculation results, which can have a ripple effect of errors. Password protect the workbook, worksheet and/or ranges as required. Create ranges for calculations versus input and protect accordingly. (Review > Protect Sheet, Protect Workbook, Allow Users to Edit Ranges) 11

12 INSIDE EXCEL Recommendation Description Standardize Worksheets start and end Worksheets Track Changes Input Excel templates should have the main worksheets (either input or summary) that is always standards for each submission. Create a Consolidating workbook that has a start and end worksheet. Copy user submitted worksheets between these two worksheets. =Sum(start:end!G20) Enable Track Changes. This will track who changes what, when. (Review > Track Changes) 12

13 Recommendation INTERNAL PROCESSES Description Checklist / Homepage Change Table Standardized Naming Convention Include a Home worksheet that summarizes all validation rule results and includes a checklist the preparer must complete. Create a worksheet called Change Table. This should be an Excel table with the fields User, Date/Time, Change Description. Ensure there is a consistent standard for naming Excel files when being submitted. I.e. Dept 101 Budget v2_yyy_mm_dd.xlsx The final version should always be a certain name as well. I.e. Dept 101 Budget FINAL.xlsx 13

14 BEYOND EXCEL THROUGH DATABASE INTEGRATION AND AUTOMATED DATA COLLECTION 14

15 INTERESTING STATISTICS PWC AND ABERDEEN GROUP Organizations that automate financial planning create 20% more accurate forecasts. Organizations with automated processes are 62% more likely to have a centralized repository of performance data. Those with CPM/EPM create budgets that are 36% more accurate." Both IT and the line of business are able to update processes 42% more quickly in organizations with cloud BPM. Financial data contains 20% fewer errors for companies with a centralized, automated financial close process. 15

16 WHAT ARE OUR OPTIONS? Spreadsheet Environment Flexible Replace Excel Application Environment Controlled Excel-like Functionality Excel-like Look & Feel Budgeting Applications Financial Close Applications Cons: Data integrity issues No source system integration Manual consolidations Lack of audit-ability No process management Pros: Flexible Strong modeling Powerful calculations Rich presentation High user adoption Pros: Controlled environment High data integrity Database centric Workflow management Auditable Reporting Applications Consolidation Applications Cons: Takes you away from spreadsheets Rigid, lack of flexibility IT/consulting intensive High cost of ownership 16

17 WHAT ARE OUR OPTIONS? Spreadsheet Environment Replace Excel Application Environment Flexible Controlled Excel-like Functionality 81% of companies that have a performance management solution supplement it with spreadsheets. Budgeting Applications Financial Close Applications Excel-like Look & Feel Cons: Data integrity issues No source system integration Manual consolidations Lack of audit-ability No process management Pulse Survey Pros: Flexible Strong modeling Powerful calculations Rich presentation High user adoption Pros: Controlled environment High data integrity Database centric Workflow management Auditable Reporting Applications Consolidation Applications Cons: Takes you away from spreadsheets Rigid, lack of flexibility IT/consulting intensive High cost of ownership 17

18 VENA TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 18

19 VENA THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS 19

20 HOW VENA WORKS Task Management Single point of template access Status tracking dashboard User collaboration Dimensions & hierarchies Real-time aggregations Transactions / line-items ETL Process Designer Intuitive drag-and-drop designer Role-based data security Template & Report Design Optimize your templates Dynamically map to database Template-ize Add application functionality Spreading, line-item details Business rules Drill to transactions Source Systems RELATIONAL ETL Staging Environment.csv, GL, ERP, HR, Actual Transactions CRM, Fixed Assets, Sales, Consol, etc. 20

21 Clarity FSR Reduces the Risks IMPROVE THE VALIDATION & REVIEW OF YOUR DATA Data Integrity Accelerated Cycle Feature Benefit Integration to source data Latest, accurate data Business Rules Numbers always tie-out Automated Aggregations System generated results Increased confidence in the results Feature Process Automation & Rollover Integration to source data Benefit Automate user assignments and workflow No need to re-key data Start reviewing the data sooner Feature Benefit Feature Benefit Security to view or edit data Users only see the data they are supposed to see Compliance Checklists To ensure that the right steps are being followed Workflow controls access throughout the process Users only see data when they are allowed to see it Audit Trail To track who did what, and when they did it Access to information is controlled Security & Collaboration Compliance information always available Control & Auditing

22 BUSINESS PROCESSES Repeated & interrelated processes OPERATIONAL TASKS Long Term Planning Budgeting Forecasting Management Reporting Regulatory Reporting Disclosure Note Collection Account Reconciliation Financial Consolidation Tax Provisioning Balance Sheet Flux Regulatory Reporting External Reporting Any Excel-intensive process COMMUNICATION DATA COLLECTION & VALIDATION CONSOLIDATION REVIEW & APPROVAL REPORTING & ANALYSIS 22

23 THANK YOU! 23