Is Your Annual Budget Process Broken?
Due to an expanding workload, imminent month-end-close deadlines and an ever increasing number of manual processes, finance departments often delay process and procedure reviews or updates. This means that you may be maintaining cumbersome and outdated standard operating procedures for far longer than necessary.
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Traditional financial planning processes rely on analysing historical records and trends, entering data manually into Excel and running quarterly reports on what already happened to see what might come in the future. These processes are slow and today’s finance departments do not have the time or economic certainty to place much trust in stagnant processes.
Find out if your budgeting process is broken - check to see how many of the following warning signs your process exhibits:
You are using Excel almost exclusively
You do not have a central database for Annual Budget data
You run into broken links too often for comfort
You have limited security due to the ability to freely share Excel files
You have multiple versions of the same Annual Budget and have trouble determining which one is the final one
Your users and stakeholders frequently miss deadlines (lack of accountability)
Your process delivers limited, if any, guidance on goals and strategies that impact the annual plan
Your input process does not allow supporting details to be entered for context
You experience a lack of communication between departments, leading to siloed planning in a synced-up world
You suspect that some department leaders may be focusing on their own interests impeding an accurate outcome
Did any of these warning signs sound familiar?
By using a Corporate Performance Management solution like Solver, you can easily fix these problems with:
A cloud and web browser-based platform that encourages full collaboration
Line item detail and comments for context and other information
Capture and display of strategy and KPIs for clear guidance
Process management and workflow tools
Protected web forms for solid data security
Automation for scenarios and more
Top down/bottom up planning flexibility
The key to solving issues and fixing your “broken” Annual Budget process is to be prepared to accomplish more agile and streamlined modern budgeting. Success is much more likely if you have prepared for a successful outcome. When you feel you are ready to transform your budgeting process to achieve success in times of economic uncertainty, contact one of our Solver solution experts, or read our case study with CCS Cleaning to learn more.
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