It can take days, or even weeks, for finance teams to complete their annual budget. Much of their time can be devoted to gathering data and analyzing it. There is, however, a more efficient way to handle budgeting tasks, allowing you to spend more time on tasks that matter to you, so you can leave work on time and spend quality time with your loved ones.
For most finance departments that have reached their breaking point, the next step entails weighing the benefits and drawbacks of implementing a new financial budgeting system.
So how can you determine if business budget software is a good fit? We’ve compiled a list of the top signs that your current budgeting method needs an overhaul.
You Invest Considerable Effort into Budgeting
Budgeting can eat up as much as 20% of management’s time and take up to 6 months in extreme circumstances. Spending that much effort on a task that will only help your business next fiscal year is ridiculous.
If your finance department spends most of its time on annual budget preparation, review, and finalization, you might look into getting some budget software. You can stop micromanaging your finances and give your finance team the freedom to develop insightful ideas.
Your budgeting process should take no more than a couple of days, tops, and require minimum data entry and confirmation from your finance team. The bulk of their time should be spent researching to inform the strategic decisions made by your leadership team.
There is no wiggle room in your budget
The following situation is probably not foreign to anyone working in finance.
You’ve just finished putting the finishing touches on your company’s annual budget when you realize you’ll need to make some significant adjustments. Making these adjustments manually in a spreadsheet can be time-consuming and prone to data entry errors if you use it as your primary budgeting tool.
Budgeting apps, like Performance Canvas Financials, can give businesses the flexibility to respond to internal and external shifts, such as cash flow, prices, product lines, capital allocations, and organizational structure. Flexible budgeting procedures cut down on expenses and boost analytical output, allowing for better decisions to be made.
Your Company Is Expanding
The capacity to scale up or down is one of a budgeting solution’s most significant selling points. If you want financial success as your company expands, your finance team needs to be ready to adapt to new circumstances.
The amount of financial information you need to collect, evaluate, and interpret into business choices grows with each new client, transaction, or employee.
Furthermore, jobs are routinely delegated within your firm, which may require input from employees in different time zones. Budgeting tools, such as CPM software, help organizations implement streamlined processes and boost communication and coordination.
It’s Difficult to Plan for the Future
Budgeting and forecasting are two different things, but both are essential to the success of any business.
Do you have a limited outlook on your future? How far into the future can your business see? One month? Three years? One hundred? Do you have the ability to make a forecast that spans multiple years or that takes into account a variety of factors?
Forecasts made by businesses utilizing Excel as their budgeting tool often become obsolete soon after completion. Using data that hasn’t changed over time, as these methods do, limits the predictive power of forecasts.
Having trouble with your forecasting strategy? Check out our brochures and how-to guides here.
Incorporating even little adjustments to your budget is a breeze when using a budgeting tool. Accurate forecasting may provide you with a clear view of your firm’s present and future health, reducing the importance of annual budgets.
Performance Canvas Financials can efficiently address all these budgetary problems, so you can start freeing up an entire week’s worth of time, giving you and your team more time for strategic planning.
PCF is a financial budgeting system that allows you to streamline and automate your financial reporting, budgeting, planning, and consolidation. It combines financial budgeting and planning with financial forecasting and reporting in a unified platform. When you sign up for our service, you’re investing in the future of financial planning and analysis (FP&A) process innovation, quality, and automation. You get more than just updated software; your team also benefits from the addition of some highly efficient new members.
So what are you waiting for? Book a free demo with PCF today.
