In short
Management reporting can be automated once three things are fixed: one finance model that every company maps to, a report layout that does not change month to month, and data checks that run before every pack. Then the numbers, comparisons and first-draft commentary can be produced as the books sync, and the finance team spends its time on what the numbers mean.
Why is management reporting still so manual?
- Each company exports a trial balance in its own format.
- Accounts are re-mapped to the report in a spreadsheet every month.
- Budget, last year and forecast columns come from different files.
- Commentary is written from memory after the numbers are final.
- A late adjustment means rebuilding the pack.
How do you automate it, step by step?
- Define one finance modelMap every company's accounts to one management layout once, from suggestions a person confirms.
- Connect the booksRead each company's ledger on a schedule instead of collecting exports.
- Check the data firstRun completeness, balance and mapping checks before any report is built. See the 25 data quality checks.
- Fix the pack layoutKPIs, P&L, balance sheet, cash, budget against actual and the same pages every month.
- Generate explanations from the ledgerLet the movements be explained by company, supplier and ledger lines, then edit the draft.
- Review and sign offA person approves the pack before it goes to management or the board.
What belongs in an automated management pack?
| Section | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Headline KPIs | How did we do this month and year to date? |
| Profit and loss with comparisons | Against budget, last year and forecast, by company |
| What changed and why | The biggest movements, traced to their source |
| Cash | Where cash is now and where it will be in 13 weeks |
| Working capital | Receivables, payables and their ageing |
| Actions | What will be done about each variance, by whom and by when |
Questions people ask
How long does it take to automate?
The mapping and layout take the most time, once. After that, each month is mostly review.
Can we keep our Excel pack?
You can keep Excel for ad-hoc analysis; live figures can be sent to Excel and Google Sheets.
Who writes the commentary?
A first draft is generated from the ledger; a person edits and signs it off.
What if a late adjustment comes in?
The pack updates when the books sync, and the change is visible in the explanation.
Where Naarvin helps