As part of our Accounting Technology Webinar Series, we recently created a popular on-demand webinar on “Reporting and Dashboards.” The webinar dives deep into how you to create custom reporting and dashboards that provide actionable insights into finances and operations.
In the webinar, you’ll hear more about the three key types of dashboards that most small and medium organizations need to produce as part of their monthly or quarterly financial reporting packages for management:
- Operational dashboards
- Analytical dashboards
- Strategic dashboards
Before we describe the value of each of those dashboards, it’s important to note that you can create them manually, using Excel, which will take many hours every month. Or, as detailed in the webinar, you can automate dashboard creation using advanced accounting tools like Sage Intacct, which make it easy to create customized, real-time dashboards based on your specific needs.
Operational dashboards
Operational dashboards, which provide insight into immediate performance metrics, can be divided into three main categories:
- Financial dashboards offer insight into key financial data, including revenue trends and cash availability
- Role-based dashboards focus on whether specific teams and roles, such as program managers or executives, are meeting their goals.
- Compliance dashboards help you track grant submissions and other data to meet external reporting or compliance requirements.
Analytical dashboards
Analytical dashboards slice and dice important data in different ways to identify key business trends. For example, an inventory analysis might show total inventory, efficiency ratios, and order accuracy over time.
When creating custom analytical or other dashboards, be sure to use bar charts, graphs, and other types of visualizations to make it easy for anyone to understand the data and use it to inform their decisions.
Strategic dashboards
Strategic dashboards can help you track a wide array of key performance indicators (KPIs) and align each department’s performance with your overall business strategy. For example, strategic dashboards can show what your debt was in the previous period, what your debt is now, and what your goal is, with clear insight into your progress over time.
Get the support you need for dashboards for finance and reporting
Insero & Co. is a public accounting firm with decades of experience working with businesses and nonprofits of all sizes. We leverage leading cloud accounting software to provide our clients with accurate, real-time financial information that streamlines accounting and enables better decision-making.
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About the Author: Kimberly Gangi
