Cash Flow Analysis: How BI Technology Can Help

Imagine someone still writing letters in 2017 thinking that email is difficult and expensive. Each time they have to take their letters to a post office, where a postman later picks them up to deliver them. The delivery then takes at least a few days, while emails can be exchanged immediately. Inefficient and time consuming, isn't it? It's surprising, but some companies do when they overlook cash flow analysis software and choose to continue with Excel-based manual data processing.

 

Business intelligence companies break stereotypes that only large companies need a technically based cash flow analysis and forecast. In fact, medium-sized companies also need them to track their money and do it efficiently. Gone are the days when companies had no alternative but to laboriously use multiple Excel files, compare them manually and filter them to get a comprehensive picture. Now the technology is convenient - and affordable.

 

What can be analyzed?

 

A cash flow analysis answers a number of questions. For example, a real estate developer can check whether there is enough money to invest in a new project; a manufacturer - whether external funding is needed to modernize the factories; a dealer - how much money is buried in the warehouse; a bank - whether there is sufficient cash flow to meet the liquidity coverage ratio.

 

These are just practical things. The main question is whether cash flow is sustainable.

 

To enable a comprehensive cash flow analysis and forecast, a company can aggregate data from numerous sources:

 

• Cash flow history

• Planned and actual operating costs and capital expenditure

• Balance from receivables / payables

• General ledger data

 

In addition, all figures can be taken directly from the ERP modules (finance, accounting, sales, human resources, etc.). This means that all values are kept up-to-date and can automatically change from "forecast" to "current" with every confirmation.

 

The challenges solved with the technology

 

Cash flow planning and forecasting

 

 

Cash flow analysis software will provide managers with timely, accurate, and easy-to-use reports and charts that provide an overview of geography, branches, bank accounts, etc. Cash forecasts can be generated automatically as often as necessary (daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly) and on request. Such forecasts provide financial managers with advance warning of the lack or excess of cash and give them time to take some action (e.g. investing in the growth of the company when there is free liquidity).

 

View at project level

 

Large projects, both internal and those running for customers outside the organization, can dramatically affect cash flow. Financial managers cannot treat large projects as a black box - they have to look inside. For each project, it is necessary to know its duration, the costs of each phase, the terms of payment (pre-payment or deferral, lump sum or installment payment). The data analytics(https://www.hdatasystems.com/data-analytics) contributes to an exact cash plan as well as to a successful project implementation.

 

Risk management

 

 

With a cash flow analysis software, a company has a reliable instrument for managing risks. For example, a manufacturing company works at a profit (its Profit &Loss shows that) and wants to increase its production volume. However, the company's cash flow forecast shows that there isn't enough money. In addition, the software quickly calculates forecast values in connection with increased costs of the manufactured goods, which shows that the company will only lose money in the long term. A quick liquidity analysis helps you make the right decision.

 

A point of truth from different angles

 

Another advantage of a technically based cash flow analysis is that the data from various sources are aggregated at the data warehouse level. For the end user, this means a quick reaction and a quick view from different perspectives, because the system already has an answer to every question and is only waiting for a query. For example, finance managers can switch between cash flow from operations and cash flow from investments and then cash flow from finance - all with a few clicks.

 

In summary

 

Cash flow management is crucial to ensure that a business is healthy. A company that leaves its cash flow uncontrolled runs the risk of declaring bankruptcy and ruining its reputation. Business intelligence services help companies adopt cash flow analytics technology that adds value, eliminates much of the manual work, speeds decision making, and overcomes such challenges as cash flow planning and forecasting, project level view, risk management, and analysis from a variety of perspectives flashing angles with just a few clicks.