RSMUS.comBudgeting and planning for your business can be a more complex process than you ever imagined. If you’re relying on old methods, you might be managing it with several, or even dozens, of Excel spreadsheets, all of which have to be updated manually.
When I tell our clients what they can do with Sage Intacct Budgeting and Planning, I often see their eyes light up. They seem especially enthusiastic about no longer having to manage all those Excel documents. In fact, working within Sage Intacct’s cloud-based software means you can always utilize real-time numbers no matter where you are in the budgeting and planning process.
Previously, budgeting capabilities were limited within Sage Intacct, though third-party solutions could be easily integrated. Since Sage Intacct Budgeting and Planning was announced in September 2018, even more features have been added. Overall system updates have made everything faster for an improved user experience.
Build a budget with existing numbers
The integration between budget and planning and Sage Intacct has been enhanced. In the past, you had to start building your budget on a zero basis, so you basically had to start from scratch, unless you wanted to import Excel data. Now, you have the ability to pull your actual data from Sage Intacct. Instead of starting from zero, you can use what your company’s financials look like at the end of the year to begin building your budget for the next year. A prior year’s budget in Sage Intacct could also be used as a starting point. These options can cut out a lot of the time needed to create a budget.
Previously, the budgeting and planning capabilities could only support 1,000 total budget lines, but that was increased to 3,000 lines. This increase allows for more complex budget structures to be accomplished and managed within Sage Intacct.
If your Sage Intacct environment includes multiple entities, you can use budgeting and planning to create a budget for just one of them, instead of having every entity’s numbers rolled into one. Data can now be pushed directly into Sage Intacct, so that you can avoid making manual updates–reducing the risk of errors.
When you use the budgeting and planning wizard to set up an initial budget, you can now see your progress with an onscreen status bar. A previous version of the setup wizard did not include that progress bar, so as a user, you had no idea how many steps were left to complete the process.
Easily share budgeting and planning data
Collaboration is key when it comes to budgeting and planning with Sage Intacct. You can have multiple users within the budgeting and planning side who aren’t regular Sage Intacct users. Members of the financial analysis team and department employees are limited to strictly working in the budgeting and planning part of the software without ever having access to actual accounting data.
Users love Sage Intacct’s dashboards, which can display all kinds of budgeting and planning information. When you need to share a dashboard, you can easily print it as a PDF to show to company executives or other interested parties. If you’re getting ready for a meeting, you can prepare all your materials and documentation in advance, instead of having to share a real-time view of Sage Intacct with attendees.
To let you see how changes to your business operations can affect the budget, Sage Intacct allows scenario planning. For example, if your company is moving a new office, you would have likely already created a budget with the numbers for the rent and utilities at the old building. Using scenario planning, you can plug in projected numbers for the new location’s rent and utilities, then run reports to see how your current budget numbers compare to the new ones. Seeing different scenarios side by side can help you weigh high-level financial decisions to plan and prepare for your company’s future.
Want to find out how your company can use Sage Intacct to plan for the financial future more efficiently? Schedule a time to talk with one of our experts about how budget and planning tools can help your business.
