Company News
Unlocking Financial Insights: Exploring FloQast Variance Analysis
Accounting teams, now more than ever, need to be nimble.
While expediency has always been necessary in the world of business, given the rocky global economic landscape, staffing shortages, and the deepening understanding of how accounting teams can be used to impact businesses in new, exciting ways, accountants are constantly on the move, and they can use all the resources available.
We talk a lot about the month-end Close here at FloQast, and for good reason: It’s a mission-critical process as there is in the world of accounting — and we have a pretty solid tool for helping teams manage it. But as important as it may be, streamlining the Close process isn’t the end game. Teams need to be constantly evaluating their processes to make incremental improvements. Having an “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality is no longer enough. Teams need to be proactive.
However, many private and smaller public companies are tasked with performing budget variance analysis (budget-to-actuals) and the flux analysis process during the month-end Close. For the most part, these teams conduct these processes relying on manually updated checklists, tribal knowledge, robust FP&A software with more features than accounting teams really need, or lower-level budgeting tools within their ERPs that tend to lack workflow capabilities. What’s more is that many of these teams are already using a system like FloQast to manage the broader Close, meaning that teams are using a myriad of resources (or simple guides) to track a living and breathing process, leading to miscommunication, clerical issues, and potentially something more ominous.
This is precisely why FloQast created FloQast Variance Analysis. Variance Analysis allows users to upload a budget file to compare budgeted amounts against actual balances with an integration to ERP(s). All existing functionality in Flux Analysis will be leveraged for budget variance analysis workflows and transaction details.
FloQast Variance Analysis:
- Integrates with ERPs ensuring real-time balances are in reports
- Offers automated report creation and scoping by dollar and percent changes
- Issues automated notifications on numbers changed post-Close
- Allows for a drill-down capability at the transaction level for deeper analysis
If accounting is the language of business, performing a variance analysis is the story accountants tell to paint a picture of business operations. Performing a variance analysis is essential to monitor ongoing performance and an impactful detective control to identify material misstatements before it’s too late.
If you’re interested in learning more about FloQast Variance Analysis, be sure to reach out to your Customer Success Manager today or watch the demo in detail here.
