Global Cash Systems

Posts Tagged ‘Financial Reporting’

IRACIS – A Roadmap to Business intelligence ROI

So often when companies are considering a business intelligence project or software purchase, a question arises that seems to stump everyone involved.

“Where is the ROI in this project?”

This question has stopped many a business intelligence project in its tracks. Maybe it’s asked by the CFO or CEO. Maybe it’s brought up in one of the meetings with a vendor or consultant presenting a solution. The sad truth is if you can not answer this question with hard numbers in specific areas, the ROI probably isn’t there.

I.R.A.C.I.S. is a simple acronym that can be used to quantify a business intelligence project’s worth to a company. It stands for the following:

Increase Revenue – How will this application and functionality drive more sales to new or existing customers, shorten the sales cycle, and/or bring down the cost of sales?

Avoid Costs – By far the area most focused on in BI project justifications. How will this application help us improve efficiency, put more information in the hands of our business people and eliminate wasteful processes?

Improve Service – Will this application affect our client base noticeably? Will we be able to provide more timely and valuable information to our customers, prospects, and suppliers?

Many times in a business intelligence effort, there are outcomes that are deemed desirable. Things like ad-hoc report generation, more informed operations staff, and less lag time in financial reporting are nice. But they will not justify the investment in a business intelligence solution from a quality software vendor without direct and secondary benefits quantified in the there areas mentioned above.

Let’s face it, business intelligence solutions are not cheap. There are many scalable solutions on the market today that range from traditional software implementations, to SaaS (Software as a Service), and even open source solutions. Large companies have long embraced the benefits of business intelligence and now with these diverse offerings the small and mid sized companies are also taking advantage. However, any business intelligence project is only as good as the planning, effort, and data that go into whatever software platform you are using. Hence another phrase often heard in many BI projects, “garbage in, garbage out.”

Building the foundations of your sustainable and profitable company is required for lasting viability of the operation. Having complete and timely specifics of the business and its particular performance in the marketplace is essential for managerial selection concerning the productive capacities, directions and profitability of the business. These foundations are made by implementing a solid structure of economic financial reporting. The accounting process should take into consideration, organise and accurately record all financial dealings from the company. By the end of every financial period, these records are then employed by the company’s accountant to prepare the required statements required. The four most popular fiscal reports add the balance sheet, income report or statement, cashflow analysis and the statement of capital.

Into your market sheet itemizes all assets which can be owned by the business, with the total debts owed by the business as well as the worth of equity that is certainly invested and owned through the company. The common equation for the balance sheet is the assets total the liabilities, or total amount being owed, plus the price of equity that’s in the business. The check sheet provides businesses with a snapshot over time of how a company is performing and its current budget.

The income statement is presented in the flow format, which shows a directory of revenue types and amounts, plus an summary of expense types and amounts, for the specific stretch of time. The research into the income statement provides the a higher level net profit or loss in the business enterprise, visually representing the main difference involving the company’s revenue and expenses. Income statements are particularly important to people faced with the responsibility of managing the business because they represent the bottom line performance from the business over a few months.

The amount of money flow analysis or statement has an overview of all the sources of income after a set period, along with what sort of money has been utilized. Important for analysing the business’s cashflow, identifying specific factors behind any increase or decline in how much income and profit, business people and managers utilise the information presented about the cash flow statement to find out the achievements previous business initiatives along with identify potential areas of concern.